Popeye's Franchisee Uses Fingerprint Biometrics to Reduce Employee Fraud
DigitalPersona, Inc., a global provider of authentication and endpoint protection solutions, recently announced Sailormen, Inc., the largest Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits franchise in the U.S., is rolling out U.are.U® Fingerprint Readers to 148 locations throughout Alabama, Illinois, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri. Sailormen, Inc. has found that the deployment of fingerprint biometrics as a part of their point-of-sale (POS) systems, has improved employee accountability, increased sales, and reduced both unauthorized transactions and payroll fraud.
This Popeye's operator uses U.are.U fingerprint readers and point-of-sale software for verification of manager overrides and for employee time and attendance tracking. Prior to the use of fingerprint biometrics, managers at the company's Popeye's locations used swipe cards to authorize overrides and voids, and employees "punched in" using a pass code. By using the biometric readers for time and attendance, employees can no longer punch in for one another, dramatically reducing payroll fraud. In addition, with fingerprint biometrics, employees cannot "borrow" a manager's card for transaction authorizations, thereby increasing the assurance that a manager has approved all overrides and followed the proper business and loss-prevention processes. As a result, the Popeye's locations with fingerprint-equipped POS systems have experienced a decrease in overrides and inventory losses due to fraud.
"The U.are.U Fingerprint Readers from DigitalPersona have provided us with a simple and secure way to reduce our financial losses across all of our stores," said JD Zweydoff, director of POS at Sailormen, Inc. "The impact of the deployment has been significant and immediate. We've seen food costs drop and payroll fraud eliminated."
DigitalPersona's U.are.U Fingerprint Readers easily integrate into a variety of POS systems for secure biometric authentication. Alternative methods of authentication such as smart cards and passwords can be shared among employees, which can lead to fraudulent transactions and buddy punching. In addition, cards and passwords are easily lost, stolen or forgotten, which can be expensive and time-consuming to replace. DigitalPersona's biometric fingerprint solutions improve overall profitability providing a fast return on investment.
"The numbers from the American Payroll Association on time theft are astounding. It can cost businesses up to 5% of gross payroll, amounting to billions of dollars of losses every year," said Jim Fulton, vice president of marketing at DigitalPersona. "Our fingerprint biometrics solution effectively combats attendance fraud, unauthorized voids and overrides, helping restaurants, such as Popeye's, realize a significant ROI within the first 30 days. A growing number of merchants are telling us these savings alone can pay for a whole POS refresh."
SOURCE DigitalPersona, Inc.