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Cash deposit centres bank on biometrics for increased security

Croma Photobase has recently completed the rollout of its "Touch & Go" biometric security system to 13 cash deposit centres around the UK for a major financial institution.  The sale reflects increased acceptance within the banking industry that biometric solutions are now reliable and sophisticated enough to operate at business critical sites.

"Touch & Go" (T&G) is a scaleable security platform.  The recent release adds active/passive tag technologies for monitoring and tracking high value assets (such as secure boxes, computers, lab equipment, vehicles or weapons) to the rich set of features previously available.  These include Time & Attendance, visitor booking and reception, access control and photocard management. 

This latest release of T&G has increased the Croma Photobase offering of flexible and affordable biometric solutions in the commercial sector.  The company already has a broad customer base and established reputation for high security solutions to prisons, police and Government clients.

The system provides positive identification and can also be set up to control access to specific zones within a site, permitting only certain members of staff access to those zones e.g. to the I.T. server room.  T&G identifies past or banned staff preventing access to the site as well as overcoming the problem of misuse of identity cards.

Where required, T&G can also provide time and attendance data for each site for payroll purposes, provide management information on contractors' attendance (e.g. Cleaners) on site or simply provide a history of movements for audit or analysis.

In many commercial applications the use of a biometric access control system can reduce costs by reducing the need for manned security at small sites and monitoring the site remotely.  On large sites the workload on security guards at the main entrance can be reduced ensuring that they are available for other duties such as vehicle checking or perimeter duties.

Site safety can be improved by holding information within the system on staff present (such as those trained in first aid) so that in the event of an incident the presence on-site of any assistance can quickly be confirmed and vital information captured for Health & Safety compliance.

In the event of having to evacuate the site in an emergency, biometrics ensures that it is quick and easy to verify the actual number of workers on site at the time of the emergency and compare that with the numbers present at the muster point.

By employing a biometric system such as "Touch & Go" Senior management benefit from the knowledge that business risks and operating costs are being managed and monitored, and that reliable systems are eliminating the human errors traditionally tolerated with cards and manned guarding.