A major problem with visitor management is that the systems mostly require adhesive printed paper labels and paper logs, creating waste and an ongoing expense.
SafePass, a small (under 12 employees) privately-held, Houston-based 2016 startup that specializes in visitor management, says their technology fills a need and does so in a completely novel way. IPVM mentioned SafePass as an emerging technology in early 2018 (see: 30+ Emerging Tech Companies Examined). This video from the company's YouTube channel discusses what the company says differentiates it from others:
Further, SafePass says the innovations are just starting and there is lots more to come.
Inside this note we will discuss:
Where ******** **** ****
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Patent-Pending **********
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How *** ******** *****
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******
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Visitor ********** ******
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Comparison ** ***** *******
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Potential *******
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I think this is very cool and would solve many of our visitor management issues. The few things I would be worried about is how many badges we would need to cover our buildings and campuses. Training on yet another platform and software that doesn't integrate with any of our other programs. We also have visitors that may be around for up to a week and it would be a pain to collect them and hand them out daily.
Probably more but those are the ones I can think of off the bat.
Hi Ross, thank you for your thoughtful comments! Regarding number of badges, our ideal customers have less than 200 visitors/vendors per day. Regarding training, the training is quite minimal. We are now capable of integrating into various platforms. The checkin process is quite fast, (less than 10 seconds for returning visitors) so they can simply check in each day and when the badge is returned to the dock it automatically checks them out.
I am curious what exactly the customer needs for wifi infrastructure to support this. For example, I don't think someone with just a couple of low-end wifi bridges as access points would be able to achieve the tracking part, but I'm not sure. The wifi tracking just seems a little hand-wavy and dependent on something that is far from a universal platform across enterprises, but maybe it is easier than it seems?
Hello U1. You bring up a valid point, which I passed on to SafePass' founder. He admits that the site may need to bolster their IT infrastructure if it doesn't provide adequate coverage:
Additional Wi-Fi routers/extenders may need to be installed to increase Wi-Fi location tracking accuracy, if the facility Wi-Fi coverage does not meet industry standard/norm.
He also provided a couple links that he passes on to let customers know what he means by "industry standard/norm."
https://www.accessagility.com/blog/how-to-estimate-number-of-access-points-needed
https://support.ekahau.com/hc/en-us/articles/115004909187-Defining-Network-Requirements
Accurate tracking via Wi-Fi is not straightforward. Most infrastructures are not up to providing more than "presence" information rather than accuracy down to say 5 metres. In order to get accurate results you may have to invest in a substantial number of additional access points (not WiFi 'routers' or 'extenders' which are generally only found in residential/SOHO environments).
One day battery life seems really poor. Compare this with Active RFID WiFi tags that can last up to 4 years on a single battery. OK these don't have displays but how much power does epaper take?
"One day battery life seems really poor." - Thus the reason they are for visitors who return them to the charging dock each day.
Hi undisclosed #1, our target customers generally have an enterprise-level wifi network already installed... but, if more Wi-Fi APs are needed for SafePass, then you also have better Wi-Fi for everything else! Any Wi-Fi network operating on 2.4Ghz will function with our system. The badges are all IoT connected devices with TLS encryption communicating with our software in the cloud... no need for software installs or running data cables. The hardware setup process is simply taking the badges and ipad out of the box, plugging it in to power and you are all set.
Thank you for your comments!
I think this is an excellent product. However, I think the main hurdle is trying to sell the customer on the recurring monthly cost. I admit to being totally dead wrong, but i see that being a major deal killer.
The paper system is cumbersome obviously, but i just dont see people paying this much more each month to get rid of the pain of the paper. The cost/benefit analysis doesnt work out for me in this scenario.
Hi Sean, thank you for your comments... any new product is usually more expensive in the beginning and pricing is always highly variable/unknown in the early stages. Remember, value is the most important element in any security product!
