As a leading Australian provider of digital identity verification services, Veritas leverages technology to assist organisations and individuals in proving their identity digitally.
Tell us what Veritas is all about.
Veritas is Latin for “truth” … and that’s what Veritas does – Veritas seeks the truth. Our corporate clients who are required to meet compliance obligations benefit from the knowledge that the people they engage with are who they say they are.
Individuals benefit by completing identity verification processes easily and securely, with minimal delays in processing. Veritas supports a diverse range of employers across a myriad of industries including aviation, offshore, maritime, government, rail, retail, and not-for-profits in their need for accurate identity authentication.
Why did you want to become a Certified B Corporation?
As technology continues to drive the world to become more interconnected, the need for establishing and maintaining good and sustainable global practices become more important. Since inception as a start-up business in 2004, Veritas has strived to remain a business that thinks locally – acts globally. Veritas has always approached support to the community in which it operates as a key obligation. What caught the company’s attention, however, was B Lab’s mantra: “Society’s most challenging problems cannot be solved by government and nonprofits alone. The B Corp community works toward reduced inequality, lower levels of poverty, a healthier environment, stronger communities, and the creation of more high-quality jobs with dignity and purpose.”
By becoming part of a global movement, one that has focus and a means to delivering tangible outcomes, Veritas saw a way in which it could provide meaningful impact. By becoming a B Corp, Veritas sought to embark on a global movement that had structure – yet remained flexible –for enabling businesses to be a force for good.
What makes Veritas unique as a business?
Becoming a B Corp IS one of our greatest points of difference. As a business, we provide national police checks which enable people to work as either volunteers in support of community organisations or to work in paid positions for employment. Over the years, as technology moved away from paper-based processes to digital experiences, we changed with the times and offer one of the fastest and most reliable services of this kind in Australia. What we noticed, however, was that many of the large national not-for-profit organisations whose missions are focused on supporting some of the most vulnerable persons in our communities did not have the resources or capabilities to keep pace. As a result, they continue to remain caught in the mire of bureaucracy in order to remain compliant. Inefficiencies directly and negatively impact worker/volunteer productivity and costs.
As a business, Veritas seeks to make a difference in the world through the provision of national police checks for the not-for-profit community.
Our aim is to deliver these services at cost (at a minimum) to community organisations nationally. Through the provision of access to our software services, Veritas seeks to empower organisations to self-manage their background checking processes to free up capacity and resources that enable them to focus on their core capabilities. Veritas holds the view that everyone has a right (and employing/engaging agencies have a responsibility) to protect the identity of those they engage and with those whom they serve. To do so in a responsible and efficient way betters the livelihood of all involved.
B Corps want to help transform our economy to one that is inclusive, sustainable, and regenerative. What business practice do you want to see become the norm?
We all know that “going digital” continues to transform the economy. By definition, Veritas is a RegTech. RegTechs (also known as regulatory technology) use cloud computing technology through software-as-a-service (SaaS) to help businesses comply with regulations efficiently and less expensively. Not only do we seek to make some of the more intrusive parts of onboarding of staff and volunteers a seamless and painless process, we seek to protect those we serve. With the rise in digital services, the world has seen increases in data breaches, cyber hacks, money laundering, and other fraudulent activities. Veritas remains at the forefront of using our digital skills and capabilities for supporting those seeking to do good for the community.
Was there a B Corp that inspired you to certify, or one that you look to for inspiration?
There are many B Corps that we look to drive inspiration, however, it took some time, research, and reflection to consider whether becoming a B Corp could apply to our type of company in a meaningful way. After becoming certified, we are extremely glad that we made the choice to apply (and yes, we do see the way in which being a B Corp applies to us and our industry).
Do you have any tips for aspiring B Corps about the certification process?
We viewed undertaking B Corp certification as a transformative process, not a checklist. Perhaps that explains why it took us over 12 months to become certified!
While we had many processes and practices documented and in place, we saw the certification process as an opportunity to review them in light of the B Corp values.
Today, our B Corp certification goes hand in hand with our ISO 9001 quality management certification. Both certifications recognise our operations to a global standard.
A big congratulations to Veritas Group for achieving B Corp certification!
