Karlovac recognized the need to change the way they were communicating with their citizens. They wanted to reach their citizens on new communication platforms and establish direct and more transparent communication with them. The city wished to ease access to city administration and put information at the disposal of everyone even after working hours.
Karlovac wanted to give their growing online community added value, something unique, interesting, and related to the city administration. Easy access to the solution and its high functionality had to be assured upon finalizing the project.
Karlovac is a town in Croatia, Central Europe with a population of 51 000 and is of important traffic and economic significance. Its city administration continuously puts the effort into creating a surrounding that supports the economy’s growth while taking care of its citizens and remaining transparent in their actions.
Here is a more detailed overview of this case study. We believe that the City of Karlovac is just the first of many Croatian cities that decided to hire smart city chatbot. A chatbot can streamline the communication with citizens by answering frequently asked questions via platforms and channels they normally use.
We designed and implemented an efficient tool that not only helps with the exchange of information but also creates a unique user experience. Korana is a Smart City Chatbot that navigates its users to the requested city information, successfully deals with incoming queries, and therefore decreases the number of received phone calls or emails.
Along with this virtual assistant comes a web admin interface that helps the city with Korana’s performance analysis, enables new updates, as well as gives a chance to update her book of knowledge and gathers unanswered questions. All of these functionalities are made with one main purpose – to be the groundwork for improving user experience in the long run.
Korana can be reached on the official website of Karlovac, via the Viber city community group, and soon through the Messenger. Once the conversation starts, she offers different topics that might be of interest to the user, gives a chance to ask a question if the user already has one in mind, or proposes quick access to the latest news.
Korana currently shares with people information regarding utilities, construction and housing, financial support, business and investments, tenders and public calls and forms, as well as contact information or working hours of the city administration.
The mentioned admin application is connected with the chatbot to give insights to admins such as usage analytics, chat history, list of unanswered questions, etc. If those analyses show that modifying or adding more QnA pairs could be of use, there is a knowledge base editor that allows customizing Korana’s area of expertise at a moment’s notice.
Furthermore, due to the current situation, it is possible to update the news section regarding the pandemic at any moment through this admin interface so that chatbot can offer the latest and accurate information.
bonsai.tech was one of the first to recognize the need for a change in communication between the city administration and citizens and decided to partner with the City of Karlovac in order to create a valuable tool that could help not only Karlovac but other cities as well to overcome current challenges with modern solutions.
Chatbots are user-friendly solutions that can bring great benefits, leading of which are fast information distribution, a decrease in workload of administration personnel, upgrading communication with citizens, and becoming a trendy and smart city.
Korana has enabled insights into citizens’ interests. It provides us with quick and easy access to information through channels that citizens most frequently use.
- Damir Mandić, The Mayor of the City of Karlovac
