Meet Kelowna’s Chatbots: Your Award-Winning Digital Sidekicks
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By Kailie Stobbart, Communications Co-Op Student, City of Kelowna | Aug 19, 2024
At the City of Kelowna, a quiet digital service landscape is on the rise. Imagine a virtual sidekick who can answer questions, give you access to City services after hours, and provide you virtual assistance with just a simple message; it’s the reality of Kelowna’s innovative chatbot initiative.
A chatbot is a computer program that can simulate a conversation with people through channels like webchat and phone lines. The City has launched more than a dozen chatbots to provide efficient and convenient service, 24/7. The Kelowna International Airport and the City of Kelowna’s websites feature chatbots to answer common customer questions, explain complex bylaws and technical information, and connect with real time data from other systems or applications (like security wait time at the airport or address searches to see if a property is eligible for the City’s Fast Track Infill Housing program).
The City also provides voice bots – digital phone assistants that can answer questions or transfer callers to staff for more specific or complex issues, providing faster assistance to customers than searching the City’s website. “We currently have five voice bots across City business areas to help our customers,” says Andreas Boehm, Intelligent Cities Manager. “For example, our seasonal snow bot provides 24-7 assistance to residents who want to find out when their road was plowed last, or when a plow might be coming by.”
Other topic-specific voice bots can answer questions about things like property taxes and utility billing, the Glenmore Landfill and other waste disposal and recycling needs, and one can even help callers submit a request for service from Bylaw Services afterhours.
Award-winning services
The City’s digital transformation chatbot initiative is an award-winning innovation.
In October 2023, the City launched a series of building permit chatbots to help educate users on the complicated building permit application process. In May 2024, City staff won a prestigious International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Gold Quill Award in their new Strategic Artificial Intelligence category. Plus, the City was recognized for excellence in service delivery when they were awarded the inaugural Municipal Service Delivery Officials (MSDO) Excellence in Innovation Award for the Building Permit Chatbots.
Here to help
These digital sidekicks reflect the City’s dedication to using technology and innovation to reduce barriers, streamline permitting processes and help create more homes across the city.
“Through research, we uncovered that most homeowners were unfamiliar with the permit application process, so we introduced a chatbot with a novel ‘guided journey’ as a possible solution,” Boehm explains. “The City’s building permit chatbots support homeowners, builders and the development community through the permit application process. With this chatbot, we also aim to reduce staff time spent answering routine questions so they can devote more time to complex planning inquiries, with the goal to further accelerate the availability of housing options in our community.”
After hours support
“Life is busy, and we know that people may have questions that require support after regular City work hours, so our chatbots can assist customers even when City Hall is closed,” says Boehm.
In the first six months of 2024, the City’s chatbots had more than 5,000 conversations on weekends, and over 6,500 conversations outside of work hours. When used during business hours, the chatbots allows staff to respond quicker to more complex problems while the chatbots assists smaller inquiries.
“Our dedication to providing service whenever our customers want it is exemplified through our chatbots, and they are becoming an increasingly popular channel with customers,” Boehm explains. The City’s 2024 Citizen Survey revealed that 57% of respondents thought that online chat-based customer service should be a priority for the City’s technology and digital services.
A learning process
“Our chatbots will improve with time and use,” says Boehm. Currently, the chatbots handle simple questions well, but they are not yet suited for specific inquiries like property tax balances, which is one of the reasons why the City continues to offer other service options, like transferring to staff whenever possible or presenting online or in-person alternatives.
“We’re looking at how can we improve our digital services, so they become a customer service option that is convenient, consistent, trusted and reliable,” Boehm continues.
The City’s bots use basic Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies like natural language processing (NLP) and large language models (LLM). Generative AI, such as Azure OpenAI, is used only for the building permit bots, and sparingly, with a disclaimer for users. The foundation of the City’s chatbots is based on frequently-asked-questions and their answers, and then supplemented by a generative AI fallback that attempts to provide a response when the chatbot gets asked a question outside of those answers. This means that the building permit bots provide more responses and fewer “I don’t knows.” When the fallback is activated, the AI searches through specific City documents and webpages to make a response, provides a hyperlink to the source documents and includes a statement saying, “this response was generated using AI.” The City aims to be transparent about the use of AI and protect any personal information (like addresses) volunteered to the chatbot by using a redaction service.
Give the bots a try
How to use the City’s chatbots:
On the web, navigate to the City website or specific webpage and click on the blue icon in the lower right corner of the page to start chatting (tip: pretend you are having a conversation with a person and ask full sentence questions versus using it like a search engine by typing one- or two-word inquiries).
From kelowna.ca you can access the general Citybot and get transferred to various other topic-specific bots for property taxes, recreation and the landfill.
Visit ylw.kelowna.ca to chat with the Kelowna International Airport bot – you can ask questions about flight status, security wait time, parking, curbside assistance and more.
From the apply for a building permit webpage, access the building permit bots – there is one for each listed permit type.
To access the newest web bot, visit kelowna.ca/infill to learn about the Fast Track Infill Housing program and design options, and to see if a property is eligible.
To begin talking with the voice bots, you can phone Glenmore Landfill at 250-469-8880, Recreation at 250-469-8800 or Bylaw Services afterhours at 250-469-8686. And when the snow falls, try the seasonal snow bot at 250-469-8600 and select option 7.
The City’s chatbots are here to help you with your questions 24/7. As a part of the City’s Digital Transformation Strategy, they want to see digital tools used to improve citizen services and make processes more efficient. Take a look and meet the digital sidekicks today! Click on the chat icon in the bottom right-hand corner of this page (and any page across kelowna.ca) to get chatting.
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