Council bots plan to deal with queries

BRIDGEND County Borough Council is looking into the use of chatbots and software robots to carry out customer service roles and routine tasks.

The research is being undertaken as part of the council’s digital transformation programme.

At a council meeting on Wednesday, September 26, officers told councillors they were looking at whether the use of artificial intelligence would save the local authority time and money.

This includes using chatbots – computer programmes that provide automated responses to deal with frequently asked questions online.

The council is also looking at Robotic Process Automation which involves software with artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities to process high-volume tasks which are not complex.

Head of performance and partnership services Martin Morgans, who presented a report to councillors at the corporate and overview scrutiny committee, said exploratory work was under way with a leading robotics company to see if there was any benefit in a pilot exercise. He told councillors leading research forecasts that by 2020 more than 85% of customer interactions will be handled without a human.

Some councillors raised concerns that the new software could lead to job losses.

Councillor Ross Penhale-Thomas said: “It’s been raised in Trades Union Congress and in the private sector with automation coming into manufacturing but what does that mean for jobs in the local authority? Will the digitisation of many of these services mean officers are used elsewhere in the local authority?”

Mr Morgans said the council was under financial pressure and if there were some roles which could be digitised it would allow staff to do “more functional and richer” work.

He said: “There’s obviously a lot of negativity in the press around artificial intelligence but it’s about how we use it and how we leverage it.

“There are some real benefits in our areas in terms of how to make the process quicker. There will be contention around that but it’s about us delivering our services within the constraints of the budget. I don’t think it’s as doom and gloom as some of the press is saying in terms of that context.”

Councillor Jon-Paul Blundell said there was still a need to have people in customer service roles asking officers whether there was a “place for people” in their plan.

Mr Morgans said: “The basis answer is yes, people are still going to be there. “We are adding functionality. “This is only discovery, it might not be fit for purpose in Bridgend – we are just looking at economies of scale where we can take advantage.

“There’s always going to be that front of desk support user.

“There’s a core group of people in Bridgend who might not be able to use digital so we don’t want to exclude them from accessing our services.

“Our key purpose is about added functionality so citizens who might want to do their business on the go can and if they want to call up that will still be there.”