Maria Roat, CIO, U.S. Small Business Administration

More than 14 million unique annual visitors to the platform informed us that we are raising the “small business IQ” and helping entrepreneurs and small business owners find the right information quickly and robustly. We realized the need for quality digital products with SBIR.gov, when high tech driven entrepreneurs were looking for a one-stop-shop to engage with America’s Seed Fund from the participating 11 federal agency partners. Thereafter, SBA unleashed Lender Match, initiated the Certify project, and now we are revamping the SBA.gov experience.

We recognized that many people were discovering the resources of SBA via random “Google” searches so we needed to rethink the digital engagement experience -make SBA. gov a digital ambassador for the agency and not just a static website. We engaged with entrepreneurs, federal government partners, resources providers, and other stakeholders who use the platform, to find out how we could augment the visitor experience not only to enhance productivity, but also clarity and insight. Our team is exploring the incorporation of chat bots, voice assistance, and smarter micro-searches to help with the visitor experience.

Our team initiated a Small Business Hackathon in coordination with Visa and BeMyApp, earlier this year, looking to coders and developers in crowdsourcing smarter technology solutions that could be built off SBA products and resources. We are also exploring the concept of initiating a virtual counselor program so that people in remote areas of the U.S. can engage with SBA staff and professionals and receive a comparable experience of counseling and help.

Team SBA-OCIO is driving innovation by developing opportunities and deploying new ways to increase our agency’s foothold of assistance with the American entrepreneur. We realize that technology will help ensure transparency and democratization of information while building off the “human touch” of collaboration.