The Compelling Reason Why You Need Foolproof Credentials

With eight departments and 12 different ways for visitors to request credentials, keeping safety and security a priority can be challenging within itself. The trick, well that’s the double edged sword! You’re probably familiar with what comes next.

Credential boards. Yes, the infamous boards have a purpose, but look like a page from your latest almanac. A field of land mines full of intricacies and 50 different ‘critical’ credential types you MUST remember. Who has time for that? Better yet, who the heck could even remember all of them?

Hate to break it to you, but the current method isn’t working!

Most credentials are designed and created for certain access locations and times, but not for a specific person. This opens up the door for anyone to produce counterfeits. Rather than getting denied, sly guests are unnoticeably getting the white glove treatment.

Here’s another problem with current credentialing systems – too many patrons, not enough room. Capacity tends to be an issue in many cases, resulting in unneeded chaos. But how does your facility track this?

Credentials are printed and clipped to lanyards with no way of knowing who checked in and out, where they did it, and what time they got out of dodge…just under the radar.

Now that we ripped the Band-aid off, let’s talk reality. Here’s an event that proves why facility managers need to employ fail-safe credentials today.

On February 2, Matthew Mills, a 30-year-old independent journalist from Brooklyn, hopped aboard an employee bus at Secaucus Junction on its way to MetLife Stadium for Super Bowl XLVIII. The Super Bowl is calculated to be one of the most secure sporting events in the United States.

With an old credential from a festival he covered around his neck, mills managed to pass security, which is supposed to verify each credential or ticket, and issue security screenings.

“I just said I was running late for work and I had to get in there,” Mills said. “It was that simple.”

Mills said he got through multiple layers of security and after the game was over, he walked in the media tent where he grabbed the microphone and said 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington were “perpetrated by people in our own government.”

With an incident like this, we encourage you to ask yourself this simple but vital question:

Do you have foolproof credentials that can be validated?