The SC Secretary of State’s Office has won the 2018 International Association of Commercial Administrators (IACA) Merit Award for its Online Business Entities Filing, Search and Document Retrieval System. The IACA Merit Award recognizes jurisdictions that have developed innovation through the implementation of a new or improved product or service. Representing the SC Secretary of State’s Office are Jody Steigerwalt, director, Business Filings Division UCC/Corporation Department of the SCSOS; Larry Hubbard, director of Information Technology, SCSOS; Melissa Dunlap, SC Deputy Secretary of State; and Mark Hammond, SC Secretary of State. Representing SC.gov is Corinne Holland, general manager. The South Carolina Secretary of State (SOS) has won the 2018 International Association of Commercial Administrators (IACA) Merit Award for its Online Business Entities Filing, Search and Document Retrieval System. The IACA Merit Award recognizes jurisdictions that 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. This is the second award from IACA for the office.

The first was for the online Uniform Commercial Code Filing System that was launched in 2011. The Secretary of State’s Office continues to be a leader in the nation providing new technology solutions to businesses and citizens.

“Now the Secretary of State’s Office can receive electronic filings for over 200 corporate applications anytime,” said Mark Hammond, South Carolina Secretary of State.

“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 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; and

• 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 businessfilings.sc.gov.