Ezkoms, a Zoovu company, has announced that it has evolved its conversational capabilities to respond to the immediate need to help the public sector efficiently communicate with citizens during unprecedented times of crisis.
Ezkoms has worked with the municipality of Aalter in Belgium for more than two years, helping them communicate with citizens regarding vital services. The municipality of Aalter recently approached Ezkoms for additional support in keeping citizens safe and informed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During times of crises, information is rapidly changing. The traditional communication channels employed by governments are fundamentally unable to provide citizens with up to date and accurate information 24/7. Communication departments are not staffed or equipped to handle this type of situation, creating a need to automate communication across channels such as websites, applications and social media channels.
The Ezkoms platform has enabled the municipality of Aalter to keep its’ citizens informed 24/7 with additional data sources of approved information to protect lives and ease anxiety, while simultaneously alleviating pressure from help desks and human-led teams.
The latest research from Zoovu (available here) shows that 50% of citizens will abandon a search within a number of minutes if they are unable to find answers. The public sector must acknowledge this reality in their communication strategies. The Coronavirus crisis has acted as a wake-up call for the public sector to invest in solutions, which provide citizens with access to information and remove complexity, stress and worry. It is especially vital that governments fulfil their civic duty and find a way to deal with the elevated need for information during a crisis.
“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, local governments have struggled to effectively assist and support their citizens” said Maarten Verschuere, CEO, Ezkoms. “Many have cited a 100% increase in inquiries, putting an enormous strain on civil workers to offer the most up-to-date assistance and advice. At Ezkoms, we have responded by quickly adapting our technology for crisis communication. Our solution delivers always-on, real-time guidance, chatbot or click-based interactions, at a fraction of the operational cost and effort required to train and enable a customer service agent to respond.”
Ezkoms has been developed by Zoovu, who are global leaders in conversational technology, and leverages proprietary language modelling enabling Ezkoms’ crisis assistants to understand intent and offer immediate assistance, in a way that was previously impossible.
Rob Mullen, CEO, Zoovu said: “I am incredibly proud of what the Ezkoms team have achieved throughout our two year partnership with the municipality of Aalter, but am truly humbled by how quickly the team has responded in an unprecedented pandemic to keep citizens informed — and ultimately save lives.”
The Ezkoms solution has been designed to act as an invaluable resource for governments and public agencies to earn the trust of their citizens through efficient communication both immediately and in the future.
To find out more about Ezkoms, visit www.ezkoms.com.
Header image ©Julien Eichinger/AdobeStock.
