Benefits for key stakeholders

Two million small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) comprise more than 90 percent of the Nordic businesses, and they form cornerstones in our societies and to our future welfare. There are large benefits from NSG&B for SMEs, as well as for all the other major stakeholders, such as Business system vendors, Financial service providers, Business associations, Authorities and other stakeholders. These stakeholders are all keyplayers in the future digital ecosystem.

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Watch a short video where David Norheim, member of NSG&B CAB (Change Advisory Board) talks about the challenges in NSG&B, digital documents, the benefits for SMEs and the importance of collaboration.

  • Less manual typing and a higher degree of automation
  • Higher data quality overall, better control of errors and changes in ordering and procurement processes
  • Real-time overview of business profitability, cash flow, and product stock
  • Simplified reporting and sharing of data with e.g. creditors
  • Customised services for e.g. industry-specific needs and credit assessments
  • Traceability of products and materials is enabled (e.g. chemicals, waste)
  • An expanded market where more SMEs would use business systems
  • Business system vendors act as key players in the automation of government reporting. Stable regulation for reporting directly from business systems means less risk and a predictable future
  • With better interoperability between business systems and value-added services, the SMEs get a wider range of data-driven services available. Each business system can thereby cater to the needs of different types of SMEs
  • With structured data, banks will be able to better assess their SME customers' credit risk in a simple and fast way. This way, banks can provide more accurate financing and reduced costs of loans for business customers
  • Insights into real-time transactional data enables credit institutions to assess the risk of an SME that relates to its network of customers and suppliers
  • Costly and mandatory know-your-customer assessments may in part be handled using the same interfaces for accessing data as used in credit risk assessments

As representatives for members (SME:s) the same general benefits apply:

  • Less manual typing and a higher degree of automation
  • Higher data quality overall, better control of errors and changes in ordering and procurement processes
  • Real-time overview of business profitability, cash flow, and product stock
  • Simplified reporting and sharing of data with e.g. creditors
  • Customised services for e.g. industry-specific needs and credit assessments
  • Traceability of products and materials is enabled (e.g. chemicals, waste)
  • The process of obtaining business data is simplified by enabling reporting directly from the business systems
  • Compliance by design will increase correct and timely reporting
  • Secure chains of real-time structured business data makes it possible to increase process automation and decrease manual errors
  • Market developments can be monitored in real-time by authorities, and new data-driven policy can be developed in response to crises as they unfold

General benefits for society are for example:

  • When it becomes less costly to provide credit to the SMEs, financing will increase and pricing of credits will become realistic as risk assessments are better. The increased liquidity stimulates the economy of the Nordics
  • With further Nordic integration it becomes easier to trade across the region, which benefits the Nordic societies at large

Standardisation enables data to be shared automatically

The ecosystem will consist of public and private systems handling financial and economic data used by the SMEs in various Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP). Business administration such as transactions and reporting to governmental authorities is supported by the ecosystem, as well as access to financial information for counterparts.

The focus of NSG&B is to create coherence between existing systems for efficient use and reuse of data. The aim is to utilize SME's data that is already in their ERP system and thus not to provide a governmental database. This means that the already existing digital systems and solutions must apply standardised interfaces (APIs), which will enable them able to share data automatically

Real time data creates value

The ecosystem will provide real time, detailed and structured data on demand, and thus serves the different needs for data in both business and government decisions. The availability of real time data in the ecosystem opens up for new opportunities such as the development of new data-based products and services that can create value for both public and private actors.

The Nordic Smart Government and Business ecosystem

The realization of Nordic Smart Government and Business through an interoperable ecosystem of digital solutions will provide real-time business data for business-to-business and business-to-government. This will save time for the SMEs and increase the quality of data. Moreover, trade in the Nordic region will be simplified, as it will become easier to handle e.g. invoices across borders within the Nordics. It is vital that the governments ensure a democratic data policy with respect for data owners and fair access to data, as opposed to a private monopoly.