The American bank, BNY, is allowing employees worldwide to access their building spaces with an iPhone or Apple Watch. “The whole idea of people navigating around our facilities globally — it just brings a smile to your face,” said Ken Damstrom, Global Head of Corporate Security at BNY. “But it really brings a smile to their face because when they come to work they come with their iPhone they don’t necessarily need to come with their [physical] ID badge and how powerful of a concept is that?”
Getting started
To put things in motion, BNY engaged connected access network provider SwiftConnect and mobile access provider, HID. The products in use included employee badge in Apple Wallet alongside HID’s mobile-enabled Signo readers and the SwiftConnect connected access network.
How it works
Two key components are employee badge in Apple Wallet, paired with HID’s mobile-enabled Signo readers; this gives employees and their guests secure access to corporate spaces using their iPhone or Apple Watch. Users can hold their device near a reader to access doors, turnstiles and elevators. SwiftConnect unifies identity and physical access into one network, connecting systems and spaces. It supports on-demand access via mobile credentials and optimizes existing methods like fobs and cards for access.
“What we learned by partnering with SwiftConnect and HID was employee badge in Apple Wallet was absolutely ready for prime time,” said Ken Damstrom. “We’ve had nothing but confidence in rolling it out in our organization.”
With support from their partners, BNY launched their new mobile access solution at their headquarters in New York City, then expanded to offices in Boston, London and India, and others. They’ll continue until every BNY office is using the technology — at 110 locations in 35 countries.
‘Consistency’
Regardless of which country the technology is in place in, employee badge in Apple Wallet will work the same across BNY’s facilities. That’s important because their employees can enter and move around multiple locations. Also, with Express Mode, employees do not need to unlock their device to use their employee badge in Apple Wallet. Even if the phone needs to be charged, the device can still be used to access spaces with Power Reserve mode. When an employee has an employee badge in Apple Wallet, their data is never shared with Apple or stored on Apple servers. If their iPhone or Apple Watch is misplaced, the owner of the device can use the Find My app to lock the device and help locate it. Employee badges in Apple Wallet are stored on personal devices and take full advantage of the privacy and security built into iPhone and Apple Watch.
“We wanted consistency across our real estate portfolio, so whether you’re in New York, Lake Mary or London, you know how to access the site because you know how to use employee badge in Apple Wallet,” said Dafna Alsheh, Global Head of Workplace Experience and Design at BNY. “One of the things that makes employee badge in Apple Wallet really impactful is that it works the same at work as it does when they’re at the store or on the subway because you don’t have to teach people how to use it. We’ve had people who are like, ‘wow this just works.’ But when they realize they can use their Apple Watch, then they’re like, ‘this is magic.’”
More in this video: https://campaigns.hidglobal.com/bny#video
