New Website for Encouraging Small Business Exporting
Business.USA.gov is launched in beta form.
The Obama administration has launched a new website that consolidates resources for small businesses wanting to learn how to export. BusinessUSA, found at business.usa.gov, combines information and acts as a portal to approximately 20 different government agencies, including:
- Small Business Administration
- Department of Agriculture
- US Patent and Trademark Office
- Department of Commerce
- Census Bureau
- International Trade Administration
- Internal Revenue Service
- US Trade Development Agency
- Overseas Private Investment Corporation
- And more…
This is one of many initiatives that the Obama administration has taken to work towards doubling US Exports by 2015. About a fourth of the content focuses on helping small businesses begin exporting or expand exporting operations. The rest of the website offers resources for starting, growing, and financing small businesses.
Purpose of BusinessUSA
The purpose of BusinessUSA is to be a one-stop platform to make it easy for small businesses to access services to help them grow and hire. However, while browsing through the Website, it is easy to see that it is currently just a portal to off-site resources. There usually not more than three clicks before it is sending the user off to a partner agency’s website. That being said, they do offer useful summaries of these resources before sending you offsite. Business USA also has an event calendar as well as links to State and local resources.
User feedback encouraged
The real benefit of the website is that is offers users an avenue to give feedback. Many of the existing government sites don’t make it easy to leave feedback about the websites and resources that are offered. BusinessUSA and Data.gov co-sponsor an online forum for discussing business and economic data. There are also comment sections for each of the resources, and a link to suggest feedback for the site.
1-800-FED-INFO
BusinessUSA also consolidates telephone support through all of the participating agencies through a single number: 1-800-FED-INFO (1-800-333-4636). Calling the number sends you to an automated answering service with one option: “for information on starting or growing a small business, or for businesses interested in exporting say or press seven now”. Whether you press “seven” or not, you are lead given two options:
- access the Frequently asked Question or
- talk to an “information specialist” by pressing “zero”.
Dialing zero results in (hold onto your hat) being put on hold. It seems that this number is more or less a switchboard for the participating agencies, and just another layer of a phone tree.
Conclusion
While it is easy to find short comings in BusinessUSA, it must be pointed out that they are still in the “beta” stage. If nothing else, it is the first step in making existing resources more user friendly and accessible.
What do you think?
What do you think of business.usa.gov? Good first step? Bureaucratic BS? Leave your comments below.