Singapore Government partners with Microsoft to explore Conversations as a Platform for public services

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Published onJuly 12, 2016

published onJuly 12, 2016

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Microsoft continues to push its vision of bots and conversational computing with a new partnering that intends to explore the opportunities in co-creating a next-gen government based on the use of digital services called Smart Nation. During the World Cities Summit this year, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister-In-Charge of the Smart Nation Initiative for Singapore announced that it willpartner with Microsoft to embark the creation of next-generational government servicesbacked by conversational computing.

According to the Singapore News Center,

In the mobile-first and cloud-first world that we all live in, citizens and constituents want public and business services that can interact with their digital lives – intelligent services that respond, act and communicate in fundamentally new ways that can augment human abilities and experiences and do so in a trustworthy manner. The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) will explore with Microsoft on a new computing proof-of-concept (POC) that builds conversational intelligence into public services, with the aim of making them more anticipatory, accessible, engaging and inclusive for citizens and constituents.”

The IDA’s exploration into prioritizing the combination of human language, artificial intelligence, and machine learning appear to be the first steps in the much larger picture that Microsoft is painting, wherein, everyday interactions with informational sources are made better by use of the cloud.

As everything around us becomes more digitized, Conversations as a Platform is a new shift that applies the understanding of human language to computers and computing, which can transform every industry. We’re excited to partner with organizations like the Government of Singapore to help transform its engagements with citizens and businesses to seize the opportunities ahead.”

Satya Nadella

As for IDA’s rollout of the POC, it will be done in three phases that cover the use of information absorption into intelligent chatbots, the expansion of chatbot capabilities based on user interactions with government website and finally enabling interactions between chatbot and user based on personalized queries.

While Microsoft spoke of usingSkype as its premier test bed for chatbot interactions during Build 2016 this year, it seems a much broader implementation is just around the corner. With an entire government willing to explore the possibilities, perhaps Microsoft’s vision for a world moving beyond app jumping and silos of information is much closer than first discussed. Building a chatbot experience into government services should yield much richer data points as to how Microsoft will continue to develop its chatbot experiences in the future.

Kareem Anderson

Networking & Security Specialist

Kareem is a journalist from the bay area, now living in Florida. His passion for technology and content creation drives are unmatched, driving him to create well-researched articles and incredible YouTube videos.

He is always on the lookout for everything new about Microsoft, focusing on making easy-to-understand content and breaking down complex topics related to networking, Azure, cloud computing, and security.

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Kareem Anderson

Networking & Security Specialist

He is a journalist from the bay area, now living in Florida. He breaks down complex topics related to networking, Azure, cloud computing, and security

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Singapore Government partners with Microsoft to explore Conversations as a Platform for public services