Azerbaijan has made significant strides in digitizing its social services, ensuring convenience and efficiency for its citizens. The DOST Digital Innovations Centre, a key player in this transformation, has been instrumental in automating and streamlining service delivery. This article delves into the proactive measures taken by Azerbaijan to enhance its social sector through digital innovation.
Human-Centric Digital Transformation
The Vision Behind DOST
Orkhan Salahov, the Deputy Director of Azerbaijan’s DOST Digital Innovations Centre, emphasizes the importance of humanizing digital services. The term “DOST” translates to “friend” in Azerbaijani, reflecting the center’s intent to provide user-friendly and accessible services. The DOST Centre was inaugurated in 2022 and is a pivotal part of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Population’s digital modernization efforts. Salahov asserts that the initiative is crafted around the concept of accessibility, aiming to dramatically improve the interaction between the government and its citizens by ensuring that all services are easily accessible and straightforward to use.
The DOST Innovations Centre’s vision extends beyond mere digitalization; it focuses on a seamless, human-centered experience that underlines trust and reliability. By adopting this user-first approach, the DOST Centre ensures the populace’s needs are met efficiently, reducing bureaucratic lag and enhancing overall satisfaction with public services. This vision is increasingly relevant in the modern, fast-paced world, where citizens expect quick and reliable access to services without unnecessary delays.
Achievements and Impact
Since its inception, the DOST Innovations Centre has served over 9.2 million people in a country of 10.2 million through various digitized services, including birth and disability benefits distribution. Out of 160 services under the Ministry, a notable 91.5% have been digitized, with 56 services utilizing a proactive approach, which doesn’t require any citizen input. These statistics highlight the Centre’s immense impact on the social sector, making it a benchmark for digital service delivery globally. It also underscores the efficiency and effectiveness of Azerbaijan’s digital transformation initiatives, reflecting a comprehensive approach to integrating technology within governmental operations.
The sheer scale and speed of adoption of the DOST services are remarkable. By automating a vast majority of social services and adopting a proactive approach, Azerbaijan has significantly reduced the administrative burden on its citizens. Instead of spending time and effort to apply for benefits, citizens receive them automatically, ensuring a hassle-free experience. This approach has not only streamlined service delivery but has also increased transparency and minimized the risk of human errors or corruption.
Historical Context of Digitalization
Long-Term Vision and Progress
Salahov underlines that the success of the DOST Centre is the result of a long-term vision. Azerbaijan’s journey in digitalizing its social sector began in 2003 with the computerization and establishment of digital infrastructure. This historical perspective shows a trajectory of steady progress toward more integrated and automated services. The early stages of this journey involved significant investment in upgrading technological frameworks and building robust systems capable of handling a wide array of social services efficiently. This early groundwork laid the foundation for the subsequent digital innovations introduced by the DOST Centre.
Over the years, Azerbaijan has continuously invested in and upgraded its digital infrastructure, keeping pace with evolving technological trends. This foresighted approach has enabled the country to build a resilient digital framework that supports extensive service automation. By steadily progressing its digital capabilities, Azerbaijan ensured that the eventual rollout of the DOST Centre was well-supported, leading to its swift and successful implementation. The journey from initial computerization to comprehensive digitalization underscores a committed and deliberate path toward innovation in public services.
Presidential Decree and Expansion
A crucial turning point came in 2018 when a Presidential Decree mandated the extensive use of e-services in labor, employment, social protection, and social security. This decree paved the way for the creation of the DOST Innovations Centre in 2022, consolidating all IT departments and processes from the Ministry into a single entity, enhancing coordination and efficiency. The decree not only facilitated the centralization of digital operations but also provided the necessary authority to streamline processes, reduce redundancies, and optimize service delivery. By bringing various IT departments under one roof, the decree ensured a cohesive and unified approach to digital innovation.
This consolidation has allowed for more effective management of digital initiatives, better resource utilization, and quicker implementation of new technologies. The centralized entity could unify disparate processes and data sources, thereby achieving a more integrated and streamlined service delivery mechanism. This mandate was instrumental in ensuring that the vision for a digitally empowered social sector was realized swiftly and efficiently, setting a strong precedent for future digitalization efforts.
One-Stop Digital Centers
Integration and Automation
The DOST Centres operate as “one-stop-shops,” integrating front-office services across employment, labor, disability, and social protections. These centers leverage a platform designed to automate information management (CEIS), tapping into 17 comprehensive social registries. For seamless operation, the Ministry’s centralized information system bridges data from over 80 state and private institutions, ensuring a smooth information flow and service delivery. The CEIS platform supports extensive data management and processing capabilities that make these centers highly efficient and reliable.
This model of integration ensures that citizens can access a range of services in one place, significantly reducing the time and effort required to navigate through different government departments. Automation of information management through CEIS has also improved the accuracy and speed of service delivery. By linking data across various institutions, the DOST Centres can quickly verify information and process requests without requiring repetitive data submissions from citizens. This model not only optimizes service delivery but also enhances the overall user experience by making public services more accessible and convenient.
Proactive Services Approach
One of the standout features of DOST Innovations Centre’s methodology is the implementation of proactive services, which form one of its four formal missions. Salahov explains that instead of waiting for citizens to request services, the system autonomously creates and collects data to establish citizens’ rights. This proactive stance is exemplified by the automatic assignment of disability benefits. Through a coordinated effort with databases from various governmental bodies, the system verifies an individual’s eligibility and proceeds to assign benefits without requiring the individual to take any action.
For instance, if an individual is eligible for disability benefits, the system automatically sends notifications to the partnering bank to open an account and informs the citizen via text message about the benefit. This approach not only streamlines service delivery but also ensures that citizens receive their benefits promptly without navigating complex bureaucratic procedures.
This proactive methodology significantly enhances the effectiveness and reach of social services by ensuring that no eligible citizen is left behind due to procedural delays or a lack of awareness. It shifts the burden of accessing services from the citizens to the government, thereby fostering a more inclusive social protection system.
Efficiency and Future Prospects
Proactive Model Effectiveness
The proactive model has proven effective, with the DOST Innovations Centre capable of executing up to 25,000 assignments in a single day. In 2024 alone, more than 250,889 individuals received proactive social payments, the lump sum birth benefit being the most common. Looking ahead to 2025, the Centre aims to deepen its proactive, data-driven approach, with foundational services built around proactive notifications and actions. The numbers reflect not only the broad adoption of the proactive model but also its efficiency in delivering timely social benefits.
The projections and goals for the future emphasize continuous improvement and expansion of the proactive approach. By focusing on data-driven strategies and automating more services, the DOST Centre aims to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of its social service delivery further. Continuous advancements in data analytics and information management are expected to play a critical role in this evolution, enabling the Centre to process and respond to citizen needs even more swiftly and accurately.
Integration of AI
Azerbaijan has made remarkable progress in digitizing its social services, bringing greater convenience and efficiency to its citizens. Central to this transformation is the DOST Digital Innovations Center, which plays a crucial role in automating and improving the delivery of these services. This article explores the proactive steps Azerbaijan has taken to enhance its social sector via digital innovation. For instance, the DOST Center has actively worked on harnessing technology to ensure that social services are accessible to more people and processed faster. Their initiatives include developing user-friendly platforms and applications that simplify service access and reduce wait times. Additionally, the center has focused on integrating various services to create a more cohesive system, thereby minimizing bureaucratic hurdles and enhancing user experience. Another noteworthy effort is the implementation of data-driven strategies aimed at identifying areas for improvement and tailoring services to meet the needs of different demographics. Through these innovative measures, Azerbaijan is setting a prime example of how digitalization can significantly benefit social service delivery.