AI supporting customer service
We implemented a MAINIO AI assistant on the City of Mikkeli’s website.
Case MAINIO for the city of Mikkeli
Collaborating with Mindhive to develop Mikkeli’s own AI bot has been excellent from start to finish – thank you!
Jussi Linnala
CIO
The City of Mikkeli
Mikkeli is the regional centre of South Savo and home to approximately 50,000 residents. The city offers a wide range of services and plays an active role in the development of digital services. Mikkeli’s goal is to provide accessible, customer-centric, and around-the-clock services to residents, tourists, and other website visitors.
Learn more
www.mikkeli.fi
Where did we start
Need
The City of Mikkeli wanted to harness the potential of AI in customer service. There was a need to serve website visitors more efficiently and accessibly – also in multiple languages. Manually translating web content would require significant resources, and AI was seen as a way to offer understandable information in the user’s native language. Additionally, the goal was to free up customer service staff from routine tasks so they could focus on more demanding customer interactions.
Solution
We implemented a MAINIO AI assistant for the City of Mikkeli. Acting as a customer service agent on the city's website, the assistant – named Saimi – was trained on Mikkeli’s services and responds to user questions around the clock, including in English, Ukrainian, and Russian, for example.
Need
The City of Mikkeli wanted to harness the potential of AI in customer service. There was a need to serve website visitors more efficiently and accessibly – also in multiple languages. Manually translating web content would require significant resources, and AI was seen as a way to offer understandable information in the user’s native language. Additionally, the goal was to free up customer service staff from routine tasks so they could focus on more demanding customer interactions.
Solution
We implemented a MAINIO AI assistant for the City of Mikkeli. Acting as a customer service agent on the city's website, the assistant – named Saimi – was trained on Mikkeli’s services and responds to user questions around the clock, including in English, Ukrainian, and Russian, for example.
Defining the role
Test version
Onboarding
Launch
How did we do it
Defining the job description and role
Deploying an AI assistant is much like hiring a new employee. We began by shaping MAINIO’s role in collaboration with staff working in city services and customer service. We mapped out the kinds of service scenarios encountered in customer interactions and jointly defined response guidelines for various situations. We also utilised real data from the city's customer service chat to inform MAINIO’s use cases and instructions. During this phase, we also reviewed the background materials and information sources MAINIO would rely on.
Based on this joint definition, we built the first test version of MAINIO. The city team was involved early on in testing how well MAINIO handled different questions and could easily provide feedback for further development.
Testing is key
The client plays a central role in training MAINIO – only the client can define whether MAINIO responds like a city customer service representative. During the deployment project, we held several development meetings to review MAINIO’s performance in test conversations and refine the assistant’s instructions.
Based on the client’s feedback, we made the necessary adjustments to MAINIO’s guidance. Once MAINIO was ready to go live on the city’s website, we finalised its visual appearance and defined its greeting message in accordance with the city's branding.
What did our customer get
Multilingual customer service 24/7
With MAINIO, the city of Mikkeli can provide 24/7 customer service in the user’s native language. This supports the city's accessibility goals and particularly benefits those who may find using Finnish challenging.
Support for further development and content creation
The city can track conversations with MAINIO through its own service interface, which includes all chat histories and user feedback. This enables not only customer service development but also the review and improvement of website content.
The deployment process also sparked new ideas for how MAINIO could support other expert functions within the city.
Multilingual customer service 24/7
With MAINIO, the city of Mikkeli can provide 24/7 customer service in the user’s native language. This supports the city's accessibility goals and particularly benefits those who may find using Finnish challenging.
Support for further development and content creation
The city can track conversations with MAINIO through its own service interface, which includes all chat histories and user feedback. This enables not only customer service development but also the review and improvement of website content.
The deployment process also sparked new ideas for how MAINIO could support other expert functions within the city.
MAINIO AI assistant adapts to many roles: customer service agent, guide, technical support, or even a content developer. What role could MAINIO play in your organisation? Get in touch – let’s brainstorm together!
Case MAINIO for the city of Mikkeli
Collaborating with Mindhive to develop Mikkeli’s own AI bot has been excellent from start to finish – thank you!
Jussi Linnala
CIO
The City of Mikkeli
Mikkeli is the regional centre of South Savo and home to approximately 50,000 residents. The city offers a wide range of services and plays an active role in the development of digital services. Mikkeli’s goal is to provide accessible, customer-centric, and around-the-clock services to residents, tourists, and other website visitors.
Learn more
www.mikkeli.fi
Where did we start
Need
The City of Mikkeli wanted to harness the potential of AI in customer service. There was a need to serve website visitors more efficiently and accessibly – also in multiple languages. Manually translating web content would require significant resources, and AI was seen as a way to offer understandable information in the user’s native language. Additionally, the goal was to free up customer service staff from routine tasks so they could focus on more demanding customer interactions.
Solution
We implemented a MAINIO AI assistant for the City of Mikkeli. Acting as a customer service agent on the city's website, the assistant – named Saimi – was trained on Mikkeli’s services and responds to user questions around the clock, including in English, Ukrainian, and Russian, for example.
Defining the role
Test version
Onboarding
Launch
How did we do it
Defining the job description and role
Deploying an AI assistant is much like hiring a new employee. We began by shaping MAINIO’s role in collaboration with staff working in city services and customer service. We mapped out the kinds of service scenarios encountered in customer interactions and jointly defined response guidelines for various situations. We also utilised real data from the city's customer service chat to inform MAINIO’s use cases and instructions. During this phase, we also reviewed the background materials and information sources MAINIO would rely on.
Based on this joint definition, we built the first test version of MAINIO. The city team was involved early on in testing how well MAINIO handled different questions and could easily provide feedback for further development.
Testing is key
The client plays a central role in training MAINIO – only the client can define whether MAINIO responds like a city customer service representative. During the deployment project, we held several development meetings to review MAINIO’s performance in test conversations and refine the assistant’s instructions.
Based on the client’s feedback, we made the necessary adjustments to MAINIO’s guidance. Once MAINIO was ready to go live on the city’s website, we finalised its visual appearance and defined its greeting message in accordance with the city's branding.
What did our customer get
Multilingual customer service 24/7
With MAINIO, the city of Mikkeli can provide 24/7 customer service in the user’s native language. This supports the city's accessibility goals and particularly benefits those who may find using Finnish challenging.
Support for further development and content creation
The city can track conversations with MAINIO through its own service interface, which includes all chat histories and user feedback. This enables not only customer service development but also the review and improvement of website content.
The deployment process also sparked new ideas for how MAINIO could support other expert functions within the city.