Feedback from Shannon Chamber member companies that the Companies Registration Office’s new online filing system CORE was causing issues prompted Chamber CEO Helen Downes to initiate contact with the Registrar of Companies, Maureen O’Sullivan, which resulted in a live demonstration of the new system via a Chamber-organised webinar.
This was regarded as a very positive response from the CRO and one which was very much appreciated by attendees who had tried, in vain, to get their queries answered since the system went live in December.
The webinar was described as ‘well conducted and at this point, a most strategic and informative interface with the CRO and a unique experience for those who joined as it enabled them to have, for the first time, a virtual audience with the CRO hierarchy’.
Throughout the webinar, Maureen O’Sullivan and the assistant registrar, Claudine Forrest, gave a very comprehensive overview of CORE, the first revamp of CRO’s IT system in over twenty years.
Acknowledging that there were initial bugs in the system which resulted in heavy demands on the call centre and email boxes, Ms O’Sullivan said that she appreciated the frustration this caused to customers and confirmed that all feedback has been recorded and is being addressed to improve the user experience.
“Once users get familiar with CORE and initial bugs that have been found in the system are rectified, they will find is a very easy-to-use system,” she added.
In giving a very comprehensive overview of the system, and highlighting the features of each element of filing, Claudine Forrest answered every question submitted during the webinar which, as Shannon Chamber said, “was the longest list of questions ever submitted during a live webinar, but were addressed professionally and with clarity”.
Given that CORE is a hugely sophisticated system, Ms Forrest said it was inevitable that there would be bugs, which despite the system being tested pre going live, only manifested when users started using it.
“CORE bears no relationship to the old system; it is an entirely new platform. Setting it up involved an enormous transfer of data from old systems. Some data came over incorrectly or were placed in an incorrect field and, when dealing with over 50,000 forms a year, if one piece of data is wrong, its impact on thousands of other fields of information is immense.
“Many bugs in a new system only manifest when the system goes live and we are working as speedily as possible to remedy these. Once these are complete, we will look at making further improvements that many users have suggested; however, redressing initial bugs is our priority,” Ms Forrest assured attendees.
Describing the webinar as a really useful session and very much appreciated by members, Shannon Chamber CEO Helen Downes advised attendees and businesses throughout the region to follow CRO’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkvQn-QKT1bRaSmL3SPAJDg for further demonstrations and updates on CORE and to find the answers to any questions they might have.
