This year, the Social Fund expanded its advising capabilities through the unified call center (8-800-10-000-01) so that Russians can receive the required information faster and easier. The advantages of artificial intelligence are used increasingly more often for that purpose. The specific AI solutions implemented in the call center's operations were discussed at today's meeting of the Social Fund Board.
One of this year's major improvements when it comes to consulting was the upgrade of the contact center's voice-generating technologies. Those who call the Social Fund's hotline can notice this in the digital assistant's performance. The assistant takes all incoming calls at the initial stage of communication. The speech-synthesizing neural network has made the assistant's voice more natural and empathetic, which makes its responses easier to understand by ear.
As they pointed out at the meeting, the digital assistant has also learned to analyze incoming inquiries, including by speech and emotional behavior. This allows to route the caller more accurately to the appropriate consultant. Artificial intelligence helps operators as well. Specifically, based on the caller's inquiry, it supplies them with more relevant information from the expert database. The AI assistant also suggests wordings to the operator to improve the accuracy of their response.
Another useful addition that many clients will appreciate is a simpler way to search for the nearest Social Fund office via the call center. Now you can formulate your request in any way, for example, by naming only the city district where you plan to visit the Fund, and the digital assistant will suggest possible options with the exact address of the nearest office. On top of that, the assistant can book an appointment at the Fund on its own, without handling the call over to an operator. An already scheduled visit can be moved or canceled in the same manner.
The call center now also helps elderly people with visiting Communication Centers for Seniors. They function in virtually all Russian regions to offer the elderly useful leisure activities. Operators inform them on the venues where they can attend lectures on a healthy lifestyle, take computer literacy courses or take part in masterclasses, and immediately direct them to an appropriate center based on their inquiry.
The capabilities of the online chat on the Fund's website were concurrently expanded. The key innovation was the option to get advice containing personal data. For that purpose, a personal ID verification function is provided directly within the chat form. This allows for clarifying data, such as the amount of assigned payouts, work duration and other confidential information, with no operator involvement. Additionally, in December, the online chat was also introduced into Max, the Russian-made messenger app.
Next year, the Social Fund is going to develop the call center's functionality further. Plans include, in particular, launching video calls and increasing the training pace of the digital assistant, thus helping further automate consultations.
Remarkably, this year, the Social Fund call center handled 33.6 million citizen inquiries. The most popular topic was applying for the unified allowance for children under 17 and mothers-to-be. This is one of the most widespread social benefits in Russia, currently provided to 9.7 million people, which explains the keen interest to it. A quarter of all inquiries to the call center in January concerned this benefit. Russians were also interested in questions related to pensions and maternity capital, with those topics taking second and third place in popularity after the unified allowance.
The Board meeting today also discussed the development of the system for tracking the pension entitlements of Russians, services for disabled individuals at the Social Fund's flagship offices, as well as the Fund's budget for the next year and the financing of measures to reduce workplace incidents and occupational diseases.
For reference, the Social Fund Board is a collegial governing body. In addition to the Fund management, it includes representatives from the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Finance, Bank of Russia, the State Duma, and the Federation Council. Representatives of professional and public organizations also serve on the Board. Its meetings take place several times a year to discuss current issues and tasks facing the Social Fund.