Cloud-based time and attendance systems have become relatively common globally. The transformation from traditional systems to such new-age solutions occurred for many reasons.
Primarily, it enhanced record keeping by eliminating human error and reducing time spent managing employee working hours. However, the secondary implications of such systems were also beneficial.
For example, cloud-based attendance systems allowed remote workers to mark their attendance from anywhere, which was a drastic improvement compared to RFID or chip cards, which couldn’t fulfill such a requirement.
Cloud-based attendance solutions have also become an effective module for workforce management. With the accuracy of check-in and checkout logs, managers can allocate work more effectively and enhance organizational productivity. Before we delve more into it, let’s gain an understanding of the solution.
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What is a Cloud-based Time and Attendance System?
A cloud-based time and attendance system syncs the clock-in and clock-out records captured digitally onto a web server stored at a remote location.
An alternative to cloud-based attendance systems is a solution that works on a local server, meaning the data is synced on a server located within the office premises or a designated location specified by the organization.
Cloud-based attendance systems allow online storage, which is synced on a remote server. They don’t demand additional hardware expenses, which is one of the main criteria for a local system.
They also remove the need for physical hardware maintenance and offer higher scalability options, which benefits startups and large-scale organizations.
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5 Major Benefits of Cloud-based Attendance Systems
Businesses often require solutions that can systematically transform organizational processes and enhance efficiency. It is one of the critical reasons for the involvement of Time and attendance systems. However, such solutions often provide many other benefits, such as:
1. Seamless Integration with Other Software
Workforce management encompasses more than time tracking. It involves shift scheduling, leave management, payroll integration, compliance, etc. A cloud-based time and attendance system manages these by integrating real-time attendance records with software that demands it.
By doing businesses can easily streamline processes. For example, a cloud based attendance solution integrates with a payroll system.
In that case, the administrators can curate error-free payouts based on the total working hours and eliminate the risk of unnecessary overtime payments or underpaying employees.
2. Heightened Data Security
Cloud based system providers often involve enhanced security measures like encryption, multiple authentication methods, backup, disaster prevention measures, and system upgrades. They also have to follow the compliances laid down by the state and central government, such as HIPAA, GDPR, PCI-DSS, etc.
On the other hand, if an organization uses attendance management software on a local server, it is its responsibility to manage compliance and ensure user data safety. This comes with the added burden of maintaining the systems and continuously upgrading them to meet the new regulations.
So, relying on cloud system providers is a much wiser choice as they will continuously involve themselves in providing enhanced security.
3. Geolocation Tagging
Cloud-based attendance solutions provide remote accessibility to workers. However, with this comes the responsibility of ensuring that the digital identity isn’t being misused or logged from a location wherein the employee isn’t.
With geolocation based attendance system, the employee’s digital access point is mentioned, which provides enhanced safety. Moreover, cloud based attendance solutions can be placed in multiple offices.
Therefore, an employee who continuously travels from one location to another can check in & check out from various locations, and the dashboard will show the access points. Additionally, it helps to ensure that the employees are logging in from their designated places.
4. Leave and Absence Management
A cloud-based time-tracking system helps to manage leaves and absences with digital processes. It doesn’t require emailing the manager about taking a leave. Similarly, it keeps track of employee absences and even helps to raise regularization requests on the system itself.
A cloud-based attendance management solution provides remote accessibility for raising regularization and leave requests, along with on-the-go access for the reporting managers to approve them.
Additionally, the best attendance management solutions often incorporate a dashboard showing a detailed view of the employee’s leaves, absences, overtime, shortage in working hours, etc.
With this information, the HR and managers can directly initiate talks with the employees about their fluctuating attendance patterns.
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5. Easy Employee Onboarding & Offboarding
Unlike traditional punch cards, which require physically initially a card to an employee upon onboarding and then collecting it back during offboarding, cloud-based systems can work with digital identities created using biometrics, login credentials, OTP, etc.
Whenever an employee leaves the organization, the accounts connected to their digital identities can be easily revoked, which reduces the workload of the HR, admin, and finance department heads.
Moreover, it ensures that the identities of the employees who have left the company are no longer active without any delay.
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It also reduces the organization’s cost with error-free full and final payments based on attendance records integrated with the attendance solution. With this, the company also follows compliance and assures that the worker guidelines aren’t violated.
Conclusion
Cloud-based time and attendance systems are transforming business processes and enhancing organizational efficiency in many ways, beginning with ensuring the individual’s real-time presence, offering remote accessibility, and managing accurate attendance records without intervention or supervision.
Moreover, cloud-based attendance system is a much more cost-effective solution than centralized systems that require specialized devices and cards. Such a solution also streamlines easy employee onboarding and offboarding.
Furthermore, administrators can view the employee’s location on the go on a remote dashboard, ensuring their real-time presence at the designated location. Lastly, these and other features safeguard users’ digital identities and enhance organizational security.
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