The modernization of the access control system with HID Global technology facilitates the entry and control of schedules in the Superintendence of Insurance of the Nation.
By SECURITY SALES
The activity of insurers in Latin America has grown in recent decades, although it continues well below the more developed economies of the US and Europe, where it has a share of around 10% of its Gross Domestic Product, that is, it has an important weight in the economy of these regions.
In Argentina, this industry has been consolidated for several years, with about 180 insurance companies constituted and generating around 100,000 jobs. According to estimates by the Superintendency of Insurance of the Nation (SSN), the premium production of the Argentine market as of June 2009 was 27,000 million pesos (about US $ 3,000 million).
The SSN is a decentralized public body dedicated to supervising the activity of insurance companies in Argentina, under the Ministry of Economy and Public Finance, and created in 1938, after insurance companies were fully established in the southern country.
Because it is a decentralized public entity, there is a significant number of employees and visitors who come every day to the different headquarters of the institution throughout the Argentine territory, and although there was an access control system for the employees of the agency, it was in disuse due to the difficulties in its operation.
For this reason, in 2012 it was decided to open a public tender to acquire a new access control system, which would establish greater control over who entered the entity, as well as the times of entry and exit of personnel. The solution chosen was the BioClass 500 reader of HID Global and its installation by the Argentine company Longoni Electrónica SRL, Digicard, with more than 30 years of experience in the field.
Challenges
The Superintendency of Insurance had an access control system that was used to manage the entry and exit of the entity's personnel, as well as its visitors. However, the system presented "constant maintenance problems and software defects that made it difficult to monitor and control schedules," explained Guillermo Caputo, deputy manager of Technology and Information of the Superintendence, who stressed that for several years, "the system was inactive", so it was not possible to accurately track the entry of personnel or their entry or exit times.
On the other hand, the entity has multiple headquarters in Argentina, such as the headquarters in Buenos Aires, the Belgrano headquarters, two sub-headquarters on Calle Alsina and Chacabuco, in addition to seven other sub-headquarters in the interior of the country, located in Santa Fe, Córdoba, Mendoza, Tucumán, Chaco, Río Negro and Catamarca, all of them requiring the implementation of the access control system.
Solutions
The project lasted six months, during which 50 HID Global BioClass 500 biometric readers were installed in the different headquarters of the Superintendence by Digicard, the winning company of the tender. "For the project, turnstiles were used in the entrances to the main buildings with integrated BioClass readers, as well as in strategic locations on several floors and in the different offices of the agency," explained Enrique Zúñiga, commercial manager of Digicard.
"In the SSN they required a double control of the proximity card plus the fingerprint, in addition to the need to optimize reading times," says Zúñiga, who explained that the solution is also integrated with the Digicard Access Control software, which manages who can enter certain areas, the Digicard Time and Attendance software, that records the attendance of SSN personnel and the time they remain within the entity and the Visitation System, which controls the entry of people outside the Superintendence.
Zúñiga also stressed that the installation did not present inconveniences and took place in phases, starting in the main building, where the turnstiles and wiring were renovated, and then extended to the rest of the venues.
Results
For Guillermo Caputo, the installation of the solution led to a "substantial" improvement in the access control of personnel and the hours worked, and said that those responsible for the use of the system "have found their expectations satisfied."
For his part, Enrique Zúñiga indicated that with the HID solution the client was guaranteed unlimited scalability with the biometric technology of the readers, because "the fingerprint is not stored on the computer but on the 32-bit proximity card". He also highlighted that the number of unregistered employees and cases in which employees lent their access cards decreased.
Finally, Caputo stressed that the investment made with this equipment is resulting in the fulfillment of the needs of the SSN, being reflected in the cost-benefit ratio, which "is of utmost importance, given that these are public resources, so the administration of them is a primary parameter."
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