Kela and TietoEVRY carried out a proof of concept in 2019 to develop a digital payment guarantee, the smart money.
Read more about Smart money25 March 2020
The Social Insurance Institution of Finland – Kela and TietoEVRY carried out a proof of concept in 2019 to develop a digital payment guarantee, the smart money. The proof of concept solution implemented a fully digital reimbursement solution in the context of rehabilitative psychotherapy.
The proof of concept carried out in 2019 focused on designing and validating a fully digital reimbursement process in the context of rehabilitative psychotherapy. At this stage, smart money has not yet been tested among customers. This is to ensure that the solution meets high-level service process, regulatory and technology requirements.
The proof of concept proved that smart money solution would significantly simplify and automate current processes related to payment guarantees and that it can provide better visibility to the number of compensations used and remaining for the customer. Through the use of smart money, Kela could get reliable information in near real-time of therapy sessions held with customers. Practically all of the reimbursement paperwork would disappear, which would amount to total workload of 700 days per year.
Overall, smart money has the potential to digitalise and reduce effort for all parties. The benefits can include greater empowerment for consumers, improved certainty of payment for merchants and significantly reduced risk of fraud for all parties.
Kela and TietoEVRY are planning to continue to develop smart money further. In Kela's context - in addition to rehabilitative psychotherapy - potential use cases include various basic social assistance vouchers, such as those for food, medication, eyeglasses, moving assistance and home insurance. Smart money could also digitalise service vouchers, such as those used for private care support.
“From Kela's point of view the proof of concept has been a success and we have received positive results. Based on the promising results we have decided to develop the concept further. The main goal of this project is to improve our customer’s experience through new digital services,” says Janne Pulkkinen, Chief Innovation Officer, IT Services at Kela.
“It is really rewarding to note that together with Kela we have been able to develop new ways to enhance everyday life of many Finnish citizens. New technologies, like blockchain, provide many new opportunities for different industries and organizations, and Smart Money is a good practical example of this,” continues Markus Hautala, Head of Blockchain center of Excellence from TietoEVRY.
We have published a report describing the developed smart money concept in detail. The report specifies business processes, user flows, network agreement framework, technical setup as well as legal and regulatory considerations of smart money. The report also proposes roadmap and further use cases for the solution. You can download the report here.
For more information, please contact:
Janne Pulkkinen, Head of IT Innovations , Kela, tel. 050 5516 237
Markus Hautala, Head of Blockchain Center of Excellence, TietoEVRY, tel. 040 1824 299
Kela, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, provides social security coverage for Finnish residents and many Finns living abroad through the different stages of their lives. Among the social security benefits offered by Kela are family benefits, health insurance, rehabilitation, basic unemployment security, basic social assistance, housing benefits, financial aid for students, disability benefits and basic pensions.
TietoEVRY creates digital advantage for businesses and society. We are a leading digital services and software company with local presence and global capabilities. Our Nordic values and heritage steer our success.
Headquartered in Finland, TietoEVRY employs around 24 000 experts globally. The company serves thousands of enterprises and public sector customers in more than 90 countries. TietoEVRY’s annual turnover is approximately EUR 3 billion and its shares are listed on the NASDAQ in Helsinki and Stockholm as well as on the Oslo Børs. www.tietoevry.com