Biometric attendance machines have become very popular around the world. Biometric solutions are widely accepted by government agencies, multinational organizations, institutions, banks, and hospitals, just to name a few.

Technology is built to improve the quality of our lives. Several aspects of our lives are made better thanks to it. Biometric technology is also a great invention that has enabled us to change our daily lives in a significant way.

However, as they say, great power comes with great responsibility. This is true for biometric technology as well. Even though biometrics created a stir with all the good features, the technology has its own limitations too. And, in comparison to its well-known advantages, we know very little about disadvantages of these biometric attendance machines.

The introduction of a biometric attendance machine indeed brings many benefits; however, it comes with its own set of challenges as well.

Why You Don’t Need to Install Attendance Machines:

1.Biometric Attendance machine Systems Outdated

Work culture has been changing fast, particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic. Hybrid work is now here to stay. The evolved work culture and practices need a dynamic system. However, biometrics machines cannot evolve beyond a point. These machines are useless when it comes to the staff working from home or working in the field or staff attending office for only a few days in a month. These machines have no provision for newly developed needs of a workplace like hot-desking and other such evolving needs.

As such, these systems are now totally outdated and just cannot meet the needs of a fast-evolving hybrid work culture.

2.  Limited Capability

Biometrics attendance machines have very limited capabilities because the software installed in these machines is not advanced enough. It cannot match the advanced software/ platforms now available, which offer analytics, real-time reports, central visibility, leave management, in-out passes and random checks, etc. These machines just cannot offer these multiple capabilities which are basic to a modern Attendance Management System.

 3. Privacy Breach

A biometric attendance machine device uses physical features such as fingerprints, iris, palm veins, etc. that cannot be changed. It’s possible to reset passwords, but not fingerprints and retinas. A government database or a company offering these services may obtain our biometric data. If the data were stolen, they couldn’t ‘change’ their identification traits as they could change their passwords during a security breach.

4. Prone to Err

Biometric attendance software are not perfect, and errors do occur. There are usually two types of errors involved in biometric devices. These are False Acceptance Rate (FAR) and False Rejection Rate (FRR). When the device accepts an unauthorized person, it is known as FAR and when it rejects an authorized person, it is known as FRR.

In some cases, the error rate is so high that it results in chaos for the entire security system. This could occur as a result of weather, physical conditions, old age, etc. In a large-scale authentication process, an error rate of as low as 1% can lead to turmoil.

5. Cost

The cost of biometric attendance devices is comparatively higher than other traditional security devices. Although, it is true that fingerprint recognition systems are more cost-effective than ever, for smaller organizations the cost of implementation and maintenance can still be a barrier to implementation. In the case of multi-location organizations, this cost could be prohibitive.

Employee Attendance Management System

6. Scanner issue

In large companies, some biometric attendance machine devices take longer than expected and a long queue of workers wait to be enrolled. In these cases, people have difficulty scanning biometric devices every day. A person considers it unnecessary friction when he/she has to undergo a biometric verification process every day in order to enter school, office, or other places.

7. Complexity

A major disadvantage of biometric machines is the highly technical and complex system that makes up the entire process. The non-technical person will feel like a fish out of the water while trying to understand the system. The companies hire highly skilled and experienced programmers to develop the systems. For non-technical maintenance people, the device is a black box.

8. Biometric Attendance Machine is Unhygienic

There are a variety of biometric modalities. Many of them use contact-based methods, such as fingerprint scanners and palm vein ink scanners, while some use contactless methods, such as iris and face recognition. An enormous amount of people use a biometric device every day in contact-based modes.

In the current scenario, it can be a mode of virus spread that should be replaced with a contactless attendance system like truMe’s facial recognition attendance system.

9. Physical disability

Some people aren’t fortunate enough to be able to participate in the enrolment process. Perhaps they have lost or damaged body parts such as fingers or eyes. It’s a well-known fact that manual laborers who use their hands in course of their work, tend to lose their fingerprints.  It would be both embarrassing and offensive to use a fingerprint/iris recognition device in this type of situation.

10. Environment and Usage matters

With biometrics-based authentication, the measurement/results can be influenced by the environment or by the way the device is used. Especially in cold areas, the error rate is high, which creates unnecessary chaos and disappointments throughout the system.

People hardly talk about the disadvantages of biometric machines despite all of their obvious drawbacks. It certainly offers pros that outweigh the cons; but, it’s still a system that’s far from perfect.

However, you would like to know, what the future looks like for the Time-Attendance and/or Access Control Systems? In order to get rid of those infections on the fingerprint scanner, you must upgrade your technology and methods. Imagine your smartphone becoming your identity, and you can now tap or shake it to mark attendance or control access to your office premises. truMe is a touchless and cloud-based face recognition attendance system that makes it possible. It offers multiple, contactless digital interfaces for attendance and access management, which work like a breeze.

If you choose a contactless time-attendance solution, you can also check the connectivity options. Modern devices come with advanced connectivity options, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, etc. However, truMe is a better choice than others because it has geo-fencing, geo-tagging, mobile-based attendance, works on Bluetooth, and is easy to install and set up for immediate use. And it’s not just an attendance system, it offers leave management, time-sheet management, roster management, live employee tracking, etc. on the same platform.

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