75 000+
questions answered
1 600+
various answers
10 000+
customers contected IEVA
1
new and andvanced communication channel
Providing information is an essential type of support for every farmer
Latvian farmers have access to various European Union funds and state aid measures. To successfully apply for them, it is necessary to complete applications, submit different documents and other information. Information support and counselling, which must be available to all interested parties, is essential in the process.
20 customer service professionals and other personnel of the Rural Support Service receive daily questions from several hundred farmers, foresters and fish farmers. Customers and their needs differ: they are large and small farmers, experienced professionals and new enthusiasts.
Virtual assistant consults 10,000 clients per year
In order to improve the way information is provided, the chat room, often referred to as a chatbot, IEVA started operation in January 2020. Her job is to help clients find answers to questions at any time of the day, while also working on holidays. The customer service professional for the Rural Support Service provides daily advice to Latvian farmers, foresters and fish farmers regarding, for example, area payments, the “Milk and Fruit for School” school program and fisheries.
The customer service professional also helps new customers register and existing customers make changes to their data, as well as informing everyone about updates. Since her first day of work, she has answered more than 75,000 questions and provided more than 1600 different answers. IEVA currently reduces the workload of the customer service by answering and explaining information regarding key service issues. Ieva is described as a positive, friendly and helpful colleague who is a quick learner and knows how to listen to customers.
“Like every employee in the Rural Support Service, IEVA has to learn new information all the time. Soon IEVA will be able to advise clients not only on area payments, which is a service area with a lot of content, but also on the many different investment measures. IEVA is also getting more contemporary, with more and more information being provided through interesting visual solutions, including video”
Kristine Ilgaza, the head of the Public Relations Department of the Rural Support Service, whose job includes making sure the virtual assistant runs properly
Virtual assistant – an effective information channel during crisis
Even when the state of emergency was declared the knowledge basis of IEVA received regular updates. The virtual assistant helped to inform farmers about support mechanisms due to the Covid-19 crisis, methods to submit remote documents, remote controls and other important issues.
Modern technology for institutions ready for the future
The use of neural network technologies was essential when creating the assistant in order to analyse the speech patterns used by people in their daily life. IEVA understands written messages even when these are inaccurate and erroneous. In addition, the robot learns from communicating with customers. The platform enables Rural Support Service staff to monitor the negotiations and intervene if necessary.
Convincing results
- IEVA provides answers to frequently asked questions and helps find information at any time of the day
- Ieva contributes to a positive public image of the authority
- The example set by IEVA also made other staff members think about how they could simplify their communication when explaining difficult issues
Future plans
The content layout will be changed in the future as many new scenarios will be added to IEVA’s knowledge base.
Girts Krumins, the director of the Rural Support Service, acknowledges, “IEVA is currently a good customer service assistant and is able to find answers to many questions. Initially we thought that customers would find talking with IEVA merely entertaining, but now we see that she actually helps customers to find the answers they need. Therefore, it was a smart decision to invest resources in training IEVA. However, we will not stop at what has already been achieved — IEVA is constantly increasing the level of her knowledge. We can say that she is on her way to becoming a customer service professional!”
The virtual assistant has been developed on the Latvian state administration language technology platform Hugo.lv in cooperation with the Culture Information System Centre