Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

In 2008, the Shanghai Electric Power Bureau did a "little thing" that seems common today-- allowing Shanghainese to pay their electricity bills directly with Alipay, without having to run errands and queue up offline. At that time, no one thought that this became a starting point and opened the prelude to online affairs across the country.

Fifteen years later, the problems that mobile phones can solve have expanded from the payment of water, electricity and coal at that time to social insurance and house fund, social security provident fund, illegal payment, hospital registration, traffic travel, and so on. Using mobile phones when going out to do business, "less queues, fewer errands, and fewer cards" has become a vivid embodiment of the universal benefits and facilitation of China's government affairs and livelihood services.

On October 31, Alipay released a report on the 15th anniversary of people's livelihood service. the data show that so far, more than half of Chinese households have paid their bills through mobile phones, of which more than 20 million users have tied up their elders in their water, electricity and coal payment accounts. Since the launch of the mobile registration service, there has been an average reduction of 180 queues per person. More than 8000 public services have been moved online, and Netcom offices in 31 provinces across the country have launched Mini Program. 1300 cities (including county-level cities) can "drip" Alipay by car, and changing coins for change is a thing of the past. The data strongly support the development of digitization and the achievements of service-oriented government in China over the past 15 years, and witness the changes of the times and the temperature of social human feelings.

There are fewer helpless queues: mobile phone payment saves a "golden week"

Running around and running errands in order to do a little thing may be the common memory of many people. Before the advent of online affairs, people had to wait in long queues at bank outlets and even ask for half a day off in order to pay their electricity bills. When you go to the hospital to see a doctor, you have to wait in line for everything to register, see a doctor, and pay for everything. Taking Mazar and bedding on the floor in the hospital hall once became a "wonderful sight".

In 2008, when online shopping was just on the rise, many users appealed to the media whether paying water and electricity bills could be as convenient as online shopping. Alipay immediately set up a living payment project team, "We have a technical foundation, strong user demand, and the Internet environment is becoming more and more mature. This is a major event related to people's livelihood. Why don't we give it a try?" The members of the project team recalled that. After months of communication and technical docking with Shanghai Electric Power Bureau, Everbright Bank and other institutions, in October of that year, the first online payment of electricity bills was completed in Shanghai, and the original queue for one hour was finally shortened to one minute.

So far, more than half of Chinese households have used Alipay to pay for water, electricity, coal and other living expenses, according to Alipay. If calculated on the basis that one online payment can save an hour, this "little thing" has saved many families a "golden week" (7.5 days) over the past 15 years.

Medical treatment is also a major pain point for people's livelihood. In 2014, Guangzhou Women's and Children's Medical Center became the first "future hospital" in China, which cooperated with Alipay to register and pay fees remotely, which greatly improved the efficiency of patients seeking medical treatment. Since then, digital medicine has developed rapidly, in addition to registration and payment, there are even online guidance, hospital tour and other functions.

So far, more than 3500 hospitals in more than 300 cities in China have provided online registration, online payment, report inquiry and other services to patients through Alipay. The optimization of these medical treatment procedures can help patients avoid three or four queues at a time, calculated on the basis of six visits per capita per year issued by the National Health Commission, which has reduced an average of 180 queues per person over the years.

With more work on the Internet and less errands, the digitization of livelihood services has greatly reduced the helpless waiting. Today's young people can more freely choose to queue for their own interests and personal development, and the "queue" can see the changes of Chinese society.

More care is given to the elderly: more than 20 million people help their elders pay water and electricity bills, and 70% of the users bind medical insurance to the "old and young".

Young people are the main force in doing things on mobile phones, but through payment and operation, the convenience of the digital age has also benefited the elderly at home. "on the first day of Alipay payment in Shanghai, I bound my parents' household number and have been helping them pay for 15 years," recalled Mr. Zhu, one of the first online users in Shanghai.

There are many users like Mr. Zhu. According to Alipay, more than 20 million users have added family elders to their payment accounts, so that elderly people no longer have to wait in line, no matter where they work. Paying water and electricity bills to their parents on their mobile phones every month has become a form of filial piety for Chinese people.

In the past, the elderly were most afraid of forgetting to bring a medical insurance card or not having enough balance in the card. Since the beginning of this year, the "family account" function of the medical insurance electronic voucher has been launched on Alipay, supporting users to help their families activate the medical insurance electronic voucher, so that the elderly who do not have a smartphone can also "code" to see a doctor and buy medicine on the "code". Data show that about 70% of people use health insurance family accounts to help their families bind health insurance. In addition, there is the assistance of medical insurance families, so that the amount of medical insurance can be used by the elderly at home; if the elderly live with their children in other places, they can also seek medical treatment for the record in other places, so as to avoid the trouble of going back to their hometown to be reimbursed.

To allow digital services to benefit the elderly, many government agencies are also introducing innovative measures. Jiangxi Provincial Government Service has taken the lead in launching a "special area for the elderly" across the country, providing large-character versions and voice search services for the elderly. Retired, inconvenient elderly people, through the "Ganwutong" facial scan or relatives and friends agent, can prove that they "have the qualification to receive the security fund."

The regional digital divide has narrowed: office halls across the country are "surfing the Internet" and the wind of scanning the code by car blows to Xizang.

In 2021, Xizang Ali area launched water, electricity and coal mobile phone payment, and in September 2023, the wind of scanning the bus code also blew to Xizang Lhasa. Now herdsmen in Tibetan areas and urban white-collar workers in Beijing and Shanghai have the same digital service experience in such trivial matters, and the digital gap between regions is also narrowing. " Since 2018, we have been actively promoting mobile payment, hanging the collection code on the car and passengers getting on the bus to scan. Now we have evolved to scan the code directly. Many people do not know that Xizang's mobile payment is developing very fast. Data show that Xizang's mobile payment occupies the first place in the country in the past five years, "said Mimaram, director of the cashier center of Lhasa bus operation company.

According to Alipay data, there are already 1300 cities (including county-level cities) across the country that support Alipay to scan the code to take the bus, and it is a thing of the past to cast coins and exchange change. Alipay provides an average annual service of more than 8 billion people and reduces carbon emissions by more than 500000 tons a year.

With the development of digital government affairs, the experience of ordinary people in different regions has been further improved. In 2015, the State Council issued the guidance on actively promoting the "Internet +" Action. "Internet +" was included in the government work report, vigorously promoting the "Internet + government service", so that residents and enterprises can run errands less, do things easily, and do not add jams. Various institutions have also launched innovative "online office" services.

Paste a QR code in the village, and the villagers can scan Alipay and complete the social security payment on their mobile phones. Since last year, village cadres in Shiban Village, Changshun County, Qiannan Prefecture, Guizhou Province have allowed villagers to complete the "online operation" of livelihood services in this way. There is no need to run errands back and forth, and there is no need for high-cost investments. the popularity of online affairs has made villagers in remote areas really realize the benefits.

From 2015 to today, more than 30 national-level service platforms in 31 provinces, 60 cities and more than 30 national-level service platforms have launched Mini Program, providing more than 8000 kinds of online public services, including public security, social security, provident fund, taxation, civil affairs, education, water and electricity, and transportation. One in two Chinese people handle affairs through Alipay, from "running once at most" to "not having to run once".

"Special thanks are given to tens of thousands of institutional partners for their practice with Alipay. Over the past 15 years, Alipay has also evolved from an initial payment tool to a digital life service platform. It is our original intention to use digital technology and products to solve the little things in users' lives," said Wang Lijuan, vice president of Ant Group and general manager of Alipay's digital government and enterprise division. Alipay travel, health care, government service channels will also be upgraded one after another, with more partners to further facilitate the livelihood of the people's livelihood experience.

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