The Technical Commission on Information and Communication Technology (TC ICT) has focussed on the accelerated digital transformation of social security institutions between 2020 and 2022, and the ICT 2022 Conference was a highlight during the triennium.
Digital transformation has driven social security organizations to establish a broader Digital Transformation Strategy, rather than making isolated digitalization or transformation efforts. The dynamic nature of digital transformation has allowed institutions to establish more integral strategies to satisfy the needs of tomorrow. Such developments were discussed during various reports and online events as well as the 16th ISSA International Conference on Information and Communication Technology in Social Security (ICT 2022), hosted in Tallinn, Estonia 4–6 May, 2022, with over 650 on-site and online participants.
The Technical Commission produced the report ICT response to COVID-19, which shares insight and reflections on what the accelerated digital transformation has meant for social security institutions. At the same time, ensuring that everyone is included in the shift toward digital service delivery is a significant challenge, which is addressed in the report Digital Inclusion – Improving social security service delivery, developed in conjunction with the United Nations University Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV).
The importance of building digital operational resilience in social security institutions is key, especially as more services are readily accessible online where security becomes an even greater challenge when opening different client channels. This was a specific priority area of the TC ICT. It produced two reports on the subject, one on digital operational resilience and another on cybersecurity. These, together with the upcoming Guidelines on Continuity and Resilience of Social Security Services and Systems, provide ample support to institutions on building resilience, examples of which were documented the ISSA analysis on Business Continuity Management for resilient social security in Asia and the Pacific.
Mission-critical systems rely heavily on the reliability and governance of the data. The chapter on Master Data Governance and Master Data Management within the Guidelines on Information and Communication Technology was updated by TC ICT to support institutions in ensuring that data architecture has clear policies, roles, and responsibilities within the governance structure of the data management and operations. New and revised ISSA Guidelines will be published in connection with the World Social Security Forum in Marrakech, Morocco, 24–28 October 2022.
Over 40 different webinars between 2020 and 2022 as well as the Virtual Symposium on Information and Communication Technology in Social Security provided a discussion platform to address different topics, such as design-thinking and agile methodologies, the use of analytical technology during the pandemic, advances in data sharing between social security institutions and interoperability. Different emerging technologies were also discussed during webinars on Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, the use of Blockchain and the application of technology in Telemedicine. These efforts helped deliver the success of the ICT 2022 Conference.
