SBC "Enhancing System to Ensure No Disruption in Small Business Loss Compensation Payments"

by Choi Donghyeon

Published 30 May.2022 09:45(KST)

Officials from the Small Enterprise and Market Service preparing to expedite the payment of loss compensation funds for small business owners.

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The Small Enterprise and Market Service (SEMAS) announced on the 30th that it has completed preparations for the rapid payment of the Small Business Loss Compensation Fund through emergency holiday duty.

On the 26th, Lee Young, Minister of SMEs and Startups, visited SEMAS to inspect the preparation status for the compensation fund payment. At that time, Minister Lee urged, “Please make efforts for the prompt and flawless payment of the loss compensation fund,” and added, “I hope you pay close attention to the digitally vulnerable groups as well.” Accordingly, SEMAS switched to an emergency holiday duty system from the 28th of last month to the 1st of this month to prepare for emergency situations.

When building the payment system for the Small Business Loss Compensation Fund, SEMAS established a cloud environment capable of handling up to 1.8 million simultaneous applications, registrations, and processing. Additionally, they newly introduced simple authentication methods such as Kakao, Naver, and PASS, significantly improving the speed of identity verification. Security was also greatly enhanced through pre-load testing, personal information management, and simulated hacking security checks.

Furthermore, the payment processing capacity was improved by changing from the existing five daily transfers to six daily transfers. An emergency response team is also operating to ensure rapid on-site response in case of issues such as connection failures or increased load.

A help desk is also being prepared for the digitally vulnerable groups. They secured 10,000 telephone lines and plan to deploy up to 1,500 call center counselors to enhance consultation convenience.

Moreover, for IT-vulnerable groups, 70 Small Business Support Centers nationwide will provide guidance related to online application and registration. They also plan to strengthen notification services for non-applicants by introducing a callback reservation system and an artificial intelligence (AI) voice bot.

However, for the first two days of payment commencement, an odd-even system based on the last digit of the business registration number will be applied. Applications can be made by accessing the Loss Compensation Fund website.

A SEMAS official stated, “This Small Business Loss Compensation Fund reflects the know-how gained from six previous disaster relief payments and incorporates improvements based on small business owners’ feedback to implement a stable system. SEMAS will do its utmost to provide the fastest and most prompt compensation possible for small business owners and traditional markets who have endured hardships over the past two years.”