International business wins Greater Austin Business Award for badge technology that improves building functionality

Imagine your early morning commute to work.

After swerving in and out of lanes to make it on time, you may pick up breakfast or grab a cup of coffee. When you finally make it to the parking lot (or garage) you tap your badge to park your vehicle and tap it again to enter the building before sitting at your desk.

That soft beep you hear and that nonchalant white badge that hangs from your pocket or purse is called technology. Millions of people utilize it in some sort of form on a daily basis. But for one company, HID Global, they manage more than two billion things connected through their technology, and millions of people (including you) use their technology all over the world.

“Organizations are increasingly seeking to embed trusted identities more deeply into everyday activities to improve the security and area governance within their buildings,” said Stefan Widing, President and CEO of HID Global. “HID Global’s technology helps organizations create smarter environments that produce connected working environments.”

Their recent innovation, HID Location Services, adds a new level of convenience to the mighty all-pervasive work badge. Building managers and occupants are now able to gain insight into location of personnel and access valuable analytics for improved work environments including temperatures and building automation.

“The ease in functionality marks a generational leap in helping organizations large and small create smarter buildings and more connected experiences in the workplace,” said Widing. “It helps organizations meet safety regulations by monitoring room occupancy compliance plus quickly locating employees and visitors during an evacuation, without tapping a badge or manual checklists. In scenarios where an item’s location impacts workforce safety, facility managers can use HID Location Service’s Item Management capabilities to easily deploy alerts by simply establishing policies that monitor incoming vehicles, hazardous materials or dangerous equipment in multiple locations.”

The new product offers cloud-based technology and personnel are provided a smart card that easily installs to AC-powered Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)/Wi-Fi gateways.

HID Global won the Facebook Innovation Award. The accolade, a category of the Greater Austin Business Awards program, recognizes businesses that implement new ideas and approaches for doing business.

The new technology is used in major airports both domestically and abroad, including the Miami International Airport. Waze, a free real-time navigation app uses the technology as a solution for dropped GPS service (also known as tunnel blindness) when traveling through a passageway to improve the arrival time of drivers. HID Location Services is also being piloted by hospitals and industrial businesses seeking a solution to optimize their workforce and buildings by accurately monitoring high-value and assets and the health of crucial equipment.

Recently, HID Global partnered with Miracle Messages for their first coordinated efforts to give back to the community in Austin. The partnership included a volunteer day of service where HID Global staff and Miracle Messages offer homeless individuals the opportunity to reconnect with their long-lost loved ones. The volunteer campaign (#MiracleMessages) plans to reunite one million people by 2021.

For more information on HID Global, visit their website here.

Pictured (left to right): Ellen Wood, Chair of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce; Rob Taylor, CEO of Convey, Inc.; Adam Lyons, President and Chairman of The Zebra; Stefan Widing, Executive Vice President of Global Technologies Business Unit of HID Global; Doug Coors, founder and CEO of NLAND; and Suba Vasudevan, Director of Business Integrity, Policy, Analytics, and Technical Solutions of Facebook.

Photo credit: @HIDGlobal