DIGI CITIZEN
In Finland, we have a several digital services which have been built with tax money paid by Finnish citizens. These services help us in our everyday lives. For example, a years ago when you go to the doctor, you used to get a paper prescription to pick up your medicine from the pharmacy. Nowadays, the prescription goes electronically to the person’s OmaKanta and the medicines can be picked up immediately from any pharmacy in Finland. I will now introduce you to some of the digital services that are available in Finland.
KELA (The Social Insurance Intitution of Finland
Kela has been operating in Finland since 1937. At first, Kela was only responsible for paying national pensions, but today KELA provides basic social security for Finnish citizens living in Finland and many Finnish citizens who is living abroad. KELA also actively develops Finland’s social security system. KELA provides financial support to citizens in the event of long-term illness or retirement, for example. KELA also supports families with children, from the child’s birth until the child reaches the age of 17.
At the moment I use Kela services only when I paying the student health care fee. However, I have used Kela’s services in the past, for example when I was unemployed and I need to help buy my rent, so I applied for housing allowance and when I was student I got for student grants. Kela also helps my family by paying part of our medical expenses each year. So we only pay our own co-payment for Kela-reimbursed medicines. I also deal with Kela a lot on my work, because I make sickness benefit claims on behalf of my clients when an employee is ill for an extended period of time. I also ordered a European health care card from the Kela´s website.
Although Kela is nowadays very digital, it still has service points, a telephone service and can send applications on paper. As this is about social security for every Finnish citizen, services will probably have to continue to be provided in the traditional way. However, there are still many citizens in Finland who don’t know how to use digital services or who are unable to use services electronically. The language of the Kela website can be chosen from Finnish, Swedish and also in English.
OmaKanta
OmaKanta is an internet service where Finnish citizens can read their medical records, check their own recipes and request their renewal. OmaKanta is also starting to include information from various social services and will also allow people to register their own wishes for healthcare and organ donation. It has been gradually introduced since 2010 and has already evolved a lot since then.
When I log in to OmaKanta, I can see my visits to the doctor for example. The doctor has recorded the epigraph of my visit and also information about the medicines which are prescribed during the visit. I can also see details of my vaccinations and order a certificate about these if I’m going on a trip. In addition, all my laboratory results are shown in OmaKanta.
Although almost every new healthcare provider asks for permission to save my doctor’s visit data in OmaKanta and ask permission to see the data which already saved there, I know that my own grandparents don’t use OmaKanta. For example this spring I made them a paper copy of the healtcare will, which they keep for themselves. So OmaKanta is difficult to use for those who are not very good at using digital services. It is also a very personal service, so there is always a risk of security when it is used by someone who does not know how to use digital services well.
KEVA
Keva is Finland’s largest pension provider and it administers the pensions of local government, for example Kela, State and Evangelical Lutheran Church. Keva was founded in 1964.
When I logged into the Keva service, I was informed that they did not have my pension details. This is true, because I have never worked in a workplace whose pensions are administered by KEVA. So I logged into my own pension insurance company Ilmarinen, and went to look at my pension details. The age at which I could retire would be 67 years and 9 months at the earliest. However, if I worked until the age of 68-69, my pension income would be much higher. My pension income would be around 2200-2800 euros.
Digital Stores
eBay
I went to eBay for a long time and the site hadn’t changed at all. I got a rather nostalgic feeling. The last time I actively used eBay was more than ten years ago. I used to order a lot of crafts and also jewellery and phone supplies. eBay is a shop where people and companies from all over the world can sell and buy products. Whatever you can think of that is legally for sale, you can certainly buy on Ebay.
However, there are many products on eBay that are not genuine but imitate a branded product. These are usually much cheaper than genuine branded products. The ethics of fake products are questionable, as they copy a genuine brand, are not necessarily produced under good conditions and their quality is rarely very durable. However, genuine branded products are also sold on eBay, and it can be difficult for buyers to recognize a fake from a genuine product. However, every seller is rated on the service after purchase, so you should always check the seller’s ratings before making a purchase decision.
It used to be easy to order products from outside the EU, because you didn’t have to pay VAT in Finland if the purchase price was low enough. Today, any purchase from outside the EU would have to be cleared in Finland. I believe that this is why purchases from outside the EU have decreased. Ebay clearly has lower prices than Finland for the same products, so even if you have to pay duty, it may still be cheaper to buy the product than in Finland.
Booking.com
Booking.com is a service where you can compare, for example, accommodation options for your holiday destination, or flights. Booking.com offers accommodation in hotels and also in people’s own homes. Companies can register with the service and offer their business hotel rooms for booking through the service. Private individuals can also register and offer their own home as a place to stay, for example for a business or holiday trip.
Booking.com has given people the impression that their price is lower than the usual price. However, I have often found a cheaper offer for accommodation on the hotel’s own website, for example if I have become a member of the hotel’s regular customer base. So, the price is not always cheaper on Booking.com, especially if you book well in time.
Because anyone can register as an accommodation provider on Booking.com, there are also cheats on the service. I have heard that even in Finland there have been cases where a person who has booked a holiday cottage via Booking.com has arrived at the accommodation and found that the cottage does not even exist. However, Booking.com has been active in helping buyers in such cases, helping to arrange temporary accommodation and refunding lost money. I therefore feel that the service is very reliable. However, I would recommend being careful about what you buy and even using Google maps to help you check that the accommodation really is there where should be.
Omavero a digital service in my field
I use several digital services in my work, but perhaps the most important and most used is Omavero. Omavero is a service for customers of the Finnish Tax Administration. The service allows you to make almost all the necessary notifications to the tax authorities and manage tax payment issues. Omavero can be logged in electronically, for example with an online banking ID, and as a rule you can only deal with your own personal issues. However, companies and individuals can authorise people and companies to manage their own tax affairs in the service.
I’ve been an accountant for almost eight years now and the service provided by the Tax Administration for tax issues has evolved a lot in those eight years. Eight years ago, it was possible to send in tax returns on paper, but today the Tax Administration only accepts a few paper tax returns. Self-assessment has been developed in close consultation with its users and the design of its layout and design has taken into account their feedback and wishes.
My Digital Competence test results
Self-evaluation
In this section, it was interesting to look at services that I haven’t used for a long time. Although I use Kela’s digital service weekly for my work, as a personal customer I don’t need to use Kela’s services much. On the personal side, the service looks very different than Kela’s services on the business side. I also didn’t know that I could order a European health care card, so I have now ordered it. It’s great to see how services are developing, even if the development of digital services is making life difficult for local companies.
I feel that I am well informed about the modern online marketplaces and that I am actively using them myself. I am a bit of a lowest price hunter and online shopping sites are the best way to compare prices. I was born at a time when the internet was not yet available to the general public and I have grown up with the development of the internet. My father has also always worked in IT, so all the new technology came into our family very early on, even before it was available to others.
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