In his recent article, Party General Secretary and State President To Lam regards digital transformation as a critical development driver, exerting great impacts on productive forces and production relations to bring the country into a new era. What remarkable results have been achieved by the VSS to contribute to that important driving force?

Our Party and State have identified digital transformation as an important driving force for socio-economic development, an objective and inevitable requirement for international integration.

As a Government agency tasked with implementing social insurance and health insurance policies - two pillars of the country's social security system, the VSS is fully aware of the role and significance of digital transformation.

We consider it a key and ongoing task, a breakthrough solution to improve the operation efficiency and the service quality for people and businesses.

The sector’s digital transformation is not simply to apply information technology but a comprehensive change in thinking, awareness, operating methods, organisational models, and business processes. This aims to create new values, improve labour productivity, operational efficiency and service quality.

Implementing the Party and Government's policy on national digital transformation, the VSS has been focusing on synchronously implementing numerous solutions. We have achieved positive results, thus improving the State management efficiency in social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance, creating favourable conditions for people and businesses.

Some outstanding results can be summarised as follows:

First, regarding the construction and development of digital infrastructure, the VSS has been operating a centralised, modern information technology system to ensure information security and network security.

The sector is operating a centralised data centre (a main data centre and a backup and disaster recovery data centre) and maintaining information security for 28 professional application systems.

100 per cent of the sector's operations are performed on the application software.

100 per cent of civil servants, public employees and staff are personally identified and own digital signatures.

100 per cent of the direction, operation and internal administration activities are carried out on the document management and operation system or so-called E-office.

100 per cent of document exchanges between agencies are carried out online and signed by the Government's specialised digital signature.

100 per cent of dossiers are created, stored, and shared online.

The VSS system also connects with more than 13,000 health insurance facilities nationwide to receive requests of payment of health insurance medical examination and treatment.

More than 621,000 units and enterprises have conducted electronic transactions with the VSS.

VSS general director Nguyen The Manh regularly inspects and gives direction on the sector’s digital transformation and IT application

Second, about digital data, the VSS has built and operated the insurance national database which consists of information of more than 98.5 million citizens.

It is connected with the National Database on Population and other national and specialised databases, ensuring that citizens do not have to declare multiple times when performing administrative procedures.

Third, regarding online public services, the sector has promoted the restructuring of business processes to simplify documents, shorten the online public service’s processing time.

The number of procedures, documents and handling time are reduced to the maximum.

All administrative procedures are provided on the sector's public service portal and the national public service portal.

The VSS has issued a list of 70 online public services with 80 per cent of dossiers being handled online.

Fourth, the VSS launched the national electronic identification (VNeID) application in health insurance examination and treatment.

All of health insurance examination and treatment facilities have applied VNeID with more than 120 million uses.

Biometric technology has been piloted in health insurance examination and treatment.

The "VssID – Digital Social Insurance" app has reported nearly 36 million accounts with many utilities integrated and online public services performed on the app.

VSS general director Nguyen The Manh talks with citizens about quality of the one-stop shop service

Fifth, the VSS has taken solutions to promote non-cash payments.

About 78 per cent of pensioners, social insurance and unemployment beneficiaries in the urban areas have received monthly allowances via personal accounts, exceeding 18 per cent compared to the target assigned by the Prime Minister.

The VSS has achieved a lot of positive progresses in digital transformation. What practical benefits have those outcomes brought to citizens and businesses?

With the viewpoint of "Taking people and businesses as the subject and centre of services", the VSS aims to bring more optimal and better benefits to participants and beneficiaries.

This is also the sector’s goal and consistent orientation in digital transformation.

How the successes of the digital transformation process have benefited people and businesses could be outlined as follows:

Convenience in accessing services: People and businesses can access information and perform administrative procedures anytime, anywhere, on various different platforms, without being limited by time and space.

Reducing paperwork and procedures: The authentication and integration of information on VssID and VNeID applications help people not have to carry many types of documents when visiting a doctor or performing transactions with the social security offices. Businesses can also cut down on the burden of administrative procedures, save time and costs.

The VSS aims to bring optimal and better benefits to participants and beneficiaries

Transparency and clarity: All information about the joining in and enjoying social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance regimes is published on the system, helping people and businesses to easily look up and monitor.

Safety and security: The payment of pensions and allowances through personal accounts ensures safety and accuracy, avoiding loss and confusion. The sector’s applications and systems are all secured following high standards and ensuring information security.

Cost savings: Digital transformation helps reduce the cost of printing, shipping, documents storage, while saving time and effort for citizens and businesses.

Citizens visiting healthcare facilities for check-ups and treatment have never been more convenient.

Insured patients only need to use their ID cards to carry out medical examination procedures, helping simplify procedures, shorten the time for both patients and medical staff, and reduce the cost of health insurance card printing and delivery for VSS agencies.

Instead of spending 10 minutes to several hours on registering, patients now only need to authenticate data on the machine in six to 15 seconds.

The VSS has integrated online public services to help people to perform multiple administrative procedures at one time, for example, the interconnected services of ‘birth registration, permanent residence registration, and health insurance card issuance for children under 6 years old' or ‘Death registration, cancellation of permanent residence registration, funeral cost support, and funeral allowance'.

Digital transformation helps businesses optimise the reporting and transaction process with the VSS.

Transaction records with the VSS have been digitalised, helping businesses save time and reduce workload.

Enterprises can update reports on labour force, insurance premium payment and look up information online regardless of time and location. This is especially useful in the context of the recent COVID-19 pandemic when in-person transactions were restricted.

This year’s National Digital Transformation Day emphasises the popularisation of digital infrastructure and the creation of digital applications. Based on the foundations and results achieved, in the coming time, what angles of digital transformation will the VSS focus on to further improve the efficiency of operations and service quality?

This year’s theme of the National Digital Transformation Day is an important orientation, in line with current practices and trends.

The VSS will continue to closely follow this theme, at the same time, thoroughly grasp the Party and State's policies and guidelines on digital transformation, to effectively implement the following key tasks:

First, on popularising digital infrastructure: Continue to invest in upgrading information technology infrastructure, promote investment in upgrading data centres, expand transmission bandwidth, ensure information security and network security.

We will expand connections and share data with ministries, sectors and localities, towards building a digital Government, digital economy, digital society while developing digital platforms, researching new, modern digital platforms, effectively serving the management and provision of public services.

The VSS will continue to upgrade infrastructure, innovate digital applications and improve service quality

Second, on innovating digital applications: Research and develop new applications on the mobile platforms, provide more utilities for people and businesses.

We look to apply artificial intelligence (AI), big data in analysis, forecasting, risk warning, decision support, service personalisation, improving the efficiency of social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance fund management.

We will also apply blockchain technology in social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance to enhance transparency, security, and efficiency.

Third, on improving service quality: Promoting online public services, simplifying administrative procedures, providing online public services at the entire level.

The VSS plans to personalise services, provide services suitable to the needs and characteristics of each subject, with the aim to satisfying people and businesses. We will strengthen interaction, build diverse and effective communication channels with people and businesses, while welcoming feedback, improving service quality.

Fourth, on improving staff capacity: attracting, training, fostering and improving digital capacity for cadres, civil servants, and public employees, meeting the requirements of digital transformation.

Fifth, on ensuring information security: continuing to improve the information security system, ensuring data security, preventing cyberattacks, raising awareness of information security, strengthening dissemination of knowledge about information security for civil servants, public employees and citizens.

In light of that orientation, the VSS is committed to developing a digital sector in line with the Digital Government orientation, fulfilling the obligations of guaranteeing national social security and shortening time and expenses for businesses and individuals. Ministries, sectors, and localities also benefit from connecting, utilising, and exchanging data with the national insurance database, thereby accelerating the national growth./.