Skip to main content
How Can We Help?Contact

Success story · A major US city's 311 service

AI-driven information delivery helped a city provide accurate health and service communications amidst a global pandemic.

One trusted, ZIP-localised source during a misinformation period

A major US city—home to about a million residents in 2020 and serving a metro of more than two million—relied on 311 as its front door for city services and resident information. During the COVID-19 surge in 2020, The city and its county had to push rapidly changing public health guidance, testing information, and location-specific resources to a fast-growing population through channels people already trusted, especially 311.

Bring us your decision Download the PDF
Government & public sectorResident servicesGenerative AI & agents
Impact
One trusted, ZIP-localised source during a misinformation period
01The Situation

The Situation

Business Problem

As COVID-19 cases climbed past 10,000 in July 2020 and guidance changed quickly, resident call demand for “Where do I go?”, “What’s open?”, and “What’s today’s rule?” spiked. 311 agents were spending too much time on repeat COVID FAQs while some answers depended on the caller’s ZIP code—different areas had different nearby clinics, testing sites, or medical centers. The city wanted a reliable way to handle high volumes of pandemic questions, route people to the right local resource, and keep information current without retraining the whole call center every time guidance shifted.

02The Challenge

The Challenge

Whatever we built had to live inside the existing 311 experience, not as a separate website bot, and had to be simple for the city teams to refresh as public health content evolved. It also had to capture a caller’s ZIP and return location-appropriate instructions—“go to this medical center”—while preserving a clean escalation path to a human agent.

03The Solution

The Solution

We designed and deployed a conversational AI assistant directly in the city’s 311 COVID information flow so residents could self-serve the latest FAQs and get ZIP-based directions to the right medical facility before reaching an agent.

How the system works RESIDENT311 ASSISTANTRESPONSECalls 311Plain language01Maps question to an entry02Captures the caller’s ZIP03Answers from the curated FAQStaff FAQSites by ZIPUPDATED WITHOUT CODE CHANGESANSWERED · LOCALISED“Here’s where youcan go today”TO A 311 AGENTAnything outside theplaybook, with contextONE TRUSTED SOURCE DURINGA MISINFORMATION PERIOD
  • 01Direct 311 integrationThe assistant sat in the actual 311 call flow, absorbing high-volume COVID questions so agents could focus on complex or urgent resident issues.
  • 02Curated, updatable COVID knowledge baseCity staff could update FAQs—testing sites, hours, eligibility, closures—without code changes, keeping answers aligned with the city’s public-health authority communications.
  • 03ZIP-code capture and routing logicCallers provided their ZIP, and the assistant responded with the appropriate nearby medical center or resource for that area.
  • 04Conversational intelligenceThe platform interpreted resident questions phrased in plain language and mapped them to the right COVID entry, reducing misroutes.
  • 05Agent handoffAny issue outside the COVID playbook or requiring judgment was passed to a 311 agent with context, preserving service quality.

Impact

What changed, as reported.

The figures as printed in the firm's own case-study collateral — nothing rounded or annualised.

One trusted, ZIP-localised source during a misinformation period

This hotline upgrade turned 311 into a scalable public-health information channel at the exact moment the city needed it. Instead of overwhelming agents with repeat questions from nearly a million residents, the assistant answered the common COVID inquiries instantly and, crucially, tailored guidance by ZIP so people heard, “Here’s where you can go today,” not generic advice. Because content owners could refresh FAQs as conditions changed, the city kept a single, trusted source of truth in a period when misinformation was easy to spread. In short, we helped the city keep 311 responsive, local, and accurate during one of its highest-demand periods of the pandemic.

Data & AI is our singular focus. Data Products is a diverse firm with senior and executive data scientists focused on fully developing project solutions that leverage advanced mathematics and data that drive tangible insights that optimize your organization’s operations.

Download the PDF →

Client background

A major US city's 311 service.

A major US city—home to about a million residents in 2020 and serving a metro of more than two million—relied on 311 as its front door for city services and resident information. During the COVID-19 surge in 2020, The city and its county had to push rapidly changing public health guidance, testing information, and location-specific resources to a fast-growing population through channels people already trusted, especially 311.

Where it leads

The practice behind it, and the starter service that opens the same door.

If your situation resembles this one, the starter service is the fixed-scope way in — scoped with you, fixed fee, before you commit to anything.

The practice

Generative AI & agents

Where this engagement was delivered, and where the work continues at scale.

 Start here

AI & Agent Pilot

The fixed-scope, fixed-fee engagement that starts work like this.

Start from the decision

Bring us the decision you need to make, not the story that looks closest.

Describe what you are trying to decide, what is already in place and who has to sign it off. We will tell you how closely it resembles this engagement — and which starter service it points to — before you commit to anything.

The decisionWhat has to be decided, and by when
What is in placeSystems, data, the people who own them
Who signs it offBoard, risk, legal, a function head
How close this isWhere your situation differs from this one
Bring us your decision All case studies

Not sure where to start? The Assessment Sprint scores six readiness dimensions against your own systems, in two weeks.

Does your decision look like this one? Bring us the decision, not the story.

Bring us your decision
Bring us your decision