Online Business & Commercial Services Saves Arkansas $3 Million

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1 Online Business & Commercial Saves Arkansas $3 Million Category: Digital Government: Government to Business Contact: Claire Bailey Chief Technology Officer Arkansas Department of Information 1 Capitol Mall Little Rock, AR Claire.Bailey@arkansas.gov Project Initiation Date: January 2002 Project Completion Date: June 2013, New & Enhancements Ongoing 1

2 Executive Summary Arkansas Secretary of State s Business & Commercial Division (BCS) provides a substantial suite of more than 20 complex online services that support Arkansas business owners and help them meet their obligations with the state. Arkansas BCS is a national leader in providing online services to businesses and continuously streamlining internal processes. Since 2002, BCS has converted many of its cumbersome paper processes into electronic or fully automated enterprise processes that integrate with a backend database. Several services, including Corporation Name Search and Uniform Commercial Code, were among the first in the nation and have been online for more than 10 years. Together, the full suite of online BCS services creates significant savings for the Arkansas Secretary of State s Office in process efficiencies and dramatically reduces paper and postage costs. BCS has realized a conservative estimated return on investment of more than $3 million since Business owners also benefit from the convenient suite of online BCS services. It takes less time to file electronic forms and receive acceptance or rejection responses from BCS. They also save on postage costs and spend less money as many online filing fees are lower than paper filing fees. All of this translates into higher satisfaction with state government, as evidenced in results from a 2013 survey of 495 BCS online services users conducted by the Center for Public Policy & Administration at the University of Utah. Ninety-seven percent of respondents gave high marks for time efficiency versus offline methods like mail, phone or in-person visits. High rankings were also given for reliability (95%) and ease of use (95%). Nine out of 10 businesses said BCS online services make it easier to conduct business in Arkansas. ONLINE SERVICE CATEGORIES INCLUDE: 1. Business Entity 2. Change of Address 3. Corporation Filings 4. Franchise Tax Filing 5. Certificates of Good Standing 6. Notary 7. Trademark 8. UCC 2

3 Business Problem & Solution The BCS Suite of Online was developed using an agency-wide approach to streamline a number of paper-driven processes for both the BCS staff and business owners. In Arkansas, there are more than 160 different forms business owners may be required to file with the state to remain in good standing, and dozens of associated fees. Before the forms and secure payment processing were made available online and in many cases integrated with the BCS infrastructure, both BCS and business owners spent a lot of time and money handling paper forms and postage. The BCS Suite of Online replaces a series of paper-driven processes and has resulted in measurable efficiencies and cost-savings for both BCS and business owners. It includes the following features, functionality and benefits: Features Functionality Benefits Corporation Filings Franchise Tax Filing Fillable PDF and online form versions of 64 variants of 29 forms are available online and ed directly to BSC. Several convenient options for business owners to file and pay taxes: Online Payments: Secure online credit card payments Lockbox: Mail with a check that is automatically deposited into BCS s bank account; bank delivers a data file to BCS Bulk Pay: Subscription services for CPAs to bulk-pay for all clients taxes Over-the-Counter: Credit card payments made inperson at the Secretary of The top four most filed forms, which represent 72% of filing volume, are automatically fed into the BSC backend and eliminate the need for staff to rekey information into the database. Online form submission eliminates the need for business owners to print and mail forms to BCS, saving time and money. Payment options provide options for business owners and integrate with the BCS backend, reducing the amount of time staff spends entering information into the database. 3

4 Business Entity Change of Address Notary State s Office Certificates of Good Standing: Search for corporations and purchase / print Certificates of Good Standing. A unique authorization code verifies validity of the official certificate. Also available in a mobile-optimized format. Entity Fees & Forms: Find business and commercial filings, and file and pay fees electronically. PDFs available for business owners who prefer to mail filings and payments. Entity Search: Search for registered businesses in Arkansas to view information including status, agent, address, officers, fictitious name and more. Also available in a mobileoptimized format. Special Request List Builder: Citizens can request a one-time customized list of corporation entities for $10 instead of using a $200 subscription service. This service offers the most comprehensive list of special request services in the country. Submit a change of tax contact address for companies or non-profit organizations Prospective Notaries Public All of these online services save time for business owners and BCS employees. Automatic authorization code generation allows business owners to purchase and download Certificates of Good Standing in minutes rather than waiting days for BCS to mail a certificate. Electronic filing options save paper and postage costs, and reduce the wait time for BCS to accept and file the forms. Self-service online and integration into BCS backend enables staff to spend less time processing tax contact address changes and answering calls and s. Self-service online saves time for 4

5 Trademark can register for seminars through an online form. Citizens can search for Notaries using an online form. Search for existing trademarks and service marks using an online form. Download a Trademark Application PDF to apply for the registration of a trademark or service mark. prospective notaries and BCS employees who would otherwise be handling calls and s from notaries. Online search reduces trademark research time. Uniform Commercial Code Provides four tools that simplify the process of searching for and filing UCC documents with the state. UCC Bulk Download UCC Fees, Forms & Online UCC File Watch Notification System UCC Filings & Searches A complete suite of online services for businesses needing to access and file UCCs enables individuals to quickly find and file information, and automates data entry on the backend for BCS. Project Significance Two BCS online services Corporation Name Search and Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) Search were the very first of their kind in the nation. Many other services have been available online for more than 10 years, well ahead of demand for web-enabled business services. Enhancements and newer services are continuously added to the suite using the agile development methodology with mobile access in mind. Mobile Business Entity Search and Mobile Certificate of Good Standing Search are among the mobile-optimized offerings that enable business owners and those researching Arkansas businesses to access information via smartphone or tablet. These services align with the state s mobile initiative that seeks to put government information and services online in a mobile-accessible format as Arkansas has one of the highest rates of mobile device usage in the nation. 5

6 The project aligns with Governor Beebe s goal of reducing state government costs by using technology to work more efficiently. The project also answers the secretary of state s call for divisions and employees to find innovative ways to do more with less. Through newer service additions and ongoing feature enhancements that align with the agency s business drivers, BCS is working more efficiently with fewer resources each year. Key stakeholders included the agency and its employees, state government, the small business community, and through successful process improvement and cost savings, citizens of Arkansas. Project Benefit The BCS Suite of Online and ongoing enhancements brings significant benefits to the state and business owners. Business process and service level improvements include: Decreased Response Time to Business Owners: More than 4,000 corporation filings are rejected each year due to inaccurate or incomplete information. Before the online system was in place, it took up to five business days for BCS staff to review forms and notify business owners of rejection. Now the system automatically pushes four forms representing 72% of submissions into the BCS backend system and validates data in real-time against roughly 60 fields (such as business name in use, business in good standing). Employees are notified when the system finds an error and form review / rejection is needed. This has shortened the review time frame from days to hours. Less Paper Due to High adoption of Online Filings: In 2013, 79% of business owners filed Franchise Taxes and Corporation Filings online. This means BCS employees are handling substantially less paper than before these services were available online. Online filings have increased 297% since the service was first available in 2003 and continue to grow year after year. Operational Efficiencies: Due to the process improvements, BCS is able to process a greater volume of forms and payments without hiring additional full- or part-time staff. For each online service offered, BCS has realized these time savings by streamlining internal processes: 6

7 Corporation Filings & Automation: Because employees are no longer manually entering data into the backend system, BCS has cut its staff hours by two thirds from 6-7 minutes to 1-2 minutes total per form. The division was understaffed before this service went online and is now able to reduce its staff even further through attrition or reassignment to other responsibilities, if needed. Franchise Tax Filings: Through automation of forms processing, BCS has reduced its administrative staff to six people. UCC Filings & Searches: Automation and a user-friendly process for internal staff has enabled BCS to process more than 100,000 filings each year with just two employees. When this was a manual process, it required 12 employees. Business Entity : With all forms available online and processed automatically, this service requires no intervention from BCS staff. Cost savings to the state. Through online automation of paper processes, BCS has saved an estimated $1.35 million in taxpayer funds since 2002 by eliminating paper, postage and handling costs. BCS s technology partner Information Network of Arkansas (INA) has developed these services at no cost under its self-funded model, in which government transaction processing fees support the development of state government projects. These services have saved BCS an estimated total of more than $3 million in staff time and paper/postage costs. Cost savings to Business Owners: BCS s constituency of business owners have also saved time and realized an estimated savings of $1.9 million in paper and postage costs since 2002 from submitting required filings online instead of through mail. Increased satisfaction with State government. The 2013 University of Utah study revealed that 97% of respondents gave BCS online services high marks for time efficiency versus offline methods. High rankings were also given for reliability (95%) and ease of use (95%). Nine out of 10 businesses said BCS online services make it easier to conduct business in Arkansas. 7