How an Open Private Sector can contribute to the OGP – and how open data helps its bottom line

Martin Tisne of the Omidyar Network in his blog The Missing Link: How to Engage the Private Sector in Open Government Partnership, discusses the nascent Private SectorGovernments are working to open private sector practices as well — including through beneficial ownership transparency, open contracting, and regulating environmental standards. Technical specificat... More Council, which was set up to provide recommendations to the OGP Steering CommitteeThe Steering Committee is OGP’s executive decision-making body. Its role is to develop, promote and safeguard OGP’s values, principles and interests; establish OGP’s core ideas, policies, and ru... on precisely this issue. As a member of the founding group, who works at the World Bank where I lead the work on the Open Private Sector platform, I would like to offer a perspective.

With the OGP, countries are now starting to realize that open government data is improving transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More, creating opportunities for social and commercial innovation and opening the door to better engagement with citizens. But openness is not just for governments and citizens.

The private sector also benefits as both a producer and consumer of open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici.... In fact, the private sector not only interacts with government data, but also produces a massive amount of data, much of which is directly linked to government regulations (think company ownership information, taxPlacing transparency, accountability, and participation at the center of tax policy can ensure that burdens are distributed equitably across society. Technical specifications: Commitments related to c..., product and ethical standards, laborTransparent workforce data and increased representation of workers in labor policy-making lead to policies that better protect workers’ rights and remove barriers for underrepresented groups in the ... and food safety compliance, public-private contracting, just to name a few).

What we are dealing with here is a true ecosystem of open data and practices, with governments, business and citizens interacting in an ever complex matrix of information sharing. And as such, many foresighted businesses have already adopted open and collaborative practices. Not for altruism or philanthropy, but because it can actually improve their bottom line. JP Morgan Chase provides information to the banking authorities on its thousands of subsidiaries. Walmart works to offer visibility into its  supply chain through real-time, anonymized worker feedback from 279 factories in Bangladesh. Armajaro tries to trace all its cocoa from Ghana through handheld devices and then shares information both to its purchasers, regulatory authorities and to the producers for increased sustainability and governance traceability. Kalsaka mining in Burkina Faso makes its government contracts openly accessible so that local communities can check if the company is meeting its environmental and labor commitments. 

For many companies, openness of data can translate into more efficient internal governance frameworks, enhanced feedback from workers and employees, improved traceability of supply chains, accountability to end consumers, and better service and product delivery. Open and collaborative private sector practices are thus a true win-win: they impact the bottom line AND also correlate with governance, environmental and social gains.

This results in a paradigm shift. Previously, captured knowledge was power in the business world. Now, in the hyper-connected and ever-evolving world, transparency is the new power, because it helps the private sector reduce cost and better manage risk.

However, as demand rises from companies for more transparency and openness, the gap widens between the companies that have the capacity and funds to afford open and collaborative behaviors, or to make use of open government data, and those who don’t. 

This is exactly why, to complement the work of the OGP with governments and citizens, we have launched the Open Private Sector platform at the World Bank — a suite of open data, web and knowledge services that can help bring the private sector into the OGP movement. The Platform was first launched at the G-8 Summit  last June  and its services were unveiled at the OGP meeting in the UK in November 2013. We are still prototyping some elements while others are in full gear.

• We launched the Open Company Data Index with OpenCorporates to incentivize governments to increase corporate registries and to foster improved corporate accountability. This new data index examines how countries enable transparent corporate registry information. What’s more, by aggregating open registry information, the OpenCorporates tools we support generate open-source, transnational datasets that can curb corruption, check beneficial ownershipDisclosing beneficial owners — those who ultimately control or profit from a business — is essential for combating corruption, stemming illicit financial flows, and fighting tax evasion. Technical... More and deepen due-diligence and competitiveness analysis.
• We prototyped an “Open Supply Chain Global Dashboard” with EcoDesk, and are preparing a global Open Suppliers platform with Sedex and OpenCorporates to help companies track and improve business ethics, labor standards, environmental footprint and governance practices. We are trying to give all businesses the ability to display and track the source of so-called “conflict minerals”, rare woods, or other commodities. Open supply chain systems can help reduce child labor, increase diversity, reinforce third-party certifications and service regulatory compliance.
• We launched the Beneficiary Feedback App Store to enable companies to track and resolve social, governance and sustainability issues through direct feedback from customers, governments and clients. The App Store is operated in partnership with Keystone Accountability, the Open Data Technology Alliance and Feedback Labs to bring together a series of technologies that can be easily deployed.
• With the Open Contracting community we are working with Govini to launch  a global dashboard of government contracts analytics designed for the private sector to  engage with the government using cutting-edge big data technologies to offer an unprecedented level-playing field insight into government buyers, competitors, contracts and partners.
• We launched a new Community of Practice on Public-Private Dialogue, with IFC, GIZ and the Center for International Private Enterprise. The service will offer the tools and services for companies to easily create engagement spaces with governments and citizens.

We’re at the beginning of a journey. There are many questions for which we have no answers yet. For each of the areas covered, we plan to invest in learning lessons about their use in the private sector and their impact on the ground, and make them available widely.

The private sector, government and civil society partners will benefit equally from the synergy created between the various platform components and partnership. The Open Private Sector platform is starting to provide access to data and dialogues that will help companies apply governance, social, and environmental solutions to their business practices. It enhances the ability of the Civil Society to monitor government and private sector practices to make sure they provide efficient and governance-prone service delivery. 

The role of the private sector in the OGP agenda is vast, and the Open Private Sector platform is only a piece of it. But I believe it is an important one. The Private Sector Council is here to help put these types of solutions together, and the Council’s Co-ChairsThe leadership of the Steering Committee is made up of four co-chairs who provide strategic guidance and support to advance OGP’s overarching priorities. Co-Chairs serve two-year terms beginning on ... will soon be circulating a White Paper around the why, how, and what of the Council. The upcoming discussions at the OGP Regional Meetings in Bali and Dublin will help us sharpen these ideas.