Open, international Business Identifiers
For trusted Supplier Identity Verification
How we standardize supplier identity data – Sound on!
The work of Supplier Identity Verification starts with verification of the legal identity of suppliers using data sourced direct from official business registers, the only authoritative source of company identity data.
Authoritative identifiers for trusted Supplier Identity Verification
Company identifiers issued by government agencies, when a legal entity was formed, are Authoritative Legal Entity Identifiers (ALEI). They identify a company in law in the jurisdiction in which the company was formed. Read more about Why we use authoritative identifiers for Supplier Identity Verification?
Once we have verified the legal identity of your supplier, we format the supplier’s ALEI as an ISO 8000-116-compliant International Business Registration Number (IBRN) or an ISO 25500-compliant International Business Identifier (IBID).
The difference between the two identifiers is subtle but important.
ISO 8000-116 International Business Registration Number (IBRN)
The IBRN enables the digital verification of the company’s original Registration Number (the number allocated by a business register on company formation). Verified company identity data that is formatted be to automated and utilized by AI-agents means that your supply chain master data references authoritative legal identity through ISO data standardization.
ISO 25500 International Business Identifier (IBID)
The most common source of corporate fraud is identity theft, where a bad actor registers a business under the same name as a known business but in a different jurisdiction (and on a different date). Knowing the IBID of the legitimate business protects against this type of fraud
The IBID enables more comprehensive and faster verification of the company identity based on 3 key data points:
- IBRN
- Legal Name
- Date of formation.
This provides enterprise systems with an even more powerful data-set to manage supplier master data. Re-verification on a regular basis is now not just possible, but can be automated via API.
Why we use authoritative identifiers for Supplier Identity Verification?
If you are drawing up a contract, checking regulatory compliance or defending against corporate fraud, you must ensure you cite the legal identity and be certain that identification is secure.
Both the IBID and IBRN utilize a company’s Authoritative Legal Entity Identifier (ALEI), sourced from the official Business Register.
They allow verification of a company’s legal identity within a legal jurisdiction. This means that there will only ever be one IBRN or IBID for a company globally – it is a unique, unambiguous identity and cannot be duplicated.
These company identifiers are ISO standards-compliant, and adopted by corporates and governments around the world. There is no third-party cost to formatting data to the standard and the data remains the property of the data owner.
Why not embed a requirement for standardized open identifiers, including the IBRN and IBID, into your corporate contracts? See the Data Formatting Contract Clause available for Download here