The Companies Office of Jamaica (COJ) has launched a series of new services aimed at making business interactions with the agency less time-consuming and more customer-friendly.

It has already rolled out an e-ticketing service, a rejection help desk, floor walker, along with a specialised service line for those processing multiple applications at a time, all of which Shellie Leon, acting general manager at COJ, says have received a nod of approval from customers based on recent feedback. Still, the COJ is looking to do more as part of its broader mandate to support particularly small business owners, who constitute a large percentage of the office’s clientèle.

An expanded suite of online services, more customer service reps to handle calls and enhanced customer interaction and support are just a few of the latest initiatives that the Government agency is targeting for roll-out soon.

“The intention is that all of these online services will be available by the end of this financial year and all the other new services that we spoke about, the e-ticketing, help desk, etc, works in tandem with the introduction of more online services. So, it will eliminate customers having to walk in or wait for an extended period of time,” Leon said. She was speaking at the Jamaica Observer Business Forum.

Overall, the COJ wants to slash wait time in its office from a high of three hours to an average 30 minutes per customer. It’s also working to increase customers’ success rate in starting a business or company on the first attempt.

Reducing Wait Times with E-Ticketing

Feedback from recent customer satisfaction surveys indicated that lengthy wait times were flagged as the primary problem with the COJ. To address this, Leon says the agency, which has responsibility for the registration of businesses and companies in Jamaica, has introduced an e-ticketing system designed to streamline the process and reduce waiting periods. The system is targeted particularly at small business owners who often lack the time and resources to spend long hours at the office.

Another notable addition is the rejection help desk, which means a designated officer will be available to assist customers by reviewing their documents before submission and providing hands-on support to ensure all paperwork is correctly filled out.

“We do have times when documents have been rejected more than once because people did not have professional assistance in completing the document, so without our customer service representative intervening, these people would probably have found themselves in a cycle where they cannot successfully complete the registration process,” Leon said. “We have gone further with the addition of a floor walker,” she added.

During peak hours, a floor walker is now available to assist customers directly. According to Leon, this staff member is trained to answer questions customers may have, assist with completing forms, and provide quick solutions to simple issues such as printing documents.

“This service is especially valuable for new business owners who may be unfamiliar with the required procedures and forms,” she said.

Meanwhile, the new suite of online services to be rolled out by March 2025 will include annual returns filings for limited liability companies, the renewal of business names, and changes to company directors, secretaries, registered addresses, and shares.

“Online filing — that’s the big ticket item for us. It means that everyone who interacts with us doesn’t have to come through the front door. New company and new business registrations can be done online, but what we are adding to that is annual returns…We are also going to be putting renewals of our business names, so for those small business owners who started renewing their business online, they can continue,” anti-money laundering manager at the COJ Inger Hainsley-Bennett added.

The COJ is also upgrading its website and implementing new measures to improve service delivery at the entity, with the help of a user interface (UI) specialist. It will also be releasing more ‘how to’ short video presentations broken down in simple language to aid customers in choosing the correct services and in completing documents required for specific services.

The COJ will go to tender for the UI specialist in short order. Meanwhile, it has partnered with One-on-One Educational Services for the development of the short videos, a few of which should released by September.

“We know that our website is not the most customer-friendly, so we will be looking at user flow. We will be contracting a UI specialist to review the site and make recommendations. We are also embarking on programmes where we use social media influencers, for example; we are also looking at saying the same thing in different ways, so if we need to say it colloquially then we will do so,” Leon said.

“The takeaway is that we are on a transformative journey,” she added.

The new services are largely being funded through the COJ’s own budget, as an agency under the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce; but it has received grant support from the Inter-American Bank under the ‘Go-Green’ initiative and the Jamaica Promotions Corporation (Jampro).