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An identification card is an invaluable business tool that enhances the functionality and security of your company. Before implementing an ID card system, you need to decide what type of identification cards are right for your business. Here are the steps that you need to take in this process:

1. Learn what types of ID cards are available

If you don’t understand the various types of ID cards that are available to you, then you won’t be able to determine what the best fit is for your company. Here is a list of the most commonly used types of ID cards, and what you need to know about each:

Proxy ID Cards

Proxy ID cards are able to communicate with other devices without touching them. The applications for this are wide reaching. For example, a proxy card could be used to give authorized personnel access to entryways without forcing them to stop and unlock a door manually.

PVC ID Cards

A PVC ID card is composed of a plastic known as poly-vinyl chloride (that’s where the name PVC comes from). Due to the strength and durability of a PVC card, this is the most common type of ID card used. It is such a popular card solution that its applications expand beyond ID cards — most debit and credit cards are PVC cards.

ID Cards with Lamination Pouches

You want your ID cards to last. If your company’s ID cards are constantly exposed, then they should be protected from the wear that will occur as a result. Using ID card lamination pouches is a great choice. They could, for example, enclose ID cards that hang from lanyards without interfering with the ID card’s functionality.

ID Cards with Protective Overlays

Protective overlays such as holograms add a layer of protection to your ID cards and enhance their security capabilities. This is due to the fact that one cannot simply steal an identification card with a protective overlay and make changes to it. Any attempt to alter the ID card would damage the overlay and render the card useless.

2. Consider your company’s needs

Your company’s specific needs determine what type of ID card will work best for you. If, for example, you are only using an identification card system to make your sales team more readily identifiable to a customer at your retail store, then there is no need to use proxy ID cards. However, if you also plan on using the ID card system as a tool to streamline clocking in and out, then proxy ID cards should be used.

3. Make sure that your ID card system can accommodate your needs

You must make sure that your ID card system can produce cards with all of the features you need. For example, proximity card capabilities is a feature that you may have to add to your custom system while you buy it.

What type of ID card works for your business?

Make sure that you carefully consider all ID card features, your company’s needs and your production capabilities when choosing which type of ID card will work best for your organization. Contact the experts at Avon Security for more information, or browse our selection of identification cards.

The most important factor to consider when taking pictures for photo IDs is consistency. You want to have everything set up before you take the first picture and you want each picture you take to be the same. Having a uniform look is just one of the essential parts of your security procedure to ensure your IDs are not being duplicated. These tips will help you take pictures the right way – consistently. 

Pick a quality setting for your camera and stick with it

Most modern cameras have many quality settings and you’ll need to decide which one is right for your photo ID pictures. Remember that the higher the resolution is the better the picture will be. Just be sure to use the same setting on all photos.

If your company or organization does not already have a camera and is looking to buy one specifically for the purpose of taking photo ID pictures, then you may want to consider investing in a specialty camera. Usually called either credential cams or image cams, these cameras are pre-set and optimized for exactly the purpose you need them for.

Make sure your pixels are consistent

The picture you take should have a minimum of 300 dpi. What does that mean? Essentially it means around 400 pixels by 400 pixels. While this is the absolute minimum we recommend, note that the most common default resolution on most cameras is 640 pixels by 480 pixels. For most companies this is a good option. 

Find the right backdrops

You want your photo ID pictures to look professional. Choose backdrops with professionalism in mind. Buying a professional backdrop will ensure not just uniformity but a truly professional look. Simply hanging a curtain on the wall won’t do the trick, because curtains are light, can wrinkle easily, and can move with the wind. Backdrops are made from thick, durable material that will stay put and add to the professionalism of your photo shoot.

Don’t forget your tripod

In order for pictures to be as clear as possible you should always use a tripod for your camera. This ensures that it’s completely still. If possible, keep the camera on the tripod and don’t move it at all until you’ve taken all the pictures. This ensures that photo ID picture after photo ID picture will be taken with the exact same angles, height, etc.

Your final step: excellent photo ID software

Taking the pictures consistently is important, and focusing on professionalism is essential, but the final step is to use the right software. Once again, these programs can make sure every picture is consistent, they can add extra security measures, and they can work in tandem with your printing system.

The Canadian government has gone to great lengths to help you with identity theft protection. The security measures that they provide begin with their ID cards. Here are some ways in which government ID card identity theft protection capabilities protect us every day:

Passports

The new generation of Canadian passports was released in 2013 with a great deal of fanfare — and with good reason. We absolutely love the bevy of features that these ID cards come with. These security features are so high-tech, in fact, that the Canadian government also upgraded the passport’s name to the ePassport.

Smart chip technology

Instead of important personal information easily being a counterfeited page, it is also stored on an encrypted chip. This redundancy makes everything much more difficult to copy.

Data skimming prevention

One of the most popular ways to steal personal information is by way of data skimming, wherein a thief uses a scanning device to steal the data contained within the waves that modern ID cards emit. ePassports prevent this by requiring someone to input the physical information on page 2 of the passport in order to access the information on the chip. As an added measure, the scan range is also shortened to 10 centimetres.

UV image authenticity verification

Modern Canadian passports include a photo that glows with a specific array of colours and added images when held under a UV light. This prevents use of a fake passport, no matter how good the thief holding it is at stealing information. 

Ontario personal ID cards

Visual patterns

Ontario personal ID cards aren’t arbitrarily pretty. The holograms and images are all identity theft protection measures. When security personnel are given an ID card that doesn’t have the correct array of visual features, they immediately know that it is fake. The holographic overlay also makes altering the image or other information on the ID card virtually impossible.

Micro text

It is very difficult to precisely print on the edge of any document, let alone an ID card, without a capable ID card printer. The Canadian government knows this; that is why all ID cards come with a micro text border of the stylized trillium of the Ontario logos on the left side of the card.

UV image authenticity verification

The modern ID card is another government ID card in which unique images can only be viewed under a UV light.

*all government ID cards include additional security features that the government has not yet revealed

Can a non-government organization create ID cards as secure as those the government produces?

Yes. The government is not the only organization that uses the security features listed above. We regularly help businesses, schools, libraries, etc. to create ID cards with the security features they need to protect employees, public members, assets and facilities. All you need to do is invest in the right ID card materials and printers.

With these tools, you could easily print detailed information on both sides of an ID card, while also embedding an encrypted smart chip. Also, the size of your organization will never be a problem, because we provide ID card printers that can print thousands of highly secure ID cards in a single day.

Join the Canadian government’s fight against identity theft

By protecting your own ID cards from fraudulent copying or alteration, you are by extension protecting the identities of yourself, your students/employees and your organization itself. To learn more about how to produce secure ID cards that match the capabilities of government ID cards, contact our team today.

With ID cards, you can protect every corner of your business’ facilities. Maximizing the effectiveness of your company’s ID cards requires you to choose the right security features. But which ID card security features are best for your organization? To help you decide, we will show you everything that you need to know beforehand.

ID card design

Colour vs black and white

Although it may seem like an aesthetic choice at first, deciding between colour and black and white is actually one of the most important ID card decisions that you will make. Colour makes it much easier to quickly identify the details of an ID card. You can also use colour coding to distinguish between different groups of people. Our favourite ways to use colour coded ID cards are to identify visitors and to manage security clearance levels.

Single sided versus double sided

Trying to squeeze a large amount of data onto one side of an ID card can make it difficult to read; this nullifies its primary purpose. For organizations that plan on including more than a name and job title on an ID card, we always recommend going with double-sided ID cards.

Photo ID cards vs text only ID cards

The best way to ensure that someone holding an ID card is who they say that they are is to add a photo to the card. With this, your security team can verify people with a quick glance — this is especially important for large organizations wherein everyone isn’t familiar with one another. Using a photo ID card also has customer service benefits, as a smiling photograph can make a customer service representative seem much friendlier. 

ID card technology

Visual security only

Visual ID card security is the most limited technology that you can choose. Although it can be helpful, it relies solely on the flawed limitations of human perception. This could lead to someone accessing assets and areas that are highly restricted. However, visual ID card security does allow your security team to recognize where someone should and should not be. It is for these reasons that we always recommend using visual security for a card, but only in conjunction with other security technologies. 

Magnetic stripe security

This has been a powerful ID card security technology for decades. With this, access points can be protected without having to station security everywhere. It is also easy to revoke access to an ID card secured by magnetic stripe technology — as opposed to a key, which would require changing locks and redistributing keys to everyone with authorized access. One of our favourite capabilities of magnetic stripe technology is the ability to encode unique account data. This means that someone can see an employee’s full profile with a single swipe.

RFID security

RFID technology can do everything that magnetic stripe technology can to do secure your ID cards. As an added bonus, RFID technology emits short-range radio waves to make reading a card easier. An RFID card is also much more difficult to duplicate, further enhancing security.

Smart chip security

When embedded into your ID cards, smart chips present the same security benefits as RFID and magnetic stripe technology. In addition, a smart chip ID card has a computerized data encryption. Because of this, it is the most secure ID card technology that you can choose.

Which ID card security features are best for your organization?

Now that you have a more complete knowledge of ID card security features, you can make the best choices for your organization’s needs. To learn more about ID card security, feel free to contact us.

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.