Digital Leaders Spotlight: Ventanilla Digital de Inversiones

The Ventanilla Digital de Inversiones (or the Digital Investment Window) is a digital platform where procedures to acquire real estate, construct businesses and begin business operations can be carried out online.

The platform was developed by the Government of the State of Yucatan in Mexico in collaboration with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD.)

SDGs addressed:

8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

Challenge:

In 2018, there existed a considerable digital gap in the state of Yucatan – both among citizens and throughout the government. The state government was not at all digitized and was missing the basic tools to be abe to offer digital services. With insufficient infrastructure, data was scattered in siloes across government departments.

For this specific project, the department  decided to focus on digitizing one service that would have a high impact on business activity, to make it easier for anyone from anywhere in the world to invest in Yucatan.

Prior to the implementation of the Digital Investment Window, buying, or opening a business entailed a lengthy and tedious process to request information, submit an application, meet established criteria, make payments, execute follow up procedures, and finally obtain a resolution. The process required investing more than 1,000 days of effort, with multiple visits to various government offices. Additionally, there was a high number of documents that were requested repeatedly during each phase of the procedure.

The administration viewed these challenges as an opportunity to chart a digital path forward, with a new citizen-centered approach, taking advantage of existing resources wherever possible. With the arrival of the COVID pandemic, the digital transformation strategy that was designed for 3 years, was fast-tracked to just a few months.

Solution:

The platform has the following components which enable all the the necessary procedures to be carried out 100% online:

• Citizen File: online repository consisting of the information that accredits the identity of a citizen or company, which is used to cover the documents requested during the process
• Payment Engine: engine to make online payments or download a reference line to go to the external and internal channels enabled to do so in person
• Yucatan Map: map which provides analysis of geolocation data and prior diagnosis of properties
• Inspections Platform: tool to schedule inspection visits, with an app where inspectors can carry out the collection of reports remotely and immediately
• Electronic Signature: component which allows the use of the (E-Firma) Electronic Signature as a method of verification and authentication of persons and corporations.

Impact:

The Digital Investment Window is a standout success of collaboration across all operational levels of government to create a more sustainable and transparent digital process from an outdated and inefficient one. The platform has successfully reduced costs, attention time, and use of paper. And for users, it provides a more accessible and comprehensive service, with less less wait times and physical visits, and more transparency throughout the process. With the simplification of these procedures, the State of Yucatan is fostering more investment in the State.

With continued conviction to continue to digitalize operations, the state of Yucatan is working in close collaboration with the Merida City Council to incorporate its municipal operations into the platform. This effort should help promote participation from more cities and foster more investment in their municipalities. In the next phase, the platform will expand to include more procedures at the local, state, and federal levels.

Highlights

• Reduced service times from 980 to 184 days to open a company
• Reduced time from 111 to 10 days to purchase property
• Reduced construction authorization time from 120 to 61 days with 84% less documentation required
• Start of operations takes 80% fewer days and 62% less documentation

This project was the trigger that prompted the digitization of the other procedures. Currently, 80% of the 704 procedures are online and the goal for 2024 is that 100% of the procedures and services of the Government of the State of Yucatan can be carried out through the internet.