Can AI help immigration services without making decisions?

How do you redesign a public service used by people from almost every country in the world?

In this episode of Transform Gov, Maeve Kneafsey speaks with Paul Rooney and Roshan Wijesinghe from the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration about the Department’s digital contact centre for immigration services.

This is a story about far more than technology.

The Department was dealing with high volumes of applications, fragmented helpdesks, repeated queries, multiple languages, anxious users and staff under pressure. The response was not simply to “build a portal”. It was to redesign the service around users, staff, language, culture, trust and delivery.

The conversation explores:

• Why the project was service-design-led, not technology-led
• How the Department moved towards a more joined-up applicant view
• Why translation is not the same as localisation
• How plain English, tone of voice and visuals helped make the service easier to use
• How personas helped the team understand both immigration applicants and internal staff
• How Microsoft Dynamics, automation and AI-supported tools are helping staff manage information and queries
• Why AI is not being used to make immigration decisions
• How identity verification helped tackle appointment-booking abuse
• Why business-led change management was critical
• What other public sector teams can learn from the project

For CIOs, digital leaders, service designers, customer service teams and anyone working on AI or transformation in the public sector, this is a practical look at what digital government really requires: clear purpose, better data, better communication, staff involvement and strong safeguards.

Transform Gov is part of the Ireland eGovernment Awards and is brought to you in partnership with Accenture.

Find out more at www.digitalgovawards.com

Digital government, public sector transformation, Department of Justice, immigration services, AI in government, public sector AI, Microsoft Dynamics, digital contact centre, service design, multilingual services, digital identity, change management, GovTech, Ireland eGovernment Awards, Transform Gov, customer service, public service reform

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