e-Society

Estonia is such a unique place. It had the chance to build its IT infrastructure from the ground-up. The infrastructure like national digital ID card and open government data have really helped accelerated the digitalization of all fabrics of citizen lives.

In a nutshell, you can do everything online. Every parts of your life is seamlessly connected.

The legendary story is that, you can start a new company, online, in less than 20 minutes.

I am spoiled by the e-society experience Esotnia has given me:

Refill prescription via email communication to the doctor. The doctor indicates refill under my national ID. Head to the pharmacy, hand them my ID card and I can receive my refill.

Change my car registration via online portal.

All online authentication can be done using mobile ID. I authenticate my identity with PINs on my phone.

Pay for parking directly from my phone. SMS to a number, authenticate with mobile ID, charges directly to my bank account.

File my corporate taxes online. While my accountant has viewing and creation rights to prepare all the necessary online forms, I login to execute the submission.

But the best is yet to come:

The Estonian President and twitter saved my day

While I was abroad in Dubai, I needed to use my ID card to file my corporate taxes. Unfortunately I forgot my ID card reader and I did not have my Estonian SIM card with me for mobile ID.

I tweeted: Any #estonian in #dubai? Can I borrow your ID card reader for 10 minutes? #eesti

The tweet got retweeted by many friendly Estonians, as well as the president of Estonia, Mr. Toomas Ilves.

I ended up finding Simon in Dubai who could lend me his ID card reader.

Some might say that perhaps Mr. Ilves has a good digital PR person who operates his twitter account. It’s actually not true…

Mr. Ilves talked about how twitter saved a girl’s day in Dubai couple days later when he skyped-in a conference. The Estonian internet fluidity comes full circle.

Thank you Mr. Ilves.

I am proud to be somehow of an Estonian.