Medway Council

With more than 10% of homeowners in the UK now accessing information via voice-activated devices such as Alexa, is there an opportunity to make use of this technology to make our customers’ lives easier and reduce costs for the council?

As a council, we hold a lot of data about our residents. Combining this data with the capabilities of voice activated technology could allow users to more easily fulfil transactions, find out information and receive automatic reminders. For example, combining location data with waste information could allow customers to find out their bin day and get a reminder to put out their rubbish. Linking house data with council tax information could allow users to find out their council tax balance and pay through a voice-activated command.

Combining data and technology could reduce contact through more expensive channels and reduce back office activity including debt recovery activity. For customers, it could help reduce missed deadlines (payments, appointments) and penalties.

We’d like to conduct a discovery phase to identify the viability of combing data sets with the functionality of voice-activated devices to help customers better transact with council services.