ASTANA – Creating a unified window, opening a digital platform and automating public services to digitise small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were reviewed during June 12 government meeting.
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“To date, 190 million services have been provided on the egov.kz portal, where more than 6.8 million users are registered. Of the 746 total public services, 452 are automated. The mobile application is used by more than 3.3 million users and over 10 million services have been provided to them,” said Minister of National Economy Timur Suleimenov.
He also reported the progress of the Digital Kazakhstan programme in supporting SMEs, noting one of the important factors is creating a unified window. The Ministry of National Economy, Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry for Investment and Development created a list of 52 support tools subject to optimisation and automation. Fifteen government support instruments have been fully computerised, with the remainder to be completed by October.
“The created unified system of checks will maintain electronic protocols and regulations, identify potential violators without human participation and monitor the results online through mechanisms embedded in it,” Suleimenov added.
ISMET, the open digital platform, is being devised, said Kazakhtelecom board chair Kuanyshbek Yessekeev. The platform will host the services needed to automate internal processes and simplify adopting management decisions, including choosing an entrepreneur’s business niche, opening and doing business, quickly registering the enterprise, searching for partners and marketing, sales, accounting and reporting.
“According to our projections, more than 100 IT companies will publish their services on a platform, and we will attract nearly 150,000 users by 2022,” he said.
“One of the potential effects of ISMET for small and medium enterprises is the 30 percent cost reduction, as they will use cloud services. It will also increase sales by 20 percent. ISMET also allows reducing time for market entry, as businesses will use Internet sources,” he added.
Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs deputy board chair Eldar Zhumagaziev proposed automating urban and regional entrepreneur services centres (ESCs).
“All 25 ESCs in cities and 189 enterprise support centres in the regions will be equipped with self-service zones. With the help of consultants, it will ensure access to electronic public services and public support measures for entrepreneurs without Internet access,” he said.
Zhumagaziev added the educational programme designed to increase digital literacy, particularly for entrepreneurs in rural areas, was launched this year. To date, more than 7,000 individuals have been trained under this programme, with an annual goal of reaching more than 15,000 entrepreneurs.
