ICT Solutions in the Activities of the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) as an E-Administration. Evolution During the COVID-19 Epidemic (Case Study)
ICT Solutions in the Activities of the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) as an E-Administration. Evolution During the COVID-19 Epidemic (Case Study)

Summary/Abstract: Purpose: As a case study illustrating the relationship between crisis management capabilities and theuse of ICT techniques and technologies in public administration, the following text presents the evolutionof selected ICT-based solutions used in the activities of the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) asan e-administration and their use in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The article describeschronologically the most important projects in this area implemented and developed at ZUS from 2016to the end of 2020.Methods: To achieve the objective a case study method has been chosen, i.e. a method of a qualitativenature, which, among other things, allows for: an in-depth description of an atypical phenomenon, andalso on a broader and individualized analysis of the problem, allowing for its better understanding. Theapplication of the case study method for presenting the impact of the pandemic (global crisis) on theuse of information technology – in accordance with the assumption of using this method in the so-callednarrow approach – made it possible to reconstruct the course of this relationship and its conditions.The case description was based on the analysis of legal acts, ZUS documents: annual reports on ZUSactivities, strategic studies periodically prepared in ZUS, specifying the current objectives, directionsand instruments of its planned development, information publications available on the ZUS website andthematic information available in the media.Findings: Using the example of the changes in the use of new techniques and information technologiesin the Social Insurance Institution, it was shown how the process of automation and digitization wasaccelerated under the conditions of the pandemic. As a result, ZUS played the role of the main entityimplementing government aid projects under crisis conditions. It is also a leader in e-administrationdevelopment.Originality/value: The presented case study is an original paper, drawing attention to the potential ofpublic institutions and conditions of its use in the global crisis situation. The added value of the studyis the quotation of unpublished figures made available by ZUS. They enable an objective assessment ofchanges, the scale of described activities, as well as their effectiveness, measured e.g. by the numberof activities, instruments and beneficiaries

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