WAPES, Antalya, Turkey, 21-22 May, 2014

Online Tools to Support Entrepreneurship Ahti Avikainen, Senior Adviser Ministry of Employment and the Economy, Finland

Enterprise Finland – what is it? Everything for a company and future entrepreneurs starting a company

• Information source for all business activities: – starting, developing and internationalising a business

• Public enterprise services available for businesses all in one place and in one format • Electronic workspace in My Entreprise Finland • Other connections: Enterprise Europe Network, Your Europe, EUGO - Points of Single Contact 21 May 2014

28.7.2014

Enterprise services available all in one place • Public enterprise services available for businesses in one address • For example: Expert advice, funding, recruitment, training, registering

• All service descriptions from various organizations in one form • Both national level and local level services • Forms and e-services

21 May 2014

My Enterprise Finland Single point of access to public enterprise services

Introduction to My Enterprise Finland (1/2) • Online service for managing matters related to establishing and running a business, launched in May 2013 – https://oma.yrityssuomi.fi/ in Finnish – https://oma.yrityssuomi.fi/en/home in English

• For start-ups or established businesses, or persons planning to start their business • The aim is to collect public and publicly funded enterprise services under the same address - Electronic workspace providing information services, tools, and interactive transaction services - Reduces need for shuttling between different online services or offices

• Content is based on user profile information – this approach enables to take into account e.g. business sector, region, life cycle stage, other areas of interest  provide information that best suits the user’s needs 21 May 2014

Introduction to My Enterprise Finland (2/2) • Development within the Ministry of Finance’s Action Programme for eServices and eDemocracy (until the end of 2015) • Major actors from the public and private sectors also participate in developing the service • Around 15 working groups developing various functionalities or servicies, including about 200 persons

21 May 2014

Benefits? (1/3) • For start-ups and established entrepreneurs - Saves time and effort • All information from one place, available 24/7  reduced number of office visits - Lowers the threshold for prospective entrepreneurs • Streamlined start-up phase with guided processes - Improves the quality and viability of start-up businesses (e.g. through entrepreneur tests and business plans) - Helps entrepreneurs to prepare for meetings with business advisors - Reduces the administrative burden on existing companies, helps to comply with regulations 21 May 2014

Benefits? (2/3) • For business advisors - Improves the quality of customer meetings, by helping the customer to prepare in advance (business planning tool etc.) - More efficient advice for business customers (e.g. giving business plan comments online)  Supports and promotes quality consulting services and their impact - Facilitates reallocation of resources • Less basic consulting, more time for expert services supporting business development 21 May 2014

Benefits? (3/3) • For public administration - Solutions available to all public administration organisations - Standardised electronic notifications/registrations and applications for all authorities, ensuring better document quality and fewer mistakes - Streamlined background processes, higher productivity • Less need to create different user interfaces for notifications, applications etc.

21 May 2014

My Enterprise Finland • Personal workspace for managing the tasks in starting or running a business • Personalized content and services based on user profile • Useful tools for businesses • • • • •

Entrepreneur test Business plan and calculations Service and permit search Business sector information Forms and instructions for starting a business 21 May 2014

• Starting a limited liability company electronically • Self-assessment tools for internationalization or business development • Internationalization plan • Networking with other entrepreneurs and experts

28.7.2014

28.7.2014

Content: maintenance, updates and development

21 May 2014

Content • Enterprisefinland.fi contains approximately – – – – –

500 pages 1000 service descriptions, both national and local 120 permit descriptions 1000 links 60 regional sites

• All content exists in three languages (Finnish, Swedish and English) • 350 public organizations: large nation-wide agencies and small local level organizations – only public services and organizations, no private businesses

• 800 000 visits annually 21 May 2014

Key words and onthology Enterprise Finland is produced using onthology and key words: • All website content is stored in a database • All content (pages, service descriptions, links) have assigned key words based on their topic and theme • Service descriptions and links are listed on each page based on how the key words match  Easier maintenance: when e.g. a link is broken, it is fixed only once in the database, instead of multiple times on various pages on the site

21 May 2014

Development • Enterprise Finland is owned by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy • Extensive development of Enterprise Finland began in 2010, continues at least until 2015 • Development is funded by the Ministry and by a separate governmental program aiming to promote e-services and reduce bureaucracy in public sector services • Also other sources of funding for different projects creating new content for the web service

21 May 2014

Content updates • Content updates are done in various forms: – In the working groups and projects which created the specific content in the first place – By the website editorial staff – Update rounds for service descriptions, permit descriptions

• New version of EnterpriseFinland released in August 2013, revision of content was started and will continue in 2013 and 2014 • Service descriptions and permit descriptions are updated roughly once a year • All new and updated material is translated by a contracted translation agency – all content is made available in Finnish, Swedish and English 21 May 2014

Thank you!