M2SYS Blog On Biometric Technology

RightPunch soft clock custom employee time and attendance data interface

We are proud to announce that we have recently released a free white paper entitled: “Eliminating Time Theft, Establishing Accountability and Increasing Productivity with Biometric Technology.”  This  white paper begins with a look at the problems lack of employee accountability creates for a business and how it negatively impacts efficiency and profitability.  It then examines the increasing problem of employee time theft (offering in depth look at actual examples like extended lunch breaks, lollygagging, etc.) and how it impacts a businesses bottom line, causing billions of dollars of losses each year.  The white paper then studies limitations that traditional employee time and attendance methods pose including; sharing personal identification numbers (PIN’s), replacing stolen or lost employee ID badges, cost of resetting passwords and more.  We then explore monetary and productivity losses from inefficient payroll techniques including detailed charts and graphs that break down the numbers and present alarming statistics on just much these factors can drain profitability.

The white paper then discusses the positive impact that biometric identification technology has on employee time and attendance providing concrete examples on realized monetary savings and the direct links of adopting biometrics to increase risk mitigation.  Next we break down the different biometric modalities (fingerprint, finger vein, palm vein and iris recognition) providing the benefits of each as well as a detailed modality usability and accuracy chart.  We finish up the white paper by comparing a PC-based biometric “soft” clock with a wall mounted biometric time clock.

We hope that this white paper is helpful for our readers to gain a more thorough understanding about the value of biometric technology for time and attendance and the advantages that it brings compared to other more traditional forms of employee identification.  Please fill out the contact form on the right if you would like to receive a copy of the white paper, or click on this link:

http://m2sys.com/eliminate-time-theft-with-biometrics-white-paper.htm

Thank you for sharing this post with anyone that you feel may benefit!

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The following is a guest post from Jason Hodge, Vice President of Business Development for SecurLinx.  SecurLinx specializes in networked biometric deployments and multi-modal biometric integration.  You can read more about biometric technology on the SecurLinx blog which can be found at http://securlinx.blogspot.com/

Iris, Retina, Face, Fingerprint, Finger vein, Palm geometry, Palm vein, gait, ear, DNA, body odor, voice, typing rhythm, signature recognition.  The range of human physical traits and behaviors offers fertile ground for scientists interested in quantifying them for use in identifying individuals.

Two main forces have influenced the selection of biometric identification modality from the near limitless choices: Convenience and Necessity.

Face and fingerprint have been by far the most convenient from both scientific and deployment perspectives.

Scientists need data to develop the algorithms that biometric systems use to identify individuals.  For face and finger, data was never a problem.  Bureaucracies have been collecting both for a century.

In deployment, it’s easy and convenient for participating individuals to interact with the technology.

Necessity, playing its usual role, has driven the development of other biometric modalities.  From a development perspective, given enough data, time and money, I suspect any definable aspect of the human anatomy could be used as a biometric identifier.

In instances where teeth are all that is known about an individual, they are used for high confidence identification.

As long as the telephone is with us as a ubiquitous communication tool, there will be significant demand for voice recognition no matter the challenges.

In order to displace finger/hand and face/eye biometrics in wide scale deployments, the newer biometric modalities will have to out-compete them on two levels, in the lab and in the market.  But in order to thrive as high value-added tools in highly specialized deployments they just need to help solve a high value problem.

Any biometric modality can be useful, especially if it’s the only one available.

Jason can be reached at Mail: blog@securlinx.com Twitter: @SecurLinx URL: www.securlinx.com

Earlier last week, Mizan Rahman (M2SYS CEO/CTO) was recognized by InfoWorld as a 2011 Technology Leader for creating Hybrid Biometric Platform, a multi-modal biometrics system that supports fingerprint, finger vein, palm vein and iris recognition. Details of the award and information about why Mizan created Hybrid Biometric Platform can be found here:

http://bit.ly/mKG569

We are proud that Mizan was recognized as a Technology Innovator for creating Hybrid Biometric Platform, a true testament to the will, creativity and hard work that Mizan injected into the project and the biometric software engine that resulted. Mizan is honored and humbled by the recognition from InfoWorld and even more pleased that many of our customers are actually using Hybrid Biometrics and reaping the vision that Mizan had for this system.

Congratulations Mizan!

Despite the numerous benefits that biometric technology brings to the table for the many vertical markets that it serves, there are some reasons to NOT use biometric identification technology.  May seem strange for a biometric software developer to be listing reasons to not use their technology, but bear with us as we explain some reasons that biometrics just may not be the technology that can help your business.

Reason #1 – You do not understand how biometric technology works.

We will be the first to tell you that if you have not done your homework and proper due diligence on how biometric technology works and which software and hardware application is best suited for your business then it probably is not a good idea to use it.  As with any investment in technology, businesses should spend time researching options, asking questions, reading case studies, engaging with others that currently use the technology, and evaluating long term return on investment (ROI) potential.

After completing adequate research, you may find that biometrics is not best suited for your needs.  However most businesses discover that when weighed against the alternatives, biometrics is usually the most efficient and secure identification technology that offers the highest potential for maximum ROI.

Reason #2 – You think that biometric technology is a passing fad that will soon be replaced with yet another more technologically advanced identification.

The simple truth is that biometric identification technology is here to stay and will be around for a long time to come.  Whether it’s for time and attendance/workforce management, healthcare, banking, membership management, public safety or point of sale biometrics has continued to spread throughout many vertical markets and is increasingly recognized for the many benefits that it brings to businesses and governments that use it.  Furthermore, the global biometric market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 23% through 2013.

Biometrics is the only identification technology that can verify with near absolute certainty the identity of an individual.  As word spreads of the tangible benefits that biometrics offers and the truth about how the technology works becomes more understood, expect to see more deployments for businesses that wish to invest in a technology that establishes the efficiencies that they expect.

Reason #3 – You like losing 2 – 4% of your payroll each year to payroll error rates and time theft.

Employee time theft costs U.S. employers hundreds of billions of dollars per year and among the most egregious of time theft practices is buddy punching.  Buddy punching is a preventable facet of time theft and biometric technology is the perfect solution, eliminating the ability of employees to clock in and out for a colleague and significantly increasing productivity as a result.  Plus, biometrics is more secure and efficient than ID cards or personal identification numbers (PINs), helps to save the environment and ensures compliance with labor tracking laws.

Reason #4 – Security and safety of your employees is of no concern.

One of the major problems that barcode ID cards and PINs present is that they can be swapped, shared or stolen.  For example, barcode cards can be stolen and used for unauthorized access to secure areas of a business, jeopardizing the safety of other employees and acting as a catalyst for theft of merchandise, information or other assets.  Biometrics relies on human physiological characteristics for identification which can’t be swapped, shared or stolen creating a more safe and secure environment for you and for your employees.

Reason #5 – You don’t really care if anyone is held accountable for anything at anytime.

Of the many benefits that biometric identification technology offers its end users, establishing accountability is perhaps one of the top reasons to use it.  If the identification system you are using is archaic, subject to malfeasance and corrupting your staff by tempting them to abuse it for their own gain then why not consider incorporating a system that removes these inadequacies?  Biometric technology also ensures that there is a clear audit trail, thereby encouraging responsibility from your employees to act ethically and be accountable for their actions.

Take time to think about some of the problems in your business that biometric technology can solve.  Hopefully this post brought a few reasons to mind on how biometrics can help you.

What are some other reasons that biometrics would not be a benefit to your business?  Be creative…

The Nursery Rhyme and its Application to Biometrics

Most of us are probably familiar with the popular nursery rhyme “The Itsy Bitsy Spider.”  It goes like this:

The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout.
Down came the rain, and washed the spider out.
Up came the sun, and dried up all the rain,
and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.

Wow.  That is one resilient spider and it got us thinking…this spider reminds us a lot of biometric technology.

As biometrics for identification has evolved from forensics into government and enterprise applications, there have been growing pains along the way.  Fingerprint technology was the first “spider” modality to hit the mainstream and as it climbed the biometric “water (aka market) spout” end users realized that it had certain limitations.  For example, environmental conditions and fingerprint integrity limited its ability to identify a certain percentage of the population and as a result, end users began to seek a biometric modality that would identify 100% of their demographic.  The “rain” of dirt, grease, grime, cuts, scrapes, scars, age, ethnicity and other conditions washed out the fingerprint spider as not a one-size-fits-all solution.  However, it still had plenty of applicability and started to re-climb the biometric market spout.

Out came the vascular “sun” and dried up all of the issues that plagued fingerprint technology to allow the finger vein and palm vein spiders (albeit different spiders, but biometric spiders nonetheless) to start climbing the biometric market spout alongside the fingerprint spider.  Thus far, the weather has been quite sunny and there is no rain in the forecast to fall and wash the vascular spiders to the ground.  Vascular biometrics is enjoying a surge in end user adoption demonstrating a high tolerance for skin surface problems such as dryness, roughness, moisture or scarring.

Note – There are other biometric spiders currently crawling up the water spout such as iris, retina, voice, hand geometry and facial recognition, but they have not quite been as widely accepted for commercial adoption.

Biometrics and Resiliency

Just like the itsy bitsy spider, biometrics has proven to be very resilient.  As biometric performance and technology adapts to market conditions through refinements, enhancements and modifications it continues to demonstrate diverse applicability and post significant returns on investment.  From workforce management, healthcare, retail point of sale, public safety, and membership management, biometrics continues to grow and the forecast is a continued ascent through many global government and commercial applications.

Let’s rewrite one of our favorite nursery rhymes for the biometric industry:

The itsy bitsy biometric spider went up the market spout.
Down came conditions, and washed the spider out.
Up came refinements, to solve the problems,
and the itsy bitsy biometric spider went up the market spout again.

Can you think of a nursery rhyme and its theme that could also apply to biometrics?  Please share it with us in the comments below.