Department of Transport and Planning achieves 48% more automation with Virtual Agent

Connecting people and places across Victoria

The Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) is a Victorian Government agency responsible for the state’s transport, planning and land use services. It provides public transport to more than 515 million passengers a year, as well as travel information through the Transport Victoria website. Customers typically go online to plan journeys and access information on the contactless payments system, myki. 

A broken legacy chatbot prevents self-service 

Victoria's public transport network operates all hours of the day, and for customers, the need for support doesn’t confine itself to business hours. Service disruptions, timetable changes and myki issues can happen anytime, so having a seamless digital experience is crucial.

A legacy chatbot had intended to enable self-service on the Transport Victoria website by serving relevant information and support in response to customer inputs. However, the functionality was limited to addressing FAQs through restrictive, predefined menus that trapped users in loops. Unable to offer answers, the chatbot inadvertently drove up live chat volumes. 

Human agents spent valuable time resolving straightforward myki enquiries, which could have been avoided through proactive chatbot maintenance. While logic enhancements were possible, CX and operations managers were unable to make the necessary improvements themselves. Even the simplest changes called for an in-house or outsourced developer and were often cost-prohibitive. 

When the chatbot reached end of life, DTP approached Probe CX for guidance on replacing the ineffective tool with a modern, user-friendly solution.

Project goal

Replace the legacy chatbot with a like-for-like alternative that would uplift self-service and reduce live chat volumes. 

Introducing: an intelligent AI-powered Virtual Agent

Probe CX deployed the Oration Virtual Agent, a conversational AI platform featuring interactive capabilities that engage customers in conversations, supported by a resource library. 

Oration’s Virtual Agent is powered by an AI intent matcher and enhanced by Natural Language Understanding (NLU) and Natural Language Processing (NLP); these technologies enable the agent to understand human language contextually and process it. This means the user experience is no longer menu-driven; it’s now conversational and intuitive. 

Completing simple, repeatable tasks, such as sourcing information on myki types, is where the Virtual Agent excels. For example, it's able to explain the differences between card types and help customers find the most appropriate card for their needs, enabling effective self-service. 

While technology has its place, Probe CX recognised the value of maintaining human connection through seamless escalation to Genesys Web Messaging. Jacqui Smalley, Senior Manager of Digital Customer Success at Probe CX, says it’s important to keep the ‘human in the loop’. 

“The Virtual Agent can handle one hundred per cent of the work, but we never let it because people still need to talk to a human. Say, there’s an emergency on a train track. You don’t trust a bot to respond immediately, even though it could. 

We’re always going to involve human agents in highly complex, important interactions where empathy is required.” 

Additionally, the inbuilt AI intent matcher understands customer questions with less manual intervention than the legacy chatbot. In the instance where the Virtual Agent needs fine-tuning, such as accommodating a new intent, Probe CX is able to go live within minutes, ensuring the tool meets the intent next time.

From ineffective to optimised in just six weeks

Implementation of the Oration Virtual Agent resulted in significant improvements to DTP’s CX operations, while delivering a more positive digital customer experience. Now front and back-end users can seamlessly achieve their goals, whether they want to find myki information or optimise for engagement. 

In just six weeks, the Virtual Agent achieved tangible results: 

Crucially, improvements can be made ad hoc, as evidenced by accommodating 38 additional customer goals in the first two weeks of go-live. 

Probe CX’s monthly customer success meetings strive to continually optimise the Virtual Agent’s performance and the client’s operations, taking emerging pain points into account. Proposed future optimisations include automating customer refunds, further minimising reliance on human agents, as well as incorporating Victorian roads information for enhanced self-service.