New Castle County Uses Webex AI Agents to Expand Access and Reduce Wait Times, Podcast

By Doug Green “The AI agents are handling the repetitive questions, and our employees can spend more time on the complex issues.” In this Technology Reseller News podcast recorded at WebexOne, George Hantzandreou of New Castle County Government in Delaware discusses how the county is using Webex AI Agents to improve constituent services, reduce wait times and give employees more time for higher-value work. New Castle County serves more than 500,000 residents through approximately 2,000 employees and dozens of locations, including libraries, public safety, community services and other county operations. The county has used Cisco collaboration technology for more than a decade and moved its contact center operations to Webex Contact Center more than two years ago. Its AI journey began with the IT help desk. Facing retirements and a hiring freeze, Hantzandreou says the county deployed Webex AI Agents to handle common troubleshooting questions, voicemail PIN resets and password reset requests while escalating more complex issues to employees. The success of that deployment quickly led to other use cases. In the county’s inclusionary housing program, employees were receiving so many calls that applications from residents in need could take more than three weeks to process. Hantzandreou built an AI-enabled contact center that could answer questions about eligibility, provide information from an approved knowledge base and send application links by SMS. The result has been significant. The AI agent now contains roughly 65% of calls in that program, while application processing time has fallen from more than three weeks to less than one week. Hantzandreou says the county is careful about AI governance, particularly in areas such as housing and benefits. The AI is grounded in approved county websites and documents using retrieval-augmented generation rather than making independent eligibility decisions. Staff also review performance and update the knowledge base when needed. Constituents can always request a human. That is particularly important for seniors, people who may be uncomfortable with AI or anyone dealing with a more complex situation. The technology is also changing the employee experience. Hantzandreou says agents are spending less time answering repetitive FAQ-style questions and more time on complex cases, projects and professional development. In some departments, average handle time has actually increased — something the county views positively because employees are now spending more time on issues that truly require human attention. The county has also extended access beyond normal business hours. AI agents can answer questions 24/7, including evenings, weekends and holidays, while routing unresolved issues to live agents or voicemail when necessary. Looking ahead, Hantzandreou says his focus is increasingly on observability, reporting and post-deployment management as AI handles a growing share of the county’s constituent interactions. Visit Webex.com to learn more about Webex AI Agents and Webex Contact Center. The post New Castle County Uses Webex AI Agents to Expand Access and Reduce Wait Times, Podcast appeared first on Telecom Reseller / Technology Reseller News.