Paper becoming smart – Smart Visitor Badges 7. July 2015

 

 

Everyone knows the saying that the first impressions are the most memorable. When visiting a business partner or attending a concert or conference the first impressions are typically made of waiting at the entrance and an impersonal treatment. After queuing visitor typically get either a cheap printed sticker or a worn-out, impersonal visitor smart card. The guest’s first impression of the host will not be the most memorable!

An average organisation annually welcomes the tenfold of its local employees as guest. The high number of visitors requires efficient, secure and scalable solutions. The common methods to administrate visitors typically don´t serve all these requirements.

The new Smart Visitor Badges combine the best attributes from both, printable paper stickers and smart cards. Smart Visitor Badges enables an efficient personal welcome to each individual guest without compromising on security. Further the solution is well suited to personally welcome your clients in an attorney´s office or to handle external craftsman on a huge industrial complex.

It is now possible to reinvent the original paper pass and create smart printable passes using a humble laser printer. By inserting sheets of paper with embedded MIFARE ICs into standard laser printers – with slight modifications – they able to print on and code badges in one go.

MIFARE on a grand scale

During the coding process, access rights and other data is written into the MIFARE chip in addition to visual information printed on the outside, such as the guest’s name printed on the badge. This method of pass issuing is not only fast and simple but can be cost-effective and scaled up to issue hundreds or even thousands of passes at a time.

Another advantage is the disposable nature of the badges. Visitors can keep the badge as a souvenir while the issuer no longer has to allocate personnel to collect used badges. This is especially important for large sites with multiple exits such as a stadium, where personnel costs can be significant.

When used on a large scale, paper MIFARE IC based passes can also help to reduce queues at conferences and concerts. The organizer can mail out badges weeks before the event and the visitor can gain quick entry through automated gating.

Personal and comfortable

Sorting of business cards to remember the right name of guest was yesterday. Smart Visitor Badges allow hosts to purely focus on their meeting instead of remembering their guests name – and sharing of business cards becomes even more convenient. The embedded MIFARE chip enables sharing of business contacts through taping with mobile devices.

Managers dropping by in a break to show their respect can personally welcome each guest and if required exchange business cards very conveniently.

The smart features in the pass also mean that it can be used for more than just access management. MIFARE product enabled passes give visitors the ability to pair their devices with the local Wi-Fi, with just a tap of their smartphone on the pass. The smart visitor badge could also be used to gain access to other facilities like lockers for bags, coats and laptops. It’s even possible to add a micropayment functionality to the badges.

By reinventing the original paper ticket printable smart MIFARE IC based passes are opening a world of new possibilities for event organisers, businesses and consumers. In May 2015 NXP Semiconductors Austria introduced a modern visitor management system using smart paper tickets.

Visitors at the NXP offices in Gratkorn receive individual smart paper visitor badges showing their names and hosts. This system gives huge advantages for site security as they now have a highly auditable record of visitor streams. Through this system processes have been streamlined and the already high security standards have been further improved.

Smart Visitor Badges can be provided by NXP’s MIFARE Premium Partners, AdvanIDe and Smartrac.