Turbocharging Public Service: How AI Is Powering The Next Chapter of Citizen Experience

In a world where citizens expect instant answers, seamless digital journeys, and human empathy when it counts, UK public sector contact centres are facing a familiar challenge: do more with less. Budgets are tight, demand is rising, and the expectation for high-quality, omnichannel service isn’t going anywhere.

In an episode of 8x8’s CX Mastery Series, Efficiency Unleashed: Turbocharge Your CX Operations with AI for Maximum Impact, Tim Whitbrod, Director of CX Specialists at 8x8, and Claire Penny, Customer Service Manager at Lichfield District Council, explore how artificial intelligence can transform the way local government teams work—and serve.

The pressure to perform: More contacts, less capacity.link to this section

As Tim shares, today’s contact centres are navigating a perfect storm of change. Interaction volumes are up 16% according to the 2024 Gartner Forecast Analysis of Contact Centers Worldwide, yet teams are shrinking. Citizens want answers fast, but not always by phone—they’re moving across chat, social, email, and self-service portals.

Meanwhile, many organisations are juggling multiple systems: one for voice, another for chat, another for analytics. It’s a fragmented setup that drives frustration for customers and agents alike. The result? Missed opportunities, longer handle times, and a loss of efficiency worth 20–30% of revenue every year, as reported by IDC.

For the public sector, where every pound is scrutinised, that’s a cost too high to ignore.

So how do you deliver faster, fairer, more accessible citizen services—without adding more people, tools, or admin?

Enter AI.

A local council’s leap: Lichfield’s Story of doing more with less.link to this section

Lichfield District Council serves over 106,000 residents—handling everything from council tax and business rates to elections, planning, and waste collection. Like so many local councils the team faced a familiar dilemma: demand wasn’t dropping, but budgets were.

“We had to spend as little as possible while dealing with as much as possible,” Claire explains. “For me, that meant freeing my team from the mundane, repetitive signposting tasks so they could focus on the residents who really needed help.”

The solution wasn’t to go big—it was to start small and smart.

Claire’s team identified 18 high-volume, low-complexity queries that could be automated using 8x8’s conversational AI. These included tasks like signposting citizens to the correct department or providing standard information on registering to vote.

By starting with simple “the answer is the answer” intents, Lichfield launched AI quickly, saw fast results, and built confidence to expand.

Simplify, don’t overcomplicate.link to this section

There’s a valuable lesson here for every public sector leader: success doesn’t start with sweeping transformation. It starts with clarity.

Claire’s advice? “Think about what you would want as a customer—start there. Don’t think of what works for the business. Forget the business. Start with what works for the customer, and then make the business fit it.”

Too many AI projects stall under the weight of over-analysis. Lichfield avoided that trap. They didn’t wait to map every process. They listened to their front-line agents, trusted their insight, and tackled the simplest use cases first.

And it paid off.

Since going live, 17% of inbound queries are now handled automatically—saving an estimated 17 hours of adviser time each week. That’s time reinvested into more meaningful citizen interactions, not lost to repetitive FAQs.

Even better? No complaints. Not one.

As Claire proudly notes, “We’ve had no negative comments at all about introducing AI—which, for a local council, is huge.”

When AI and people work hand in hand.link to this section

What’s striking about Lichfield’s story is what they didn’t automate.

They resisted the temptation to let AI “do it all.” Instead, they designed their system to hand over seamlessly to a human adviser whenever the issue was personal, complex, or required action.

It’s a small design decision with a big impact: citizens never feel trapped in a bot loop. They get help fast—whether that’s from a machine or a person.

As Tim puts it, this is what beautiful CX looks like: smart automation that enhances empathy, not replaces it.

Why 8x8? One platform. Endless potential.link to this section

For Claire, choosing 8x8 was about more than a single AI tool. It was about uniting everything under one roof—voice, chat, analytics, automation—all managed from a single platform that’s simple enough for her own team to control day-to-day.

“No blockers for customers. No complexity for staff,” she says. “It’s been the easiest project I’ve ever worked on.”

That simplicity matters. It means local authorities can launch AI in weeks, not months. Adjust scripts without coding. And expand capabilities—from agent assist to workflow automation—as their confidence grows.

As Tim reminds viewers, “You don’t have to adopt everything at once. Start with one use case. Build from there. The platform grows with you.”

Ready to unlock efficiency?link to this section

Public sector contact centres don’t need another dashboard. They need a partner. Someone who understands the realities of government—the budget pressures, the accountability, the duty to serve.

That’s what 8x8’s Platform for CX delivers: clarity, consolidation, and control. The tools to do more with less—and to make it look effortless.

If Lichfield can transform citizen service in weeks, what’s possible for your council?

Watch the full conversation with Lichfield District Council and discover how AI can unleash efficiency in your own CX operations.