SAP Startup Spotlight: Accredify

Quah Zheng Wei is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Accredify. Zheng Wei leads the team in establishing the company’s strategic vision and direction, focusing on business development, partnerships, and sales. He started his career in BNP Paribas Investment Banking where he worked on corporate finance deals in the Energy and Natural Resources team. He later joined FOMO Pay, a payments fintech startup as the Chief Partnership Officer, and helped them grow from 120 to 2000 clients within 12 months. In this interview, he talks about what Accredify has to offer, how its solution works, and what’s next for the startup.

E-3 Magazine: What does Accredify offer?

Quah Zheng Wei: Accredify is a software-as-a-service IT solutions provider that enables organizations to create and issue verifiable documents. We also help organizations use verifiable data to enhance operational efficiency through the automation of business processes.

How does your solution work?

Zheng Wei: Our solution involves three simple steps. The first is to create verifiable documents. First, our user creates verifiable, tamper-evident documents (such as education certificates, medical records, and so on) via the Accredify platform. In our pursuit of improving process efficiency, our solution allows users to create customized and personalized verifiable documents in batches with just one button.

How are Accredify-issued documents verifiable and tamper-evident?

Zheng Wei: Our solution is built on decentralized ledger technology (DLT) to create verifiable, tamper-evident documents which can be verified instantly with our online verifier portal. With DLT, Accredify ensures data portability between disparate entities, who previously had no mode of data transfer prior to using Accredify’s solution. This allows the seamless sharing of critical information across institutions. Our use of DLT also ensures the highest level of data privacy and security for our users. Recipients are given ownership of their own data, which they can choose to share securely with verifiers when required.

What are the next steps?

Zheng Wei: The second step is to issue verifiable documents. Users are able to review all documents at a glance – from the details of each specific document to which recipient each document is for. Once the user has reviewed all documents, they can send the documents to their respective recipients at a single click. The third step is to verify Accredify-issued documents. All verifiers need to do is to scan the QR code that comes with all Accredify-issued documents to determine if the information is true-to-source. If the document has been tampered with, verifiers will be notified instantly upon verification. Alternatively, verifiers can simply drop the .oa file into our online verification portal, which can be easily integrated into any website for easy access.

What are the customer-side requirements?

Zheng Wei: The pandemic has pushed the world to rely increasingly on digital exchanges of confidential and sensitive information. With this shift in the way business is conducted, new challenges of information security are emerging. From tampered data to fraudulent credentials, to inefficient processes of information verification, firms will require new tools that can help protect and guarantee the integrity of critical data without compromising on business agility. The solution is verifiable data. With Accredify, firms can protect the integrity of important business information through the creation and issuance of verifiable documents. Verification technology ensures critical information are true-to-source, which then opens doors to automating key business processes and greater operational efficiency.

Why do they choose your solution?

Zheng Wei: Our users choose Accredify because our solution is simple to use. Through API integration, our users can transform the way they do business overnight – our solution is compatible with any operating system. Additionally, our customer success team is dedicated to a fault. We are trained to go above and beyond in addressing our clients’ challenges. We don’t just fix the problem – we find opportunities for growth.

Do customers need special technology or devices to use your service?

Zheng Wei: Our solution is built with systems interoperability in mind. Through API integration, organizations can begin using Accredify overnight regardless of any legacy management system, without any additional technology or devices.

Why did you start Accredify?

Zheng Wei: Accredify was born from a belief that important documents should be verifiable. We began by rethinking verifications from the ground up – how documents were created, how could they be made tamper-evident, and how could they be easily verified. However, we weren’t just focusing solely on creating verifiable documents. We wanted to make the process as simple as possible. That’s why we started Accredify, where we help businesses create and issue digital, tamper-evident documents at the click of a single button.

How could your solution potentially help customers navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and the different challenges of reopening?

Zheng Wei: Our solution has assisted our customers in adapting quickly to the challenges that came with the advent of COVID-19. Firstly, in the human resources vertical, we developed Accredify START, Singapore’s first fully digital and automated end-to-end COVID-19 Workforce Management System. Accredify START allows employees to submit their self-administered Antigen Rapid Test (ART) results directly to HR teams, who can then monitor the COVID-19 status of their workforce easily. Our solution has enabled Singaporean enterprises to reopen their physical office doors easily and with peace of mind, amidst the pandemic. Second, in the healthcare vertical, we worked with healthcare partners in creating and issuing verifiable COVID-19 healthcare credentials. Notably, our solution has facilitated the resumption of international travel by enabling our global network of clinics and laboratories issue Pre-Departure Tests in various international travel standards, such as HealthCerts, EU DCC, SMART Health Card, and the IATA Travel Pass.

How are you connected to SAP?

Zheng Wei: Our partnership with SAP involves the integration of Accredify as an app on the SuccessFactors platform. The result is a fully digital and automated COVID-19 Workforce Management System available to all organizations subscribed to the SuccessFactors platform. Employees simply need to upload their COVID-19 medical credentials, such as swab test results or vaccination records, onto Accredify’s verification portal on the SuccessFactors platform. Employers will be instantaneously notified once a COVID-19 medical record has been uploaded and verified. This way, employers can easily monitor and track their employees’ COVID-19 status on the platform.

How has SAP.io’s involvement impacted your journey?

Zheng Wei: Accredify had the privilege of being a part of SAP.io’s Foundry Singapore Accelerator Program, which taught us to think bigger – in the problems we want to solve, and the impact we want to make. With SAP’s network and support, we gained confidence in our technology and found validation that our product is an enterprise-grade solution that works for large, global multinational corporations.

What’s next for Accredify?

Zheng Wei: Our mission is to pioneer the world’s transition towards verifiable data by enabling the secure sharing of trusted information at every stage of an individual’s life. From personal documentation such as health records and education certificates, to business processes such as financial transactions and binding contracts, verifiable data is the future of how our world works. Accredify will expand our solution to help organizations around the world prepare for the future. For instance, plans are in place to assist SAP clients in the issuance of verifiable corporate training credentials, and the verification of academic credentials submitted by potential hires. These are just examples of how we’re continuously developing more use cases for our solution, and we’re excited to share our progress with everyone in time to come.

Thank you for the interview.