MANILA: Banking on technological innovations to further enhance services, officials of state-run Social Security System (SSS) target to increase to about 32.3 million the electronic transactions of their members by 2020.
In a briefing Thursday, SSS president and chief executive officer Aurora C. Ignacio disclosed that in the first half of this year, SSS transactions done through electronic channels only accounted for about 28 percent or around 10.54 million.
She said most of these transactions are contribution payments.
She said only about 37 percent or 5.49 million individual SSS members are currently registered on the agency’s website as of end-June this year and SSS executives hope to increase these to about eight million next year.
By October this year, SSS executives target to implement real-time processing of loans through electronic means and these transactions are expected to boost e-processes of the agency.
Ignacio said they want to fully do away with the issuance of cheques for disbursement of loans and benefits to their members.
For one, SSS pensioners and their beneficiaries receive their pensions through the debit cards they have enrolled with SSS.
Ignacio said their bid to digitalize transactions will not result in reduction of personnel because they are currently retooling their employees to help members on how to use the electronic channels.
She also said they will enhance 33 SSS branches located in key cities nationwide as SSS pilots of their digital processes.
She assured SSS members of data privacy because the agency strictly follows the rules under the Data Privacy Act.
“We have engaged providers and services to help us with that and we’re really very strict on our data,” she said.
“Our employees will make sure that they will not give information to people who are not qualified to receive the information,” she added.
To date, the SSS has six electronic channels that their members and pensioners can access and these are the SSS website called My.SSS, mobile app, the self-service express terminal (SET), the interactive voice response system (IVRS), the Text-SSS and contribution payments through GCash. (PNA)
