America.gov went live on Tuesday. It's one federal website where you type a question about a government service and get an answer in plain English. The president signed an executive order creating it the same day.
Right now that's all it does. Fox News reported the site "can only answer questions and direct users on how to complete various tasks themselves." The White House says people will be able to renew a passport or enroll in Medicare there "later this year."
When I opened America.gov just after 8 p.m. that night, even the questions weren't working. The chat box said "Chat is unavailable right now."
America.gov just after 8 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, September 29, the day it launched.
The goal fits in one sentence of the order. America.gov "will enable the Federal Government to do its own paperwork." Answering questions doesn't get you there. Before anyone can finish a passport renewal on the site, the State Department's passport systems have to be connected to it, and the same goes for every other agency. The order gives the Office of Management and Budget 90 days to tell agencies how to do that. It gives the agencies themselves no deadline.
So the government built the easy part first, and on launch night the easy part was down. The part that saves people time is still ahead.
Small businesses fall into the same trap. A chatbot on the website is easy to buy, and it can only help as far as the systems behind it reach. Say a customer fills out your web form and then gets a call asking for the same information. A chatbot doesn't stop that call. Connecting the form to the system your office works from does. And whatever you put in front of customers has to work the first time they try it.
Some of the order is worth copying. People sign in once, through Login.gov, instead of proving who they are at every agency. Nobody has to replace a working system to join, because agencies connect what they already run. Phone lines, mail, in-person offices, and agency websites all stay, so America.gov is "a better option but does not become the only option." For a small company that means one place for customers to ask, one login, your current software connected to it, and a person still answering the phone.
One note for owners. The order is written for individuals. It doesn't mention businesses, permits, licenses, or federal contracting, so don't expect it to help with a loan application or a contractor registration anytime soon.
The real test for America.gov comes the first time someone finishes a passport renewal there from start to finish. The test for your business is whether a customer can get something done without being asked for the same information twice. Fix the work first and add the tool second. That was the argument in Monday's essay.
RVRBN builds AI systems for small companies, and we don't hand one over until it works, so we have an interest in owners thinking about it this way.
If you want to talk through what this means for your company, get in touch.