Biometrics sales expected to hit $1.2B this year

[Tom Aldridge]

Restaurants begin to tap fingerprint technology
Biometrics sales expected to hit $1.2B this year

KEN LOVE/KRT News Service

AKRON, Ohio - As small-business owners, Laila Zakham and her husband can't
be at their Akron restaurant at all times.

So the owners of Aladdin's Eatery have employed what Zakham said is the next
best thing: They use a computer system that requires employees to log in
using their fingerprints.

The employees use the system for everything from clocking in to placing food
orders and printing checks.

"I think it's the best tool a restaurant could ever want to get," said
Zakham, who has used the technology for 2 1/2 years.

The technology is so new - and for some businesses, so expensive - that it
hasn't caught on in the mainstream, according to Michigan Restaurant
Association spokeswoman Kristyn Sorensen.

"For a lot of small businesses, it's not a cost that is within their reach,"
she said, noting that the Lansing-based association isn't aware of any of
its 4,500 member eateries using the fingerprint system.

But Zakham said the technology, which cost about $11,000 for four terminals
equipped with the computer system and fingerprint pads, was "worth every
penny."

"Owners cannot be at the restaurant all day long watching this and that,"
she said. "We had problems with people clocking in other people. It was just
hard to keep track. My location is small. Imagine bigger locations."

Biometrics have been in use for many years in the law enforcement industry
for databases, but the use in businesses for control and access to systems
is "really starting to gain some traction in the marketplace," said Trevor
Prout, director of marketing for the International Biometric Group, a
consulting firm.

Biometrics also are increasingly being used by employers to secure access to
buildings and special areas within buildings and even logging into computer
networks so employees don't have to remember a password, Prout said.

The New York City based International Biometric Group projects annual global
revenues for biometrics will be $1.2 billion this year.

In the restaurant industry, fingerprint technology helps eliminate what's
called "buddy punching," which is when one employee clocks in another
employee on traditional time clock systems.

And it puts responsibility back on managers to help with security, said
Brian Canale, owner of White House Chicken in Barberton, Ohio.

"The fingerprint doesn't let you cheat," said Canale, who said he was just
as guilty as others of giving his code number to employees. Or sometimes,
some of the more enterprising employees might watch a manager input the code
and then use it on their own without permission.

The employer is able to assign different responsibilities to each employee's
fingerprint. For example, one employee may get access to a cash drawer while
another doesn't.

Stefanie Murray contributed to this story. Contact her at 377-1016 or
stamurray at lsj.com.