1.What is the mission and vision of Sterling Backcheck?
Sterling Backcheck’s mission is to provide the foundation of trust and safety for our clients so they can create great environments for their most essential resource, people. Sterling Backcheck’s vision is the world where verified identity information should be owned and accessible easily by the individual.
2. Why is trustworthy digital identity critical for existing and emerging markets?
So much of our lives is now in a digital format, both personally and professionally. We rely on technology to handle sensitive information, which, if not done correctly, can put us in jeopardy. Digital Identity is a crucial safeguard to preventing identity fraud, which could result in a significant damage to people’s life. Digital Identity is a key enabler to unlocking the next frontier of the digital economy. Through trustworthy Digital Identity, we can enable a safe digital future.
3. How will digital identity transform the Canadian and global economy? How does your organization address challenges associated with this transformation?
The World Bank estimates that roughly 1 billion people lack an official foundational identification. Millions have forms of identification that cannot be reliably verified or authenticated, resulting in exclusion from economic opportunities. Our parent company, Sterling, has been working on the creation of a digital identity wallet to help address the challenges worldwide. By joining DIACC, Sterling Backcheck hopes to help bridge that gap and offer a platform for trustworthy ID verification.
4. What role does Canada have to play as a leader in this space?
Canada has always been the pioneer on the identity front. For example, unlike many other countries, ID verification is required before starting a background check in Canada. In addition, Canada has always emphasized the importance of data privacy and storage. Building on those principles, Canada is well positioned to lead the conversation on digital identity services.
5. Why did your organization join the DIACC?
At Sterling Backcheck, we aspire to a vision that Digital identity verification should only have to occur once and personal identity verification should only be shared, when necessary and proportional to the need. Individuals and organizations should mutually benefit from digital identity innovation. While technology has created opportunities to enhance digital identity, we’ve also noticed examples of some migration away from sound identity verification practices. We see DIACC as an important vehicle to bolster and promulgate sound digital identity practices. We joined to help forward the mission of DIACC towards that goal.
6. What else should we know about your organization?
Sterling Backcheck is a pioneer in background screening, having revolutionized the industry with eConsent, a fully online platform for collecting candidate consent prior to starting their check. Through our proactive and collaborative approach working with the federal authorities that govern our industry, we have continuously offered a safe and secure way for organizations to conduct background screening. We conduct over a million criminal record checks on behalf of thousands of employers annually. There is no question that our processes have been refined over the years. We’re always looking for ways to innovate and continue to offer best in class service to our clients.