The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) has upgraded its E-services and BizPortal platforms in a bid to considerably scale back purple tape when conducting enterprise in South Africa and improve the “ease of doing business”.
However, on the primary day of the platforms’ improve (9 January), customers encountered teething issues, struggling to entry the websites.
In response, the CIPC indicated in a quick tweet that its websites had been offline on account of technical points and that it was working to resolve the problem. In an official assertion issued later, on Monday night, it mentioned the most important problem with accessing the websites was out of its management.
“The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) experienced system issues, which the CIPC relies on for verification, earlier today. This resulted in some customers not being able to submit new applications and/or [having] received error messaging for OTP verification.”
While related workplace employees had been attending to the delays attributable to the verification problem, the fee mentioned there could also be different remoted points and it urged clients to log fault tickets on its question decision system (QRS).
“The CIPC wishes to extend an apology to affected customers for the inconvenience caused to them,” it famous.
It additionally issued a tweet on Tuesday, assuring customers that varied points had been being addressed:
Dear Customers,
CIPC is conscious of challenges concerning the next features:
1. Name reservations and approvals
2. Company registrations
3. Amending of administrators
4. Lodging of Annual ReturnsOur ICT workforce is engaged on resolving the problem.
— Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (@theCIPC) January 10, 2023
In a press release issued earlier on Monday, CIPC CIO Phineas Mogale had mentioned: “We have conducted extensive testing and continue to rigorously test the new systems in order to ensure seamless transitions as far as possible. Although we do not anticipate any issues, it is however realistic to expect teething problems that we will attend to with speedy resolution.”
Good intentions
CIPC commissioner Advocate Rory Voller earlier said that the fee’s steady efforts to scale back purple tape, whereas adhering to the legislative mandate, are geared at attracting funding into South Africa, thereby creating employment alternatives and stimulating financial progress.
The authorities company says the platforms’ key enhancements embody the automation and simplification of international director assurance. “Multiple company registration and maintenance functions will be combined, ensuring improved efficiencies whilst adhering to legislative requirements.”
It says customers of its E-services platform can count on an up to date, automated director change course of, together with the power to file annual returns whereas conducting extra transactions – in a single step.
It additional notes that its revamped platforms may even permit safety authenticated financial institution playing cards as a cost methodology to conclude transactions, with digital funds switch and historic cost strategies, which allowed for declining balances, set to be phased out. Customers will probably be required to make use of debit/bank cards as a cost methodology on the revamped platforms.
It anticipates that the change in cost methodology and enhancements will increase turnaround occasions, subsequently bettering buyer expertise.
The fee says the platform enhancements are a part of its innovation journey, which entails the migration of its processes into new trendy platforms together with the automation of all processes.
Nondumiso Lehutso is a Moneyweb intern.