Biometric control takes gyms by storm

The days of having to remember to take along your gym access card or magnetic tag belong to the past, thanks to fingerprint access control. "The number of gyms utilising this technology is growing by the day," says Jans Wessels, Managing Director of Dex Group Informatix.

"The future is here and at our disposal, but some organisations and companies still don`t utilise it. Any aspect of business that doesn`t make use of available and affordable technology to improve management and increase profits, is stupid to say the least," Wessels says.

Wessels assumes that such companies are ill-informed about the technology or its affordability, because no one in his right mind would intentionally want to complicate managerial affairs and become less profitable.

In the health and fitness industry, for instance, where income is mostly generated from membership fees, a revolution is under way. Although access to some facilities is still granted by the use of a bar coded or magnetic membership card, many gymnasiums are converting to biometric systems.

The card solution is vulnerable because the use of cards cannot be guaranteed to be limited to the paid member only. Some gyms lose thousands of rands due to fraudulent use of family members` or friends` gym cards. It is believed that in South Africa millions of rands are lost in this way. An added cost is, of course, that of personnel required to monitor the entrances to avoid unauthorised access to the facilities.

The biometric solution is an online solution with extremely quick and accurate member, visitor and staff identification. The system controls access while screening members according to their account payments. With the central management system, several branches can be linked to one central data base, keeping all information real-time and updated.

There is no cost of lost or stolen cards and activations are immediate. The gym solution can be linked to access barriers, swing gates, turnstiles or doors, with the use of a cylinder option that contains the biometric scanner. This is the ultimate yet cost-effective gym access system.

The use of biometrics is unlimited and highly accurate. Among many others, it provides the solution to eliminate fraud with drivers` licences, ID documents, passports and confidential records such as university degrees and legal documents.