Scantek takes jab at new opportunity.
Scantek has used its experience creating technology to scan IDs at nightclubs to produce a software that can check the authenticity of COVID-19 vaccination certificates.
West Perth-based technology company Scantek has used its experience creating technology to scan IDs at nightclubs to produce a software that can check the authenticity of COVID-19 vaccination certificates.
When Scantek was founded more than a decade ago, the company made ID scanners for hospitality venues to curb anti-social behaviour. While this remains Scantek’s core business, it recently moved into the software space to create programs to make onboarding staff easier.
The technology allows future employees to upload important documents easily and verify them to confirm people have the right to work and are registered professionals.
In December, at the request of clients, Scantek adapted its technology to verify COVID-19 vaccination certificates and keep track of who has had a booster and when people are due for their next jab.
Scantek co-founder and managing director Ches Rafferty said vaccination status had become part of the onboarding process so it made sense to add the capability to its platform.
“That is in the same list; do you have the qualifications? Are you who you say you are? And are you vaccinated?” Mr Rafferty told Business News.
However, he said the process of verifying vaccine certificates was difficult and more complex, as people could easily create fakes and there was no central database of vaccinated people that could be checked.
“Visually, to you and me, the fake and genuine certificates will look identical, so any reasonable businessperson who was going to sight them would reasonably say they are totally valid certificates,” Mr Rafferty said.
“What we have had to do is develop some really smart technology that actually analyses the document structure and the meta data in that document to analyse legitimate ones downloaded from the myGov Medicare site.”
Mr Rafferty said the technology had been able to detect incidents of people using faked certificates.
Widespread vaccination mandates have made it important for businesses to know if its staff are vaccinated, with fines of up to $20,000 for individuals that don’t comply and $100,000 for the employer.
The software can also monitor when workers have had their vaccines and keep track of what boosters they need to have and send text message reminders to staff.
Scantek has some competitors in the space, but Mr Rafferty said other businesses offering similar services mainly relied on people manually sighting the certificates, instead of analysing its metadata.
Interview with Scantek CEO, Ches Rafferty.
By Madeleine Stephens, first published in Business News, February 15 2022.