Transition from E-gov to I-gov with Conversational Ai – a New Paradigm of Government – Citizen (G2C) Communication
COVID-19 crisis exposed the importance of e-Government and digital public services while physical interaction with residents is not possible. We are witnessing more and more public institutions around the globe recognizing the full potential of Conversational AI. There is a growing trend of introducing intelligent chatbots or voice bots equipped with technologies which provide for set of diverse functionalities bringing their interactions with users far beyond simple question - answer scenarios.
AI-powered bots have become a popular communication channel for different e-services, and this development will remain relevant long after current pandemic.
Added value of Conversational AI in public service
International research indicates that 78% of all public services in the EU countries can be completed entirely online. Various public institutions have developed integrated online self-service portals e.g. handling municipal payments, registering new businesses or filling in various application forms.
"Self-service comes with certain risks hindering the user experience as there is a chance of getting stuck at a particular issue or confused in the complex maze of choices. Usually, people either search for the answer on the website or google it, or in many cases – just pick up the phone and call the customer support, requiring human assistance. Imagine a different scenario – support agent who is available 24/7, always there to guide you step-by-step through the entire process. And even mora than that – as you can fill in the form or make a payment as part of the convenient conversation with the chatbot, without even leaving the dialogue window,"
Kaspars Kauliņš, Business Development Director at Tilde explains
As another example he highlights virtual assistant’s ability to give advice and consult users:
"Sometimes it's hard for people to understand, which services they are eligible for and what fits their actual needs the best. Personalized intelligent chatbots can help finding the right solution and give advice on the necessary actions and the next steps for particular individual."
Easy and convenient way for collecting customer feedback
Almost 9 out of 10 government portals provide special forms for collecting the user feedback. This is another activity which you can automate with Conversational AI. Chatbots can help saving a lot of working hours of client facing employees and give an interactive and fun way for customers to share their opinion.
"Feedback collection is one of those tasks that can be relatively easily automated. And if conducted in a convenient human-like dialogue manner by a smart virtual agent it would ensure the positive user experience and significantly decrease the time and effort needed to collect valuable consumer insight,"
Kaspars Kauliņš reflects
Building i-Gov in Latvia
Latvia is among European frontrunners in e-Government development. One of the reasons for that is the success story of the hugo.lv – the e-Government language technology platform and recently the home for more than 10 virtual public assistants. In 2020, largely due to COVID-19 pandemic and rising public acceptance of AI powered solutions, we witnessed a steep rise in the use of Government institution chatbots. More than 2000 residents daily engaged in conversations with digital assistants covering over 6000 different topics, but Latvia is not planning to stop on this:
Another great example of digital transformation is the Latvian State Revenue Service. Their virtual assistant Toms advises more than 5 000 residents on taxation and custom related issues every month. And they are planning to unlock the full potential of Conversational AI by extending Toms’s knowledgebase and introducing new customer support scenarios:
"The virtual assistant has demonstrated that it is well worth for public bodies to introduce technologies like this, as thanks to Toms the SRS has managed to increase its general communication capacity. What concerns further development of the virtual assistant, we intend to teach it more languages. We also consider the possibility of integrating Toms in the SRS Electronic Declaration System,"
Indra Kārkliņa, Deputy General Director of the SRS, Director of the Informatics Board
Inspiring example from the North
And Latvia is not the only country using Conversational AI as a bridge between people and government. Top European countries leading the e-Government race are Malta, Finland, Austria, and Estonia. Kaspars Kauliņš shares our northern neighbor’s positive practice who aim to enable a “zero bureaucracy” experience:
"All state institutions in Estonia apply the principle, that any data from a citizen should be asked only once and that government agencies shall cross-use their databases. This allows avoiding repetitive information submission requests and helps solving respective issues much faster. Estonia uses chatbots for explaining different government decisions, when people got worried or confused, support them in crisis related matters using just 150-character long responses, and teaching AI to be empathetic."
Chatbots combined with advanced e-government services can help saving thousands of working hours resolving user queries just recently handled by government employees. These virtual assistants provide consistent, well-structured, and easily accessible support 24/7. Transition to modern, AI-powered interaction tools and solutions would bring down barriers between government institutions and residents creating a new paradigm of government – citizen communication.
