Can Government embody innovation and deliver ongoing increased levels of service? Salesforce.com’s Vivek Kundra and companies like BasicGov, Cloud Safety Net & LaunchPad believe so.

Entrepreneurs work tirelessly to help private sector companies streamline all aspects of their business from operations to customer engagement. Their goal and motto is to challenge the status quo and maximize customer satisfaction. Until recently, that mantra wasn’t exactly echoing through the hallways of most government agencies.

In the past few years, a revolutionary wave has gained momentum in Public Sector reaching a tipping point in the way governments are approaching providing solutions and services. We’re seeing private sector innovation applied in exciting new ways allowing governments to transform themselves and fundamentally disrupt the web of bureaucracy flowing from Washington.

Public Sector transformation is being driven by increased data transparency and the formation of government-segmented ecosystems. In a January WSJ, CIO Journal article titled Vivek Kundra: Release Data, Even If It’s Imperfect, Vivek explains this concept and its role in creating efficiencies within government. Vivek says, “the release of government data is helping the private sector create a new wave of innovative apps, like applications that will help patients choose better hospitals. Those apps are built atop anonymized Medicare information.”

Some areas of government are even going so far as to create shared services. When you look at how governments are structured many processes are repeated, and in the past solutions were created or purchased for each unique instance. Various agencies have even gone so far as to create apps themselves and share these solutions without the benefit of leveraging best practices or creating scalable frameworks. Without subject-matter expertise government is falling behind in the business of building and maintaining world class applications.

Thankfully, there are a growing number of ISVs focused heavily on this rapidly expanding opportunity. Some of these companies have been operating in public sector for many years with various on-premise systems. As a result of increased opportunity around cloud computing, these legacy solution providers have gotten “cloudy” by augmenting various functions of their existing solution or by overhauling and re-platforming critical business applications. In addition, there’s an explosion of companies traditionally focused on the business app community who have recognized this fast-growing opportunity in government. ISVs are crossing over from their traditional vertical focus such as financial management and healthcare.

The point is all levels of governments, from Federal, State and Local, are really involved in a bit of everything and are increasingly in need of specialized applications. ISV’s can leverage their private sector expertise and apply that to any number of functions and achieve dramatic results. Many of those partners are focused specifically on leveraging the Salesforce.com Platform.

One great example of an ISV leading that charge is BasicGov. BasicGov’s mission is to help state and local governments provide better services to its citizens. They accomplish this by offering a suite of modules that streamlines and automates processes in community development to achieve smart growth and sustainability goals. My personal favorite is the Citizen Portal where one can “view status of applications, complaints, communications online”.

Sound interesting? Want to learn more and ride the waves emanating from D.C.?

Then grab your board and join Salesforce.com’s Public Sector team on May 22nd as the Salesforce Customer Company Tour stops in Washington, DC. Vivek Kundra will be at the helm as keynote speaker and joined by government leaders and industry experts. The breakout sessions include one track on the AppExchange for Government. AppExchange for Government is an online storefront offering apps specifically geared for federal, state & local governments. Another breakout track, ISVs for Government, will discuss how cloud adoption is accelerating as a result of government furloughs and sequestration. Then focus more on where Salesforce.com is seeing opportunities for ISVs in government and how to get from idea to market as quickly as possible.

Could we be heading into an endless summer? Surf’s up.