BUSINESSES
An economy can no longer function without digitalisation. A business location without a strong digital infrastructure cannot develop successfully.
In both the private sector and the business sector in Austria, the e-government trend is towards m-government, mobile government services. Business owners can use the Republic of Austria's online platform oesterreich.gv.at and the Digitales Amt (Digital Office) app to download information and conduct their official business using ID Austria on their devices, at any time and wherever they are. Once they have logged on to oesterreich.gv.at, many administrative services are available with a single sign-on, such as the Business Service Portal usp.gv.at, an important resource for business-related activities.
The digital service for businesses – administrative tasks performed simply, online.
usp.gv.at is a central Internet portal for businesses and offers direct access to numerous e-government applications and business-relevant information.
The number of enquiries from businesses to government authorities that are submitted electronically via the USP service platform is increasing steadily. This is thanks to there being, for example, a modern end-to-end digital process to set up a new company electronically.
Would-be company founders first register on the Business Service Portal using their digital identity (ID Austria) and set up a founder's business account. In the next step, they choose the legal status of their new company. To proceed, they are directed to a special area of the website for company founders where all the forms that are required for setting up a company can be found, along with detailed information about the procedure.
The forms can be edited online directly in the founder's business account and sent to the relevant authorities. In the case of a single-person limited liability company, it is no longer necessary to send the extract from the Companies Register when registering with the tax office. That data is shared within the public administration system. When all the forms have been sent in, the application is processed. Once the company has been successfully set up, an automatic notification appears in the founder's business account.
Digital skills
A digital education means not only having technical skills, but also being able to use digital media competently and knowledgeably. Nowadays, knowing how to handle data sensibly and responsibly, and being able to critically evaluate sources of information, are basic skills like reading, writing and arithmetic. Businesses are very interested in turning employees in the 45+ age group from offliners into onliners.
The Pact for Digital Skills is a partnership of businesses, educational institutions and the public administration agencies that is aimed at boosting basic digital competence in using mobile services among different target groups.
For this purpose, a digital competency model called DigComp 2.2 AT has been created for Austria, based on the European DigComp 2.1 reference framework. It is intended to help categorise digital skills into levels of ability – in the same way as already happens for language skills.
The requirements for digital skills are changing rapidly, as is the digital world itself. In order to meet the current skills requirements and make digital skills measurable and comparable, the Digital Skills Campaign (DKO) is working on a national reference framework, building on the Digital Competency Framework for Austria.
In some cases, job descriptions also need to be adapted to meet today's requirements better. There is a particular focus on specialists in IT, telecommunications and digitalisation.
