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WB Country Director proposes three measures to boost digital government reforms

VGP - Simplification of business processes and platform launch for the private sector to go digital more quickly are among ways for the Government to deepen the impact of the on-going digital government reforms.

May 19, 2020 3:30 PM GMT+7

The World Bank Country Director  for Viet Nam Ousmane Dione offers three actionable measures, one to the business community and two to the Government, as ways forwards for deepening the impact of the on-going digital government reforms at the conference on “the National e-Service Portal and Benefits for the Business Sector” , Ha Noi, May 19, 2020- Photo: VGP

World Bank Country Director for Viet Nam Ousmane Dione made that statement at the conference on “the National e-Service Portal and Benefits for the Business Sector” in Ha Noi on May 19.

The value of the National eService Portal has been proved during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Ousmane Dione, adding that with physical and social distancing measures introduced to contain the infections, service users and government employees were able to access and provide essential public services remotely, for the protection of citizens, businesses, and for government employees. 

It is particularly encouraging to hear of the developments of the National eService Portal since its launch five months ago, with over 35 million rounds of accesses, hundreds of services that are available to firms and citizens via the Portal, and the amount of information and feedbacks that the Portal has generated, he stressed.

The Government has mobilized a wide variety of measures to support businesses during the pandemic, he said, adding that the conference today shows yet another effort of the Government to continue not only stepping up its digital government reforms, but also standing by businesses to weather through the pandemic.

Three actionable measures for deepening the impact of the on-going digital government reforms

The WB Country Director offered three actionable measures, one to the business community and two to the Government, as ways forwards for deepening the impact of the on-going digital government reforms.

For business community, he suggested stepping up with digitalization.

A study performed in Singapore in 2019 shows that the use of digital technologies such as e-commerce, electronic payments, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning and Big Data analytics can increase SME’s value add and productivity by 26% and 17%, respectively, he said.

From a macroeconomic perspective, the digitalization of enterprises can also enhance a country’s economic activity. It is estimated that the digitalization of SMEs in the ASEAN region could add $1.1 trillion of GDP value across the region by 2025.

He called on the Viet Nam business leaders to certainly start their digitalization process by using the services available in the National eService Portal from today.

Regarding the two proposed measures for Government, he highlighted that e-Services do begin with simplification of business processes.

Regardless of how many services are available online, if those services do not reduce time and transaction costs for businesses, the online services will mean little to them. Thus, it is important for the Government to understand where more time and cost incur during the whole service delivery chains in order to optimize the business processes, he stressed.  

Data and information which has been generated and collected via the Portal, such as the online transaction details and the feedbacks, will serve as a great starting point for the Government to analyze where the bottlenecks are, and which steps could be removed from the existing business processes.

Other databases, such as business registration, investment licensing, construction permits, tax payments will also be useful pointers if being analyzed for e-Service optimization purposes, he added.   

Secondly, the Government can serve as a launching platform for the private sector to go digital more quickly, said Ousmane Dione, adding that many governments have encouraged and enabled their businesses to transform digitally by creating partnerships with telecommunications, financial services, and technology providers in the countries, well before the COVID-19.

The COVID-19 is no doubt a catalyst for both the Government and Vietnamese enterprises to rebound, transform, and get the most dividends of the global fast-moving digital economy, he initiated.

By Thuy Dung