The council that answers residents in seconds

Amelia runs resident services for the council in Edinburgh. Her contact centre takes three thousand calls a week. Most ask the same three things: what are these roadworks on my street, when are my bins collected, where is the nearest recycling centre. Callers wait twenty minutes for a ten second answer. With xMap Flows, Amelia built Osprey. When a resident writes on the council website, Osprey works out what they need, looks up roadworks on their street, checks their bin day, finds the nearest recycling centre, and answers in plain words, right away. In its first month, Osprey answered eleven thousand questions, day and night. Calls dropped by a third, and the waiting time fell to four minutes for the people who really need a person. Amelia’s team still answers residents. Just the ones who need a human.

The story in words