Helped over 45,000 entrepreneurs start and grow their new business in New Jersey

To streamline a highly fragmented and confusing process to make it easier for businesses to start, operate, and grow in New Jersey, the Office of Innovation worked with several State agencies and departments to launch Business.NJ.gov, a one-stop digital resource for businesses, along with key tools like the Business.NJ.gov Account, Business.NJ.gov Live Chat, and Business.NJ.gov Updates.

Challenge

Prior to Business.NJ.Gov, starting and operating a business in the Garden State meant companies and aspiring entrepreneurs had to navigate a byzantine process, sifting through as many as 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. Since the initial launch of Business.NJ.gov in 2019, thousands of updates and improvements have been made to the site and related technology platforms, offering businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs an ever-growing array of resources and information to help them start, operate, and grow their business more seamlessly.

Impact

• With more than 6 million users and 20 million pageviews as of August 2024, Business.NJ.gov is the definitive starting point for New Jersey entrepreneurs, serving more than a million people in the first six months of 2024 alone.
• 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.
• As of August 2024, more than 45,000 businesses filed formation documents through Business.NJ.gov since the tool’s launch in 2022, and the site facilitates one out of seven new business formations in the state.
• With a Business.NJ.gov Account, aspiring entrepreneurs have personalized guides to starting their business, register their business, track their applications, find relevant funding opportunities, and get a personalized tax calendar.
• By enabling data-sharing between agencies for the first time, OOI is consolidating dozens of forms and making them submittable through a single portal, Business.NJ.gov.
• Business.NJ.gov Updates is an email program that proactively shares information on new programs, services, and regulatory changes for businesses and nonprofits operating in New Jersey. In 2024, the number of subscribers more than doubled and now exceeds 270,000 as of August.
• 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. In 2023, the Live Chat saw a 32% increase in the number of businesses seeking answers, and as of August 2024, the Live Chat enabled more than 150,000 virtual replies to businesses by experts from State agencies.

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

What New Jerseyans See

Read More

See the latest at the Business Experience Initiative project page.