Office of InnovationThe Business Experience Initiative
The Business Experience initiative is a cross-agency effort - launched as part of the Governor’s 2018 Stronger and Fairer Economic Plan - to make it easier to start, operate, and grow a business in New Jersey. To streamline a fragmented process and deliver a simplified, one-stop digital experience for businesses, OOI has launched several tools including Business.NJ.gov, the Business.NJ.gov Account, Business.NJ.gov Live Chat, and Business.NJ.gov Updates.
Challenge
Prior to Business.NJ.Gov, to start and operate a business in the Garden State, companies and aspiring entrepreneurs had to navigate a byzantine process, sifting through 15 State websites to find information and creating multiple accounts to file forms and regulatory filings. OOI was tasked with streamlining these processes, and began consolidating dozens of related processes spread across multiple agencies into a single, easy-to-use platform for businesses.
Innovation In Action
Rather than waiting to debut a large-scale solution after a multi-year development process, OOI used agile and iterative development to quickly launch a series of tools that provided immediate value to users and offered critical data that informed further development. By using this agile process, results were both faster and more effective as each stage of development was built with a data-backed understanding of the business community’s needs.
Impact + Metrics
- With Business.NJ.gov, companies can now easily find the answer to any question they have, file critical forms, and get personalized recommendations – all in one convenient place.
- With over 4 million users and 19 million pageviews as of April 2024, Business.NJ.gov is the definitive starting point for New Jersey entrepreneurs, serving more than half a million people in the first three months of 2024 alone.
- With a Business.NJ.gov Account, aspiring entrepreneurs can now develop personalized guides to starting their business, register their business and track their applications, find relevant funding opportunities, and get a personalized tax calendar.
- By enabling data-sharing between agencies for the first time, we are consolidating dozens of forms and making them submittable through a single portal, Business.NJ.gov.
- Businesses can access a centralized customer service experience in real time using the Business.NJ.Gov live chat - this allows businesses to get answers from experts and customer service representatives from multiple State agencies, alleviating the need to call several agencies.
- At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, OOI rapidly deployed a COVID-19 Business Information Hub to provide a definitive source for businesses on safety regulations, closures, financial assistance, and more.
Status
- OOI continues to work with departmental partners to build additional functionality into the site, while also expanding content and services provided by additional digital tools.
Partners
- Office of the Governor
- NJ State Department of State, Business Action Center
- NJ State Economic Development Authority
- NJ State Department of Treasury
- NJ State Department of Labor
- Statewide initiative, in partnership with all relevant State entities
Last updated on 5/1/24
