“How do I apply for a business license? Where is City Hall? How do I obtain a permit?”

Not only are these answers a quick text message away with Citibot Text Chat, now residents can use Citibot Web Chat to receive real-time customer service when browsing their local government website. Citibot Web Chat is a built in web assistant that leverages AI-driven chatbot technology, machine learning and natural language processing and integrates with municipalities’ websites—interacting with their visitors to make it easier for them to ask questions, submit service requests and contact staff directly.

It is the only solution designed for municipalities that integrates with their websites and back-end customer service systems to provide a turn-key user experience.

Local government websites have endless information, making it difficult for residents to navigate and quickly find the information that they need. With Citibot Web Chat, website visitors are provided a better web experience and efficient customer service.

We’ve also built in a special feature that allows Citibot Web Chat to help answer local COVID questions. Residents can ask Citibot a range of questions. Whether they’re looking for a simple health update or want to learn more about current social distancing guidelines, our technology can help inform residents to safely navigate the “new normal.”

Our new Web Chat product complements our existing automated communication solutions including Text Chat and Interactive Text Alerts that we began developing in 2017, which are both text message based solutions designed to facilitate ease of communication and make government accessible for all. We are the only provider with complete integration features to provide full-resolution customer service chat solutions in the local government marketplace.

The City of Williamsburg, Virginia is among the first municipalities to implement Citibot Web Chat.

“I’m interested in any way we can better get information to or request information from citizens, and I firmly believe that leveraging artificial intelligence is going to be the answer,” said Mark Barham, City of Williamsburg’s director of information technology. “With Citibot, we are able to help users search for information and report issues via text message—and now, with Web Chat, we look forward to extending that personalized level of service to our website.”

The potential growth for cities' relationships with their residents is high. We’re excited to partner with innovative municipalities to help them grow engagement and open the lines of communication with residents even further.

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