Modernizing France’s social security services with URSSAF – Caisse Nationale

Thanks to Axway’s Amplify API Management Platform, URSSAF – Caisse Nationale is now handling more than four million daily secure API transactions. And it’s accelerating the development of new partnerships and adding real value with more service opportunities.

URSSAF is the entity that collects social security contributions and redistributes benefits, managing France’s overall social safety net.

Like many other government organizations, URSSAF has been undergoing profound transformations. Adapting to serve a more connected population and keeping in step with government regulations to open up data are especially pressing goals.

Its main task is to collect employee and employer social security contributions, but URSSAF leadership wanted to move from the perception of merely collecting funds to the experience of a seamless, full-service provider.

An API-first approach

Jean-Baptiste Courouble, CIO at URSSAF — Caisse Nationale, says “an API-based approach was a natural next step to digitize government services and integrate with partners. Because the organization manages 500 billion euros in annual contributions, a resilient, secure platform was key.”

“We wanted both to extend the perimeter of our activities and also to be seen as a value-add service rather than merely a collector of funds,” said Courouble.

URSAFF aimed to provide better, faster assistance to employers and individuals. That meant simplifying administrative procedures for social security contributors.

Second objective

The second objective was to be able to deliver services through third-party platforms. French legislators had recently passed an Open Data law requiring government organizations to publish their data.

Strengthening services on a secure foundation

URSSAF launched a new API and Open Data portal. It simplifies, standardizes, and strengthens integration between its internal applications. It creates a more efficient and robust environment for managing mission-critical information for businesses.

In the six months from October 2019, there was a 33 percent uplift in the number of internal APIs and a 24 percent increase in transactions.

URSSAF teams are using APIs as a flexible layer of integration with their back-end systems. This is making it faster and more cost-effective to create new online services.

And these changes are helping end-users. For example, the service can issue contributions certificates for freelancers, making the declaration process easier.

Modernization for URSSAF – Caisse Nationale: Faster response in times of need

During the COVID-19 pandemic, URSSAF put in place measures to support enterprises during the extended lockdowns in France. This led to a significant uptick in the usage of URSSAF’s APIs. And because the organization had adopted an API-first strategy, teams were poised to help.

“We had to do some tuning of our APIs to cope with the spike in demand. Centralizing the control of the mediation architecture through Axway API Management gave us the levers to respond rapidly and effectively,” said Jean-Baptiste Courouble, CIO at URSSAF — Caisse Nationale.

Opening up service delivery through third-parties

The organization is now focused on building new external APIs, which connect public-facing applications to 21 internal ones. Sixty-one of these are already exposed. Today, the Amplify API Management Platform seamlessly handles up to 4.1 million transactions per day for URSSAF.

“Switching to an API-based approach is good for us and the enterprises because it enables a multi-channel approach across any devices without the need to redevelop each time,” explains Courouble. “And it also opens things up to third-parties to put our functionality into their own products.”

URSSAF’s rich data set is also of interest to players in the new collaborative economy, including startups in the personal services industry. Third parties need to be able to access public services in a coordinated way through a single point.

“Using Amplify, we can provide a 360-degree view through a single API-powered portal, which is good for everyone,” concludes Courouble.