Case Study: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine improves citizen communications with Codec’s AI chatbot solution

Department of Agriculture handles 6,000 chatbot visits in 6 months with Codec-dss

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine faced high call volumes from farmers seeking information on grants and needed a 24/7 communication tool to reduce pressure on its call centre while improving service. For this challenge, they engaged vendor Codec, who utilized Microsoft Power Virtual Agents and Azure Cognitive Services as the foundation for a tailored chatbot solution.

Codec implemented a custom AI-powered chatbot by extending Microsoft's core tools with a specially configured "helper" bot, creating a unique system for personalized citizen interactions. The results, measured in the first six months after launch, included over 6,000 visits handled and more than 900 questions answered autonomously, projecting adoption by roughly 14,000 farmers. This success has positioned the department to expand the chatbot's capabilities to further use cases.

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine