CivTech Weeks #7–8: Secure File Upload

Exploring secure file upload systems for Citizens Advice Scotland

In addition to Voice AI, we’ve been exploring other no-code ways to help CAS. The number one priority is finding a way for callers to securely upload important documents.

Pre-Covid, Citizens Advice Bureaux worked primarily face-to-face, so sharing important documents wasn’t a problem. Now, most meetings are via video. It is a pain for clients to come into the bureaux just to hand over a document, but we need to balance that with securely handling people’s data.

There are lots of systems that provide this functionality…. But who does it well? Our instinct is to steer away from systems that use hierarchies and file permissions, as they often seem to end up badly configured.

Some of our favourite systems so far:

1. Jotform — Excellent user management with controls over who can access forms. Also allows user authentication and integrations with platforms such as Google. It’s used by companies such as Adobe, Ford and Netflix.
2. ShareFile — It’s very intuitive and user-friendly. It allows users to send requests to upload files to clients by email (without requiring them to sign up), which could be useful when asking for important documents i.e. consent forms or ID
3. Huddle — A very efficient file uploading and cloud storage system. A big plus is that it’s already used by the British Government — around 80% of central government departments, apparently.

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Also, last week we started implementation conversations with PolyAI, the voice AI firm who are helping us deliver the automated process for CAS helpline (see last week’s update).

A couple of hot takes:

• What’s the fallback? At best, we expect the system to work with 90% accuracy. We were keen to avoid a fallback to a human, as that means there would still need to be a volunteer on standby. Initially if we can’t catch the postcode, we will try sending an SMS with a link to the local bureau finder.
• We’ve got a wonderful window of opportunity to trial the Voice AI system on 20th to 23rd December. On those days, most local bureaux are open but the national helpline is planned to be shut. Even if our system isn’t working perfectly, it should be better than the alternative of going straight to voicemail. There’s a lot to do before then (dialogue design, systems integration, final user testing, pre-live trial), but we are working with PolyAI to deliver on this compressed timetable.

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As we make headway, we will keep you updated.