Our mission at Methods is to redesign public services centred around citizens and user needs
When we combine that with Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, we are able to fundamentally transform and revolutionize public services from today’s reliance on reactive engagement with the public to proactive, low-friction, channel-agnostic and consent-based offerings. And we at Methods are at the forefront of that journey – working with a variety of local government organisations across the UK to make that vision a reality.
Artificial intelligence-driven systems are radically changing the world around us. What was once the domain of mathematicians and scientists is now readily accessible and consumable through open source technology, cloud-based managed services and low-code platforms. In local government, the meaningful applications of AI benefitting the public are almost limitless, bounded only by our imaginations, and include:
- Hyper-personalised services
- Proactive citizen engagement through channel-agnostic chatbot frameworks
- Predictive maintenance of assets
- Workforce, schedule and resource optimisation
- Reducing our carbon footprints and optimising energy usage
- Combatting child abuse and financial fraud
As a particularly exciting example of applied innovation in local government, Methods have been collaborating with Swindon Borough Council in the design and development of a series of deep learning proof of concepts based around the ‘Report It’ common service pattern. Methods have modelled, designed and engineered a bespoke deep neural architecture embedded within a mobile application via a real-time neural interface and mounted to the dashboards of existing council-owned vehicles in order to detect cases of potholes, graffiti and fly-tipping in real-time. This is demonstrated in the following video where we spent a day with Swindon’s street cleaning team traversing the roads of Swindon and trialling the prototype – causing much excitement:
This demonstrates the power of artificial intelligence in enabling local government to transform their service offerings to one that is more proactive based around the needs of our local communities.
Join me at the Council 4.0 meet-up for local government digital innovators and disruptors on Thursday 13th February 2020 to learn more about how Methods are using the latest cutting-edge technologies to transform local government and beyond.
Please note, this event is for public sector only.