Brent’s hologram receptionist is council innovation at its best | Guardian Professional | The Guardian

Brent council has to save about £100m by 2015 and more cuts are expected as part of Eric Pickles’s kamikaze approach to local government. However, under the leadership of Councillor Muhammed Butt, Brent’s Labour administration has refused to allow the authority to crumble and instead looked to trial new solutions to protect our residents in these tough times.

Take our new civic centre in the shadow of Wembley stadium, a hub for Brent’s diverse community. This new centre meant we could move 14 scattered buildings into one, releasing savings of up to £2.5m a year and allowing our officers to work together. The building is home to all sorts of clever technological features, including natural ventilation and cooling and heating power that uses fish oil.

This week we introduced a friendly new face to the Brent family in the reception at our registration and nationality service. She is guaranteed to give visitors the same, perfect welcome every single time. The hologram – called Shanice – is the first virtual assistant to be used by a council, and she will greet customers and direct them to wherever they need to be.

Situated on the ground floor of our new civic centre, Shanice sits behind a desk just like a real receptionist. However, on closer inspection it becomes clear she’s actually projected on to a transparent screen. She’s a great example of how technology and innovation can save money – in this case, tens of thousands of pounds. Through Shanice we are also maintaining high standards of customer service.

The head of registration and nationality at Brent, Mark Rimmer, got the idea after seeing a hologram at Luton airport. Shanice will help point people in the right direction if they want to register a birth or death, apply for citizenship or for a marriage licence – or even tie the knot. Brent’s virtual assistant has got a touch-screen function, so that visitors can key in the reason for their visit and get a presentation about where they need to go and what documentation they will need.

Employing human beings to do this would cost about £30,000 a year, whereas Shanice is costing just £12,000 in total. What’s more, Shanice never falls ill or takes leave. We will keep a close eye on the kind of questions residents have for her and can introduce additional scripts if customers require them, including in different languages.

Our new virtual assistant is a great example of how we at Brent are looking at innovative ways to cut costs while protecting services – and things don’t get more cutting edge than this.

So, rather than Pickles and his government belittling and attacking the incredible work councils are doing in these tough times for residents, perhaps he and Mary Portas could look at the innovation that is going on. They could cast an eye over the creativity, foresight and finance-saving measures in place to attract Brent residents to our public spaces.

James Denselow is Brent council lead member for customers and citizens.

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