Page 21 - From Lines to Online: Automating Quezon City’s Business Permitting Process

One of those who experienced the BPLD's Before the actual registration, Joyce didn't want to
convenience is top leadership and management line up thereby exposing herself to the virus.
consultant Joyce Talag. At the height of the "Instead of taking my chances by queuing,
pandemic, she launched her sole proprietor announcements on the QC Government website
business called L.E.A.D. to Thrive Leadership and and Facebook page enabled me to book my
Management Consultancy. This is geared towards appointment online with relative ease. An email
honing the leadership skills of established or confirmation arrived immediately. It contained
aspiring entrepreneurs, young and mid-career reminders on documentary requirements,
professionals, to high potential talents and which eliminated the possibility of coming to my
next-generation leaders. appointment with missing documents."

Since Joyce is opening her business and applying Since QC had already begun implementing a
for a Mayor's Permit during the pandemic, she had Unified Business Permit Application (UBPA),
some initial hesitations about government service. business owners like Joyce no longer had to
In fact, she said, “Government offices are notorious secure individual permits from different offices.
for bad service and with the restrictions posed by All approvals were handled by the same office.
the COVID pandemic, one would expect services to
get worse.” “Instead of waiting for the process to be
completed, I received an email the following
But according to Joyce, she was pleasantly day that informed me about the status of my
surprised with her positive experience with the application,” Joyce said.
BPLD. "My experience at the QC Business
One-Stop-Shop showed otherwise and proved that The ease of experience impressed Joyce as she saw
there is hope in reforming the bureaucracy." the characteristics of good service design. The
registration process, she said, is aligned
with the QC Business Permits and Licensing
Department's mandate of providing “effective
systems, procedures, and practices in the issuance
and renewal of business permits.”

“The Business One-Stop-Shop enabled the city
government to effectively fulfill its mission
and make its value felt by its constituents
even in times of crisis," Joyce explained.
"User-friendliness and customer welfare are put
in mind even before and after. There is
also continuous process improvement being
implemented.”

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