Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 24-27 October, as part of the main event of the year in the field of information technology "ICTWEEK UZBEKISTAN 2022" held in Samarkand, the first results of the joint initiative "DIGITAL PULSE", implemented by the Ministry of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction, were presented Republic of Uzbekistan and the United Nations Development Program, in partnership with the Ministry for the Development of Information Technologies and Communications of the Republic of Uzbekistan and IT Park.

This tool has already helped to diagnose the level of digitalization of business processes in more than 250 companies, the diagnostic results formed the basis of individual digital transformation strategies for small businesses, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the enterprise, as well as the potential for further development. "DIGITAL PULSE" allows to analyze all companies that have passed the diagnostics. Thus, the analysis showed that 34 percent of the companies that passed the diagnostics had women managers, and 40 percent of companies had managers under the age of 35. The level of digitalization is quite low, averaging 11 percent.

To address this issue, the UNDP project plans to introduce a system for diagnosing the level of development of digital competencies of citizens of the country based on the DigCom competency framework. It is important to note that digital competencies are defined as key related competencies that involve the ability to critically, coherently and creatively use digital technologies. These measures also contribute to improving the digital readiness of the business.

DIGITAL PULSE is a tool that helps small and medium-sized businesses determine their level of digitalization and provides key guidance on what to take on their journey to digital transformation. The tool also helps companies assess their digital capabilities and identify associated gaps in their operations, and UNDP and its institutional partners will receive information on what further policy measures need to be developed to support the acceleration of the digital economy in the country.

This tool meets the needs of businesses for free assessment and automatic analysis received by the company after passing the diagnostics, and also provides basic recommendations for areas requiring improvement. The tool is useful for any company, big or small, service or product oriented.

The program has developed an online platform that allows companies to self-assess their digital activities. In the questionnaire, users must answer a series of multiple-choice questions about their business in selected areas and sometimes justify their choice. The questions are based on six key business areas, such as digital communication, digital customer relations, people and digital innovation, information and IT security, managing a company with digital tools, and digital manufacturing and service delivery.

Based on the responses provided, companies will receive an automatic assessment of the company’s digital profile in the form of a radar chart with digitalization percentages in relevant areas and recommendations for immediate action. This will help to diagnose the level of digitalization of business processes in companies, and will serve as a motivation for developing new business ideas and approaches.

The tool is data-driven because how it rates a company and formulates recommendations is entirely dependent on the answers provided by users. The assessment questions were designed not only to guide companies on their digital journey, but also to inspire them with new ideas and approaches.

And most importantly, you can use the services of this tool for free.

The DIGITAL PULSE initiative is being implemented as part of the Youth Digital Skills - a joint program of the Ministry of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Ministry for the Development of Information Technologies and Communications of the Republic of Uzbekistan, IT Park and the United Nations Development Program within the framework of the project "Empowering Youth for Development digital economy and digital entrepreneurship”.