FB

You have just recently announced the launch of your next generation work force management terminal -- the Optimus™. What are the new features of this product?

MG

Well if you are comparing to our most popular product, the Cyber Series, which is widely used throughout the industry and has been the standard for time & attendance and workforce management terminals over the last ten years, the Optimus opens up a new world of opportunity for the Human Resource Executive. The amount of memory and processor speed is unheard of in traditional time and attendance and work force management terminals, but more importantly the key features of the Optimus are its' large display screen and programmable soft function keys. These go hand in hand and allow for both employee self-service and complete customization of the terminal.

FB

I had an opportunity to see the unit on your web site. The screen is very large and the total customization aspect is quite unique from past products. What drove that particular need?

MG

Essentially the Optimus is the culmination of 15 years of working closely with our business partners to develop a smarter, more powerful tool for workforce management optimization. ATS is a hardware manufacture and we partner with industry leading software companies who incorporate our terminals into their offerings - it is not our intention to go direct to end-users. Through long-standing, close partnerships with these industry leading workforce management software providers, and tapping into their expertise, we were able to develop and provide the Optimus, a state-of-the-art terminal that manages and simplifies the complexities facing HR and workforce management professionals.

FB

Can you provide examples of what you are referring to specifically? What might a company do now that they couldn't do before?

MG

For instance, you now have the ability for complete customization tailored to your unique workplace reality. The programmable soft-keys (up to a total of 15 keys), allows you to set up a nearly infinite interactive protocol which can be tailored for each employee or each class of employee. As an example, you might have "manager function" as a soft key option, and when pressed a whole new set of options appear that correspond to the soft-function keys. In a sense you are creating unlimited sub-menus: select "manager function" -- eight more functions come up -- hit one of those functions -- another batch comes up. You can really drill down. It is kind of an infinite tree structure of programmable soft keys. At any or multiple points in this drill down you could have an option such as "Display Current Schedule", and upon selection the display could bring up a graphical representation of schedules (by day, week, month, etc...). With customizable soft-keys and a large display screen, the only real limit is the imagination of the end user!

FB

So any particular company could have different functionalities and/or parameters depending on where the units are physically located within their environment?

MG

Yes, in fact, one of the things that the Optimus allows for is complete backwards compatibility to our Cyber Series. Say a building has 10 workforce management terminals and they need those 10 because that is where their locations for clocking in and clocking out are. But say they also have 4 primary break room areas. They might choose to put an Optimus in each of the 4 break rooms. They are completely compatible with the Cyber Series and thus you can create the right mix for your facility. In this scenario the Cyber Series terminals might function as the clock-in and clock-out stations and the Optimus would be designated to handle the more advanced, out-put oriented functions. As the facility dynamics change, the mix can be altered and terminals can be moved and even substituted for one another -- complete interchange ability.

Utilization of the Optimus allows managers to alleviate some of the time burden they have always had as far as ongoing administrative requests. In the past a manager may face constant interruptions as employees ask: "what are my hours to date?; can I swap schedules?; can I find out what my vacation balance is?; can I take next Wednesday off?" These requests can now be facilitated and managed through the Optimus which allows the manager to have all of this information documented for review while not being distracted from his or her daily business responsibilities.

FB

Is there anything else you would like to add in about this new Optimus unit before we move on?

MG

Well one of the things that we are finding to be very interesting is that, as folks are dealing more and more with compliance issues -- such as Sarbanes-Oxley and various state and federal regulation requirements -- is that the Optimus can help businesses manage and simplify some of these requirements. For instance, say a retail outfitter has a site/company-wide bulletin, an important change in benefits or an important policy change. In the past they may have had to circulate that information in hardcopy form, collect each form with an employee's signature that verifies that they have read and accepted it, then file the document away, and retain it as part of the compliance. With the Optimus you could require an employee to come to the station once a shift to collect messages. That important company-wide bulletin can then be displayed on the screen, scrolled through and read, at which time the employee then has the option to select "yes, I have read and understand this". So, now you can manage your various compliance issues electronically without having to have the concerns and burdens of paper and hardcopy documentation.

FB

Last year you also introduced new types of biometrics into some of your products. I think you introduced 2-finger geometry during this past year. Can you let us know what led to that particular move?

MG

Well with 2-finger geometry we are finding that, as biometrics continue to become more ubiquitous and more accepted, not only from an industry standpoint but from an individual citizen/end-user standpoint -- with biometrics now on laptops, cell phones, PDA's, ATM's, and local check out stores -- people are starting to become more used to, and familiar with biometrics. With that familiarity, a desire for alternative biometrics options is created... "What else is out there?"

Alternatively, though the acceptance of fingerprint biometrics has taken off in recent years, there are still some environments where the perception exists that fingerscan biometrics can contribute to Big Brother watching over us -- this is rare, but when it does occur it tends to occur in strong union shops. It is worth mentioning that fingerscan biometrics utilized in ATS terminals cannot be used or manipulated to gain any personal information about the employee. For one thing, there is no stored image; rather the scan is converted to a ~350 byte template that consists of a string of numbers. Additionally, this template never leaves the terminal; it resides in the terminal for verification purposes only and is not transferred to a host system. So, while these privacy concerns are unfounded, the 2-finger geometry is a way to ease those concerns and still be able to derive the benefits and the return on investment from utilising biometrics as part of a workforce management system.

FB

You also expanded some of your sales offices around the world. I think you increased your presence here in the US and also in the UK. Can you elaborate on that for us?

MG

Since we have been in business since 1991 we have steadily grown. As ATS continues to grow we are expanding into new markets around the globe. The best way to succeed in these new markets is to actually have feet on the ground in those locations. Today ATS has 4 domestic locations, an office in the UK (a wholly owned subsidiary called Accu-Tech), as well as full-time sales executives dedicated to Latin America.

FB

Are you seeing good growth in those parts of the world?

MB

Absolutely! One of the things that have driven our industry over the last 15-20 years is the migration from the old-fashioned punch cards or manual hand written time cards to an automated system. This has been a key to industry growth in the United States throughout the last 20 years. Now, at an accelerated rate, companies around the world are quickly picking up on that model - leading to global growth for the industry.

FB

Your products are also being used for other applications beyond time and attendance and physical access -- things like that. Can you elaborate on that for us?

MB

One of the things about the new Optimus that has really drawn attention to it in different industry circles is the fact that the Optimus really is addressing not only workforce management and time & attendance, which is what people associate Accu-Time with, the Optimus now incorporates the functionality to really bring the corporate round table together. What I mean by that is where before time & attendance terminals really spoke primarily to the HR manager; now, with the increased functionality which can actually control access to sensitive areas of the facility, the HR manager, the IT manager, the facilities and security managers have a shared interested in the Optimus. Instead of having 3 redundant systems, the Optimus provides a single hardware solution that can address the concerns of each of those disciplines.

FB

That's a fantastic solution. Companies must just love the cost savings associated with that!

MG

It has been extremely well received. It is no secret that "convergence" is one of the important concepts of the last few years, and that is really driven by the need for strategic thinking across all disciplines of a business. In years past, the focus was on localized areas for optimization -- such as supply chain, inventory, production, and the like. Now smart, proactive, and strategic businesses are looking to see where else they can best maximize and optimize their operation. This critical analysis has lead to the concept of convergence applied to coordination of workforce management, security management and data management and the ability to manage these critical areas all on one platform.

FB

Well thank you very much, Mike, for describing the new Optimus. It looks like a fantastic unit and we wish you all the best with it in the year ahead.

MG

You are very welcome. Let me also congratulate you on the good work you do at findBIOMETRICS.com, which has become a reliable source of great information for my colleagues and I.

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