One of Scotland’s largest local authorities is using the Microsoft Cloud to transform its social care services by designing a new ecosystem in partnership with its own social workers.
Aberdeen City Council, a local government in Scotland with 8,000 employees, faced increased demand for services like healthcare, mental health, and housing amid budget cuts and workforce shortages.
Aberdeen City Council has been working with Microsoft to drive a cutting-edge programme to upscale and redesign services for 230,000 people in the area.
Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 is being used to bring adult and children’s social care data and workflows together in one place, where staff will be able to record, share and analyse information with greater ease, supported by automation.
365 Copilot Productivity
As this case study describes to address administrative overload and enhance service delivery for its 230,000 residents, the Council deployed Microsoft 365 Copilot to 700 staff across various services.
Led by Andy MacDonald, Executive Director of Corporate Services, the initiative aimed to automate repetitive tasks such as producing meeting minutes, reports, policy documents, and translations, freeing staff for more resident-focused work.
As existing Microsoft 365 users, the Council leveraged technology champions to ensure smooth adoption. Copilot’s integration improved productivity and job satisfaction, with user surveys showing weekly time savings and a projected 241% ROI, equating to $3 million in annual savings.
Notably, neurodivergent employees benefited significantly from Copilot’s capabilities. The Council also piloted a telephony solution using Microsoft Dynamics 365, enabling personalized resident communication via Facebook Messenger. These efforts enhanced operational efficiency, redirected staff toward community initiatives, and improved service delivery, particularly for vulnerable residents, positioning Aberdeen as a technology trailblazer in local governance.
Revamping the digital front door to council services
Furthermore Aberdeen has pioneered the use of Azure AI to streamline the online citizen contact experience. They were the first local authority in Scotland with a virtual assistant when it launched its AB-1 chatbot with Microsoft in 2020.
It has now launched an improved version of AB-1 in Azure, which has helped it to optimise and scale the chatbot. New generative AI capabilities also mean it can understand more complex questions and respond with more detailed answers.
Enabling citizens to help themselves to round-the-clock support, AB-1 handles queries on topics such as refuse collection, school term dates and council tax. The Council also has an internal version of AB-1, answering questions about topics such as wages and annual leave for the Council’s 8000 staff.
And while the original chatbot reduced the number of calls and emails to the Council, freeing up staff for more meaningful and in-person work, the latest version of AB-1 is producing even greater efficiencies.
“Early testing shows AB-1 is now answering twice as many questions, and we expect volumes to increase,” says Andy MacDonald, Executive Director of Corporate Services at the Council. “Customers can now get most of their answers online.”
Microsoft supported Aberdeen’s developers during the creation of the original AB-1. It’s now helping the Council to optimise and develop the upgraded chatbot’s training, using Copilot Studio. The team is also making sure that the chatbot’s feedback mode is enabled, so it can keep analysing and learning from past interactions.
When AB-1 launched it featured a unique ability to take some basic questions in Doric, the regional dialect. The Council is now finalising a forthcoming edition with an enhanced understanding of Doric, which will also be able to support several other languages. These will include some of the most widely-spoken languages in the area, such as Polish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian and Russian.
