The Damu Fund Automates the Application Process for the Damu-Öndiris Program Using Doculite.kz Service

State support for micro, small, and medium-sized businesses aims to become as accessible, convenient, and fast as possible. To achieve this, all business processes are being digitized and automated. These efforts began several years ago, and during the pandemic, the ability to apply online to the "Damu" Fund, became a lifeline for entrepreneurs.

The automation and digitization of government services began in 2016 when it became possible to apply for participation in support programs through the electronic government portal egov.kz. In 2019, "Damu" launched its own platform, Online.Damu.kz, which operates on the principle of a financial supermarket. Since then, the popularity of these channels has been growing. If in 2019, an average of 24.5% of all applications for the two most popular services of the Fund - interest rate subsidies on loans and partial or full guarantees in the absence of collateral - were submitted online, then in 2020, this figure reached 66%. It is expected that by the end of 2021, the share of online applications will continue to grow.  

Such digitization is not only convenient for clients and ensures process transparency. It is also beneficial for the Fund itself, as it significantly reduces employee time costs and, importantly, saves money.

By the way, the organization manages financial resources with increased responsibility, as "Damu" handles state funds, including those from the National Fund of the Republic of Kazakhstan. To improve the efficiency of procedures, the Fund has automated the process of forming and submitting applications for the issuance of funds under the "Damu-Өnіrіs" program by second-tier banks. The program is aimed at supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in the manufacturing industry and service sector and is supported by the aforementioned National Fund resources. 

Ten banks participate in the program, and an electronic application form has been implemented for them in the electronic document management system Doculite, which is integrated with the "Damu" Fund's information system. Briefly, the process looks as follows. After the application is approved by the "Damu" Fund, an outgoing letter is automatically generated, reflecting all the information on the application for the issuance of funds from the second-tier banks. The signed letter is automatically sent to the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the second-tier banks.

"Thanks to automation, errors related to the human factor are eliminated. Since the data is entered by one responsible bank employee, in turn, the responsible employee of the "Damu" Fund only checks the data received through the electronic document management system Doculite. Thus, the manual data entry and transfer process for the application by "Damu" employees is completely excluded," explains Aitmukhamed Zhakyp, Managing Director of the Fund.

As a result of the work carried out, applications for funds from entrepreneurs under this program can be approved in two days. All participants in the process have the opportunity to agree on applications in the system almost simultaneously. Before the automation of this business process, the procedure took up to five days. 

Currently, the state development institution for supporting micro, small, and medium-sized businesses is working on further tasks to automate business processes.

Let us remind you that the goal of the "Damu" Fund is to provide financial support to entrepreneurs with maximum convenience for them using state funds in strict accordance with government regulations, as well as by attracting funds from international development institutions.  In achieving these goals, the Fund is assisted by the IT company Documentolog, the developer of the mentioned system Doculite. Symbolically, this is a 100% Kazakhstani company that has developed its own product capable of competing with popular systems worldwide from renowned developers, including those from Silicon Valley.

Baizhan Kanafin, CEO of Documentolog, said: "We have been cooperating with the "Damu" Fund since 2014. During this time, we have managed to automate not only the internal processes of the Fund but also implement a number of large joint projects, thanks to which entrepreneurs in the country have the opportunity to quickly and transparently receive financial support from the state. This project is also aimed at accelerating the service delivery processes for SMEs. The Doculite service allows participants in the "Damu-Өnіrіs" program to receive state funding in the shortest possible time, all in an electronic legally significant form using an electronic digital signature."