Chatbots aim to improve access to City information and services

July 17, 2024

News Release

Since 2020, the City of Kelowna has launched more than a dozen topic-specific chatbots to handle questions from the public and improve access to services.

A chatbot is a computer program that can talk to people through various channels, such as webchat and phone lines, which is how they are used at the City. Chatbots can help provide faster, more convenient service by answering straight-forward, common questions at any time of the day or day of the week.

“Aside from expanding our service channels, the City’s aim is to reduce the time staff spend answering routine questions so they can devote more time to complex inquiries, enhancing the customer service we provide,” said Andreas Boehm, Intelligent Cities Manager. “This strategic approach creates efficiencies and aligns with our commitment to digital transformation.”

In May 2024, the City won an International Association of Business Communicators Gold Quill award for Strategic Artificial Intelligence and a Municipal Service Delivery Officials Excellence in Innovation Award for the Building Permit Chatbots.

The City began implementing chatbots in 2020 to answer questions about accessing services during the ever-evolving safety requirements of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, that included a general Citybot webchat, launched on kelowna.ca, as well as one on Kelowna International Airport’s website, ylw.kelowna.ca.

Today, five topic-specific chatbots (Revenue, Landfill, Recreation, Bylaw Services afterhours and snow) exist on City phone lines as the first point of contact with customers to answer common questions or transfer to staff for more specific or complex issues. The City’s voice bots handle an average of 38 per cent of user inquiries without requiring a staff touchpoint. These bots also appear on kelowna.ca as web chatbots, along with additional content for other topics such as various building permit types and fast track infill housing, which can be accessed by visiting specific pages of the website. In the first six months of 2024, the City’s chatbots had more than 36,000 conversations and fielded nearly 69,000 questions.

“Although not perfect, our chatbots will improve over time and with increased use,” said Boehm. “City staff diligently watch the conversations and improve the chatbots’ responses and add more service integrations whenever possible.”

Currently, the City’s chatbots do a good job of answering simple, routine questions, but aren’t ideal for more specific inquiries, like finding a customer’s property tax balance, which is why the City continues to provide other options for people to receive service from the City, including transferring to staff whenever possible or presenting online or in-person alternatives.

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 | City of Kelowna webpages, access the building permit bots – there is one for each listed permit type.
- To access our 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 Revenue at 250-469-8757, 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.

Although the bots leverage some basic artificial intelligence (AI), such as natural language processing (NLP) and large language models (LLM), use of generative AI (like OpenAI’s ChatGPT) is limited to the building permit bots only, used sparingly and contains a disclaimer to alert the customer to its use. Additionally, any personally identifiable information volunteered to the bots during a conversation is redacted to protect the privacy and security of the City’s chatbot users.

Digital transformation is a corporate priority for the City of Kelowna, and through implementation of our strategies, including the Intelligent City Strategy, the City aims to find ways to improve service delivery, finding innovative new ways to meet the needs of residents, businesses and visitors. For more information, please visit kelowna.ca/intelligentcity.