FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orleans Parish Communication District Taps Citibot to Enhance Resident
Communication and Meet Increased Demand for Services
New “Jazz” system launches today to streamline information sharing and improve customer service
NEW ORLEANS (June 15, 2021) – Citibot, the leading provider of interactive chat solutions for local government, announced today that the City of New Orleans launched “Jazz,” a communications platform powered by Citibot’s web and text chat solutions.
“Now more than ever, it is important that we continue to find ways to improve emergency and non-emergency response for the residents we serve,” said City of New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. “This new function will allow us to provide accessible communication tools to our residents and better connect them to our reliable NOLA-311 team. This partnership gives us another opportunity to meet our people where they are.”
Shortly after the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, NOLA-311, New Orleans’ primary source of local government information and non-emergency services, experienced an unprecedented 350 percent surge in call volume.
NOLA-311 staff worked quickly to address the challenges presented by the sudden surge in call volume, and drove efforts to continue providing the level of service that was expected of them from residents and visitors alike. Adding to that, the local 9-1-1 system was experiencing a heavy influx of non-emergency calls, compounding the challenge.
“We quickly realized that we needed to diversify our communications platform and streamline the way we were delivering our services,” said Tyrell Morris, Executive Director of Orleans Parish Communication District. “With Citibot, we can leverage AI-powered technology to better serve residents, 24/7, further ensuring their requests are added to the system, easily and accurately.”
By texting “Hello” to Jazz at 311YES (311937), residents, visitors and businesses can ask questions, make service requests, search for information and receive an immediate response. They can also choose to use the web chat at both nola.gov/311 and opcdla.gov to access the same information and services, and directly contact NOLA-311 staff.
“We are proud to partner with OPCD and NOLA-311 during this unprecedented time to help them better meet their community’s needs while building a modern, sustainable customer service platform,” said Bratton Riley, Citibot founder and CEO. “Once again, New Orleans is demonstrating transformational and innovative leadership with residents at the heart of their work.”
Developed leveraging the latest AI-driven chatbot technology, machine learning and natural language processing, Citibot Web Chat can handle the day-to-day needs of governments and their residents, and has a specific capability to respond to COVID-19 questions and needs.
Citibot Web Chat complements its existing automated communication tools, including Text Chat and Interactive Text Alerts initially developed in 2017 to facilitate ease of communication and make government accessible for all. Citibot is the only provider with complete integration features to provide full-resolution customer service chat solutions in the local government marketplace.
Municipalities around the country use Citibot to scale customer service, build rich data for real-time decision making, increase workforce productivity and save money.
For more information about Citibot Web Chat or to schedule a demo, visit www.citibot.io.
About Citibot:
Citibot is a leading provider of interactive chat solutions for local governments to use for efficient and effective communication and civic change. Using smart text messaging and web chat technology, Citibot helps residents get answers to questions, make service requests, send personalized messages, and receive notifications. For more information visit http://citibot.io or connect with Citibot on Facebook (/citibotio) or Twitter (@citibot_io).
About Orleans Parish Communications District (www.OPCDLA.gov)
Formed in 1982, the Orleans Parish Communication District is the public safety answering point (PSAP) for all emergency communications via 9-1-1 within Orleans Parish. The agency employs over 140 individuals and provides emergency medical dispatch, emergency fire dispatch, and emergency police dispatch for the millions of annual visitors and residents of the City of New Orleans. OPCD is a member of the Association of Public Safety Communication Officials (APCO) and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA).
OPCD Contact:
Chelsea Porché
OPCD Public Engagement Manager
504.508.0366
[email protected]
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