We’re excited to introduce the KERN ID, a new way to identify every entity in your CRM.
The KERN ID is a unique, persistent identifier that gives your team a clear and consistent view of the market, including the brands, business units, and subsidiaries you actually sell to.
Read on to find out how account identity has evolved, how the KERN ID works, and why it matters, especially with the ever-growing use of AI in RevOps and beyond.
The old world of account identity
At the core of CRM accuracy is a simple question: which entity is this?
Traditionally, corporate entities were defined using one of three identifiers: a website, a legal name, or company registration. Each account was anchored to a single identifier, and each option had its limitations.
- Website
Using a website as the identifier assumes that one domain equals one company. This approach often breaks down when domains are shared, when companies operate multiple brands, or when regional sites exist. It also misses entities that don’t have a clear web presence.
- Legal name
Relying on legal names works for registered companies, but it can overlook important parts of a business. Brands, business units, and physical locations may not be captured, making it hard to match records to how companies are actually known in the market.
- Company registration
Using company registration data assumes that registry records reflect commercial reality. In practice, coverage is limited and inconsistent across countries, and non-legal entities like brands, business units, and establishments are not represented.
All of these approaches make it hard to see the market clearly.
The new world of entity identity: the KERN ID
To address this, we’ve created the KERN ID, a verified, persistent identifier for every entity in your CRM. It goes beyond legal companies to include all the entities teams actually sell to, capturing the complexity of real-world organizations.
It covers:
- Government institutions, brands, business units, and individual establishments
- Regional subsidiaries and operational locations
- Accurate matching across messy, real-world signals
Unlike traditional models that rely on static matches or limited identifiers, the KERN ID combines legal, digital, and commercial signals and applies agentic reasoning across multiple data sources.
The result is that each account in your CRM points to a single real-world entity, giving your CRM a reliable and consistent view of the market.
How does the KERN ID work?
Each KERN ID is built from a set of core components:
- Legal name: the official registered name of the entity
- Country of incorporation: the country where the entity is legally registered
- Trading name: the name the entity operates under in the market
- Identity type: defines whether the entity is a legal entity or a non-legal entity, like a brand, business unit, or individual establishment
- Trading country: where the entity operates, allowing the same organization to be distinguished across different countries
These fields are combined to create a unique key, which becomes the 10-digit KERN ID. Where relevant, Kernel also assigns a canonical website to represent the entity online.
On top of these components, Kernel applies a reasoning-based, agentic identity resolution process. Instead of relying solely on CRM fields, the system reviews all available information in a record, including structured and unstructured data, and relationships between entities.
That way, every KERN ID points to the right entity, even when the data is messy, inconsistent, or overlapping.
Why does the KERN ID matter?
The KERN ID helps companies see the B2B economy consistently and accurately, allowing them to flex their CRM to how they see their market.
Each account in the CRM is mapped to a single verified entity, so you’re no longer working with duplicates, incomplete records, or conflicting data. That means:
- Legal and non-legal entities are all represented, including brands, business units, and individual establishments
- Hierarchies reflect how organizations really operate and how teams go to market
- Accounts match real-world entities without duplication or confusion
With this foundation, GTM teams can plan, segment, and execute based on data that reflects reality, improving territory planning, account allocation, and rep productivity.
The KERN ID in an agentic world
AI tools like Claude Code are changing how work gets done in RevOps. That makes accurate CRM data more important than ever.
The KERN ID was built for a future where agents can run workflows and make decisions reliably. It provides a solid foundation for everything that happens on top of your CRM.
Garbage-in, garbage-out still applies. If your entity data is wrong, AI and coding agents don’t just make mistakes, they can get stuck or produce outputs that look fine but are wrong. Humans might notice inconsistencies, but agents just run with whatever data they have.
Kernel sits upstream of all of this. We take responsibility for the foundational data quality itself, making sure your CRM reflects how your teams actually see the market.
The KERN ID isn’t just a number. It’s the foundation your company needs to understand its market and use AI with confidence.
Want to see the KERN ID in action? Speak to the Kernel team
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