Secretary of State Unveils Montana Online Business Toolkit

The Montana Secretary of State’s office has been working since spring to create an online business toolkit to speed up the business license application and renewal process. The new system is designed to help business owners navigate the labyrinth of  necessary state documents.

"We've noticed that businesses often have to go from agency to agency to find information or forms that they were looking for," said Secretary of State Linda McCulloch explains. "this toolkit gives eight separate tools that walk business owners through filing procedures that pertain to the Secretary of State's office and then it also gives them links to the other agencies that they have to go to."

The state of Connecticut spent thousands on developing a similar toolkit, McCulloch says Montana’s toolkit cost much less because it was developed in-house. She also says it performs better than the Connecticut system.

"It's a checklist, it reduces filing time and increases efficiency for businesses, and it's available 24/7," McCulloch said. "We know that business owners don't have time to sit down and do their business work until after their business closes in the evenings."

The business toolkit can be found at the Secretary of State’s website: sos.mt.gov. McCulloch says she hopes that in the future, other Montana agencies will utilize the same toolkit to further streamline the process.