New Zealand Business Number – a building block in our Digital Public Infrastructure
As announced by Small Business and Manufacturing Minister Chris Penk in June, more than 1 million businesses are now registered for the New Zealand Business Number register (NZBN). That’s a major milestone in our drive for a digitally integrated economy.
New Zealand is well on the way to developing Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) – something that is increasingly recognised around the world as a critical enabler for economic growth based on digital technologies of every kind. Minister Judith Collins recently highlighted the key role DPI can play in NZ’s economic growth and drive to digitisation.
DPI is the layer of systems and standards that sits between physical infrastructure such as ultra-fast broadband and mobile connectivity, and everyday digital tools like online banking, e-commerce functions and government service portals.
This layer is what enables all these technologies to work together securely and seamlessly, and thereby allow individuals, businesses and public agencies to interact with speed and efficiency. This encompasses easier and quicker access to a broad array of business and government services – all with the automatic population of digital forms saving time and effort and with greater accuracy, timeliness and security around information which is being shared and stored. For public agencies, DPI supports more responsive and efficient service delivery as verified data can be retrieved and used with precision and security in real time.
Unique identifiers and core business information
The New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) sits at the heart of this country’s developing DPI. Each NZBN serves as a unique identifier — it is a GS1 Global Location Number (GLN, also an ISO standard) – and it is linked to the central NZBN registry.
That registry is managed by the New Zealand Companies Office (within Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment) and contains the individual NZBN of each registered business entity along with a standard set of core business information. The latter includes legal and trading names, contact addresses, and details of owners and directors. Registered businesses can update that data directly, ensuring it remains current and reliable for every type of legitimate interaction with other entities. All types of businesses are identified – companies, trusts, partnerships, not-for-profits and even sole traders.
Following Cabinet mandates, many agencies and suppliers have integrated NZBNs into their eInvoicing systems. Increasingly, suppliers are required to use NZBNs as a condition of doing business with government and thereafter doing the same in their private sector dealings. The shift is improving data accuracy, reducing administrative overheads and enhancing the overall efficiency of public service delivery.
NZBN ecosystem
Looking ahead, New Zealand has a unique opportunity to accelerate its DPI development by building a connected NZBN ecosystem. In this environment, business identifiers and core information are widely accessible and increasingly used across government agencies, between businesses, and in public-private interactions. As more participants join the ecosystem, the range of NZBN applications will continue growing, while ensuring all data remains verified, secure and trusted.
This ecosystem has potential to unlock significant value. For one thing, businesses will be uploading their data once and have it serve multiple functions across the public sector. A building products manufacturer or importer could link its NZBN to detailed product specifications, making these instantly accessible and traceable to agencies involved in regulation and asset management. This not only streamlines compliance and procurement, it will also create efficiencies that ripple across the wider economy.
Of course, DPI development comes with challenges. Many agencies still rely on bespoke information systems that must evolve to enable new levels of interoperability and standardised data sharing. Greater collaboration is also needed in designing digital forms for these to support automatic data population, and in reviewing current regulations to ensure they don’t hinder broader data usage. For businesses, there’s a need to encourage them to make the most of their NZBNs.
Despite the challenging of rolling out DPI, New Zealand is well positioned today. With over one million NZBN holders now engaged, the foundations for a digitally integrated economy are firmly in place. Given national aspirations to boost productivity and achieve sustainable growth, the case for accelerating DPI development – and for building that NZBN ecosystem – has never been stronger.
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