Councillor William Brown, Leader of Barnsley Council, and Councillor Edward Dillingham, Deputy Leader, recently visited the Customer Services and Innovation teams to learn about the improvements driven by artificial intelligence (AI). The B-Bot chatbot received a major upgrade in June, making it easier and faster for residents to access information.
The Digital Team within the Innovation Service led a substantial programme of work, reviewing and rewriting over 1,500 webpages and updating more than 800 tables of information. B-Bot was extensively tested with over 2,000 questions to ensure accurate and helpful responses, directing users to the right support when needed.
Now, B-Bot uses AI to generate answers directly from the council's website content, providing more detailed, up-to-date information in real time, rather than relying solely on pre-written responses. This helps residents find answers about bins, Council Tax, highways, libraries, and other services without needing to call or navigate multiple webpages.
In the first 30 days post-upgrade, B-Bot handled over 3,700 conversations, a significant increase from fewer than 2,000 the previous month. Customer satisfaction rose by a third, from 3.3 to 4.4 out of 5. Escalations to customer service advisors reduced, with the chatbot successfully answering an average of 94% of enquiries.
This success means more residents are finding the information they need on first contact, freeing up Customer Service Advisors to assist those with more complex issues. Only two to three enquiries per day are escalated, highlighting B-Bot's effectiveness.
“"It was a pleasure to visit the teams and see the improvements being made for our residents. This is a clear example of how we can use tools and technology to make things easier for our residents and staff alike, delivering better value and building on our status as a Tech Town and our ambition to be the UK's leading digital town. An incredible amount of hard work has gone into making these improvements happen, and I'd like to thank all of the staff involved for their contributions, which we can already see are making a real difference for our communities. That is what local government is all about."
