DTI develops prototype app for business registration

The government has developed a prototype that will allow new business registrants to apply for business permits using a mobile phone.

“We are pleased to report that business registration at your fingertips will soon be a reality. A multidisciplinary team composed of private/ public sector representatives from DTI, DICT, SEC, QC LGU, and PHILHEALTH, with help from our friends from New Zealand Creative HQ, has just finished a prototype that enables end-to-end business registration on a mobile device. We are happy to note that the prototype is a viable concept. But more tests are being completed in order to further validate.” said DTI Secretary Ramon M. Lopez, also the Chair of the Ease of Doing Business/AntiRed Tape Advisory Council (EODB/ARTAC).

Since July, the DTI has organized a series of Design Sprints workshop and successfully developed a prototype for a portal on LGU information, and a framework on the Philippine Business Number (PHBN).

According to the DTI Secretary, the last design sprints held this week, is the last and the most challenging and timely. Project One’s launch of Design Sprint 3 follows the release of the Doing Business Report Survey 2019 where we improved in the starting a business indicator, increasing from 66.86 to 71.97 in terms of EODB score. This also reflected an increase in the ranking from 173 to 166.

The Design Sprints Team successfully created a streamlined process for business registration, providing an excellent opportunity for the Philippines to become one of the first countries to adopt a business registration process that can be completed (end to end) on a smartphone. The One Central Business Portal is being developed as an alternative registration channel that is so easy to use. This will significantly reduce the time, steps and costs plus the inconvenience of business registration particularly for micro, small and medium enterprises.

The One Central Business Portal is expected to significantly make it easier for someone wanting to start a new business in the Philippines by consolidating government requirements in one application form. By making the portal available online and through the mobile phone, its transforms the registration experience into a convenient facility that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays.

Through the development of this portal, someone interested in putting a new corporation will no longer have

to visit and transact with several government agencies separately. It also spares the applicant from having to contend with numerous face to face interactions, as well as queues to obtain a service.

The One Central Business Portal complies with Section 13 of RA 11032, mandating a “central system to receive applications and capture application data involving business-related transactions, including primary and secondary licenses, and business clearances, permits, certifications or authorizations issued by the local government units”

“We do not just automate the process but transform the way government is doing business by offering a feasible, viable and desirable solution for the customer. The exercise we did this week reengineered the “starting a business” process using a whole of government approach”, the DTI Secretary further said.

The DTI Secretary said that in accordance with RA 11032, DTI shall turn over the prototypes for the One Central Business Portal, including the framework of the Philippine Business Number (PHBN) and the end to end registration to the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) for possible integration with other government systems. Under the newly enacted law, the DICT shall be primarily responsible in establishing, operating and maintaining a central business portal or other similar technology, said Secretary Lopez. PR