When you need to move something that doesn’t stack up neatly on a pallet, you need Fliway. They specialise in moving the more oddly-shaped items in our lives - in our homes and our businesses: canoes, bathtubs, whitegoods, sheds, artwork, bridges, medical equipment and ATM machines. The business started out moving massive mainframe computers in the 1970s, and now the wider Fliway group has 18 transport hubs, 10 logistics hubs and nearly 500 staff.

“Fliway is a New Zealand success story,” says Kevin Rowland, Fliway’s CIO, “and it’s been a period of rapid growth. We had five depots at the start of 2021, and now we have 10. This is a very fast-moving business where we move weight at speed, and we are very good at what we do.”

A Fliway truck with two trailers attached

Fliway Group has been working with Datacom for over 15 years. So when Kevin came up with an idea for how to securely manage the team’s vaccine status, he immediately called Datacom.

A beautifully simple solution

Kevin wears two hats: not only is he the chief information officer at Fliway, but he’s also the privacy officer. In 2021, vaccine passes were introduced in New Zealand and, after consultation with the business, Fliway made the decision that vaccines would be required for the whole team at every site. Kevin was worried about how the business would successfully manage and maintain vaccine information for nearly 500 Fliway team members. It was essential that a few key personnel had the information, but equally important that it was kept private from everybody else.

Then Kevin came up with a beautifully simple solution.

“I thought, what’s the one thing that everyone has access to that’s secure? It’s the payroll portal. The Direct Access self-service portal already has all your personal details, so I wondered if it was possible to put in vaccination details too. I called Datacom and said, ‘Is this doable?’ and they said, ‘Oh yeah, I’m sure we can do that’. And from there it all happened really quite quickly.”

Datacom provided a proof of concept, which was rapidly developed into a way for Fliway to capture Covid-19 vaccination status safely and securely via the Direct Access portal - Datacom’s self-service payroll portal for employees, managers, and payroll administrators. Four weeks after the initial question from Kevin, the system was up and running.

“It was no hassle and no fuss,” he says. “Many of our people don’t work on computers, they’re driving or packing, so the solution has to be simple. This lets them either upload their status themselves or send it through to HR to be uploaded on their behalf. It’s much easier for HR than maintaining spreadsheets with attachments, and we haven’t had any negative feedback about it from anyone in the business.”

Rolled out to other Datacom customers

The simplicity and security of Kevin’s idea proved so successful that it was made available to other Direct Access customers. The simple solution protects staff vaccination records, allows employees to provide their own status privately, and restricts access to only those who need the information.

“When I went in to have my booster at a vaccination site near work, the details quickly came through the national ‘My Covid Record’ system and I was then able to very easily update the details in the Direct Access portal.” says Kevin. “It’s nice that the solution has been rolled out to other companies because it’s so simple and secure.”

Working together with Datacom to develop this solution was a positive experience for Kevin, who always appreciates a project that’s a win-win for both the teams involved.

“I don’t like ‘vendors’; I want strategic partners where both businesses benefit and everyone trusts each other. We have a very good relationship with the Datacom team. And we haven’t had a single complaint about this new system. It just works, and I like it when things just work.”

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Transportation & logistics
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