Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea Communicating Improvements to Rhode Island Businesses

by Secretary of State Nellie M. Gorbea

As Secretary of State, I am committed to enhancing commerce and making it easier for folks to do business in Rhode Island. To do this, I tasked the Business Services Division at the Department of State to identify opportunities to improve the way we work with and communicate to businesses.

Newly-designed business forms:

For example, in November of 2015, we introduced newly formatted and interactive forms to make them easier to fill out by business owners. We made sure that we had frequent users preview our designs. Their feedback was critical in making sure the new forms were easy to use. Despite all our best efforts, we had an unanticipated problem once we launched the forms – when the new forms are repeatedly copied or faxed they become harder to read. Because our ultimate goal is to make things easier for businesses in Rhode Island, we quickly remedied this issue and have rereleased these forms for immediate use. (We ask that businesses discard any new business services forms with an edit date prior to May 2016 (05/2016).)

Staying up to date with the Department of State:

At the Department of State, we understand that any change in our operations needs to be communicated clearly and effectively to our business owners. Whether it’s changing a deadline or implementing a brand new process, it is our job to keep Rhode Island businesses informed and prepared.

As required by law, we will use traditional mail to let you know of updates and changes, but we also offer business owners the chance to receive these updates via e-mail through our Business Services E-mail Subscription Service.

When you join our Business Services E-mail Subscription Service, you can receive three different types of e-mail notifications with varying frequency.

A. General Information

Those who subscribe to this notification will receive the latest updates from the Department of State, including legislative updates, elections information, and latest news from our Divisions. This preference also provides updates on service outages and weather/holiday related office closures. You can expect updates on general information about six to twelve times a year.

B. Business Entity Record Updates

Subscribers to this notification will be updated when a filing has been posted or an update has been made to their entity. You will also receive formal notifications issued by our office. Subscribing to this notification is a great way to verify our receipt of a filing and to protect against corporate identity theft.

C. Official Communications

This notification is our way to send important reminders on filing deadlines and reporting requirements. Most recently, we used this notification to alert business owners to the adjustments we made to filing forms located in the 8 RISBJ | rhode island small business journal Business Portal. You can expect Official Communications from us to come three to six times a year.

To sign up or manage your email subscription preferences, I encourage you to visit our Business Services Portal at sos.ri.gov/divisions/Business-Portal and click on the link “Email subscription service.”

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.

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