(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont and Secretary of the State Denise Merrill today announced that the State of Connecticut’s business registration system has been upgraded and is now fully integrated with Business.CT.gov, the state’s business portal that serves as a one-stop-shop for businesses and entrepreneurs to navigate state government requirements as effectively and quickly as possible.
The integration allows business owners to login to fewer places in order to do business with the state. Instead of logging in to a separate business registration system after creating a checklist at Business.CT.gov, entrepreneurs now have a built-in experience.
Connecticut’s business portal launched in the summer of 2020 and has been rapidly expanding under the administration’s efforts to build an all-digital state government. Among other accomplishments, this project has achieved:
- 17,683 new business checklists have been created since Business.CT.gov went live.
- 19,174 new businesses have registered with the state since the Office of the Secretary of the state joined Business.CT.gov this summer.
- 56% of all new business checklists on Business.CT.gov have been created by women or minority entrepreneurs.
- Business support calls in the service center at the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development have dropped to only 3 to 4 minutes per call.
Further integrations and iterations of the program will continue to be rolled out on an ongoing basis.
“Since I came into office, one of our top goals has been to make sure each entrepreneur can spend less time with the government and more time growing their business and doing good for our residents,” Governor Lamont said. “This update is another incredible milestone in Connecticut’s modernization efforts to move toward an all-digital state government experience. Every business owner is required to register through the Secretary of the State, and this integration will take away one more burdensome extra step or login that they need to undertake to grow their business.”
“Small businesses are now better equipped to start, expand, and thrive in Connecticut,” Secretary Merrill said. “Starting a business comes with several risks and inherent challenges. Registering should not be one of them. I look forward to our state and our businesses growing together.”
“The modernization of state government happens one step at a time, and today we are announcing a very large and important step,” Connecticut Department of Administrative Services Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe said. “The prior business registry system, Concord, was one of the most antiquated and frustrating systems for Connecticut businesses and residents, and now it is finally gone. We are thrilled to launch its modern replacement as part of Business.CT.gov to provide a seamless, intuitive, and fast experience for our constituents that provides a much better first impression for anyone starting a business. These steps we’re taking to integrate services and break down state agency silos get us closer to Governor Lamont’s vision to be a fully digital government that is responsive to business needs.”
“Our goal at reSET is to help reduce barriers to launching and growing sustainable, impact-driven companies,” Sarah Bodley, executive director of the Hartford-based nonprofit organization reSET, said. “Streamlining the process of getting registered is a great step toward an easier on-ramp for new businesses to get started. The more we can ease the process of operating the business, the more they can focus on connecting with customers and growing their business.”
With the Office of the Secretary of the State’s business division fully integrated into Business.CT.gov, Connecticut business owners now have a seamless end-to-end experience from how to start a business, registering that business, and managing all of their critical compliance needs:
- Business owners can now sign up for one CT.gov account and handle all of their business filings online, hassle-free. This includes business registration, business lookups, filing annual reports, making business amendments, and filing liens.
- New business owners can register their business and have instant access to a full suite of valuable business and filing services right in their CT.gov account dashboard.
- All business owners can now track their filings, payments, and get alerts and notifications so they can stay compliant with the state – all at their fingertips in one easy-to-use account.
- If a business owner wants to find things like when an annual report is due, they can now do that right inside the chatbot. Enter a business in the chatbot and get information specific to the business in seconds.
- Businesses can now file and track every kind of UCC lien online, with no paperwork required.