Munich District Administration Office

Chatbot KIndl

The Munich District Administration Office (KVR) is responsible for answering questions about elections. Previously, citizens could contact KVR employees with their concerns by phone during service hours or search for answers on the website. This process was unsatisfactory for many Munich residents, who could not find their concerns on the website's FAQs or had to deal with long waits on the hotline, with a success rate of only 5-20%. For example, a KVR staff member told us that before and on election days, up to 2,000 inquiries are received per day, which the telephone hotline can only handle with a high staffing level on these peak days.

In general, the KVR has set itself the guiding principle Munich.Digital.Experience: the vision of restructuring Munich by 2025 into a future-oriented and sustainable metropolis that uses digitization to make Munich a contemporary experience for all residents. The city of Munich has committed itself to the strategic principles of the digitization strategy, including sustainability, openness and transparency, and customer orientation.

With this in mind, a solution was sought and found for the problems surrounding questions about elections: the AI-supported chatbot KIndl, based on the Münchner Kindl and the technology used.

KIndl is integrated on the website of the city of Munich and thus easy to find for all those who are looking for answers to their questions around the election on the website. The operation is simple and intuitive even when used for the first time, as the chatbot communicates proactively and responds to the needs of user:s by asking questions during the conversation. If KIndl does not find a satisfactory answer to a question, KVR employees can take over the chat - if desired by users.

The chatbot provides voters and election workers with quick and reliable answers at all times - of course in compliance with all prescribed data protection regulations. Feedback from Munich residents also shows that the introduction of KIndl has been a complete success: "The new chatbot saves me a lot of time getting answers about the upcoming election, even after office hours!" said Katharina, one of the many election workers at the upcoming regional elections.

"After our first collaboration with the University of Applied Sciences Munich, we are thrilled with the developed result and the concept of the Co-Innovation Lab" says Leo Beck, Business Manager and Deputy Election Manager at KVR. "The chatbot prototype provides a proof-of-concept and serves as a guide for further development and later use on our homepage to improve the service for our citizens. We sincerely thank and appreciate the great collaboration with the students."

Since KIndl can now answer the majority of questions, KVR employees are relieved. In addition, KIndl enables them to devote more time to the remaining telephone inquiries.

Therefore, the City of Munich is pleased: "With KIndl, we have a chatbot that is available around the clock. The launch will improve the experience for Munich's citizens. People won't have to wait on the phone line to get reliable answers to their questions. In addition, KIndl will lighten the load on KVR's staff:ing the telephone hotline and help us provide better service. It's a win-win situation!"