Josh Sushan is Merit’s Head of Corporate Development, leading the charge on our partnership with Snowflake. Read his perspective on why it’s such an important initiative, whereby both companies are leveraging data for the greater good of the people in America.

Why are Snowflake and Merit better together?

Snowflake just announced a new data analytics solution that's purpose-built for the public sector, the Government & Education Data Cloud. This offering for all levels of government revolutionizes data insights and empowers the public sector to make informed decisions. Merit plugs in with its robust data integration capabilities to seamlessly connect and leverage data from disparate sources.

Our critical work with States across the country impacts millions of Americans every single day; we are at the center of life-saving emergency response and recovery, initiatives to revitalize the workforce and find quality jobs for military spouses, and multi-million-dollar education grant programs.  The piece that ensures this work across our many use cases is the ability for data across disparate systems to be meaningfully shared, securely ingested, and accurately delivered. Our partnership with Snowflake allows us to do just that. Snowflake has been a vital part of our ability to put data to work, and we are incredibly excited for this next chapter in our partnership. 

How do Merit and Snowflake address the technology challenges of state and local governments?

In this digital world, new technologies are being developed every day to help consumers more efficiently live their lives. Yet, the adoption of these new technologies in the public sector and government has been significantly slower. Significant challenges that prevent or slow innovation in the public sector include: 

Outdated systems and processes running on legacy systems. This hinders efficiency and makes for slow, ineffective delivery of statewide programs. 

Poor data management. While state governments manage vast amounts of data such as administrative records and citizen information, it’s being stored in disparate systems. This can oftentimes mean a messy mix of both pen and paper and digital processes. 

Fraudulent activity. Cyber threats, data breaches, and malicious activity compromise the information security of citizens, putting overall programs in jeopardy.

Inefficient resource allocation. Currently, state agencies suffer from limited transparency on how to use and allocate resources whether it’s better analytics, AI, infrastructure, or people. 

Merit and Snowflake together are leading the charge to address real solutions to these challenges and others our state partners face in better supporting and serving their citizens. 

What are some real-world examples of the partnership making a difference? 

Merit is poised to be a leader in modernizing Public Sector infrastructure, and Snowflake is a catalyst for making it happen. And while 20+ states across the U.S. contract with Merit, I’d love to highlight three: 

We rapidly established and managed the Ohio After School Enrichment Program, resulting in the successful implementation of a multi-million-dollar student education savings account initiative in just eight weeks, providing access to over 25,000 students and involving over 1,000 businesses for service provision and claims management.

The Merit Tech Incident Management Team (IMT) provided real-time intelligence and accountability to Hurricane Ian emergency agencies, enabling rapid response, enhanced coordination, and efficient resource allocation, resulting in quicker recovery and the tracking of 7,000 responders, 26,000 meals, and 1.1 million logged hours.

The Delta Health Alliance connected local college graduates with job opportunities via Merit, resulting in a 70% Merit acceptance rate and significant engagement through personalized job notifications and training tracking. 

How do you see the partnership expanding over time?

We are poised to seize even more opportunities in emergency management, workforce development,  education, licensing, and military family solutions in more states across America. As our network expands and novel state challenges arise, it will evolve to handle more use cases. And ultimately, we will grow beyond just the U.S.  

Snowflake’s presence will certainly help fuel this growth, and we’re excited to see what lies ahead for us together as we expand.

Snowflake is announcing a lot of partners. What makes Merit stand out?

By the nature of how our platform is built, Merit is in a unique position to deliver solutions that meet different states’ unique needs in ways that apply our same solution across the board. This makes it possible for us to deploy in weeks and months, not quarters and years. With Snowflake, we can continue to scale our ecosystem and impact, quickly and effectively, every time. 

How are citizens of your state partners going to benefit?

Residents will get full autonomy and control over their own data, making it easier for them to understand the opportunities they have ahead of them. They will be better able to take advantage of the statewide programs for which they’re eligible with just a couple of taps on their smartphone. This eliminates the need for time-consuming visits to government offices and reduces the risk of lost or fraudulent documentation. 

Our goal is to democratize access to statewide programs for everyday Americans by modernizing digital infrastructure.

Is there anything you’d like to leave us with? 

Merit is already having a real-world impact across the country, and Snowflake certainly helps to catalyze our benefit to both state agencies and the citizens they serve. 

For more information, visit our press release here.