ONE-STOP SHOPPING FOR BUSINESS ASSISTANCE

You asked for a general description of Tennessee's online business assistance and for a comparison of that service to Connecticut's.

The link to Tennessee's online business assistance main page (Tennessee Business Assistance) is easily identifiable on the Tennessee government homepage. Tennessee Business Assistance organizes its information into four main subject groups: (1) Business Licenses and Requirements, (2) New Business and Support Services, (3) Verify Business Records of License, and (4) Doing Business with the State. Every subject group contains numerous subgroups, each with its own web page.

We compared the Tennessee and Connecticut business assistance web resources by the type of information available and the steps it took to access the information. Overall, we found that Tennessee and Connecticut provide largely the same information. However, it takes fewer steps to find information at Tennessee Business Assistance because it provides more information on its main page. (See attachments displaying the Connecticut and Tennessee business main pages. )

Most information on starting and maintaining a business in Connecticut is available at the Connecticut Business Center rather than at Connecticut Business Assistance. A link to the Business Center is available under the General Information heading at Connecticut Business Assistance.

Tennessee Business Assistance includes numerous web pages with graphics that make it easy to find and access information relevant to business needs. Connecticut Business Assistance consists of a single web page with a list of dropdown menus linking to state departments and services.

While the Tennessee and Connecticut business assistance sites provide links to address similar business needs, most of the Connecticut links lead to agency websites rather than directly to web pages providing relevant information. Many of the links are also outdated or do not work at all. Below is a list of those links on Connecticut Business Assistance that result in an error message. (Each is preceded by the appropriate headings and subheadings that lead to the defective link. )

1. General Information à Connecticut Economic Statistics

2. Business Regulation à Electricity Industry Restructuring

3. Doing Business with the State à Executive Branch à Women Owned Business Project

4. Doing Business with the State à Legislative Branch à Office of Legislative Management

5. Doing Business with the State à Colleges and Universities à CT Community Colleges

6. Doing Business with the State à Colleges and Universities à CT State University System

7. Doing Business with the State à Judicial Branch

8. Employment à Occupational Training à CT Community Colleges Workforce Development

9. Financial Assistance à Financing Your Business

10. Starting, Moving, or Expanding a Business à Brownfields Information and Resources

11. Starting, Moving, or Expanding a Business à Business Insurance

12. Starting, Moving, or Expanding a Business à Finding a Business Location

13. Starting, Moving, or Expanding a Business à Procurement Services

14. Starting, Moving, or Expanding a Business à Referral Services

15. Starting, Moving, or Expanding a Business à Workshop Services for Entrepreneurs

16. Taxation à Internet Unemployment Insurance Tax and Wage Reporting

17. Women and Minorities à Women Owned Business Project

1. Starting, Moving, or Expanding a Business à Business Development Agencies à Department of Economic and Community Development

2. Starting, Moving, or Expanding a Business à Expanding or Moving a Business

3. Taxation à Employers' Information

4. Taxation à Enterprise Zone Program

5. Taxation à Group Income Tax

6. Taxation à Neighborhood Assistance Act

7. Taxation à Publications (Department of Revenue Services)

8. Taxation à Start-up

9. Women and Minorities à Set-aside Invitations to bid

One exception is the link to Connecticut's Business Center, which provides comprehensive, easy to access information. This website is maintained by the Connecticut Licensing Info Center, a state program. Biz Quiz, a feature available on the Business Center website, provides nearly all the information and links that a business owner needs to start-up or continue operation. (There is a direct link to Biz Quiz under the General Information heading at Connecticut Business Assistance. ) Biz Quiz allows new or existing business owners to create a report customized to addresses their specific business needs. It does this by asking users to select characteristics describing their business from several drop-down menus. We could find no such individualized business service at the Tennessee website.

Both states provide online guides for people who want to start a business. But the Tennessee guide to starting a business text is easier to read and provides more details than the Connecticut start-up guide. The text in the Connecticut guide is smaller and harder to read, but provides links to relevant resources. The Tennessee guide provides no links.


January 26, 2006		2006-R-0016
ONE-STOP SHOPPING FOR BUSINESS ASSISTANCE

By: Natalie Wagner, Legislative Fellow