Innovation in Local Administration
When thinking about local administration and its system, we cannot help but see that it is stiff and outdated. Government officials face significant obstacles in their efforts to enhance citizen engagement. Despite budgetary limitations, they must compete for talent. They must also preserve resiliency in the face of rising complexity in citizens’ needs, such as aging demographics, access to sanitation, and technological progress.
With these difficulties, it is no wonder that the government’s customer service should be improved. Users of public services from a variety of countries give them an average rating of 5.5 to 6 out of 10 points, according to McKinsey. The industries that best please their customers, on the other hand, receive an average score of around 8 out of 10.
Nonetheless, public-sector leaders worldwide realize that providing exceptional citizen interaction has become a necessity. These expectations are influenced by major corporations’ offerings and driven by the complex and urgent needs of whole communities in crisis.
Driving outstanding levels of citizen engagement driven by the ever-changing need for self-service
Increased digital experience and offered fast reaction time on all points of interaction with citizens, boosting customer-centric digital experience.
The company wanted to capitalize on public-sector priorities like sustainable urban mobility, air pollution, and waste management standards by using agentic AI technology. Their major goals were to:
- Offer an AI agent that has 24/7 citizen disposal for faster access to contracts and sanitation services.
- Gain more corporate customers with exceptional interactions on digital channels.
- Increase operational efficiency within the company.
- Create a delightful user experience for high-quality citizen engagement.
The Challenge
Collaboration between public administration and civil society is critical in the larger sense of developing and implementing the Urban Policy.
Two major goals seem to be essential in public administration: creating green and resilient cities while encouraging competitiveness and profitability. The ranking of priorities is determined by the region of the country and regional needs. A well-governed community is based on budgetary stability and efficiency, bureaucracy reduction, and the digitalization of the administration. Some of the most important public-sector priorities are under the banner of green and resilient cities, such as sustainable urban mobility, air pollution reduction, and compliance with European waste management standards.
In this European green and digital-prone context, one of the largest sanitation companies in CEE saw an opportunity. In 2018, the company won an action to collect and manage the waste from District 4 in Bucharest for four years.
Two years later, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the digitalization of administration trend started to gain momentum, the sanitation company sought a solution to a growing demand for sanitation contracts after District 4's mayor decided to democratize the waste management services.
The Solution
Clever use of automation can enable local businesses and administrations to provide outstanding levels of citizen engagement driven by the ever-changing need for self-service. The Delia AI agent was created to digitize sanitation services for district residents.
Delia was explicitly designed and trained to make it easier to sign online sanitation contracts, fill out equipment applications, pay and download bills for legal entities, and request additional sanitation services.
Delia can be reached directly via the website and is integrated with SAP Business One, allowing the agent to access both customer and contractual service details. Delia automatically verifies addresses and identification details based on the Unique Certificate of Registration for legal entities by integrating with the legal network of the country in question.
At the same time, Delia automatically extracts information from identity cards for individuals via OCRization. Any citizen can manually enter the collection address if it differs from the one written on the National ID card.
Delia increased the speed and efficiency with which the inhabitants of the district could access the services and relieved managers from making errors or routine and time-consuming tasks.
Learnings
Automation can be a powerful tool for improving the relationship between local administrations and citizens, freeing up civil servants to solve taxpayers’ issues, adding value to their lives, and eventually strengthening public confidence in local authorities.
And, as the pioneers of public-service automation have shown, public organizations can develop cutting-edge automated offerings that rival those of lean start-ups or establish fruitful partnerships with relevant businesses for a more pleasant consumer experience. Such automated services adopt technology, not for its own sake, but to meet citizens’ increasing demands for dependable, easy, and personalized government service.
Leaders of successful automation projects recognize that automation requires changing existing systems and processes while retraining and redeploying employees for new tasks.
