Replace Archaic Time-Clock Solutions

Business owners and companies are always looking for ways to speed up their workforce and make workflow more efficient.  Being more efficient means both cutting costs and earning more money.  A relatively simple solution is to upgrade employee time-clock methods.  The old-fashioned way is by using a card to punch in.  Some businesses use even more basic forms of clocking in: bosses make note of when their employees come in or the employee writes it down on the schedule.

The problem with the first way is that it is easy to "game" the machine.  A friend or colleague can game the system by taking his friend's punch-in card and punching it himself, regardless of whether or not the friend showed up for work on time --if he showed up at all.

The second method is not reliable in the least. What if your supervisor is not at work one day?  You have to tell someone else who will let the supervisor know, and that wastes time and money. Simple human error is another reason the method is not viable. Your boss might forget to make note of you coming into work.

To combat the problems these two archaic systems create, consider upgrading to a fingerprint time-clock system, which is easy to use and reliable.


by FingerTec USA

Business owners and companies are always looking for ways to speed up their workforce and make workflow more efficient.  Being more efficien...

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Fooling Nobody


It was like a dream that had finally been realized. This night scene photograph that I picked to be used for my faculty magazine in my sophomore, is still fresh in my mind. The all-white pillars magnificently stood as the base structure of the Memorial Hall, and the dim yellow lights solemnly bathed the Statue of this great man, Mr. Abraham Lincoln, in his regal sitting position, in between two pillars inside the hall.

Lincoln Memorial at night
And now, after more than two decades, I stood yet again before the Statue of Lincoln with a better idea of its proportion, and with one of his famous quotes always lingering in me, "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."

Even though there are 44 Presidents since the US’s independence in 1776, the greatness of Abraham Lincoln is still distinguishingly highlighted in the State that was named after its first president, George Washington. Even the tour guide spent more time on this 16th President, showing the spot he got shot, and the hospital he was admitted in after the assassination in April 1865. What made Lincoln the greatest American president? He ended slavery, guided the country through the constitutional, military, and moral crisis – Civil War.

No man is born to be great. What makes a man great depends on what he did in his lifetime. The same for a brand, to become a great product or a great brand, you need to have something extraordinary to deserve an appraisal of greatness. And one good thing about brand, unlike human beings that have a biological lifespan, it can last long when all the factors are right.

Fooling Nobody
As a brand in the Internet era and social media technology that widespreads everything in the speed of light, the famous quote of Lincoln has to be upgraded to a more stringent level to “you fool no people at any time”. And you take no chance, because any wrongdoing can hurt your brand almost instantly.

Last two weeks, a leading Chinese newspaper in Malaysia was uncovered with plagiarism in its editorial article, and the news spread fast on Facebook. Within two weeks, readers exposed another 20 more plagiarized articles by simply using Google as their investigative tool. The newspaper demonstrated the worst kind of response by merely publishing a perfunctory apology on its Facebook fan page, but played dumb in its printed dailies, to limit the right to inform their readers, as a damage control solution. But I dare say you fool nobody in the Internet age. The virtual world and the real world coexist and are interactive, insincerity would eventually rebuke and haunt your credibility.

Wall Street Bull
To summarize my US trip, it was a pleasure to have met our FingerTec partner in New York, to exchange ideas, to better understand the local market, and to explore on how to expand the FingerTec brand in North America for the coming years.  

Overall, I had a pleasant stay in New York this summer. The weather was not too hot, especially in the breezy sunny days, wind blew with an unexpectedly soothing cool air, and walking in the vibrant metropolitan city was quite enjoyable. I even managed to visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art, besides some other popular tourist spots.

by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ

It was like a dream that had finally been realized. This night scene photograph that I picked to be used for my faculty magazine in m...

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Managing Employee Activity With Clock In Software

No one likes to feel micromanaged. It can put undue pressure on an employee and make them feel as though their ability to work freely and independently of the larger organization is being stifled. Work, as it were, is not all ones and zeros or dollars and cents. There is of course good reason for an employer to understand what their employees are doing, when they show up and when they leave, of course, but this does not necessitate a constant peering eye on individuals.

Employee clock in software allows a company to understand what employees are doing broadly without stifling them minutely. If you are asking employees to account for their time to the minute that will begin to cut into time they can be working for you. Instead it is better to accept daily shift reports that suggest completed work loads as opposed to minute to minute details.

Knowing you have solid people working for your company is important but on some level, even with micromanaged accountability, that is a leap of faith. The broader understanding of what all of your employees are doing is one of the great benefits of employee clock in software. You can know if anything goes wrong while allowing workers to keep doing right.


by FingerTec USA

No one likes to feel micromanaged. It can put undue pressure on an employee and make them feel as though their ability to work freely and ...

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Science Fiction? No, Just Another Day on the Job

A common trope in science fiction is imagining the advanced methods the future will employ to ensure security. Retinal scans, palm scans, body scans, facial recognition, and even DNA analysis have all been explored as replacements for key cards and pin codes. In the film Gattaca, Ethan Hawke's character must supply blood samples every day to enter his job. In the film "Minority Report," based on the work by prophetic science fiction writer, Philip K. Dick. facial recognition software is prominent. Yet, these technologies are no longer mere fantasies, nor are they absurdly expensive hypothetical prototypes. Rather, facial recognition software and components are both very real and entirely affordable. What hasn't changed in the transition from sci-fi to reality is the power of the technology's utility.

FingerTec USA offers an innovative addition to the biometric employee clock in software business with its revolutionary FingerTec USA Face ID 2, a device that recognizes users with a single look. Users need only to glance in the direction of the device for it to verify identity, without the need of any keys, codes, touches, gestures or personnel. It's a fully automated attendance system that makes "buddy check-ins" irrelevant, greatly increases efficiency, comes at an affordable and competitive cost, and declares any business that uses it as a cutting edge enterprise.

The Face ID 2 isn't science fiction, but it is fantastic.



by FingerTec USA



A common trope in science fiction is imagining the advanced methods the future will employ to ensure security. Retinal scans, palm scans, bo...

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A Fingerprint Attendance System Increases Productivity

How so?  Think about the two other popular forms of clocking into work.  One way is to clock in using a punch card system that uses a physical card to keep track of when an employee comes into work and then clocks out.  There are ways to manipulate this attendance system, namely having a fellow coworker simply take your punch-in card and clocking in for you when you are not even at work.  This works just the same as if you needed your friend to clock you out.  Unless somewhat is keeping track of each individual employee - which may be an HR nightmare - this is not a reliable system.

The second attendance system that sees a lot of use is by logging into a computer program and then logging out at the end of the day. It is essentially the same thing as using physical punch cards but in a virtual space.  Again, to game this system all a person really needs is the login information of the person that needs to be in the system.

A fingerprint attendance system removes the disadvantages of the previously mentioned systems.  Since fingerprints are unique to each person, that person would have to clock in and out themselves in order to be credited for their work.  There is no way of beating this system.


by FingerTec USA

How so?  Think about the two other popular forms of clocking into work.  One way is to clock in using a punch card system that uses a physic...

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Balance of Power

Wednesday 1 August 2012 , , 0 Comments

It takes a century for Time and Attendance system to strike a balance of power.

When punch card clocking system was introduced to record employees' attendance a long time ago and still quite many companies are using it now, the weight of power is tilted to employees. Employers almost have no knowledge whether employees themselves, or their colleagues punched the clocking records when they were late for works. But this is the limitation of punch card clocking technology, whether employers like it or not, they have to live with it.

To prevent time theft that causes employers to pay extra 'wages', they embrace biometrics time and attendance system when it becomes available without much hesitation to replace the old system.

Tug-of-war for power
And the power slides to employers this time. As employees, you lose the control instantly. Not only that you can't punch for your buddies but also you lost the grip of your own clocking records. All the clocking records stored in the biometrics terminals are transferred to a computer system managed by HR department. You have no idea whether your employers could or would manipulate your records to become time thieves themselves. But this is the automation attendance system, whether employees like it or not, they have to live with it.

Although some biometrics clocking terminals support receipt printers, where employees can print receipt as proof of their attendance time, most employers would not prefer to invest unless it is mandatory by the government like what happens in Chile.

The recipient of the power would always be the happy one, be it employer or employee. But again, this is unhealthy from the management’s point of view.

Naturally, the best solution to rectify any technological weakness is by introducing a newer technology. This time around, to strike the balance of power, replacing the Windows-based time and attendance software to a web-based or even a cloud-based system seems like a very good move, plus having clocking terminals that support web-based system.  

The nature of windows-based software is individuality, which means that the application is normally use to complete tasks assigned to the software operators. But for web-based system, collaboration supersedes individuality. The trend of personal technology provides more computing power; with the web-based solution that networks almost everybody, it encourages information sharing and interactions between two or more parties. So, why not let the employees logging in to the web server to view or print their own attendance and work schedule, or having more personal or company information to their benefits? All these would improve communication within an organization.

Web programs to be the solution for the balance of power
Our product, TimeTec Web seems to be the solution to the balance the power. And in view of the complication in setting up a web server, we launched TimeTec Cloud to simplify the deployment.

In fact, the balance of power in the workplace would create better understandings between employees and employers. For employers, they should take this technology transformation opportunity to share the obligatory information among employees, to build a better working environment and enhance the sense of belongings of employees to the company.  

by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ

It takes a century for Time and Attendance system to strike a balance of power. When punch card clocking system was introduced to recor...

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