Chatbots, or "conversational agents", are virtual assistants that help people find information more easily. There are only ten of them in Serbia. The best among them is the virtual MIA officer that Šabac and Sombor have.
It is possible to start a conversation with Mia with the questions "How are you" or "What are you doing" and she will answer naturally like other people and after that she will help you find out the necessary information, for example about the right to child or parental allowance, the amount of tax debt, she will clarify your doubts about the tax certificate, the working hours of the city administration counter, or about some other administrative service.
Citizens of Šabac and Sombor can report a communal problem or order extracts from registers and certificates of citizenship and receive them at their home address, businessmen and investors can find out everything they are interested in about business development in the city, incentives, taxes and fees.
The newest service that was introduced in Šabac is scheduling an appointment to conclude a marriage, and future newlyweds send the necessary information to the registrar via Viber, so that everything will be ready for them when they come to the registry office.
MIA was developed with the support of GIZ, the SAGA company and the NALED partnership. In order to make citizens' contact with the bureaucracy as easy as possible, NALED advocates the adoption of a national strategy or other planning document on the more massive introduction of chatbot technology in public administration, especially in local governments.
Global research shows that chatbots can handle the entire conversation with the user in 69% of cases, and that they reduce the cost of providing service to the user by 30%. Two thirds of users are satisfied with their service.
Since the outbreak of the corona virus pandemic, chatbots are the fastest growing channel of communication between companies and consumers.
S.Ć./FoNet
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