How did the City of Villefranche-sur-Saône roll out an AI-powered citizen chatbot?

The challenge: turning the website redesign into an opportunity to strengthen the user experience

A new website, and a commitment to further expanding access to information.

Rethinking the User Experience Through a Website Redesign

In 2024, the City of Villefranche-sur-Saône began redesigning its website, the previous version of which dated back to 2012. This project was part of a broader effort to modernize the city’s digital tools, with one goal in mind: to make information accessible to everyone and to provide solutions tailored to each user’s needs. The city’s objectives were as follows:

• Facilitate access to information: enable residents to quickly find answers to their questions.
• Offer a service that is available around the clock: respond at any time, even outside of business hours.
• Ensuring accessibility for all: providing clear solutions tailored to the needs of each user.
• Equip receptionists: give them immediate access to reliable information so they can assist visitors.

The goal: to provide residents with quick, accessible, and always-available answers, as part of the website redesign.

The solution: a citizen chatbot based on generative AI, integrated into the city’s website

A solution tailored to local governments, with long-term support.

AI Designed for Local Governments

To meet these objectives, and at the mayor’s initiative, the city has decided to equip its new website with an AI-powered citizen chatbot: a single point of access to information, available around the clock, that understands residents’ questions as they are phrased in their own words and provides them with clear answers.

It selected Wikit Semantics, one of the first platforms on the market to offer an AI-powered chatbot tailored to the needs of cities and local governments.

To respond to residents on its official website, the City had established specific criteria: transparency toward users, data security, the reliability of responses, access to the questions asked, and the availability of the tool. Beyond these criteria, three factors made the difference:

• An understanding of the challenges facing the public sector.
• The Wikitteams' abilityto provide support.
• The ease of implementation of the solution.

→ Explore the Wikit Semantics platform

A four-month rollout, continuous improvement

Following an initial meeting in the fall of 2024, the project moved forward at a steady pace:

• Weekly follow-up meetings, supplemented by the Wikit teams' high availability between meetings.
• Content-focused preparation: ensuring the quality and organization of the website’s information—a process that was already well underway during the redesign.
• The website went live about four months after the initial discussions.
• Ongoing support: Since the launch, the City and the Wikit team have remained in constant contact to further develop the citizen chatbot.

A tool for residents and staff

From the outset, the City intended for the citizen chatbot to serve both users and city employees, particularly those responsible for customer service and user relations. Since the website was already designed as the primary resource for answering common questions, the chatbot reinforced this purpose by making information even more accessible.

The results: a citizen chatbot embraced by both residents and city employees

Simplified access to information, better-equipped teams.

For Residents: Get Started Right Away

• Rapid adoption: Residents quickly embraced the chatbot, which is now widely used.
• A new search habit: Statistics show a decline in the use of the site’s traditional search engine, a sign that the chatbot is effectively meeting users’ information needs.
• Answers are always available: residents can get an answer at any time.

For Agents: Reliable Information at Your Fingertips

• Support in everyday work: Front-desk staff have immediate access to reliable, up-to-date information without having to look it up during a call.
• Fewer inquiries on certain topics: Users have gotten into the habit of consulting the chatbot before sending an email, which has led to a decrease in inquiries on these topics.
• More time for support: departments are devoting more attention to situations that require specific analysis or follow-up.
• Staff members who actively use the tool: they are often the ones who flag information that needs to be updated.

For Communication: An Indicator of Residents' Needs

Analyzing the questions asked allows communications teamsto identify information that is missing or not sufficiently highlighted on the website, and to adapt the content accordingly.

The View from Villefranche-sur-Saône