Biometrics in retail potentially on the rise
11 May, 2011
category: Biometrics
Despite biometrics sometimes having a bad rap in the retail industry due to its association with failed attempts to replace credit cards and checks with a swipe of a fingerprint, some feel it is staging a comeback into the same environments only as a time and attendance or other workforce management solution, according to a Retail Info Systems News article.
Among the reasoning for foreseeing a potential rise in biometric usage in retail environments is due first to the benefits such systems offer the retail organization and second to the evolution the technology has made over the years to eliminate regular issues users have with such systems.
Chiefly among the benefits of bringing a biometric workforce management system into a retail environment is the inherent fact that workers must be present.
In other words, employees can no longer defraud payroll through buddy punching as they must punch in and out and any transaction that would require a manager’s approval can no longer be subject to a stolen or misplaced ID card as the manager himself would have to be present to approve special transactions.
Additionally, retail organizations that tried such systems in the past likely used fingerprint-based systems that potentially fell victim to damaged fingerprints due to injury or substance on the finger. In this case, biometric technology developers have moved to contactless and sub-surface scanners such as vascular scanners that authenticate a user based on his unique vein pattern in his finger or palm, which is scanned via a near-infrared light camera.
Read the full story here.
