From now on, a new colleague – virtual assistant Mona – is joining the collective of the Bank of Latvia, formed on the basis of the Latvian State Administration's language technology platform Hugo.lv.
Mona will help visitors to the bank.lv website of the Bank of Latvia to receive answers to the most frequently asked questions about the services provided by the central bank (in the areas of cash, Credit Register, etc.) at any time of the day. Soon the virtual assistant will also be involved in answering questions received on Facebook about the Bank of Latvia's activities.
Building on the opportunities provided by the Hugo.lv platform, a number of national administrations have already been set up, providing a modern tool for communication with the public and enabling citizens to easily receive answers to questions of interest. A botched project of public administration negotiations is being implemented by the Centre for Cultural Information Systems, attracting funds from European Union funds. The technology partner in the project is the TILDE Ltd, which provides expertise and experience over the years in the development of language technologies and associated artificial intelligence solutions.
The Virtual Assistant of the Bank of Latvia, Mona, is a customer-oriented tool available at any time of the day and provides answers to the most frequently asked questions about the services of the Bank of Latvia online in the form of correspondence. In communication, Mona uses a simple and easy-to-understand expression while maintaining a business-to-business communication style. To make communication more customer-friendly and discerning, Mona has a personified image.
Mona is already able to answer a wide range of questions about the Bank of Latvia and the services provided by it, but the arsenal of answers will be constantly updated. Leads are invited to report on communication with Mona by sending comments to the Mona@bank.lv e-mail address.
Harijs Ozols, head of the Bank of Latvia's Information Technology Administration: "Developing new technologies at the same time is both a challenge and an opportunity for central banks. They are increasingly entering our lives, making everyday and work easier. The Bank of Latvia sees widespread possibilities for the use of modern solutions in different areas – from innovative interbank payments (flashing, flashing) and continuing to receive significant financial information on itself, the sector and the economy as a whole (Credit register, financial statistics).
The involvement of a new – virtual – colleague in customer service is another step in making the Bank of Latvia's services more convenient and accessible to citizens. Mona has both a practical role in helping customers of the Bank of Latvia at a time when “ordinary” employees are not available, and a symbolic role in demonstrating the opportunities provided by modern technologies in the work of any modern organisation. "
Janis Ziedins, head of the Hugo.lv project of the Centre for Cultural Information Systems: "Increasingly, public administrations choose to create virtual assistants of their websites on the language technology platform Hugo.lv, which is a particularly developed, innovative technological solution with wide-ranging capabilities to support public administration services. It is pleased that an extremely important and representative institution such as the Bank of Latvia has also assessed our offer and chosen to use it for communication with the public.
Cooperation with different types of public authorities in the development of negotiating botnets is an invaluable experience that is useful in creating high-value-added technology-based services for artificial intelligence. Moreover, this experience is also available at international level, since Latvia is the first country in Europe to offer institutions a virtual assistant service based on a single platform, thereby creating significant resource savings. "
Martins Suna, developer of the artificial intelligence business, SIA “TILDE”: "The use of virtual assistants greatly enhances the experience of the organization's clients by helping to quickly find answers or obtain information of interest on a broad, relatively simple set of topics. At the same time, such a virtual colleague helps to significantly reduce the burden on customer support professionals, who often have to answer the same or similar simple customer questions many times. Employees who work with clients can focus on handling more complex requests and solving complex problems.
Our experience shows that someone's ability to ask the same question in another way is almost unlimited, so the questions asked must be constantly monitored to understand what and how users want to find out. That is why we call for virtual assistants to be released for public testing as soon as possible, enabling artificial intelligence to learn from real client issues. "
For reference
The Bank of Latvia is the central bank of Latvia, an independent institution and a member of the Eurosystem. The Bank of Latvia's main objective is the same as the other central banks of the euro area countries and the European Central Bank – price stability (inflation below 2% in the medium term, but close to it). This is an essential prerequisite for a strong, growth-oriented economy and the Bank of Latvia is participating in the preparation and implementation of Eurosystem monetary policy decisions.
The Bank of Latvia develops macroeconomic and financial analysis and research, thus creating a secure basis for smart action in these areas. The role of the sector expert helps the Bank of Latvia to promote public awareness of the development of the economic and money system, the current situation and the economic policy implemented. The Bank of Latvia is also active in the field of economic education.
While acting in the interests of society and the economy, the Bank of Latvia carries out a number of important tasks for every citizen, financial markets and society as a whole:
– contribute to the preparation and implementation of monetary policy in the euro area;
- issue cash in Latvia and participate in ensuring the circulation of cash in the euro area;
– ensuring the function of the country's unified centre for identifying suspicious money marks;
– maintain the infrastructure of interbank payment systems (including flash payments infrastructure);
manage external reserves and other financial investments;
- act as financial agent of the Latvian Government and provide financial services to other market participants;
– drawing up and publishing financial, monetary and balance of payments statistics;
– maintain and develop a Credit Register;
- advise the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia and the Cabinet on monetary policy and other matters related to the activities of the Bank of Latvia.
Press service of the Bank of Latvia
Phone. 67022594; 67022384