As organizations continue to seek solutions that ensure safe, secure and convenient access for employees, members and visitors, harnessing the power of biometric technology for accessing facilities has become even more important this year. In line with the evolving ways of working and living during the COVID-19 pandemic, technologies that reduce the need to physically touch objects have become increasingly beneficial. Tom Søberg, CTO Precise Biometrics explains how Precise YOUNiQ for Access supports companies with entry that is secure, convenient and cost efficient using just a selfie that is integrated to the existing access system.
“The main challenge that our clients face around enabling access to their facilities is the handling of keys – traditional, physical keys or tokens. People naturally lose them so new ones need to be made and reissued, or they forget to return them when they leave – a common problem for hotels and other accommodation providers – with a significant impact on receptionists and site managers who need to ensure close to 24×7 availability as well as increased costs. There is also now the added consideration of new behaviours that COVID-19 has brought such as the need for social distancing. People naturally prefer not to wait in long queues with many others to collect their key when they check-in for instance.
“One of the clients we are working with – Temporary Space Nordics – provides housing modules for accommodation in temporary facilities, for example where a project is remote and needs its employees to be on site for a period of time. They have found that removing the need to handle keys at all is a significant time benefit and has really reduced this workload element – so they are very happy! The employees using the system have also realised how convenient it is to use facial recognition. Initially, because it was a new technology that they hadn’t used before, some preferred to use the option of unlocking their room via a QR code but they quickly decided to change to Face once they saw how easy and secure it is to use!”
Can you share with us how Precise YOUNiQ for Access is helping organizations with challenges like these?
“Sure. Our solution is fully integrated with booking system so for an organization like Temporary Space Nordics, when a person books a new room they automatically receive a digital onboarding link. All they need to do is to enter their name and take a selfie. When they arrive onsite, they simply go directly to their room and their face acts as their key – no need to wait and collect a physical key, and no inconvenience of having to carry a key around. Finally when they leave the facility there’s no inconvenient check-out process since there’s no physical key to return.
“With Precise’s solution, you don’t need any special types of camera or expensive hardware, simply standard surveillance security cameras which are widely available. Precise YOUNiQ for Access is purely a software based solution making it cost effective compared to expensive alternatives which can bind you to high-priced hardware components.”
How do you ensure that only the right person gets access?
“This is really important. We have liveness detection powered by our complex algorithms to ensure that it is really the authorised person and that no-one without the correct permission enters. This separates out false or fake attempts such as using a cut-out photo or mask to try and gain access. Precise is an acknowledged world-leader in this technology so our clients are particularly well assured in the high levels of security that our solution provides alongside the seamless customer experience.”
Find out more by watching our Precise YOUNiQ use case video featuring Temporary Space Nordics.