From international trade issues to tax codes, businesses of all sizes and across every market and industry are impacted by the decisions, regulations and legislation enacted by the federal government.
Unfortunately for many enterprises, finding information about the government rules and programs that impact their business can be a convoluted and difficult process. That’s because many disparate agencies have missions that impact different aspects of business.
For example, there are agencies that influence, regulate and police international trade, such as the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and the United States International Trade Commission (USITC). There are agencies that influence and execute programs designed to help small businesses such as the Small Business Administration (SBA). And then there’s agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which handles tax policy and collection.
And that’s just a small sample of the different agencies and organizations that monitor, regulate and otherwise impact business. Each of these agencies owns information that businesses need and programs to help businesses thrive, and each has its own unique Web presence where the information is available.
The Obama Administration is currently working to make this convoluted system a little less complicated. One of the ways they’re looking to accomplish this is very aggressive and involves reorganizing and consolidating the agencies whose main mission impacts trade and business.
The other step that the administration is taking is standing up a centralized Web application and Web site that aggregates the information that businesses need from multiple agencies and makes it available in one place. This has less of a direct impact on the agencies itself, but should pay huge dividends for businesses.
This new Web presence, which will be called Business.USA.gov, is expected to go live in a matter of weeks and make the information and programs that businesses rely on easier to access. With the nation’s unemployment rate still over 8 percent, this Web presence is expected to empower businesses and be a tool that can help drive the economy towards recovery.
According to a recent article in NextGov, the content of the site is expected to include resources and information from multiple trade agencies, the business divisions of the Department of Commerce, and the SBA. The new site will also be constructed with some advanced capabilities to help make navigation and search easier. For example, the site will ask users to provide basic information about their businesses, such as the legal status or size of the business, and will then display only the information and resources important and applicable to that business based on the information provided.
By building a new online portal for businesses, the Obama Administration is taking an important step in making the information, programs and other resources that businesses need easier to find and more readily available. By moving these resources online and into a place that is intuitive, centralized and easy to navigate, the Administration is helping to ensure that the programs accomplish their missions and that the resources and information that the government makes available to help businesses of all sizes can be found and used to help enterprises grow and Americans get ahead.
