The Power Of Great ID Badge Accessories

The value, utility, and security of an ID badge—and the success of your ID card program—is significantly enhanced by the many badge accessories available.

Having the right accessories is a must.

Accessories ensure your ID cards are durable, easily accessible, displayed properly, and not lost. Get the most out of ID cards and badges and maximize their impact and service to your enterprise by ensuring that everyone you issue ID cards to has the right tools to use ID cards effectively and conveniently.

WHAT ARE THE MOST POPULAR VISITOR-BADGE ACCESSORIES?

The most common and useful accessories are lanyards, retractable badge reels, badge holders, and strap clips. Let’s take a quick look at these and other common ID badge accessories:

Lanyards are the most popular and quickest way to display visitor badges. What’s a lanyard? It’s simply a cord or strap worn around the neck, shoulder, or wrist with a clip or hook to carry items like keys or identification cards. They’re typically an over-the-head attachment that presents an ID badge on an individual’s chest. For visitors, they’re the most convenient way to wear/display badges—easy on, easy off. They’re also another way to distinguish visitors from other personnel.

Easy to spot, lanyards also enhance the organization’s image and make a great first impression. Importantly, lanyards can be customized (in a full range of colors) with logos, designs, or other pertinent company- or visitor-related information, further delineating the user and reinforcing brand image. With a huge variety of colors and models, well-selected lanyards promote your company, enhance your brand image, and display your ID badges with style!

Retractable badge reels attach badges to clothing for easy access, and a quick reveal, swipe or pass as needed. A retractable badge reel’s unique ‘pull’ system can be used in tandem with a lanyard or can be worn individually on an individual’s belt or clip on to an article of clothing. The retractable feature works great for technology cards that require individuals to swipe their badge. They’re especially useful for regular or long-term visitors. Available in various styles and colors, badge reels help visitors show or swipe their visitor badges effortlessly and securely.

Badge holders are the go-to accessory to display badges and attach them to clothing or to a lanyard, reel or clip. Made of flexible vinyl, they durably protect regularly used visitor badges, extend card lifespan, and are even suitable to protect proximity cards. Vinyl and rigid ID badge holders are easy to carry and protect your photo ID either inside of a clear vinyl or plastic protective material while still allowing you to display your ID badge or card inside.

These holders are water resistant, protect RFID chips, are designed to work with lanyard and badge-reel clips, and contain prepunched holes for quick attachment. They’re available in a variety of horizontal and vertical configurations, and in multiple colors. Transparent zippered vinyl card carriers allow cards to be legible even without taking the cards from the case, which is both convenient and practical for those who need to IDs on their person at all times during job activities and in environments where cards must be kept safe from the elements.

1. Locking Badge Holders: A locking badge holder is just as it sounds—it’s a badge holder that locks the card inside of the holder so it can’t be easily removed or tampered with. Not only do they increase card durability, the locking mechanism maintains badge authenticity.

Strap clips offer visitors the simplest most inexpensive way to attach their badges directly to their clothing, bag or other carried item. Available in plastic or vinyl, clips are a clothing friendly way to attach your cards to your bag or clothing.

Clips, Pins, Magnets secure your ID cards and badges to anything.

Neckwear and Wristwear are another great way to display badges. Neck chains are a stylish alternative to lanyards while wrist bands simplify card swiping.

Luggage Accessories like luggage tag straps and holders protect your belongings. From plastic to genuine leather, many options are available to secure your assets in style.

CUSTOMIZATION

Personalizing/customizing an organization’s badge accessories helps promote products or services and enhances brand image—and exceed expectations for visual appearance, performance, longevity and affordability. Unique lanyards or badge reels can feature your logo or other company information to promote your company, identify different personnel groups or security clearances, and give your visitors and personnel a sense of community.

Customized lanyards, badge holders and reels are a great way to ensure your company knows any visitor’s status—quickly and easily, even at a distant visual glance. They’re also perfect for your next meeting, trade show, or event.

All these important badge accessories can be customized, which helps promote an organization and its products or services. Custom badge accessories are powerful tools to reinforce brand identity. Potential customers can easily identify your company by knowing at-a-glance who you are—especially when you’re off company premises and in public (e.g, convention) event spaces.

1. Custom Lanyards: The options to customize a lanyard include material color options, attachments, and print. Adding a customized printed logo or name of your company is a great way to improve the overall security of your organization.
2. Custom Badge Reels: A badge reel can be customized by adding text or a logo to the pad or rim of the badge reel providing a visually pleasing accessory and increasing the overall security of the credential.
3. Custom Badge Holders: Customized badge holders provide the ability to put a logo or text on the badge holder itself adding an additional level of protection to your ID badge.

Tools That Strengthen the Visual Security Elements on Badge Accessories—Color-Coded Cards and Accessories

To enhance enterprise security, cards and badges can incorporate visual security elements—both on cards and on card accessories like lanyards. Did you know you can buy blank ID cards and accessories like badge holders and lanyards in specific colors? In addition to presenting branding opportunities, color-coded cards and accessories can serve as a security feature for your ID cards.

By assigning unique colors to the ID cards, holders, or lanyards of users with different security clearances, you can quickly identify anyone who does not have the appropriate privilege. This is particularly useful for properties with multiple buildings, warehouses with different types of employees, and at big events with hundreds of attendees and the need for access control in certain areas.

What is a visually secure ID card? One that incorporates enough visual security features to ensure the ID card accomplishes enterprise security objectives.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT ID BADGE ACCESSORIES

When you’re ascertaining how to choose the right badge accessories, keep a few things in mind. Deciding whether lanyards, badge reels, or badge clips are best for your application depends on the answers to several questions?

• What safety concerns and issues affect your intended usage of badges and accessories? It’s important to understand and anticipate the physical environment within with accessories will be used (e.g., lanyards may be inappropriate in certain industrial environments). While displaying your badge professionally is important, safety can be even more critical when deciding what's right. In fact, each industry’s circumstances and needs impact how their personnel and visitor badge usage practices are suited for specific badge accessories.
• Is customization necessary or appropriate, and can it assist in supporting identification practices? E.g., weaving “visitor” into a lanyard instantly identifies the user.
• How readily accessible does the ID badge need to be? What’s the ease-and-speed-of-access factor for users? E.g., will the badge need to be passed by a card reader?
• How visible does the ID badge need to be and from what distance? Must the badge appear on the user’s person at all times?

Get some helpful advice on how to choose the right ID badge holder, lanyard, or badge reel for your specific needs from the professionals at www.idsecurityonline.com.