Technology helps improve efficiency

HA NOI — Investment in technology to develop a complete electronic payment system to control social insurance payments was key to improving the efficiency of payment collection.

That was the general agreement made by participants at the 26th ASEAN Social Security Association (ASSA) board meeting held in Ha Noi yesterday.

Hiroshi Yamabana from the Social Security Department of the International Labour Organisation, with over ten years of experience in the sector, said that investing in technology was expensive but more efficient than investing in human related elements.

Technology also helped insurance offices to keep track of employers and employee registration, which is an essential part of efficiently collecting insurance fees, said Juergen Meierkord from the German State Pensions Association, while presenting a successful model that his organisation had applied.

The need for social security planning has become crucial as socio-economic forces constantly reshape the environment, and the collection of social insurance contributions has become an urgent topic. Issues arising from the collection process and how to improve collection efficiency were therefore the main theme addressed at the meeting.

"The development of information systems by the Central Provident Fund of Singapore via e-submissions and the replacement of ID cards with smart cards in Thailand not only made the task more efficient, but also gave us models of successful collection systems," said the ASSA chairman, Winai Sawasdivorn.

Thai participant Variya Wongprecha from the Government Pension Fund said that the meeting was a great opportunity for her to build a network and exchange information with others in the field. "I like the German model very much as they use a paperless system. It is challenging to apply an electronic payment and registration system. However, Thailand has started to implement the process and we hope to have a 100 per cent computerised system in the near future," she said.

Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs and Director General of the Viet Nam Social Security Le Bach Hong yesterday was officially appointed as the new chair of ASSA for the 2010-11 term. — VNS

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