359 Non-Face-to-Face Service Providers Selected... Voucher Platform

Ministry of SMEs and Startups
Activation of Untact Market Including Video Conferencing for Small and Medium Enterprises

Source=Ministry of SMEs and Startups

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daeseop] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 21st that it has selected 359 companies to supply non-face-to-face (untact) services such as video conferencing and online education to small and medium-sized enterprises.

The selection of supply companies involved experts and randomly selected demand companies participating in experiential evaluations. The selection reflected the results of evaluating convenience and quality by actually experiencing the services of supply companies online.

From August 13 to 24 this year, a total of 613 companies applied to supply untact services. After a three-step process of eligibility review, expert in-depth evaluation, and demand-side experiential evaluation, 359 companies were selected.

Based on the services provided by the selected supply companies, a total of 412 services are offered. One supply company can provide up to three services. By service sector, 175 services (42.5%) are in the telecommuting field, 91 services (22.1%) in the edutech field, 58 services (14.1%) in network and security solutions, and 55 services (13.3%) in video conferencing were selected in order.

The selected supply companies will register their company information and information about the services they intend to provide on the 'K-Untact Voucher Platform' by the 23rd. The K-Untact Voucher Platform will be piloted until the 30th of this month.

The platform is built to be user-friendly so that demand companies can easily find and conveniently use the services they want. All processes including business participation application, service selection and payment, service use, and settlement are conducted online on the platform. In particular, a star rating system evaluating quality, price, and after-sales management of supply companies for services used by demand companies will be introduced to provide information about supply companies.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to revitalize the untact service market by excluding supply companies that provide insufficient or poor services from the list based on demand companies' satisfaction and recruiting new companies. Through the K-Untact Voucher Platform, it plans to actively support digital transformation such as remote and telecommuting adoption for 160,000 small and medium-sized enterprises by 2021.

The K-Untact Voucher Platform is intended to become a hub for activating Korea's untact service market. Any small and medium-sized enterprise can access the platform and apply to participate in the non-face-to-face service voucher project unless they fall under exclusion reasons such as default on debt or national and local tax arrears. If selected as a demand company, they can use services provided by supply companies up to a limit of 4 million KRW (including 10% self-payment).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.