COJ Announces Plans for Fiscal Year 2023/24

The Companies Office of Jamaica (COJ) is looking to enhance its products and services during fiscal year 2023/24, to boost customer satisfaction. 

Details of this undertaking were shared by the entity’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Acting), Heather Sutherland, who participated in a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’ at the Agency’s head office in Kingston, on Tuesday (April 25).  

Ms. Sutherland told JIS News that the objective of the engagement “is to always improve our products and services”. To this end, the Registrar has taken steps to improve its website.  

“At present, we are testing the system with our customers and stakeholders to ensure that when it is rolled out, persons are pleased,” she indicated.  

Ms. Sutherland anticipates that with this improvement, slated over the forthcoming weeks, more users will be attracted to the site.  

Among the other improvements, the COJ will also be undertaking expansion of its call centre.  

Ms. Sutherland explained that “this will involve acquiring additional licences and additional staff… [which will give us] the ability to support customers via online chat”. 

Improvements to the website are also being made to facilitate a smarter system to reduce the COJ’s response time to customers.  

“The agency has, for some time, received complaints about the inability of customers to reach us by phone. With this new upgrade, we aim to improve on this and our delivery to customers, in terms of our response time,” the Acting Deputy CEO explained.  

For this financial year, the COJ will also be refurbishing the customer service area at its head office in Kingston.  

The space will be refurbished to reflect a more modern setting as well as improve the flow of customers utilising this area daily.  

Ms. Sutherland acknowledged that “we are a first-touch entry for entrepreneurs, and we want to create an environment that reflects professionalism and optimism and to transfer that energy to our customers”. 

Additionally, she shared that the COJ is looking to upgrade its customer queuing system and rollout a new integrated reservation and registration service.  

Regarding the customer queuing system, Ms. Sutherland told JIS News that “we have moved it to our web-based platform, and the impact is that customers will soon be able to select tickets without being in our actual office”. 

“It means, therefore, that they will know the length of time required to wait before being served and arrive for their appointment at that time,” she further informed. 

Regarding the reservation and registration process, Ms. Sutherland explained that “customers currently have to come in or go online to reserve a business/company name and then wait a minimum of two days before knowing if the name has been accepted, before that business/company name can be registered”. 

However, the new integrated system, once rolled out, will allow for the process of reserving the name and registering the company and/or the business, to happen in tandem. 

“So it will basically be a one-stop process where you can go online and you can reserve your name and register your company or business simultaneously,” she said. 

This service will also be available to walk-in customers via kiosks that will be incorporated into the refurbishing plans for the customer service area.  

Source: JIS