Customer Service Automation
As pioneers in municipal AI application, we’re growing incrementally—beginning with assistive AI to improve our operations. Our goal is to meet the rising expectations for digital services and make meaningful enhancements to the way our residents interact with city services.
Reported impact
The City of Burlington in Ontario, Canada, is embracing the power of digital solutions and AI to rapidly develop online services that are boosting productivity and transparency.
The City of Burlington in Ontario, Canada, is embracing the power of digital solutions and AI to rapidly develop online services that are boosting productivity and transparency. In 2023, the city began complementing its traditional in-person customer service with a new emphasis on AI and technology solutions.The city developed a system called MyFiles using AI and Microsoft Power Platform that allows customers to track the status of building permit applications and used Microsoft Copilot Studio to deploy CoBy,a custom copilot—an AI-powered digital assistant— to respond to resident inquiries on its website. By embracing a low-code strategy to innovate digital applications, the MyFiles portal reduced the building-permit approval process from 15 weeks to 5–7 weeks. The AI-powered digital assistant CoBy was conceptualized and deployed in only eight weeks, enhancing insight into resident concerns for frontline business departments and fostered collaboration between city departments.
As pioneers in municipal AI application, we’re growing incrementally—beginning with assistive AI to improve our operations. Our goal is to meet the rising expectations for digital services and make meaningful enhancements to the way our residents interact with city services.
By embracing a low-code strategy to innovate digital applications, the MyFiles portal reduced the building-permit approval process from 15 weeks to 5–7 weeks. The AI-powered digital assistant CoBy was conceptualized and deployed in only eight weeks, enhancing insight into resident concerns for frontline business departments and fostered collaboration between city departments.
In 2023, the city began complementing its traditional in-person customer service with a new emphasis on AI and technology solutions.The city developed a system called MyFiles using AI and Microsoft Power Platform that allows customers to track the status of building permit applications and used Microsoft Copilot Studio to deploy CoBy,a custom copilot—an AI-powered digital assistant— to respond to resident inquiries on its website.
The City of Burlington in Ontario, Canada, is embracing the power of digital solutions and AI to rapidly develop online services that are boosting productivity and transparency.
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