The modern time attendance and workforce management software that you see today is the result of a long transformational journey. In this blog, we delve into the evolution of time attendance software. Having said that, it’s not just about the evolution; it is more about why today’s state-of-the-art time attendance systems are a high-priority and how they can put organizations ahead of the curve.
In today’s evolving workforce structure, time attendance systems have moved from good-to-have to must-have solutions for every organization.
Going back in time
Today, the word ‘hour’ is a critical aspect of the daily operations of businesses. Think about ‘hourly basis,’ ‘hourly work,’ ‘hourly wages,’ and so on. We simply cannot avoid it. However, the word ‘hour’ (Greek: meaning season) did not come into full use until the 17th century.
It was only during the industrial revolution that factories and industries realized the true need of time measurement and workforce monitoring. The logistic movements, the working hours of employees, and the finished goods had to be coordinated. Later, time had to be standardized, and workers were given time-bound shifts. Mechanical clocks and card punching were used, and the first attendance system was established.
By the late 20th century, the advent of electronic systems overtook mechanical systems. In the ’90s, smartcard-based attendance came into existence, which was considered to be advanced for its time. As workforce systems evolved, these systems became insufficient and left a lot to be desired.
Why traditional time attendance systems have become redundant
The traditional time attendance systems like manual, electronic, and even smartcard-based have their own set of shortcomings, which are easy to tamper with, err, and can be deliberately misused. Here are some common frailties with traditional systems that organizations have to deal with.
Buddy punching: When marking their own attendance, employees can cheat by recording attendance for their coworkers using their cards.
Human error: Employees can tamper with attendance records. HR personnel, advertently or inadvertently, may enter false attendance data. Usually, these mistakes go unnoticed.
Time-consumption: HR staff may have to spend a lot of time on time tickets, including updating the scorecard, fixing time input errors, and other issues.
These challenges aside, two pressing issues created the need for more dynamic and improved attendance tracking systems. One, many current time attendance systems in the market do not have extensive features such as leave or absent management, overtime management, shift scheduling, and timesheets all bundled into one. Two, the unprecedented impact the Covid 19 pandemic imposed on the modern workforce.
With the ongoing pandemic, the work from home culture has become the new norm, forcing enterprises to wake up to the new challenges with technology like cloud-based mobile apps, tablet apps, and web applications. With the Covid safety protocols becoming mandatory, organizations are required to deploy more modern and advanced contactless biometric systems with features like facial recognition, palm recognition, mask detection, thermal scanning, and temperature detection.
Winding forward to the present
The revolutionary technology behind modern time attendance systems
Today’s time attendance systems are robust, and highly efficient, yet they are simple to implement and easy to manage. A single time attendance software is much more than a mere attendance tracking tool; it also accommodates other essentials such as workforce management, insights generator, a custom workflow creator, roles-based dashboards, and employee productivity tracker from a time standpoint.
Modern time attendance systems are driven by ingenious technologies like machine learning, deep learning, and artificial intelligence. What seemed a bit of a stretch a few years back is now a reality. On-premise employees use next-generation biometric systems to record their attendance. Field workers use tablets and smartphones to punch in and punch out.
Using modern time attendance systems, organizations can now carry out many complex processes with ease, like labor compliance, custom reporting, geotagging, and geofencing.
As the needs of the organizations and workforce continue to grow, there is nothing that a time attendance service provider cannot provide.
Securtime: Leading the way in time attendance and workforce management
Securtime is a pioneer in the attendance and workforce management space. Its inventive approach, backed by revolutionary technology, is a cut above the rest. Securtime is a powerful plug-n-play platform that allows organizations to track their distributed workforce in real-time and offers biometric devices, Web App, and Mobile apps as components.
Biometric time attendance for on-premise employees
Securtime offers diverse on-premise biometric systems for organizations deploying state-of-art contactless technologies in its fold. With the ongoing pandemic, contactless biometric systems are a widely preferred choice of biometrics to ensure employees at work are safe at all times.
The on-premise biometrics systems include:
- Facial Recognition
- Palm Recognition
- Mask Detection
- Thermal Scanning
- Temperature Detection
Mobile App based time attendance for feet-on-street employees
Securtime’s innovative mobile apps allow employees to mark their attendance from anywhere, through its instant on-cloud facial recognition feature. The apps are equipped with advanced Geofencing and Geotagging capabilities. Geofencing is used to quickly and easily set geographic restrictions, while Geotagging helps confirm the location of the employees.
Web Punch time attendance system for work from home employees
Securtime’s Web Punch tool is a user-friendly, cloud-based web solution designed to help work from home employees clock in and out without relying on mobile/tablet apps or any other on-premise biometric devices.
Shift Management
Enables companies to create various shifts and shift schedules including break-time, grace-time, off-days, and cut offs.
Out-of-box Integration
Another highlight of the platform is its seamless integration capabilities. Organizations can fluidly integrate Securtime time attendance with all ERP, HRMS, payroll, and other existing enterprise infrastructures.
Modern time attendance and workforce management systems, like Securtime, have set the bar high. Cutting through the complexities of attendance and diverse workforce, time attendance systems have become linchpins in optimizing labor and administrative costs, facilitating distributed workforce and fostering discipline across the organization.
Are you looking to empower your distributed workforce with Securtime’s time attendance and workforce management solution? Drop us a line, and our team will get in touch with you..