The $2.9 billion San Antonio Federal Credit Union said it has deployed biometrics to its nearly 700 employees, providing one-touch logon to nearly 250 software applications and bolstering security.

The 253,000-member SACU is using technology from DigitalPersona Inc., including fingerprint readers and keyboards and laptops with built-in readers.

Representatives from each department were trained as “biometrics subject matter experts” who then set up their own team members' finger scans and taught them how to use the readers.

A pilot program also was launched by the IT implementation team and installation was staggered over a 90-day period, SACU said.

“SACU's biometrics initiative significantly improves our security because passwords are no longer needed for each system or application. With faster logons and reduced lockouts caused by incorrect passwords, we are able to respond more quickly to our members' needs,” said Bob Dimas, biometrics project sponsor at the Texas credit union.

He said the training and pilot programs helped ensure a successful launch and that more payback is expected.

“The return on the investment can be measured in a number of ways, including the immediate benefits of increased security and time savings,” Dimas said. “Over the long term, time savings can be translated into dollars through the efficiency of service and lessened manpower to provide password resets, but it is hard to assign a dollar value for increased security. We just know it is good for our cooperative and for our members.”

SACU now has 18 locations in San Antonio and one in Houston. DigitalPersona is based in Redwood City, Calif., and said it has about 50 credit unions among its more than 1,000 customers.