Chatbot and Voicebot for Digital Self-Service (DK0071)

The commitment focuses on supporting citizens' use of digital self-service by of- fering an additional citizen-oriented channel that can be used for both writing and speech. With the chatbot and voicebot, the commitment contributes to improving citizens' opportunities for participation in the digital society by increasing accessi- bility to the public sector. The solution uses a high degree of technology and inno- vation, which also contributes to the democratisation of the solution.

What is the societal problem that the commitment will address? Citizens in the Danish municipalities are increasingly interacting with the public sector. Hence, the citizen services in the municipalities experience a pressure on resources, which can result in longer waits for citizens, both for physical appearance and for telephone inquiries. The number of citizen in- quiries to the joint municipal contact centre, the Digital Hotline, has doubled if you look at the number of calls from 2019 to 2021. COVID-19 has also influenced citizens' preferred access to the public sector, with self-service solutions and telephone contact increasing in the period 2019–2021, while email and physical appearance declined in the same pe- riod. By 2022, one in three citizens would prefer to contact the public sector by telephone. 33 percent of the Danish citizens find that the public sector is not doing enough to help them use digital self-service solutions. As digital self-service is mandatory in Denmark, there may be challenges for certain parts of the population. The project originates from the inter-municipal community, the Digital Hotline MUNI, which aims to offer one common channel to citizens that is available 24 hours a day and that provides relevant and correct information in a user- friendly interface so that citizens can be immediately attended to in the chat- bot and voicebot. From 2024, a new technological feature will be added to the chatbot that will enable it to use voice in its dialogue with citizens. This means that citizens will also be able to talk to MUNI, the robot, accessing it through the Digital Hotline's telephone. This is a special focus area in order to create greater accessibility for the citizens.

What does the commitment entail? The commitment deals with citizens' use and attitude towards a chatbot and voicebot as a way to access the public sector. The commitment is divided into two phases: 1) 2023: Chatbot operation – How do citizens use the chatbot with its existing knowledge and functionality? 2) 2024–25: Voice functionality operation – How do citizens use this new way of communicating with the municipality? The chatbot has knowledge of 55 different topics on everything from pass- ports to assignment of day-care for children in childcare facilities. The chat- bot can also book an appointment at the Citizen Service in selected munici- palities. The voice function is expected to be operational in 37 municipalities in selected areas in 2024. The Digital Hotline contact centre and the chatbot are collaborating. There- fore, the aim of the commitment is not for the chatbot and voicebot to re- place the contact centre. The citizen will still be able to call the municipality and talk to an employee. The chatbot and voicebot are to reduce the number of citizens waiting in the telephone queue by providing the necessary assis- tance to citizens who are able to find the answer themselves without talking to an employee.

How will the commitment contribute towards solving the societal problem? The commitment contributes to solving the challenge of an increasing num- ber of citizen inquiries and to support citizens in their use of mandatory digi- tal self-service by: • Offering an accessible channel to citizens. • Citizens have the option of contacting the public sector in either writing or speech so that they can participate in the digital society. • Integrating with professional systems to ensure that citizens see a renewed and streamlined interface, where they can get answers to questions as well as perform tasks in a self-service solution.

Why is the commitment relevant to the OGP values? The commitment contributes to improving citizens' opportunities for participa- tion in the digital society by increasing accessibility to the public sector. The new dimension of voicebot increases accessibility and contributes to the de- mocratisation of the solution. The commitment uses a high degree of technology and innovation, as the solution is based on robot functions that can both write and talk to citizens.

Additional Information General information about the DDH collaboration: https://dendigitalehotline.aarhus.dk/ (in Danish) It is possible to access a test link to the chatbot via the following link: https://chatbot.dendigitalehotline.dk/?municipalityCode=751&name=Muni (in Danish)

Activities or milestones with verifiable deliverables | Start date - End date

Launch integration of front desk appointment in 21 municipalities. | 1 May 2022 - 31 March 2023

Launch IBM Watson Discovery functionality in the chatbot. | 31 December 2022 - 31 March 2023

Target: 150,000 chatbot conversations. | 01 January 2023 - 31 December 2023

Chatbot Rating Target: 2.5 out of 3. | 01 January 2023 - 31 December 2023

Voicebot in operation. | 01 January 2024 - 30 June 2025

30 percent of all citizen in- quiries handled by MUNI (voice and chat). | 01 January 2024 - 31 December 2024

Increase categories and communication between cit- izens and the public sector. | 01 January 2024 - 31 December 2024