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We know that your student ID cards are invaluable for your students. They clearly identify who they are, help monitor student accounts and allow students access to certain areas within your school. Because of this, a student ID serves as the most powerful administrative tool that you have at your disposal. In order to maximize the benefits of student ID cards, you must fully understand their benefits and how they can function. Here are five things that you must know about them:

1. There is more than one type of encoding technology you can use to manage the data stored on a student ID card

Student ID cards are no longer simple picture IDs for universities. They can be embedded with any type of encoding technology. You can integrate smart chip, magnetic stripe or RFID technology into your students’ ID cards; by doing so, you can allow your students to make purchases at the school store without a band/credit card and open doors without a doorman present.

2. The quality of the picture on a student ID card matters a great deal

We cannot stress enough the value of investing in high quality student ID card resources. A low-quality student ID card, for example will make it more difficult than necessary to properly identify a student. In order to ensure that there is no confusion, always use the highest quality printing capabilities available to you.

3. A double-sided student ID card is much more effective

A student’s name, the name of your university and the year should not be the only information included on their ID card. You should include as much useful information as possible on the card. For example, your school’s website, contact information for a lost student ID card and a full student ID number should always be included. However, it can be difficult to provide all of this information on a single sided card without making the information therein unreadable. By printing on both sides of your ID cards, you ensure that you can effectively include everything that you need to.

4. Student ID cards can be used to connect students with off-campus businesses

Although much of your students’ lives will be spent on campus, they will still go to other parts of town to purchase necessities. Although your school does not run these businesses, you can still have their purchases go through student accounts. In order to do this, you need to develop a working relationship with local businesses, and then sync the technology within your student ID cards with the local retailer’s POS system.

5. You must make sure that your student ID card printer can keep up with all of your needs

If you have 20,000 students, you should be able to quickly deliver ID cards to all of them. This may seem like a daunting task, but with the right procedures, ID card system and ID card printer, you will be more than capable of getting the job done.

This is just one example — whether you need rapid smart chip encoding, double-sided printing, thousands of ID cards printed per day or anything else, there is an ID printer that can do it, so don’t settle for one that doesn’t do everything you need it to.

Are you ready for the new school year?

As ID card experts, we know firsthand the value of fully understanding how to use ID cards. Student ID cards have a unique set of properties that must be observed if you are going to fully benefit from them. Contact us for ID card options or to place your order. 

Custom wristbands are useful for businesses in industries that serve many customers on a daily basis, including events, theme parks, attractions, concerts, public facilities and more. Depending on the design you choose, your custom wristband can include information such as admission, restrictions, VIP access, brand logo, tag lines or messages, as well as come in different colours such as blue, yellow, red, or others. 

The benefits of wristbands are endless:

• It’s difficult to lose them unlike a ticket. Non-transferable wristbands can only be removed by cutting them off, ensuring that they don’t easily slip off the wrist.

• Colours can be bright and visible. As well different colours can indicate access to different areas at an event, age restrictions, type of admission, etc.

• They can be used for a single or multi-day use

• They include features such as non-expiring or pre-printed expiring wristbands. 

• Great way to promote brand awareness at events.

• They act as a way to control crowds by allowing access to only those who are giving wristbands and keeping out uninvited guests. 

Tourism and Attractions

Venues such as amusement parks, waterparks, campgrounds and stadiums make great use of wristbands. They can print any information on the wristband such as the date, type of admission, photo ID, company name and logo, age, or any other important information. This industry would find it beneficial to print their own wristbands because it’s easy to customize them, as well as the convenience to print a large number of wristbands per day. Parks and recreation facilities use these customizable or pre-designed wristbands as a way to identify children versus adults, as well as a way to make their facility a safe environment at waterparks. As well, non-expiring wristbands come in different colours so you can distinguish between different ages or access at venues, and the only way to remove them from the wrist is to cut off the wristband. 

Events and Celebrations

Temporary expiring wristbands are a great way to provide event access to visitors and guests. You can design custom wristbands to indicate age (legal age vs underage), general admission or VIP access and the date of the event. The best part is that at the end of the day, the wristband changes colour when the event is over indicating that the ticket is no longer valid. This is an important feature if your festival or event operates over several days; you can have different expiring wristbands for each day. 

There are different options you can use regardless of the industry you’re in. Contact Avon Security for more options on different types of wristbands, and how you can order or print your own hassle-free. 

Being able to control your organization’s facilities is critical for you to be able to protect your assets. That being said, you will need more than just locked doors to make sure that the right people access the right areas. One tool that you need to start using as soon as possible is a photo ID badge system. The following unique capabilities of photo ID badges are the reasons why this is so.

Security will be enhanced

This is the most obvious advantage of using employee photo ID badges. You do not want unauthorized personnel wandering around your facilities; with the proper ID badges, your security team can easily verify authorization for access to certain areas before they even have a chance to step through your doors.

It will be easier to keep track of your employees

Being able to keep track of when your employees access your facilities is critical for monitoring who is entering and exiting the building. Photo ID badges are customized to uniquely identify each individual employee, so you will know who made each authorized access. It will also make it easier to find out where your employees are in larger facilities. This is an especially important benefit for you to have for your hourly employees, whose pay is affected by when they arrive and leave.

Modern photo ID badges can be integrated with the latest access control technology

Properly managing access points is critical for the security and efficiency of your business. Automated access control is an outstanding way to protect certain areas of your business without getting in the way of productivity. There are many powerful access control technologies (smart chips, RFID, etc.); photo ID badges can be embedded with these technologies. Being able to verify ownership with a photo ID ensures that the right people are using the access control resources in their possession.

Photo ID badges can be colour coded

A photo ID can make it easy to identify employees in ways other than including someone’s picture. They can also be coloured based on clearance level in order to further streamline the identification process. If you have extremely sensitive areas that demand restricted access, then this is an absolutely invaluable capability to have.

A photo ID badge solution will work well for a company of any size

It is a common mistake to believe that photo ID badges are only useful for extremely large companies. However, there are photo ID badge solutions for companies of every size – you can even produce them yourself on site.

Modern photo ID badges are not easily duplicated

Not long ago, a company’s photo ID badge could be duplicated by anybody with a standard inkjet printer. However, photo ID badge technology has evolved a great deal in recent years; because of this, copies of your company’s ID badges cannot arbitrarily be made.

A photo ID badge can make it easier to connect with your customers

Making your customers feel welcome from the moment they walk through the door is critical — it determines whether or not they will come back, or even buy your products at all. When your customer service representatives/sales team wears a photo ID badge with their smiling face and name on it, a customer will immediately feel more comfortable.

Are you using the best tools available to you to enhance your business?

Your company’s success depends upon your ability to maximize security, operational efficiency and customer service. By investing in a set of photo ID badges for your employees to don, you can do just that.

Official or valid identification cards are approved by the Ontario government and can be used during elections, receiving health services, shopping or visiting facilities with age requirements, or even to be employed in certain industries such as restaurants.

Here are some examples of different types of Ontario identification cards you can have. Since these are secured ID cards and difficult to counterfeit, they provide a great basis to design your business’s ID cards.

Driver’s License or Enhanced License

A first-time license for a driver in Ontario is a blue, plastic card that has your name, photo, date of birth, address and signature. It’s considered a class “G” card. In addition to this type, there are 14 other kinds that include a senior license for those who are over the age of 80, a bus driver’s license and several other enhanced driver’s license options. People 16 or older are the only ones who can apply for a license.

Ontario Photo ID Card

An Ontario identification card is a photo identification card that looks similar to a driver’s license, but it doesn’t give a person the privilege to drive. This card is for those who can’t get a driver’s license. You must be 16 years or older to get a photo ID card.

Passport

Whether you have a Canadian or foreign passport, either one counts as a form of identification. The passport has your picture and gives you the right to travel to other countries, but is also an authentic way to identify you given the information provided in a passport such as full name, date of birth, citizenship and more. You can apply by going to the Canadian government website. People who are under the age of 16 may apply for this.

Health Card

A health card gives people access to health care in Ontario. It is issued by the province the person resides in. It has a bar code if it was issued after 2010 and the card holder’s full name and birth date. It will also have an updated photo on the front of the card, which is a requirement of valid Ontario identification card.

Military Card

A military card shows that a person is or was involved in the Canadian military. It has a person’s picture on it along with the person’s service number, military ID number or social insurance number.

Contact Avon Security at 1-866-458-6999 for more information or to order ID cards systems and printers. We provide several card options to fit your needs, as well as printers so you can print professional IDs anytime.

For our customers, managing security by simply putting turnkey locks at every door and plugging in a few security cameras simply is not good enough. They need more advanced security capabilities than this. One such technology is proximity card technology, which significantly enhances the ability to secure a room, building or entire compound.

Here are the reasons why we always recommend that our customers who are seeking to maximize their security capabilities use proximity cards:

What is a proximity card?

A proximity card has an embedded metal coil antenna that constantly emits a low frequency signal (usually 125 kHz credentials). They are used by holding or swiping them near an electronic reader that reads all of the embedded information. Proximity cards are most commonly used to open secured doors and/or display the intended cardholder’s information to security personnel.

What are the benefits of proximity cards over the alternative?

Although proximity card technology is great, there are several other ID card technologies that can help an organization to secure their doors. Our customers often wonder why they should choose proximity cards over the alternative.

They can be scanned at range

One of the biggest problems with securing a facility is the hindrance that comes with it. Additional security can often add enough extra steps to an employee’s daily routine to reduce their overall productivity. As such, security solutions that stay out of the way are very sought after by our clients. When it comes to this, a proximity card is one of the best possible security solutions, because it can be scanned by an effortless pass. This significantly reduces the number of steps and wait times normally involved with accessing secured areas. In fact, as an employee becomes more comfortable using a proximity card, it will become an effortless gesture that doesn’t even get noticed.

They can be integrated with other ID card technologies

Proximity card technology has the rare ability to integrate itself with other security ID card technologies, such as smart cards. This significantly enhances our customers’ ability to develop a security ID card system that is sufficiently versatile, secure and customized to need an organization’s unique needs.

Proximity cards are extremely difficult to duplicate

A proximity card can only be made by a unique machine specifically designed to create it, making it very hard to counterfeit.

Proximity card technology isn’t obvious

A huge part of complete and effective security is discretion. If an intruder knows what security technologies are being used, then they already have an advantage that they shouldn’t. Proximity card technology can be invisibly embedded into an ID card, so thieves cannot identify the security technology being used with only a sly glance.

Do any of the capabilities of proximity card technology compromise ID card security?

No. Although a proximity card is constantly emitting a low-frequency signal, it is actually one of the most secure forms of ID card technology. As we mentioned earlier, proximity cards can be encrypted so that even an advanced computer hacker would be hard pressed to copy the signal, let alone decode it. To put this into perspective, a magnetic stripe card, which emits no signal, is easier to copy than a proximity card.

The combination of efficiency and security provided by proximity cards make them excellent choices for our customers

Every member of our team at Avon Security Products takes our customers’ security seriously. To that end, we always recommend exploring the possibility of proximity cards to secure their facilities. For help implementing the best ID card system to secure your company’s facilities, feel free to contact us.

It’s as important as ever for schools, businesses and other facilities to maintain effective, efficient security. Fortunately modern technology offers a multitude of solutions for hassle-free use. When you need to keep track of who is allowed access to your facility, control where they go and when and keep unwanted guests away. Avon Security Products offers modern visitor pass solutions ready to provide exactly what you need.

Learn about the challenges you face, the options you have and how to select the absolute perfect fit for all your location security needs.

Considerations

There are three major factors to balance against one another when considering visitor pass solutions:

• Security: How effective the system is and the level of security you need.

• Convenience

• Compliance: Even the best security systems sometimes suffer with user compliance. It’s important that guests use the passes, return badges to the front desk, as well as disallowing employees any exceptions to the rules. Security should be weighed carefully by making sure visitors comply with your security measures.

Options

There are several options available when deciding on visitor pass solutions, including specifics about the way you create passes, how you manage them and their actual physical properties. These different factors all impact security and convenience in different ways:

• Technology. How high-tech you wish to take your visitor pass solutions and which specific technologies you’re wanting to utilize are both crucial aspects to consider. Options such as proximity cards, tracking-chip enabled cards and other high-tech security solutions require specialized software, installations and printing systems, but offer immense benefits to use and offers security.

• Production. How quick and easy should production be? If you plan to use a system that allows reuse of cards, investing more time is easy, but if you want to print out new IDs for visitors as they come, you need a printing solutions that’s fast and simple.

Making a Choice

Largely, your decision-making process will build upon the people you expect to be visitor passes.

• How secure does your facility need to be?

• What type of visitors are you expecting and how frequently?

• Does your staff adapt quickly and easily to new security measures, or seek to circumvent them?

• Do people move through areas of varying security throughout the day, necessitating more precise visitor pass solutions?

• Do you have staff at hand that can manage more technically advanced solutions and keep the necessary systems maintained?

Instead of thinking of the features of your visitor pass solutions, consider carefully how they will be implemented and utilized. The ideal system only works under the best circumstances; otherwise, it’s important to get ahead of usage errors and problem scenarios by choosing a printing option. Reusing generic visitor passes or utilizing a check-in book fails not because the system is unsound, but because visitors won’t use them correctly for use them at all.

Check out our visitor and ID card system products that best suits your industry.

Before our customers can start using ID cards to secure their facilities, they need to invest in an ID card printer in order to create the ID cards in the first place. Choosing the right ID card printer is not as simple a decision as deciding between black and white and colour printing capabilities. There are multiple factors that need to be considered.

Here are the five things that we encourage all of our customers to look for in an ID card printer:

The type of ID card technology our customers will be using

If you plan on using magnetic stripe ID cards, then you shouldn’t buy a printer that can only print EMV cards — and vice versa. This is the most important factor to consider when choosing an ID card printer.

How many sides it prints on

The information that you require to be printed on your organization’s cards can vary and you may require information to be printed on more than one side; in this case, you will need a double-sided ID card printer. If, on the other hand, you know that you will only require ID card printing on a single side of each card, it’s better to invest in a single-sided ID card printer.

How many ID cards our customers will need

You probably plan on printing more than one ID card for your organization, but just how many will you need produced at one time? This is an important factor to consider, because printing volume capabilities of ID card printers varies drastically (some can only print less than a hundred cards per day, whereas others can print up to five hundred cards per day). Keep this in mind and do not skimp out on cost if your ID card printing needs are large.

How durable our customers’ ID cards will be

When you are printing ID cards for full-time students or employees, then you need the cards to remain durable so you do not end up paying an exorbitant amount for ID card replacements. To this end, you need a printer that can laminate your cards for extra protection. If you only need ID card printers for temporary ID cards, on the other hand, then card longevity isn’t really an issue, so lamination isn’t a necessity for your next printer.

The aesthetic quality of the card prints

This is where a company should start deciding whether they want black and white or full colour ID cards. For our customers, this particular concern is never a factor, because all of the card printers that we offer print in full colour and black and white. In addition to the colour, you must also consider the print method, which also affects the aesthetic quality of the cards. The two options to choose from here are direct-to-card (DTC) and reverse transfer (re-transfer).

DTC ID card printers will leave a white border at the edges of the card, instead of printing on the whole thing. In exchange for this lower image quality, it includes a simpler printing process.

Re-transfer ID card printing prints on the entire card, creating a higher quality image. It involves two steps, taking a little bit longer than DTC.

Allow us to help you choose the right ID card printer for your organization’s needs

Regardless of whether you need a set of ID cards printed for students, visitors or employees, our team at Avon Security Products can provide the perfect ID card printer for your needs. Contact us to get the printing process started.

Creating brand awareness is something at the top of every company’s objectives. You need to make sure that people know what you do and make sure that your name and logo are the first things that come to customers’ minds when it’s time to make a purchase. This is where custom lanyards can make a big impact on a very small piece of promotional real estate.

Here is a preview about how our products can mean big things for your own business:

• Corporate Environments:  If your business is protected by electronic locks or your employees are required to show their badges to access certain areas of your facility, you’ll enjoy our selection of badge accessories that are perfectly made for the corporate environment. Created with the idea of convenience in mind, badge reels and breakaway custom lanyards are ideal for employees who would otherwise become frustrated from the constant fumbling around that could take place. Badge reels are a common favourite among many of our clients because they allow employees to seamlessly move from one location to another without needing to dig for that piece of plastic. Similarly, our lanyards are designed to maintain accessibility throughout the day, especially if they are displayed around employees’ necks. Each of these items free your employees’ hands and improves ease of entry throughout your building.

Keep in mind, that no badge reel design is created equally. Our assortment is diverse enough to suit any staff member’s needs. Many people like the traditional belt clip because it simply slips over the existing belt loops found on slacks and jeans. But what happens if you work in an environment where belt loops aren’t common? Badge reels with clips are perfect for people who wear scrubs and other outfits that don’t come with belt clips. Custom lanyards, of course, are another great alternative because they go perfectly with any outfit!

• Events:  Big events and conferences may require badges and tags that need to be on your employees throughout the duration of the show. Our custom lanyards not only make it easy for your staff to keep essential items on hand and easily transportable, but they offer your company the opportunity to be seen by potential customers. After all, attendees of big events are generally interested in the same products, services and industries. Having our custom lanyards displayed where hundreds of other professionals from your area of expertise will be an excellent way to generate brand awareness. 

Custom lanyards make great promo giveaways at events, too. Not only will your own staff benefit from having them on hand, but every other attendee will need a convenient place to store his or her badge and personal information, too. We can help you design lanyards that advertise your company alone or are targeted to specific conferences and events.

• Security: What happens when an employee accidentally misplaces his or her badge? If your company’s badges are floating around in the hands of those who shouldn’t have them, your business is being put at a significant risk. Each employee and piece of information housed in your facilities becomes vulnerable when badges are lost.

When it comes to security, custom lanyards serve a dual purpose. To begin with, they help prevent badges and personal information from being misplaced. They can also contain your company’s information, giving them the potential to be returned.

At Avon Security Products, we’re proud to offer a huge assortment of custom lanyards and accessories. Shop our selection today!

With an increased focus on security for businesses and schools, photo identification cards have become one of the premier solutions. These cards allow screeners at entrances to quickly determine whether the individual has credentials to enter the facility. Photo identification cards are a vital component of safe school environments or office buildings regardless of the industry. In a matter of fact, it’s extremely common for hospitals, schools and businesses to use photo identification. These simple and inexpensive tools offer a wide array of security benefits and versatility.

Basic Identification

One of the top ways photo identification cards bolster security is basic identification. In any case, there are several students at your school or employees at your business. As a result, it can be difficult to know each person by their name. When they wear photo identification cards, you get to know the individual’s name and other details printed on the card. Employees that feel recognized by management and others within the organization will feel a sense of belonging, which will bolster morale.

Access Control

In any case, everyone within the organization may not need access to all rooms. When you use photo identification cards, you increase the security of your business with access control. Whether it is a complex access control computer system or a security guard, photo identification cards allow you to make sure you protect restricted areas. To use it with a computer based access control system, simply encode the cards with the correct barcode to give the employee access to the room.

Accountability

When you use photo identification cards equipped with barcodes, you can keep track of where your employees are. In the event there is a security breach or an event, you can check the log to see who was in the facility at the time of the incident.

Manage Time

Another benefit of photo employee identification cards is they can be designed and used as a way of clocking in and out for payroll uses. When you use a magnetic stripe coding, smart card coding, or barcodes on the back of the card, employees can simply scan their card when they arrive and leave work. As a result, you will reduce the necessary paperwork required for clocking in and out, increase the accuracy of payroll reporting, while eventually reducing costs.

Easy to Create and Design

In addition to an image of the employee or student, you can quickly implement several design elements into the photo identification card. Whether it’s a logo or any other image, you can implement this design with your photo identification card.

Implementing a photo identification card system offers the business several benefits. When your business produces these cards with an in house identification card printer system, you can completely control the production, distribution and use throughout your organization. Regardless of the industry, custom identification cards offer several security and benefits for the business.

With Avon’s identification card systems, your business will be equipped with everything necessary for designing and implementing an effective photo identification card program. The identification card systems come with a professional card printer, ID software and all of the printing supplies you need to get started. For more information about photo identification cards can bolster the security at your school or business, contact Avon Security Products today.

Today, ID card systems are more versatile than ever, offering businesses, hospitals, schools, government facilities and more a wide array of options. With a photo ID card system in place, the possibilities are only limited by your creative thinking and ingenuity.

ID Card System for Business

Today, businesses must exist in an environment filled with ever changing demands. An identification card system helps businesses stay relevant with technology. Not only do these systems help businesses identify employees, it also provides an efficient and highly accurate way to track time. ID card systems are also ideal for allowing or denying access to secure areas and provide protection against unauthorized ID card reproduction. Best of all, plastic cards last exponentially longer than older laminated paper cards. You can add signature panels, holographic overlays, and even ghost photos as an added layer of security.

Secure Schools

If your school budget is limited, it doesn’t mean you can’t have an effective photo identification card system in place. In a matter of fact, having a high volume in-house system can save the school a significant amount of money down the road. Whether it’s producing student ID cards, smart student cards, or student ID cards for library use, you can combine all of the campus uses into one card. For example, you can use your ID card system for faculty to monitor personal photocopying, computer lab printing, and more. When your school has unscheduled visitors, you can quickly produce an ID card, so you will always know who is walking the halls.

Stay in Compliance

Several industries are mandated by the government and have certain security measures in place. Whether it’s for access or identification, an ID card system meets the needs. For example, HSPD-12 requires all government agency employees to have a smart card. On the other hand, the HITECH Act has its own set of security measures to protect medical records from breaches and nefarious individuals. With an ID card system, you can make sure your facility is in full compliance. Based on the needs of the organization and the mandates you must follow, an ID card system is the ideal solution.

Customer Loyalty Programs

With a single ID card system, you can start and manage your very own customer loyalty program. In addition, you can store each customer’s purchases and spending activity to hyper focus your marketing efforts. Best of all, customers who carry your card are acting as a constant advertisement for your business. Instead of producing handwritten gift cards, you can use a card identification system printed with a magnetic strip to track who issued the card, when it was issued, and its value.

Healthcare Industry

In the healthcare industry, convenient access and security are paramount. Patients and their families require peace-of-mind from the time they check-in until they check out. An identification card system provides this secure and hassle-free environment. Internally, you can use the card system to identify each employee and their title, so you can manage their access to medical documents, which will ensure federal compliance.

An ID card system offer several other benefits outside of the standard identification. Instead you can use it for time tracking, customer rewards, building access and much more. For more information on the many benefits of an ID card system, contact Avon Security Products today.