SSS to fasttrack digitalization

MANILA, Philippines — State-run Social Security System (SSS) has committed to expedite the digitization of its core and business processes to improve the delivery of services to members and pensioners.

In a statement, SSS president and chief executive officer Aurora Ignacio said the digitization and acquisition of new digital infrastructure for the SSS have commenced even before her assumption in office, but she wants to fast-track the state fund’s full digital transition during her term.

She said this is in line with the priorities set forth by President Duterte and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez.

“As mandated by our Social Security Commission ex-officio chairperson Carlos Dominguez in his first order of business when he took office last March, he instructed to speed up the transition to the digitalization process. This is one of his priority policies under the new charter of the pension fund,” Ignacio said.

In a separate interview, Dominguez said he has ordered the SSS to shift its systems and processes to digital platforms to minimize the cost of delivering services to the public.

According to Dominguez, for every P100 in benefits released to an SSS member, the government spends P7. “That was my first review with SSS. I told them, (with) the way you’re doing your business, our estimate is it costs you P7 to deliver P100. Now, that is too expensive. Other countries, I think Malaysia, costs P3 to deliver P100. If I remember right, Japan P0.50 to deliver P100 worth of benefits,” Dominguez said.

“So if it cost me P7 to deliver P100, that means to say that’s P7 less I can give to somebody else. Your inefficiency is costing the public money directly. So I said the first thing you do is to digitize,” he said.

At present, the SSS has online facilities for the issuance of social security numbers, payment reference number (PRN) inquiry and generation, employment report submission, submission of contribution, salary loan application, and filing of maternity and sickness notification, among others.

These electronic and self-service channels include the SSS website, SSS mobile application, Self-Service Express Terminal (SET), Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) and Text-SSS.

In addition, the SSS has also implemented the Real-Time Posting of Contributions (RTPC) program in 2018 where contribution payments are posted immediately through the use of the PRN.

“We believe that through these online and electronic channels, our members and pensioners can easily transact their business with us. In fact, we have re-engineered our Ease of Doing Business guidelines in the SSS to expedite and properly address the services needed by our transacting members,” Ignacio said.