Council Bot

Cheshire West and Chester Council’s bot provides residents information that can help them during the pandemic.

00:47 14 June 2020

Cheshire West and Chester Council is helping thousands of residents get the information they need during the coronavirus pandemic with their bot. AIDA, which was built by ICS and Azure Cognitive Services, addresses questions on topics that range from Coronavirus symptoms and social care to bin collection and changes to Council Tax. The bot also helps free up contact centre employees some time allowing them to reach out to 5,000 residents in the area that were shielding from the virus to offer support. 

 

Ben Cummins, Managing Director of Qwest, which runs the Cheshire West and Chester Council contact centre, said: "When we looked at the detailed logs from the bot, we saw more than 300 different questions related to Coronavirus. So, it's important that we are able to provide accurate and reliable information to the public at this difficult time." 

 

Michael Wignall, Director of Azure at Microsoft UK, said: "Many public sector organisations are facing significant pressure to care for the UK's most vulnerable residents while employees are also tackling the implications of the crisis in their personal lives.

 

"It's great to see Cheshire West and Chester Council use technology to alleviate some of that pressure from contact centre employees, who can spend time supporting those who need the most help."