How Has Accenture Unified Missouri DSS’s Benefit System?

Around the world, a growing number of organisations are transforming benefit distribution  using AI systems. 

Accenture has been embedding AI into the benefit management process through its  partnership with the Missouri Department of Social Services (DSS). 

“Accenture and Missouri DSS have had a really strong partnership over the last few  years,” says Eyal Darmon, Americas Public Service Data, AI & Agentic Lead at  Accenture. 

“We've been able to bring to Missouri experts in contact centers, experts in  engagement with residents and experts in social services.

“We've been able to help improve the engagement with residents and help make sure  that the benefits that those individuals so greatly need are able to be provided with  ease.”

Building a connected digital ecosystem 

Accenture has moved Missouri DSS away from 30-year-old legacy silos into an  interoperable ecosystem of engagement with residents. 

It tackles the difficulty of untangling state infrastructure to enable data flow between  front-end citizen-facing solutions and back-end processing. 

Eyal says: “The way Accenture helps shift DSS to a unified digital ecosystem is one  that requires not just Accenture, but also other partners including Google,  Hyperscience, ServiceNow and RedMane. 

“When you have multiple vendors engaged in an organisation, it's always critical to  make sure that everyone has awareness and transparency. 

“The core of the reason we do this is to make sure that we're providing the best  capabilities and outcomes to the residents of the state. When you have that as a  central goal, everything else starts to fall in line.”

Ethical AI 

Accenture works on deploying an ethics-by-design approach to resident engagement  for benefit distribution. 

Its solutions use predictive analytics and machine learning to support residents  engaging with DSS. 

This means that residents can improve interaction with DSS using new AI  technologies while maintaining responsible AI principals.  

“We’re always making sure there is a human in the lead,” says Eyal. “What we're  relying on AI to do is to make sure that we are able to create the right automation to  support both residents and DSS staff. 

“In many cases, people think of AI as an accelerator– something automated that  works without any human intervention. In reality, that's not the case. We want to  make sure that, across the workflow of social services, there are the right checks and  balances where humans are verifying and confirming, and there should never be a  circumstance by which an AI is making benefit determinations.”

What does the future hold? 

According to Eyal, the systems implemented in Missouri can be scaled for other  organisations in the US public sector. 

“My hope is that we continue to do things with the state of Missouri and DSS,” he  says. “AI technology evolves almost by the week. I think there’s going to be new  technology opportunities to leverage new AI capabilities that could be available in the  future. 

“The mindset of continuous improvement and enhancement is one that I think  Missouri DSS has adopted. 

“We’re honoured to be part of the partnership with Missouri DSS. We would like to  continue doing more innovative, creative things as those things become relevant to  our clients.”