As local economies cautiously open up, countries have to seriously consider allowing cross-border travel once more. Despite lapses in keeping infection rates low, relevant stakeholders cannot falter from their ambitions to facilitate travel to happen, but this time in a very controlled, safe, and trackable way, with all SOPs strictly adhered to.
Digital health wallets have come forward as one way to enable this. Enterprise IT News speaks to Bertrand Saillet, FCM Travel’s Managing Director in Asia, FCM Travel has collaborated with blockchain-tech company Affinidi and Fullerton Health, to produce such a digital health wallet.
EITN: When you developed your digital health wallet in collaboration with Affinidi and Fullerton Health what would you say are your advantages over other digital health wallets by the likes of IATA, SITA, Common Pass, VeriFLY, and more.
Bertrand: FCM Asia’s Digital Health Wallet was developed to solve the immediate needs of our customers and travellers coming into and out of Singapore. It was created to provide a comprehensive end-to-end solution for its customers in Asia, and to establish greater assurances in ensuring authentic vaccine and COVID test results.
The role of a travel management company (TMC) is different from international tourism, security or health organisation bodies. As a TMC, we are not merely providing an app that functions as a vaccine passport.
We want to provide the best end-to-end corporate travel experience and part of that comes through in the provision of a simple booking journey for the travellers. Our partnership with Fullerton Health enables us to become a one-stop shop for corporate travellers as we are able to help our customers book and schedule COVID-19 tests in addition to their other booking needs including flights, accommodation and land transfers. Furthermore, these tests are offered at substantially discounted rates.
Currently, most of the other digital health wallets use different verification methods, making it complex for airlines and immigration to support different methods. FCM Asia’s digital health wallet operates with Affinidi’s interoperable solution, enabling independent verification audits through their unifier to provide real-time, cryptographically-proven authenticity checks and delivering guaranteed assurances of validity and provenance.
Our partnership with Fullerton Health enables us to become a one-stop shop for corporate travellers as we are able to help our customers book and schedule COVID-19 tests in addition to their other booking needs including flights, accommodation and land transfers. Furthermore, these tests are offered at substantially discounted rates.
EITN: What is the main role of a digital health wallet and how has yours addressed the requirements of a digital health wallet in terms of technology, regulations, usability, and future use?
Bertrand: Digital health wallets holds information on health status of travellers, including COVID-19 test results and vaccinations. It allows for easy and secure verification of this information and can help to accord travellers with faster immigration clearance through fast lane facilities in airports or waiver of mandatory quarantines when entering another country.
While we foresee that vaccinations and COVID-19 tests will become an integral part of travel in the future, it will differ according to country’s immigration regulations. The industry still needs governments to agree to air travel bubbles or other bilateral reopening agreements, as well as mutually recognise the various vaccinations and COVID-19 tests.
While vaccine passports are not new concepts (think back to Smallpox, Yellow fever, Meningitis vaccine requirements), they have resurged in interest as a digital format due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is expected to play a key role in getting corporate travel up and running again.
While we foresee that vaccinations and COVID-19 tests will become an integral part of travel in the future, it will differ according to country’s immigration regulations. The industry still needs governments to agree to air travel bubbles or other bilateral reopening agreements, as well as mutually recognise the various vaccinations and COVID-19 tests.
In the area of technology associated with the rollout of a health wallet, we understand people’s concerns over their data. Travellers remain worried about the storing and handling of personal data; developers of some vaccine passports have used decentralised and anonymised blockchain-based systems while others are relying on the biometric identification functionality to ensure data security. For FCM Asia’s Digital Health Wallet, the personal data is not stored with us, but in an Affinidi-protected environment.
(Affinidi, founded by Singapore government-backed Temasek group, builds core technology solutions which enable the creation and sharing of verifiable digital identities that can be used in an open and interoperable ecosystem.)
We expect adoption to ramp up in future once vaccination programmes in more countries get on track, but this is a project that requires essential collaboration between the industry (travel, healthcare and technology) and governments in order to achieve success.
We work with Fullerton Health to give customers access to substantially discounted rates for COVID-19 tests; and with Affinidi to develop and build the infrastructure behind the digital heath wallet. Affinidi also handles the data security of the information.
EITN: To date, how many countries support your wallet, and what is your roadmap/strategy to increase the number of countries that can support? You mentioned that you do not store traveller data – might this require you to work with partners that have infrastructure in each country that you want your wallet to be supported in?
Bertrand: FCM Asia’s Digital Health Wallet was developed to address the immediate needs of travellers coming into and out of Singapore. Currently, there are over 1000 accredited healthcare providers in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan who support the wallet.
When FCM unveiled its new brand identity in March, a core component of the announcement included the development of FCM Platform, a ground-breaking proprietary technology that directly targets customers’ pain points with current and legacy corporate travel technology.
As part of the digital health wallet roadmap for FCM Travel globally, the FCM Travel platform app will soon have a new ‘wallet’ where Health Certificates can be uploaded and stored.
Currently, there are over 1000 accredited healthcare providers in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan who support the wallet.
EITN: What do Fullerton Health and Affinidi bring to the table in terms of enabling the digital health wallet to work?
Bertrand: We work with Fullerton Health to give customers access to substantially discounted rates for COVID-19 tests; and with Affinidi to develop and build the infrastructure behind the digital heath wallet. Affinidi also handles the data security of the information.
EITN: Can you share top 3 trends you see for international business travel beginning June 2021 till December 2022?
Bertrand: Increase innovations for automated and touchless tech with an enhanced customer experience that is focused on safety at the same time; a flexible TMC who is able to adapt at the speed of lightning to meet the evolving and fast-changing needs of the corporate travel manager, booker and traveller with traveller health, safety and wellbeing at its core; sustainability
