All Entries in the "Technology" Category

Your New Business Portal at the RI Department of State

by Secretary Of State Nellie M. Gorbea 

During the redesign of the Rhode Island Department of State website, we strived to create a Business Portal that would serve as an easy-to-use hub for businesses. Our mission is to engage and empower all Rhode Islanders, so we made sure we spoke with many of you in the business community about the sorts of tools and resources that you need to manage or start your business in our state. Those conversations have resulted in the Business Portal you see today at http://sos.ri.gov/divisions/business-portal.

The Business Portal is a great place to find out what deadlines are coming up and what forms need to be completed for your business. One of the more useful tools within the Business Portal is the online filing system. Online forms and accounts make it easy for you to renew your paperwork. We want Rhode Island business owners to spend less time worried about paperwork and more time managing a successful business.

Every year after your first year of incorporation, business corporations must file an annual report with our Business Services Division. The annual report filing period for Business Corporations is from January 1 to March 1. Filing fees are $50 by person or by mail and $52.50 if filing online. The additional $2.50 for filing online is for payment to the state’s private vendor for online services – RI.Gov or Interactive Rhode Island. This is not revenue for the Department of State or the state’s General Fund. Instead, the fee covers the cost of creating and maintaining the state’s online services. My office is in conversation with the Governor’s Office to address this fee disparity. All filings recorded on or after April 1 are subject to a late fee of $25.

Of the 30,224 Business Corporations on file last year, nearly two-thirds (19,133) filed electronically. Online filing is safe, easy, and available 24-hours a day. It has the same requirements as paper filings, but can save you valuable time because the forms are pre-filled on the screen with the data we already have on record for your corporation. Last year, our staff and summer fellowship intern, worked on simplifying and redesigning all of our business forms so that they are easier to use.

We also understand that managing a business takes time, and there may be many deadlines and important calendar dates to keep track of. We encourage business owners to use our Business Portal to verify whether or not they have filed their annual report. If your entity name contains the words Limited Liability Company or LLC, your annual report filing period is September 1 to November 1.

As Secretary of State I am continuously looking for ways to connect Rhode Islanders and their government. Working alongside the talented team in our Business Services and eGovernment & IT Divisions, we are dedicated to working with Rhode Island business owners to move business forward in our state.

Whether you are a new entrepreneur or an established small business, the Department of State’s Business Services Division is here to help. You can reach us by calling (401) 222-3040, emailing us at corporations@sos.ri.gov or visiting our office at 148 West River Street. Please feel free to contact me directly with any thoughts or suggestions at secretarygorbea@sos.ri.gov or visit our newly redesigned website sos.ri.gov. We look forward to working with you to grow your business in Rhode Island.

Office of the Lieutenant Governor Daniel J. McKee: Introducing Our New Website for Empower RI

by Daniel J. McKee

Too few Rhode Islanders realize they can buy their electricity from suppliers other than National Grid. Those who have tried to take advantage of competitive offers have often struggled to find the right information to make an informed switch. Some who switched have been slapped with hundreds or even thousands of dollars in unexpected charges on their bills – negating any savings they would have enjoyed.

We can do better, and now we are, thanks to a new website called Empower RI.

In partnership with the Rhode Island Division of Public Utilities and Carriers and RI.gov, my office launched the site, www.ri.gov/empowerri, in January to help Rhode Islanders shop for the best electricity prices for their businesses and homes.

Empower RI allows customers to compare electricity prices and contract terms from competitive suppliers to the current “Standard Offer” from National Grid. With its usage calculator and menu of plan offers, the site makes the process of selecting an alternate supplier easier and more transparent.

Ratepayers in Rhode Island face some of the highest energy costs in the country. For businesses, high energy costs can stifle expansion and innovation, and serve as an obstacle to a thriving business climate. For residential ratepayers, high electric bills can stretch hard-earned dollars to the limit.

Empower RI was modeled after competitive energy sites in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, where a much higher percentage of customers are taking advantage of third-party suppliers. The Division of Public Utilities reviews and approves all suppliers’ offers for inclusion on the site. And if you choose a competitive supplier, National Grid will still deliver power to your home or business and respond to service calls, outages or other emergencies.

When electricity rates spiked by double digits a year ago, some customers took advantage of lower third-party rates only to see their savings eaten up by a “Standard Offer billing adjustment.” As of July 2015, customers will no longer face a billing adjustment when they switch. Last year, I intervened before the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission, along with Attorney General Peter Kilmartin, in favor of eliminating it. The commission agreed the billing adjustment was a barrier to a robust competitive market.

I know firsthand the benefits Empower RI can bring homeowners and businesses. After we launched the site in January, I myself clicked through and chose a plan that will save my family about 20 percent over the next five months.

I urge you to try Empower RI as well. It’s a valuable tool to help small businesses and residential ratepayers get the best electricity prices. Already, it is doing exactly what its name says: empowering ratepayers to make the most cost-effective decisions on their electricity supplier.

3 Free Tools To Make Scheduling a Conference Call a Breeze

by Shannon Lewis

Raise your hand if scheduling conference calls is a pain in the neck? Yup, just as I thought, I see a lot of hands being raised out there. Well it doesn’t have to be! I have several great (and free) tools that can help make scheduling a conference call dare I say “fun”. (Ok, I’m pushing it a bit, but these tools will make your life easier!)

THE OLD WAY
The old way of scheduling a conference call via email: 

1. Send an email proposing a few times that work.
2. If you are lucky, you get an email back saying at least one of the times works.
3. You confirm the time.
4. If you’re not lucky, you will get an email back saying none of the times work and maybe a few alternative.
5. Repeat the cycle X times until you find a time that works.

There has to be a better way, and there is!

SCHEDULING A ONE-ON-ONE CALL
Need to schedule a one-on-one call? If so, check out Calendly (www.calendly.com). Calendly syncs with your Google or Office 365 calendar and show the times that you are free for a meeting. It’s simple to use:

1.  Send your Calendly URL to the person you want to met with.
2. She can choose a time that she is available and easily books the time in your calendar. No need for you to be involved at all.
3. Calendly automatically adds that appointment in your calendar and emails you to let you know an appointment has been booked. Calendly also sends the participant a confirmation email.
4. Violà the meeting is scheduled and the only action you had to take was providing the URL to your Calendly page!

SCHEDULING A CALL WITH MULTIPLE PEOPLE
Need to schedule a meeting with more than on person? This is when the real headaches start. Not anymore, Doodle (www.doodle.com) will do this for you! Doodle makes scheduling a meeting with multiple people a snap. All you need to do is suggest dates and times for your participants to choose from, and then Doodle creates a polling calendar that can be sent to participants. Each participant selects the dates and times that he or she is free, Doodle aggregates the responses and tells you which option works best for everyone.

Once everyone has participated, you can select the best date and time and Doodle will notify everyone.

I HAVE SCHEDULED THE CONFERENCE CALL… NOW WHAT? 

I use UberConference (www.uberconference.com) for all my phone and video conference calls. UberConference is integrated with Google Hangouts, so I can easily have a meeting that is a video call, a phone call or a combination of the two. When you sign up for UberConference you get a personal conference call number and pin as well as a permanent Google Hangout URL. Participants can choose if they want to join via the phone, computer (VoIP) or video.

There are a few things I really like about UberConference: 

1. When I connect via my Google Hangouts URL, UberConference automatically connects me to the conference call number so I don’t have to do anything extra to make sure phone participants are connected. It’s seamless.
2. UberConference sends a text to let me know if someone is on the conference call waiting for me -very cool feature!
3. The hold music is really cool.

I include my UberConference information in the confirmation email Calendly automatically sends. I don’t have to follow up with call in information, all I have to do is call in at the scheduled time.

I hope that using Calendly, Doodle and UberConference helps to make scheduling your next meeting a breeze!

Tech Collective’s STEM Career Expo Connects 125 Middle School Girls With Technology Companies