A look at ID Card Software

ID cards are everywhere these days, in numerous shapes and forms. One of the biggest forms of ID cards are driving licenceses. Whilst they all vary around the world, they’re similar in that they have your name, address and photo on them. Similarly, ID cards can take the form of membership cards, and also loyalty rewards programs (which of course you’d want your photo on since no one else can take your had earned rewards). Regardless of their use, you want to make sure that your ID card contains all the useful information that’s needed for its desired purpose.

Presuming your making your own cards, and you’re looking for ID card software, loyalty card or membership software. Regardless of which one you’ll be making, it’s best to choose a program that encompasses enough key features as possible to make your card creation as faultless and yet productive as possible.

The most crucial part of the card is your photo. Due to this, it’s best that your ID card software contains web camera functionality. The reason behind this is that it will allow you to get the most up to date photo of the individual at the time of card creation, rather than them brining in an older photo. Also, by using a camera built into your computer rather than a digital camera, it’ll allow you to make the card much faster since you don’t need to transfer the photo from a digital camera, over to your PC and then import it into the software. If you have a high throughput of new people getting cards (or even renewing their cards), then this is a great time saver. Costco employs this exact method since it is the most efficient way to make new cards.

Many ID cards are now offering a second level of security by employing the use of barcodes on a small segment of the card. By having this feature available in your chosen choice of software, it’ll add greater functionality to the card.

Of course, you’ll also want the option to fully customise the card to your specific requirements. Whilst you can get by on a single template form of card for your needs, supposing you have a business where different workers need different security levels which can be simply defined by looking at their badge (without the need to check swipe the card to download it’s information). This could involve colour coding the cards based on the areas that an individual is allowed into in the building. A key example of this is the DVLA licenses in the UK, whereby a provisional license holder will only get a green card, whereas when you pass your test you’ll have this replaced with a pink one.

Linked to the customisation of the cards appearance, it’s also crucial that your ID card software allows you to change any records that you have for an individual without having to start from scratch again. It may be the case that someone on your database has recently changed their address. By simply accessing their file, you can quickly change this on the card, and update the details on it right away by printing off the card again. This is a lot quicker than having to completely re-create a new card.

A new trend for ID cards now is (along with the barcodes mentioned above) is the inclusion of a magnetic strip. This is more commonly used in areas such as hospitals and laboratories whereby you can get access to restricted areas based on your speciality. Whilst you may not already have a need for this feature at the present time, it’s best to choose a program, such as ID Card Workshop, the employs this feature, as well as the other features listed above.

By future proofing yourself in terms of the software, it gives you a comprehensive suite of features that you can use as and when you require them. This is a much better alternative than buying a single product, and then having to upgrade later on down the line. It may be the case that the you can’t migrate data from one to the other and therefore you’d manually need to re-enter all the data when you need a program with more features. However, by using ID Card Workshop, you’re safe in the knowledge that you won’t need to worry about this problem.

You're also guaranteed excellent support for the duration of you owning the software, giving you great peace of mind.