Six years ago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel pledged that the city of Chicago’s Small Business Center would go paperless. As of today, 51 of the 108 business license applications listed on the city’s Business Affairs and Consumer Protection website still cannot be completed online. Nearly half of the business license applications still require entrepreneurs throughout Chicago to trudge down to City Hall to fill out and file the required forms.

This is no small thing. As a law student and an attorney serving low-income small business owners at the Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship, we see every day the many ways our clients struggle to navigate the city’s demands, and they have lawyers. Our Clinic recently launched a podcast featuring interviews with some of our clients and entrepreneurs throughout Chicago. Several commented on the difficulty of shutting down for a day—losing business—just to go downtown to fill out some forms. Many talked about their struggles with compliance and how hard it can be to figure out the law. City web resources for businesses need to be improved.

It’s not just that business licenses can’t be completed online. It can also be difficult for business owners to find relevant resources on the city website. The word “business” doesn’t appear on the city’s homepage even once. In fact, you have to hover over the “Government” tab and select “Bus. Affairs & Consumer Protection” from one of the 51 options that pop up before reaching the business landing page. That’s just a few clicks and you might think, “No big deal.”

But those clicks only take a few seconds if you know what you’re looking for—otherwise, it’s confusing. If you still don’t think this is problematic, consider other cities Chicago competes with for businesses. New York, Houston and Milwaukee all feature tabs clearly and prominently labeled “Business” on the city’s home page, which immediately directs the user to the business resources page. Clear, intuitive labeling can save business owners time.

Read more at Crain's Chicago Business