Our story
Since November 2019, we've launched over 50 services and had thousands of forms submitted via Business Connect – and we're only getting started.
On this page
Why we're here
We’re trying to make it faster and simpler to deliver great government digital services that benefit New Zealand businesses.
The problem
It can be time consuming and costly for government teams to create digital services. There is duplication of effort as different agencies and councils have to do the same tasks and activities to launch a new online service.
Things like procurement, service design, accessibility testing, privacy and security require specialist skills that are not always available no to mention the expense.
There is an expectation that government services should be available online. We know from businesses that they spend a lot of time and effort trying to navigate complex and fragmented government services – just so they can make sure the compliance box is ticked.
For example, a small cafe requires 7 different licences from multiple government agencies to be able to operate. These forms are often paper-based and request the same or similar information. Once these are submitted, they don't know the status of their application.
Other common complaints include:
- needing to repeat the same information over and over
- that rules and processes are too complicated to understand or follow, and
- that coordination between government agencies is limited.
Dealing with compliance also takes a significant amount of time – time businesses could be spending working to reach their goals.
Our focus
Our aim is to empower government teams across local and central government to quickly and easily create their own digital services using FormBuilder and Business Connect.
FormBuilder is a tool for non-technical government people to create a form in hours or days. The form has government standards baked in and removes the need for specialist design or tech skills.
Forms are then hosted on the Business Connect platform and provide a consistent experience for the New Zealanders who need to complete them.
Our team
Our multi-disciplinary team consists of service designers, product people, developers, testers, security experts and account managers. We understand the frustrations in interacting with and complying with government. We know that we can do better, and our team is passionate about supporting government teams to improve the experience.
Join us
If you need to digitise forms in your government organisation you can try FormBuilder. Register for a webinar on the home page to find out more or contact us to get access even sooner.