What are open businesses?

In the previous article we explained what open data is. When the idea is applied to businesses, we talk about open businesses: businesses anyone can quickly and reliably look up to learn who they are, who owns them and what they do.

Definition#

An open business is a business whose core details are:

• public: nobody needs permission to see them;
• accurate and current: they match reality today, not five years ago;
• findable: searchable by name, owner, place or activity;
• verifiable: backed by an official source such as the business register.

This is not about revealing trade secrets, prices or customers. It is about the business's identity: exactly the information a customer, partner or bank looks for before trusting you.

What an open business's data includes#

Register data#

This is public by law and comes from the business register:

• the official name and trade name;
• the business number, NUI and fiscal number (what each one is);
• the legal form (individual business, LLC, JSC etc.);
• the owners and their shares;
• the authorised persons;
• activities (NACE codes);
• registration date and status.

Data the business adds itself#

The register shows who you are legally, but not how a customer can reach you. An open business adds, voluntarily:

• phone, email and website;
• the exact address and opening hours;
• a short description of its products or services;
• social media and photos of the premises.

Open business or closed business?#

Take two suppliers with the same offer:

• The first appears in the register as active, its owners and director match the people you are talking to, and it has a profile with confirmed contacts.
• The second has only a phone number and a social media page. You do not know its official name, its NUI or who owns it.

Which one would you sign a contract with? The second business may be perfectly honest, but you have to trust it without any way to check. That is why openness has real value for the business itself, not only for the public.

Transparency across the economy#

When all businesses are open, the whole market gains:

• fraud gets harder, because a fake NUI or director is spotted quickly;
• journalists and institutions can see who stands behind companies winning public tenders;
• entrepreneurs can see how much competition a sector or municipality has before investing;
• foreign investors find trustworthy local partners more easily.

How to make your business open#

1. Keep the register current. Record changes of address, owners or director in the business register (how it works).
2. Find your profile on Kerko. Every registered business already has one. Search for it here.
3. Verify your business. As an owner or authorised person you can claim the profile and add contacts, opening hours and a description, with the verified business badge.

For more on our approach, see the Open businesses page. In the next article we look in detail at the benefits of open businesses.