Yandex Robot Operator Answers Calls from Muscovites

Moscow’s Department of Information Technology has launched a pilot project with Yandex.Cloud. Jointly developed advanced technologies have helped to improve the Citywide Contact Centre’s virtual operator, which calls up Muscovites to check whether their complaints to the Unified Dispatch Centre have been resolved.

Around 50% of all outgoing calls by the virtual operator are using the Yandex.Cloud AI technology now.

“Muscovites are already familiar with our Contact Centre’s virtual operator. We are continuing to improve this technology and running a pilot project using Yandex’s latest developments,” said Andrey Savitsky, Head of the Citywide Contact Centre.

“Using speech synthesis and recognition saves staff time and means that they can be redeployed from routine and emotionally difficult operations to other work. At the same time, the quality of the work with feedback thanks to this collaboration has improved,” commented Oleg Koverznev, Business Development Director at Yandex.Cloud.

Since the pilot was launched, the robot has called over 100,000 people. Statistics show that in this time the virtual operator has become more efficient: the number of citizens who complete the dialogue with it has increased by 12%.

“The joint project is helping us to improve speech synthesis and recognition technologies. In addition, it’s providing practical guidance on how users react to the virtual operator’s male and female voices. Some studies have established that it is the male voice that users react best to,” noted Savitsky.

Background Information

The virtual operator has been used on the Citywide Contact Centre’s lines since 2014. In that time, it has received over 10 million calls. The virtual operator is now processing around 40% of all incoming calls. 20.3% of calls to the robot are about water meter readings and 19% are to find out if a document has been issued. A further 15.5% are queries about the addresses and contact details of housing management companies, and almost the same number again (14.5%) are about the addresses and contact details of Moscow’s Multi-Functional Centres.

In early 2019, the Citywide Contact Centre received awards in two categories at once: Best Operator-Free Customer Service Practice” and “Best Application of Automation, Robotisation and Artificial Intelligence”.

Moscow’s Citywide Contact Centre has been in operation since 2011. It processes 3 million queries every month. Around 90% of calls are made to the city’s most popular hotlines: the Moscow Unified Directory Service ( +7 (495) 777-77-77), the Unified Dispatch Centre (+7 (495) 539-53-53), the Unified Doctor’s Appointment Service  ( +7 (495) 539-30-00), the Moscow Transport Contact Centre ( +7 (495) 539-54-54), technical support for the State Services Portal ( +7 (495) 539-55-55) and the hotline for submitting individual water meter readings ( +7 (495) 539-25-25).