ACCESS
CONTROL
By Jeremy Earles
Mobile Changes Everything
Your customers will soon want to use their
smartphones as ID badges
D
According to a
recent study,
two-thirds of
students are
interested in
using their
phone in place
of an ID card.
34
on't think mobile is changing the
world? Consider that 5.9 billion of us —
that is 87 percent of the entire world's
population — are mobile subscribers for one
type of device or another, with many of us
using two or more. One visit to an airport
and a glance at all the folks working their
wireless computers, smartphones, iPads and
Kindles will tell you that mobile computing is
an imperative today.
According to Morgan Stanley, 91 percent
of all mobile users keep their phone within
arm's length day and night. The under-30
crowd is even more tech savvy — according
to a recent independent research study by
Allegion, nearly half of all students identify
their cellphones as their favorite personal
electronic device. Nearly half of all students
are using cellphone apps to perform their
jobs and studies. Many of these campus apps
can help with managing class work, checking
grades, communicating with professors and
receiving notifications and alerts. They are
also using apps for the bookstore, bus schedule, maps and townie discounts.
The study also revealed that when it
comes to credentials, two-thirds of students
are interested in using their phone in place
of an ID card. Why? They feel that they
are less likely to lose their phone than an
ID card, plus they know that ID cards are
shared; phones are not. People will almost
always notice that their phone is lost faster
than noting a card is missing. A quick call
to the phone service provider and the lost
phone is shut off; meanwhile, a missing card
could be unnoticed and used by another for
some time.
www.SecurityInfoWatch.com | SD&I; | January 2014