PayIt Adds AI-Powered Discovery Capabilities to Digital Government Platform

New feature improves resident experience and drives 30% reduction in support inquiries for government agencies

Kansas City, Missouri, May 12, 2026 — PayIt, the leader in digital customer experience solutions for state and local governments, is pleased to introduce Smart Guide, an AI-powered service discovery tool that helps residents find any agency service or information they need without navigating complex agency structures or websites. 

Through Smart Guide, residents are quickly connected with the relevant service using natural language inquiries in the PayIt resident experience dashboard — ultimately increasing digital service completion, reducing support inquiries, and providing insights into what residents are most searching for.

Smart Guide is already live for several PayIt clients, including Anoka County, Minnesota, the City of Lansing, Michigan, and the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan. These jurisdictions have seen immediate results that demonstrate the value of AI solutions in driving efficiency gains for government agencies.

“With Smart Guide, we’re delivering an even more intuitive, resident-first experience in Grand Rapids. Residents can find and complete tasks easily, and we’re learning where confusion exists and how we can better serve our community,” said John Globensky, City Treasurer of Grand Rapids, Michigan. “As a long-time PayIt partner, we’re proud to be at the forefront of using AI to enhance our accessibility, improve our efficiency, and refine our digital experience.”

Within the first 60 days since launching Smart Guide across a multi-service platform, Anoka County, Minnesota, reported:

• a 30% reduction in support volume
• 20% of new service traffic driven by Smart Guide AI 

In Grand Rapids, Michigan:

• 80% of Smart Guide engagements have been directed towards long-tail services, broadening equitable access across the full service catalog, not just high-visibility services

“Throughout our partnership with PayIt, our goal has been to deliver the best possible experience to our residents, and we are proud to be early adopters of Smart Guide and its AI capabilities,” said Nicole Hegge, Senior Accounting Manager at Anoka County, Minnesota. “Our residents are spending less time paying bills and ordering permits, and our staff is spending less time fielding support calls — freeing them to work on higher-impact projects.”

Residents can use Smart Guide to ask questions like “how do I pay a medical examiner’s fee,” “do I need a sewer permit,” or “how do I test my well water?” and instantly get connected with the correct service or form — without having to know exactly where to look for information or navigate complicated websites. 

Unlike consumer AI-powered tools, Smart Guide is purpose-built for the public sector, with a strong emphasis on trust and governance.  

• Smart Guide is trained only on the government agencies’ websites and policies
• It only directs users to official content and services, including those that are difficult to find
• It is designed to quickly deliver guidance and links, not lengthy chat conversations 
• Smart Guide provides useful insight for agencies about what residents need and struggle to find

“Our government clients are eager to embrace AI-powered solutions to drive better operating efficiency and modernize the resident experience — and Smart Guide delivers on both fronts from day one,” said Tom Nieto, president and chief operating officer at PayIt. “We’re excited to continue to ship AI-enabled platform features that are designed to drive the outcomes government leaders need.”

To learn more about PayIt, visit www.payitgov.com. 

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About PayIt

PayIt enables state and local government agencies to deliver a great resident payments experience that accelerates the shift to digital. Agencies choose PayIt to better achieve their mission through improved operational efficiency, customer support, and resident satisfaction. Our solutions span property tax, courts, utilities, DMV, outdoors, and more. PayIt provides a single resident profile across agencies and jurisdictions, integrates into back-office and adjacent systems, and our team helps clients drive adoption of digital channels. Serving more than 150 million residents in North America, we have received awards from Fast Company and StateScoop, and have been listed in the GovTech 100 for 10 years and counting.

PayIt: Smarter for government. Easier for everyone.

Media Contact

Cara Schwartzkopf
Senior Marketing Communications Manager
PayIt
[email protected]