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Maryland Chatbots Leading Customer Support Contacts
Earlier this year, Maryland.gov and Maryland Business Express launched chatbots to communicate with users and automate customer support. Accessible 24/7/365, these unique virtual company assistants (VCA) are available to provide thousands of answers about Maryland government agencies and services for Maryland.gov visitors. The Maryland Business Express (MBE) chatbot helps business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs with questions related to every phase of the business life cycle - from planning and starting a business to managing and growing it. 
 
According to Gartner*, "As more customers engage on digital channels, VCAs are being implemented for handling customer requests on websites, mobile apps, consumer messaging apps and social networks. A great VCA offers more than just information. It should enrich the customer experience, help the customer throughout the interaction and process transactions on behalf of the customer." 

Since their introductions, the Maryland.gov chatbot currently handles 73% of all customer support contacts and the MBE chatbot manages 44% of contacts. The charts below indicate the volume of chatbot interactions as compared to other customer support options.

*Gartner Says 25 Percent of Customer Service Operations Will Use Virtual Customer Assistants by 2020. (n.d.). https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2018-02-19-gartner-says-25-percent-of-customer-service-operations-will-use-virtual-customer-assistants-by-2020
State Department of Assessments and Taxation Now Accepts In-office Apple Pay and Google Pay 

The Charter Division of the State Department of Assessments and Taxation  (SDAT) is the first Maryland state agency with the ability to process Apple Pay and Google Pay transactions from walk-in customers. The agency initially began accepting in-office  payments using NIC Maryland's GovPay Over-the-Counter (OTC) payment processing solution in 2016, enabling customers to pay fees with a credit or debit card. With the addition of Apple Pay and Google Pay, SDAT now offers their customers the convenience of even more payment options. 

Using NIC Maryland's self-funded model, government agencies can get the enterprise point-of-sale solution up and running without setup, monthly, annual, or minimum swipe fees. Benefits of the OTC solution include:
  • Secure online and point-of-sale payments
  • Free setup and training
  • Real-time reporting for research and reconciliation
  • Multi-channel support (in-person, phone, email)
  • No hidden fees
  • Compliant with federal, state, and industry standards and requirements including Payment Card Industry (PCI), National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA), and Sarbanes-Oxley
Solution Spotlight: Secure and Reliable Payment Processing for Government

As highlighted in the article above and the infographic below, NIC Maryland is proud to pr ovide the state with a secure, reliable payment processing services for the last seven years. And, our parent company, NIC, is recognized as one of the leading providers of world-class payment solutions for government, currently counting more than half the states in the U.S., multiple federal agencies, and thousands of local government entities as partners.


Designed uniquely for government, NIC offers a fully-hosted, SaaS-based transaction management solution that not only includes a payment gateway but also offers extensive financial reporting, customer service tools, and fund disbursement mechanisms. The solution is flexible and able to accommodate:
  • multiple payment channels- online, mobile, over-the-counter, kiosk, IVR, live agent and other digital platforms
  • multiple payment types- credit and debit card, ACH/eCheck, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.
  • multiple hierarchy-based merchant ID configurations 
Most importantly, the solution offers the utmost security for government partners and the constituents that complete transactions day in and day out. NIC's payment suite is PCI-DSS compliant (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards), SOC 1-Type 2 certified, and is  hosted in a PCI Level 1 environment. Furthermore, NIC is listed as a PCI-DSS compliant provider on Visa's global registry and is a participating organization on the PCI Security Standards Council.
Maryland.gov Receives MobileWebAward

The Maryland.gov website was a recent recipient of a  MobileWebAward for  Best Portal Mobile Website . These awards are  judged on seven criteria including creativity, impact, design, content, interactivity, ease of use, and use of the medium. Each entry is judged against other entries of the same format in its industry category and then against an overall standard of excellence. 

To date, Maryland.gov has won 11 awards in 2018 and 50 awards since 2013.

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NIC Maryland develops and supports digital government services without using taxpayer funds through a master contract with the State of Maryland. Maryland saves money with NIC's online applications that pay for themselves through a proven funding model. 
Janet Grard 
NIC General Manager

Andrea Greer
DoIT Contract Administrator
andrea.greer@maryland.gov