The website of the Consulate General of Italy in Melbourne has a new consular assistance tool: the virtual consular assistant “Chatbot”.
The Chatbot program is equipped with an interface that simulates a typical chat conversation and, through a pre-established path of questions and answers, guides users towards the desired information.
The Secretary General of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Riccardo Guariglia, chaired the launch event of the new virtual assistant (“chatbot”) of the Farnesina, which is activate on the “Esteri.it” website and on the websites of the Italian diplomatic-consular network, including the website of the Consulate General of Italy in Melbourne.
“In addition to ensuring the definition, development and implementation of the country’s foreign policy lines, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs offers a very wide range of services to Italian nationals abroad and foreign citizens interested in visiting and getting to know Italy. It does so both from the offices of the Ministry and from the more than 200 locations around the world”, said Guariglia, who, in personally testing the application, recalled that “MAECI is among the very first Italian administrations to be equipped with such a tool, demonstrating the great attention paid to digital innovation and the quality of services rendered to users, a theme on which Minister Tajani has focused since his first days at the Ministry”.
“The contents were developed building upon a careful analysis of the questions frequently addressed to the Office for Relations with the Public and to the Offices abroad”, recalled the Director General for Public and Cultural Diplomacy, Alessandro De Pedys.
“The idea, which was born on the initiative of some foreign offices, was put into system to offer the entire network a fast and operational tool, which helps users to locate the desired information with 24-hour operation”, added the Director General for Italian Citizens Abroad and Migration Policies, Luigi Maria Vignali, thanking the pilot offices that participated in the development phase of the application.
To watch the Chatbot presentation video click here.
