ClevrChat | Balancing AI and human touch in council services

Local authorities are under pressure to deliver better resident experiences with tighter budgets, growing demand and major structural change ahead. In this episode of ClevrChat, CloudClevr’s Dave Harrison sits down with Zoom’s public sector specialist Ben Lorimer to explore how councils are using AI, automation and cloud communications to modernise resident services without losing the human touch. A practical conversation for council leaders, IT teams and customer experience professionals navigating digital transformation in the public sector. 00:00 Introduction 00:40 Challenges in local authorities: Doing more with less 02:04 Balancing AI and human interaction in council services 04:43 AI implementation: Practical use cases in local authorities 07:00 Taking a step further with an Agentic AI approach 11:30 Common mistakes in digital transformation 15:15 Success stories: Councils getting AI adoption right 20:50 What council leaders should prioritise in the next 12 months 24:10 Things councils are doing today that will be outdated in the near future