The user journey in public services: making the most of AI

As a ‘stand-alone’ technology, the conversational agent uses a very rich database through Artificial Intelligence to understand the requests, analyze them and find the appropriate answers. When a user is looking for information on a service or wants to follow up on their file, a conversational bot can provide the answers to their request, complete their file or confirm the sending of a document. All citizens therefore receive assistance at all times of the day, including outside of service opening hours.

Emergency situations, such as those we have experienced with the Coronavirus outbreak, require the implementation of a crisis communication plan. In this type of situation, telephone services are often engaged, and agents can no longer answer the phone. This can lead to a reaction of panic for users who cannot be sufficiently advised. In such situations, conversational solutions provide clear information to as many people as possible. A Callbot handles thousands of requests simultaneously, in addition to the human ones.

Since public administration and services are often organized into several branches with different specialties, users do not necessarily find the right contact person the first time around. A conversational agent can direct callers to the right services with the correct expertise whilst carefully processing the questions and topics of the call. In this way, the advisor then has all the elements gathered up front at their disposal to process the request more quickly and effectively. Organizing the management of incoming calls through the welcome bot and processing makes it possible to offer an optimized service.

Making an appointment when the phone lines are busy can become an ordeal for users. The use of a conversational bot makes it possible to automate appointment booking. This can take the form of a Chatbot on the site of the public service concerned or be done by voice via a Callbot. This makes the user’s journey smoother, and the user will be satisfied with the result.

Some repetitive tasks take up too much time and manpower. With a powerful AI solution, it is possible to delegate a set of time-consuming tasks to a bot. Taking the example of the utilities sector, the processing of file follow-up or basic information requests can be carried out automatically by conversational agents.

This gives the advisors more time to process complex requests requiring human intervention.

All the strengths of AI in public services as mentioned above can have a positive effect on traditional communication channels. By automating repetitive tasks and optimizing call management, the telephone lines of institutions and administrations can be decongested. The telephone advisors are dedicated to complex cases and citizens are taken care of more quickly. A long-term and sustainable improvement of the user experience will be quickly noticeable.