SymSoft Solutions, which has won numerous awards for its work with state government websites, content management systems and the like, has created Axyom, a division devoted to the next generation of web transactions.
Dennis Noone/Industry Insider
“We are probably going to have to educate people how to actually utilize the best aspects of it,” said Bhavik Patel, SymSoft’s chief executive officer. “It’s the next generation, where we are bringing these new technologies to actually make a difference, and government is rightly suited for it as the citizens look at their government to protect them from identity fraud, loss of data, and/or malicious tampering of their data.”
The key, according to Patel and Savita Farooqui, SymSoft’s founder, is using these emerging technologies to enable users to create a their “self-sovereign identity,” in which an individual’s identifying information is used across all levels of government or private organizations, depending on each entity’s need to know. Access would be controlled by the individual.
“In the ideal world, I provide my identity to DMV for my driver’s license, to the Board of Equalization if I own a business. … It’s really about bringing all of these things together,” Patel explained.
That’s where SymSoft’s Axyom division is focused.
“There’s going to be some marriage at some point in time, for example, for the implementation portion of things,” Patel said. “SymSoft may get involved in those aspects. Obviously, there’s going to be connections between systems. We’re going to basically bring all the knowledge we have at SymSoft, all the knowledge Savita brings with Axyom, and how to get all of these systems to work cohesively.”
Said Farooqui: “SymSoft is going to continue what we are doing now, and we are very good at web and mobile applications, and enterprise content management systems -- and nowadays, more and more with no-code and low-code platforms, which we are building very, very fast and deploying faster.
“We will continue on that path, but this is an additional aspect. We are thinking that this is going to become the next generation of web with artificial intelligence, machine learning, semantic web, the trust technologies like trust registries, verifiable credentials, decentralized IDs are critical for tomorrow’s digital solutions.”
It may take some time for the government entities to see the benefit of and adopt these technologies, she acknowledged.
“However, there’s definitely efforts happening at the state level,” she said. “California is exploring use of blockchain technologies; the blockchain working group published a report on possible use cases. There is a bill that was passed supporting issuance of vital records following the W3C verifiable credentials format.
“What is happening is that there are multiple technologies that are coming together for solving a business problem,” Farooqui said. “And at Axyom, we look forward to helping our customers navigate through these emerging technologies to solve their most critical problems. We are here to help with educating our customers and determine applicability of these technologies.”
SymSoft is on the state Department of General Services’ (DGS) Master Service Agreement for Technology, Digital and Data Consulting (TDDC MSA); DGS’ California Multiple Awards Schedule (CMAS); DGS’ Small Business (SB) / Micro Business (MB) Certification; and has extensive experience with the California Department of Technology’s Project Approval Lifecycle (PAL) Process.
She also acknowledged having a personal stake in the success of the emerging technology.
“We started SymSoft with this idea of creation through collaboration,” Farooqui said. “And what is more collaborative than a decentralized model of working where you decide the rules collaboratively? That’s why this is close to my heart.”
