ACGOV Chatbot

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

The Alameda County website, recognized for its innovation in how it provides information and government services, now has a Contact Us page Chatbot to help users get their questions answered even easier and quicker. Before the implementation of the Chatbot, users that visited the Contact Us page would either use links on the page to be directed to department or agency contact information or would send an email to get assistance with their questions. Those emails would go to the Information Technology Department (ITD) Web team, and they would forward the question to the department or agency that would best be able to assist. It took a large amount of the staff time to aid, even answering common questions that are asked repeatedly. The other issue was that although emails were answered promptly, it was impossible to provide instant answers to even the simplest questions. The ACGOV chatbot largely remedies this. By allowing people to access answers to their questions via the chatbot, their questions are answered more quickly and saves staff time. The chatbot was developed in collaboration with multiple departments and is continuously trained to stay current so it can provide assistance to Alameda County Website visitors.