5 new ideas for exciting e-services

Estonians are already lucky being able to declare their taxes online or signing documents digitally. Our managing director Peeter Smitt believes there’s room for improvement and proposes five new e-service ideas for that should be made happen. Spoiler alert: while we were working on this post, one of them became a reality in Estonia!

After a company shares their bank statements with the Tax Board, tax declarations can be filled out automatically and the entrepreneur simply revises them if needed. A similar system is already in place for private persons’ tax declarations in Estonia. Just a few days ago, Estonian Tax Board announced that companies using LHV bank, have this service now available.

Instead of going through all the red tape when your child is born, you could get a message on your phone the day after the birth, asking for the new citizen’s name and which one of the parents is planning to stay home with the baby. All other procedures could and should be automatic.

Your electricity company can see from their logs that an arc-flame occurs in your wall socket each time the tram passes. They could preventively let you know so that you can fix the problem before your neighbor calls the fire brigade when the roof is in fire.

Data on what kind of groceries you buy, how often you work out, when was your last vacation, and if you’ve been under a lot of stress lately, can indicate your doctor whether you have a need for preventive counseling. The doctor can then just call and enquire.

Company’s annual reports, tax data and some other sources provide a fairly precise prediction of who is about to go bankrupt. If a business partner had this information, it could more prudently decide how to act and what risks to take.