People are used to doing everything online – from shopping and banking to booking holidays. They expect things to be quick, easy and just work. That expectation applies to council services too.
Citizens Expect Simplicity
No one wants to dig through pages of council content or figure out internal terminology just to get something done. People want to ask a simple question, get a clear answer and complete their task with minimal effort.
That’s exactly where Jadu’s Agent-Ex: Search makes a difference.
Instead of returning a list of links, it gives citizens direct answers and guides them straight to the right action. It turns your website from a collection of pages into something genuinely useful.
Why Traditional Search Falls Short
Most council websites still rely on keyword search. It’s functional, but it doesn’t reflect how people actually search today.
Citizens:
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Use natural language
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Ask full questions
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Make typos
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Often aren’t sure what service they need.
Traditional search expects users to adapt and research. People now expect the opposite.
When search fails, the consequences are significant. Citizens become frustrated, trust in digital services declines. Many simply abandon their task altogether. In turn, demand shifts back to contact centres, face-to-face services and email enquiries, increasing pressure on already stretched resources.
Time Is Precious – And Citizens Expect Instant Results
The reality is simple: People's time is valuable. If they can’t find what they need quickly, they move on.
This is especially important for digital services. You only see the value of automation when people actually use it. If they can’t find the service in the first place, adoption drops before it even begins.
Take Council Tax as an example. Someone who wants to pay a bill doesn’t want to browse. They want to go to the website, say what they need and get it done.
Something as simple as:
“I want to pay my council tax bill.”
From there, they should be taken straight to the right place – no friction.
That's exactly the type of experience that Agent-Ex: Search enables.
How Agent–Ex: Search Helps
Agent-Ex: Search delivers a more intuitive, conversational experience.
Powered by agentic AI, it understands natural language, interprets user intent and delivers direct answers rather than lengthy lists of links. It can guide citizens to the right service, transaction or next step, helping them complete tasks faster and with less effort.
Supporting both text and voice interactions in over 70 languages, Agent-Ex: Search also improves accessibility and inclusivity, ensuring more citizens can access the information and services they need.
As council websites become increasingly complex, Agent-Ex: Search helps cut through the noise, connecting users with the right answers and actions quickly and confidently.
Making Search Work for You
Search might seem like a small part of your website, but it has a big impact. Search is often invisible when it works well, but painfully obvious when it doesn't.
Poor search experiences can quietly undermine even the most sophisticated digital transformation initiatives. Excellent search can become a powerful driver of digital adoption, customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
By helping citizens find the right service quickly and easily, councils can:
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Increase digital uptake
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Improve customer satisfaction
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Reduce avoidable contact
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Boost completion rates
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Get more value from automation
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Free up staff for more valuable work.
In short, it provides better outcomes for both citizens and council teams.
Turn Search into a Gateway
Search should support your citizens' digital journey, not become a barrier to it.
As expectations continue to rise, councils need to move beyond basic search and offer faster, more intuitive ways for people to get things done.
Agent-Ex: Search helps create that experience – making it easier for citizens to find what they need and encouraging more people to use digital services in the first place.
Jadu, the creators of Agent-Ex: Search, are part of the Netcall Group alongside us. If you’d like to explore what this could look like for your council, we’d happily put you in touch.
