Secretary of State Mark Hammond recognized for innovative customer service with state-of-the-art online filing system for businesses

Company Website: http://www.SC.gov
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- (Business Wire)

The South Carolina Secretary of State (SOS) has won the 2018 International Association of Commercial Administrators (IACA) Merit Award for the Online Business Entities Filing, Search and Document Retrieval System. The IACA Merit Award recognizes jurisdictions who have developed innovation through the implementation of a new or improved product or service. Each submission was scored on the following areas: Effectiveness, Originality, Significance, Transferability, and Lessons Learned.

“Now the Secretary of State’s Office can receive electronic filings for over 200 corporate applications anytime,” said South Carolina Secretary of State Mark Hammond. “This user-friendly process accelerates creating a new business or making changes to an existing business, providing accessibility to the office at all times of the day. South Carolina is committed to being on the forefront in the creation of new technology to increase efficiencies in an ever-changing global economy where business is transacted around the clock.”

The Business Entities Filing, Search and Document Retrieval System was launched to the public in January 2017. Over 64 percent of business filings are now filed online utilizing the new system. Through this system, the Office of the Secretary of State has achieved increased productivity and cost savings in relation to agency resource allocation, public accessibility, and customer service and support.

The world-class system simplifies a major point of interaction between business and government and reduces turnaround time to 24 hours or less when compared to the traditional paper-based filing. The effectiveness of this application has been stunning, achieving more than four times the projected adoption rate for online filings since its launch. The application has over 238 online forms, as well as in-house business forms, and has processed 144,000 filings to date.

The major features of the application for the public are:

• Online Business Filings
• Online Document and Certificate Requests
• Online Business Entity Search
• Online Registered Agent Search
• Online Business Profiles
• Online Subscriber Portal (coming soon)

This web-based application was built and is maintained at no cost to taxpayers through a partnership between the South Carolina Secretary of State's Office and South Carolina Interactive, doing business as SC.gov.

To use or view the application, visit the Secretary of State's website at sos.sc.gov or visit https://businessfilings.sc.gov.

About SC.gov

SC.gov is the official Web site of South Carolina government (http://www.SC.gov ) and a collaborative effort between the State and South Carolina Interactive, LLC to enable citizens to conduct state business online and improve public access to government information. The South Carolina Department of Administration’s Division of Technology Operations provides guidance to South Carolina Interactive, LLC which is responsible for operating, maintaining, and marketing SC.gov. South Carolina Interactive, LLC is part of eGovernment firm NIC’s (NASDAQ: EGOV) family of companies.

About NIC

NIC Inc. (Nasdaq: EGOV) is the nation’s premier provider of innovative digital government solutions and secure payment processing, which help make government interactions more accessible for everyone through technology. The family of NIC companies has developed a library of more than 13,000 digital government services for more than 6,000 federal, state, and local government agencies. Among these solutions is the ground-breaking personal assistant for government, Gov2Go, delivering citizens personalized reminders and a single platform for all government interactions. More information is available at www.egov.com.

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Contacts:

SC.gov
Corinne Holland, 803-771-0131
General Manager
corinne@portal.sc.gov

Source: SC.gov