When selecting an ID badging system, your immediate focus may only be on printing ID badges for your employees, contractors or students. A photo ID system is a great way to boost visual security, provide awareness of who is in your facility, and verify those people truly belong there. However, in today’s world, it is imperative that your ID system add value to your company or organization beyond just visual security. A true credential management system can provide the solution you need.
What is Credential Management?
When considering a photo ID system, companies are not always aware of all the things they may possibly want to use their credentials for. All ID software gives you the ability to print a credential, but as your business grows and more applications are implemented that require the use of that card, you are often left to figure out how to make that card work with multiple systems, typically from numerous vendors.
A credential management system not only gives you the card design and printing capabilities of a basic ID system; it also allows those ID badges to be used with a variety of additional applications. With BadgePass solutions from the ISG, you can use your ID for things like electronic door access control with custom access permissions, employee time clock, and computer access, while easily managing the entire life cycle of that badge.
Not sure what you need to use your IDs for yet? That’s okay! An integrated credential management system like BadgePass allows you to add applications and features over time, as needed, or as your organization grows. In fact, 97% of companies surveyed said they implemented 2 or more applications into their ID system within the first 2 years. So, you can start by implementing the photo ID system you need today but feel confident that investment will be capable of growing with your organization as your needs expand in the future.
Card Issuance & Activation
With many ID systems, card activation is a multi-step process, requiring the cardholder to visit multiple departments to have their card activated in a variety of other systems that use it. This can be a timely and costly process, especially as you add more software applications in the future. An integrated credential management system on the other hand, will enable you to automatically activate credentials across all applications upon print, so the badge is ready to use instantly!
Automatic activation and deactivation of credentials is essential to uphold overall security and safety measures. A huge problem that is common with stand-alone ID systems is credential overflow. This is caused when there are more active cards in the system than there are active cardholders (employees, students, etc). The two main causes of this problem are lost / stolen ID badges and employee or student turnover.
Manually removing or deactivating credentials across multiple systems is a lot for any team member to keep up with and is frequently forgotten. A credential management system will do the work for you by monitoring any changes to your cardholder database and altering privileges or deactivating ID cards as needed. Even better, when a card is lost or stolen, a new one can be printed in seconds, automatically deactivating the old one in the process.
Credential Management Solutions from the ISG
For all these reasons, when selecting a photo ID system, it’s important to keep your options open for the possible applications you may want to add in the future. Talk with your local ISG expert to learn more about why a credential management system could be the better choice for your organization.
Also, talk with us about how integration with mobile credentials, video surveillance, visitor management, and other ISG solutions could also benefit your school or business.
