D‑U‑N‑S Number
What Is a D‑U‑N‑S Number?
What a D‑U‑N‑S Number Is and How It Can Help You
The Dun & Bradstreet D‑U‑N‑S® Number (short for Data Universal Numbering System) is a nine-digit unique identifier for businesses. Hundreds of millions of D‑U‑N‑S Numbers exist for companies across the globe.
A D‑U‑N‑S Number is assigned through our patented identity resolution process, (part of our DUNSRight™ data governance, which includes thousands of separate automated checks.) The D‑U‑N‑S Number identifies a company as being unique from any other in the Dun & Bradstreet Data Cloud. It is used as the starting point for any company's Live Business Identity, which helps ensure you have the most accurate and up-to-date view of organizations.
You are never required to have a D‑U‑N‑S Number to operate a business. The number itself contains no data or implies nothing about the stability, creditworthiness, or diversity of a business. However, it is a key that can be used to unlock data that helps a business do their due diligence and arrive at their own conclusion about that potential partner’s stability, creditworthiness or compliance with supplier diversity or other standards.
You may be asked to provide your company’s D‑U‑N‑S Number when:
- Applying for a loan with a financial institution
- Applying for credit with a business partner
- Applying to become a vendor or supplier of a company
- Bidding on contracts locally, or even internationally
In short, anytime you want to make sure that a potential partner, supplier or customer gets a complete and more accurate story about your business, making sure you have a D‑U‑N‑S Number and an up-to-date Live Business Identity is key.
While having a D‑U‑N‑S Number is not a requirement for doing business, having one may help legitimize your business in the eyes of potential partners and is a starting point for building a Dun & Bradstreet Live Business Identity. A company’s live business identity is attached to a business’s credit file and is used by 90% of Fortune 500 companies.
Not every D‑U‑N‑S Number inquiry has to do with a company’s credit. For example, global events over the last couple of years have driven many companies to re-evaluate the strength and stability of every link in their supply chain. D‑U‑N‑S Numbers are used to identify immediate partners, their vendors, and even sub-contractors as part of these risk management assessments.
Companies that need to meet specific Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), or diversity compliance standards may also start their inquiries with a D‑U‑N‑S Number.
Not sure if you already have a D‑U‑N‑S Number? Use our D‑U‑N‑S Number Lookup tool to find out.
Dun & Bradstreet hosts business credit files on over 500 million global businesses subject to rigorous data governance standards and the deep collection of business attributes and behavioral signals Dun & Bradstreet has cultivated since the early 1800s.
Because of this reliability, many businesses and national government agencies will turn to D&B first when searching for business information. Your D‑U‑N‑S Number is one way they access firmographic information about your company down to the branch or subsidiary level.
While partnership applications and credit applications are the two places most people first see a request to provide a D‑U‑N‑S Number, those are not the only ways your number can be used.
Each year brings another uptick in worldwide fraud allegations. Understanding the beneficial ownership of all your business partners can help you avoid potentially fraudulent situations. Because of its universal recognition and unique assignment, the D‑U‑N‑S Number can also serve as a primary data key within an organization's Master Data Management architecture. Headquarters, branches, and subsidiaries can all be uniquely identified and tracked.
Once you have a D‑U‑N‑S Number, you can use it as a gateway to help grow your business. By seeing your company, the way others do when they access your business profile through your D‑U‑N‑S Number, you can get a much clearer picture of what you can do to help make your business a better candidate for credit, contracts, or partnerships.
Get a D‑U‑N‑S Number
Your business may or may not have already had a D‑U‑N‑S Number assigned to it. If not, you can Get a D‑U‑N‑S Number for your business here.
Manage Your Business Information
Seek to Manage your Company’s business information to make sure that your basic information (address, phone numbers, etc.) is up to date.
What’s Next?
Your D‑U‑N‑S Number is used as the starting point for your company’s Live Business Identity, the most comprehensive and continually updated view of any company in the data cloud. Your business credit file is a living record of your business that will change as your business changes.
Once you have established your Live Business Identity, the next step is to work to grow and improve it. Dun & Bradstreet offers products that can help you monitor your business credit, and gain exposure for your company through your Company Profile on the Dun & Bradstreet Business Directory.
D‑U‑N‑S FAQs
No business is required to have a D‑U‑N‑S Number to operate, but you may find that it can help you achieve your business goals. For example, if you want to work with certain companies or agencies, you may need to submit a D‑U‑N‑S Number. It may also be used by financial institutions to access data that helps them evaluate you for a business loan.
D‑U‑N‑S Numbers are free to request. Learn how to get a D‑U‑N‑S Number for your company.
The D‑U‑N‑S Number is used around the world to help identify and access information on businesses. Because the D‑U‑N‑S Number assigned to your business is a unique identifier, other business entities can use it to access firmographic data about your company, like your company’s legal name, entity type, address, phone number, and even branch or subsidiary information.
Your D‑U‑N‑S Number identifies your company business credit file created through Dun & Bradstreet. This credit file may be useful if you want to work for other companies, seek a loan, or win contracts from some governments or government agencies.
Some of the many ways D‑U‑N‑S Numbers may be used include:
- To take the first step in establishing your live business profile
- To meet the requirements of companies you want to do business with
- To look up identifying information on other businesses
- To help when doing due diligence on supply chain links
- To help identify corporate family relationships (headquarters, branches, subsidiaries, etc.)
Having a D‑U‑N‑S Number puts your business in Dun & Bradstreet’s Data Cloud of more than 500 million global businesses. The Dun & Bradstreet Data Cloud offers the world’s most comprehensive business data and analytical insights to power today’s most crucial business needs. That’s why 90% of the Fortune 500, and companies of all sizes around the world, rely on Dun & Bradstreet products to help grow and protect their businesses.
By tapping into this Data Cloud, you can:
- Leverage your business profile which can be viewed by potential customers, lenders and partners
- Combine your own customer data with Dun & Bradstreet’s business insights to help target prospective buyers and build personalized advertising campaigns
- Identify opportunities to expand your business
There are multiple Contact Forms popups in the page. Only one Contact Form popup could be present on single page. Please reconfigure Contact Forms and refresh the page.