Wiltshire County Council has implemented virtual assistants to check staff and school payroll.

It is using Microsoft technology to complete repetitive tasks in its human resources department to free up staff to work on more critical tasks that directly help the 435,000 residents in the county.

The virtual assistants are currently checking more than 43 payrolls each month, which cover schools and academies in the region, as well as council staff.

Data from the roll-out suggests that virtual assistants are able to conduct checks on one payroll per minute, compared with one every 10 minutes for a member of staff. In addition, these processes can now also be completed at any time of the day or night.

Wiltshire Council said that the virtual assistant roll out would not results in any job losses.

Ian Blair-Pilling, cabinet member for IT and digitalisation, said: “Leveraging technology is a key part of our strategy and will shape how we deliver our services in the future, in the most cost-effective and efficient way for Wiltshire residents.”

Wiltshire Council will put virtual assistants to work on a further 10 processes in the coming months, with more to follow, according to a statement. The council will also explore how a chatbot may help its 470,000 residents with basic enquiries in a number of languages.

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