Online Business Licensing System, built with the Ecquaria Service-Oriented Platform™, Dramatically Improves Licence Application for Government Agencies and Citizens

Singapore (10 Feb 2004) - Ecquaria Limited (www.ecquaria.com), leader in enterprise business platform, today announced that it has completed and launched the initial phase of the Online Business Licensing System, an integrated one-stop business application service and first key project under the Singapore e-Government Action Plan (eGAP) II. eGAP II is the Singapore government’s plan to deliver one-stop, integrated services to achieve multi-agency collaboration and deliver customer-centric services to meet the needs of citizens and businesses. As a pioneering effort in eGAP II, the system creates a pro-entrepreneur environment with an integrated licence application process, making it more convenient and cost efficient for businesses to operate. Specifically, the Online Business Licensing System is designed to enable a company to register a business and apply for all required licences using a single unified process over the web 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, instead of making physical visits to multiple government agencies.

Leveraging on enterprise capabilities of the Ecquaria Service-Oriented Platform™, it gives government agencies at all levels the tools they require to rapidly and successfully deliver seamless services via the Internet. Thus, enabling the Online Business Licensing System to connect agencies and helps them to work seamlessly together to make it easier and convenient for a business to start by:

• Reviewing licensing policies to minimize the number of licences needed, and remove unnecessary business rules and regulations;
• Conducting process re-engineering to simplify procedures and shorten processing time;
• Integrating services and providing one-stop convenience so that businesses can apply all required licences online.

The state-of-the-art system is expected to offer 100 licence applications by this year and enable business public users to execute a variety of licensing transactions online in a single form, including:

• Locating required licences to apply;
• Completing one integrated form for application of multiple licences;
• Checking for current status of application;
• Paying a one-time and consolidated payment for multiple licence fees;
• Receiving email and/or SMS notification alerts on changes of application status;

Licence applications that are available through the Online Business Licensing System are currently available at www.business.gov.sg. Some of these are the Central Provident Fund Employer Registration, National Environment Agency Food Stall Licence Application, Registry of Companies and Businesses Business Registration and Company Incorporation, and Singapore Police Force Entertainment Licence. As a result, the system helps to create a pro-entrepreneur environment and deliver more one-stop, integrated services to improve the e-Government service experience. It offers a range of capabilities that include:

• Effective reduction of overall business licence processing time by government
• Reduction of citizens’ waiting time to get licence approvals by facilitating concurrent licence processing;
• More convenience and cost savings to the public;
• More time and cost savings from being able to transact with the government agencies from anytime, anywhere.

A total of approximately 100 different types of licences, registration and permit applications will be offered online through the Online Business Licensing System by this year hence building stronger relationships with business public users and citizens in the process. It is fulfilling a vision to dramatically raise the bar for customer service by delighting and connecting citizens through a networked government.

“Citizens’ time and costs will be saved by cuting down the overall licence application processing time and eliminate lengthy queues for the applicants,” said Alfred Low, Assistant Director of E-BIZ Unit, Ministry of Trade and Industry. “Additionally, as a result of Ecquaria’s assistance and successful experience in deploying the Public Services Infrastructure for eGAP I, we now have a system that will result in more efficient processing of licence applications, making it easier for the participating agencies to improve their operating effectiveness, eliminating long waits in line and lots of paperwork.”

“Processes are streamlined, licence processing turn-around times are faster and there is less duplication of agency resources. There is a capability to share information and present an integrated interface to customers. Spending less time on paperwork means that staff can now concentrate on spending more time providing value-added services. All these results in tangible cost savings and better customer satisfaction.” Added Alfred Low.

“The launch of the Online Business Licensing System is an important step towards the realization of Singapore’s eGAP II vision and will help to put Singapore at the forefront of countries that intend to make their existing government e-Government services even more customer-centric and integrated. The system represents the next phase of the government’s transformation into a more citizen-centric enterprise and is in line with the government’s vision to transform the public service into a networked government that delivers integrated electronic services that delights and connects citizens,” said Dr Foong Wai Keong, CEO and President of Ecquaria. “This is a notable achievement for Ecquaria. We are particularly pleased to see the continued traction of the Ecquaria Service-Oriented Platform™, a complete performance management platform, to enable our customers to bolster their effectiveness by tightening the linkage between business strategy formulation and operational execution, and by improving real-time monitoring, reporting and decision-making.