Our society has evolved into a civilization that demands more and expects multi-functionality from the technology that surrounds us every day. The latest development in biometric technology for church management software is a hybrid biometric platform. How does it work and why is biometric technology continuing to gain traction at churches all over the U.S. as an integral part of the check-in process?
Perhaps your church serves a diverse population demographic where fingerprint technology is not a one-size-fits-all solution.
Maybe you live in an unusually cold environment that causes dry, cracked skin where fingerprint images aren’t easily recognized. It might be a good idea to consider exploring a new application of biometric technology and consider hedging your investment risk by adopting a hybrid biometric system.
Four modalities
Hybrid biometrics allow church administrators to tailor a biometric deployment model based on the unique needs of their congregation and easily switch between four different biometric modalities (fingerprint, finger vein, palm vein and iris recognition) without having to install any new software.
This unparalleled flexibility produces near 100 percent read rates for any user, under any condition and results in the lowest possible total cost of ownership compared to other options.
Deploying a hybrid biometric system ensures that you are never locked into a single form of biometric recognition so that you can retain the flexibility to add a different modality if the current one does not work reliably for all users.
Many advantages
In less than the time it takes to write down a person’s name, a child or young adult can be accounted for and verified using biometric identification at check-in. In addition, there are other pieces of information that can be pulled from a child’s record to ensure they are receiving the best care including allergies, meal choices, activity choices and more.
By using a biometric system parents can be assured that their child leaves with the correct person. For instance, what if the person who is in charge of check-in, is not necessarily involved with the check-out process? How can you be sure that they are familiar with the face of every parent or guardian? Biometrics helps to eliminate this risk by keeping accurate records of the parents, guardians or family members that are associated with the child.
Austin Spooner from New Covenant Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids, IA recently began using Shelby Systems’ ARENA check-in software (which includes biometric fingerprint identification technology) for check-in at their Student Ministry program. Prior to implementing Shelby’s platform, Spooner and his staff spent a lot of effort printing name tags and looking up students manually in their system, a procedure that was resource draining and time consuming.
Since implementing software and establishing fingerprint check-in for the Student Ministry check-in, Spooner observed that, “Our attendance data is more accurate and we have reduced waste by not printing name tags for students that do not attend for the night. Our staff no longer needs to manually enter attendance data after the event.” Spooner has been so impressed with the biometric technology’s ability to save resources and staff time that he plans to expand the deployment to New Covenant’s new facility currently under construction with additional Student Ministry check-in and family registration kiosks.
Choosing the proper biometric reader or combination of readers for your congregation and environment can be better served by researching the answers to these questions before you make your decision.
John Trader is a communications specialist for M2SYS, Atlanta, GA. www.M2SYS.com
