SIA New Member Profile: Plasco ID

New Security Industry Association (SIA) member Plasco ID is a trusted provider of ID badging, access control and visitor management solutions. The company is headquartered in Miami, Florida, with multiple locations across North America, the United Kingdom and Europe and supporting customers globally.

SIA spoke with Beth Wenisch, sales manager – enterprise at Plasco ID, about the company, the security industry and working with SIA.

Tell us the story of your company.

Beth Wenisch: Forty years ago, George Mendelson started Plasco ID in Miami, Florida, as a dealer selling credit card embossing equipment and later expanded into ID card printers and products. Over the years, the company became the largest integrator of identification and access control solutions and has grown tremendously in serving large enterprise customers looking for solutions to help them manage their identification and access of employees, visitors and contractors. The company also provides industry leading websites helping end user businesses in education, government, health care, retail and corporate find the right solution for their ID and access needs. Lastly, the company serves and supports identification dealers in North America and Latin America with ID and access products and solutions to serve their customers. Through our relationships with manufacturers of card printers, badging software packages, access control credentials, self-service kiosks and more, we’ve been able to provide unmatched services and support for our clients. From physical, visual and now virtual security needs, our team delivers solutions to make an impact on a daily basis for our customers and dealers.

What solutions/services does your business offer in the security industry? And what makes your offerings or your company unique?

BW: We pride ourselves on having the largest breadth of ID and access solutions in the industry, providing our customers ecommerce sites enabling them to shop and see the solutions, and consultative expertise to help them get the right solution for their business. We also have the largest inventory of products in the industry and provide technical support for everything we sell. Our solution sets range from badge printing equipment and supplies to secure credentials and now mobile credential offerings all the way to self-service kiosks. For our enterprise customers, our ability to manage massive software integration projects, global hardware deployments, inventory management, personalization printing services for large-scale rebadging or company acquisition badging projects and, of course, our unmatched support services provide our large customers with expertise and resources to ensure their programs are run seamlessly, and they see the true value a partner like Plasco ID can bring to their organization.

What is something we might not know about your company – or something new you are doing in security?

BW: ThePlasco ID Enterprise team has a long history of working with Fortune 100, 500 and 1000 companies, typically who have a global footprint. We have a unique view into the types of challenges these companies face surrounding security and have developed industry relationships that help us uncover possibilities for our clients that may not have been imaginable otherwise.

Throughout the pandemic and continuing to this day, we’ve provided guidance for our clients struggling with long-lead time items (chips, readers, etc). Plasco ID has assisted our large clients with unique inventory management and spares programs to ensure their supply chain has not been impacted. We are also consulting with them and preparing our customers for going digital to mobile credentials.

What is your company’s vision, and what are your goals for the security industry?

BW:As the leader in the industry, our goals are to continue to provide the very best ID and access control solutions for our customers and the industry. We continue to invest in technology to support our customers’ need for remote badge printing and software, services to ensure their investment in ID products is uninterrupted and new technologies in access control and mobile credentials.

What do you think are the biggest opportunities in the security industry right now?

BW: More and more we hear that badging operations and physical security teams are having to “do more with less,” which is showing a big drive to efficiency while looking for creative solutions. This really brings solutions like mobile credentials, increased security surrounding credentials for both physical and virtual access, and new technologies like driverless and IP-based printing for more efficient badge distribution.

What are your predictions for the security industry in the short and long term?

BW: We are seeing more of an openness to considering new technologies and solutions that weren’t even considered five years ago. The COVID-19 pandemic really highlighted the potential for a more diverse work environment, from both on-site physical security to remote workers and virtual security. Solutions are likewise becoming increasingly diverse.

What are the biggest challenges facing your company and/or others in the security industry?

BW: The pandemic really changed and impacted our customers and our industry. As an industry  supporting ID and access control solutions for employees, visitors and contractors, we traditionally thought about people in physical buildings and providing solutions to support that model. We used that timeframe to continue to invest in solutions that would allow our customers access to remote printing of credentials, fulfillment services, more cost-efficient access control solutions and mobile credentials. 

The additional challenge we have had to manage through was supply chain shortages of printers, ribbons and ID and access credentials. As the leader in the industry, our commitment to our customers was to provide uninterrupted supply, and we increased our inventory of ID and access products and built solutions to help our customers through this period. 

What do you enjoy most about being at your company – and in the security industry?

BW: We believe our team members define who we are to our customers every day. We pride ourselves as a team and culture in knowing that we are making an impact in helping our customers and their employees stay safe and secure.

What does SIA offer that is most important to you/your company? And what do you most hope to get out of your membership with SIA?

BW: Continued engagement with others in the industry, information of new and advancing technology in the industry, industry trends, challenges, creative solutions and ideas. As new members to SIA, we are excited to learn about the many ways to engage and further impact the industry.

The views and opinions expressed in guest posts and/or profiles are those of the authors or sources and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Security Industry Association.