Smart Zambia boosts citizen trust and service speed with Dynamics 365 Customer Service

SMART Zambia Institute is the government Division responsible for managing and promoting digital public services. It coordinates e-government and information and communication technology (ICT) initiatives across Zambia’s public institutions, supporting both cross-government and sector-specific projects. Among these, SMART Zambia manages the environment for critical information infrastructure which include the digital ID, national health records, and the Citizen Portal for centralized access to government services. 

Manual systems slowed everything down

Previously, Zambians could only share feedback with the government through written complaints, notices, or physical suggestion boxes placed at selected public offices. Queues formed daily, with citizens waiting hours to access critical services, only to be asked to return the following day. Government staff would then collect, review, and analyze these submissions manually—an approach that consistently delayed response and resolution times. “With this inefficient approach, there was no way to track or measure anything,” shares Kasali Musenge, Government Chief Technical Officer at SMART Zambia Institute. 

Sustainability was another consideration. “Serving over 20 million people manually meant high costs—not just for purchasing paper, but also for managing and storing vast volumes of physical records,” shares Musenge.

Redesigning how feedback flows across the government

SMART Zambia Institute following engagement with critical stakeholders decided to build a platform—the Citizen Portal—where citizens could request information or file complaints. The first step entailed assessing ministries nationwide to identify both sector-specific and cross-cutting challenges. By documenting these gaps and engaging citizens, they ensured the solutions would be grounded in real needs and broad public input.

From there, the Institute moved into the design and development stage. “We developed the platform using Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Power Pages to ensure that we had a standardized request-handling process,” elaborates Musenge. The Institute partnered closely with Microsoft Unified Support. “The Microsoft Unified Support team brought expertise that we didn’t have yet and helped us envision and build a solution that would stand the test of time,” adds Musenge.

The next step was automating workflows to manage routing and escalation across public bodies. The system was designed to send each citizen request to the right agent, based on availability and workload. This replaced manual sorting and brought more structure and balance to the way services were delivered.

Just as critical was institutional visibility. “One of the key aspects of coming up with a solution was ensuring we had oversight, because you can’t improve something you can’t measure,” remarks Musenge. The team built dashboards to provide decision-makers with insights into how institutions were performing: identifying where issues originated, how quickly they were addressed, and how citizens were responding. Real-time reporting turned citizen satisfaction into a measurable—and actionable—metric.

Once the portal was ready, SMART Zambia Institute launched a training program for users across government. “We ensured that ministry staff, officers, appointed agents, and leadership could confidently use the portal and manage requests efficiently,” explains Musenge. 

The result was a growing network of trained personnel and decision-makers who understood both the portal and the accountability behind it. With that foundation in place, onboarding began. Musenge adds, “Currently, we have almost 22 institutions that have been brought onto the Citizens Portal.” 

From repeated visits to real-time updates

As soon as it was launched, the Citizen Portal reshaped how Zambians interact with their government. “Let’s say a citizen hasn’t received feedback about their identity document application process,” explains Musenge. “Before, they would have to physically go to the Ministry of Home Affairs and hope to find someone available to assist.” 

Now, that same citizen can log in to the portal, use the mobile app, or even send an email—without ever leaving their home. “Once they submit their query, they receive a unique ticket number that lets them track the status of their request and receive timely feedback,” says Musenge.

Agents now respond to all such queries within standardized timelines, based on predefined Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Agents are also responsible for escalating issues when needed and ensuring regular updates are provided to the citizen who submitted the request. “The system helps reduce bias and variability—agents process requests based solely on predefined timeframes in Dynamics 365, without access to personal identifiers,” shares Musenge. “This promotes transparency, accountability, and a fairer experience for all citizens.”

Institutions gain speed and insight

With the portal, customer service agents have gained real-time visibility into every inquiry. In the past, they had to manually trace requests, figure out where the bottleneck was, or locate the right department. “Now, the platform shows the status, who is handling the case, and how long it has been pending—all in a single view. That visibility allows agents to perform more professionally and helps management monitor progress more effectively,” adds Musenge.

Meanwhile, Cabinet Office, which is responsible for overseeing all Zambia’s public institutions, can now analyze larger trends. “Previously, oversight at the national level was almost impossible. With the Citizen Portal, at the touch of a button, Cabinet Office can see where the hotspots are, where a situation is escalating, or where resources are urgently needed,” shares Musenge. The same data is now informing government decisions across ministries. “We are able to ask questions like: where are common challenges emerging? Which sectors are handling feedback better than others, what can we learn from them?” says Musenge. “Data is the new gold.  Having all this insight in one place helps us improve, meet expectations, and run the government more efficiently.”

Expanding access, deepening trust

With more visibility and features like automatically routing cases to the right agents, citizens now receive responses faster. “Automation has been a game-changer for us. It has significantly improved the user experience, allowing us to serve people more professionally,” shares Musenge. 

Musenge believes that this has improved both Zambia’s institutional credibility and citizen satisfaction. “We’re living in a digital era where citizens expect faster, more responsive government services. This solution allows us to meet those expectations and provide a robust, efficient, and modern channel for citizen engagement,” she shares. “Citizens are happy to have a formal and convenient channel for giving feedback to the government,” shares Musenge.

The Institute brought about these improvements without compromising security. “Microsoft has been a valuable partner in helping us double down on our security efforts,” shares Musenge. “They’ve worked closely with our internal security teams to ensure our systems meet international best practices as well as our own internal standards, helping us keep both our systems and our citizens safe.”

SMART Zambia Institute is already forging ahead. “We are hoping to scale the portal to reach provincial offices and spending agencies,” explains Musenge. The team is also preparing to digitize human resources (HR) processes for over 400,000 civil service employees and launch a government-wide intranet to improve internal communication and collaboration. 

The vision is clear: a data-driven government in touch with its citizens. “You can't serve people without efficient two-way communication. And you can’t improve anything if you’re building on assumptions instead of real insight. These digital tools allow us to do both, ensuring we deliver smarter and more efficient public services,” concludes Musenge. “We’ve come a long way—from paper forms to digital engagement—and it’s already bringing citizens closer to government.”

Discover more about Smart Zambia Institute on LinkedIn.