Klok vs the biometric device on its own
The machine at your gate captures punches accurately. Everything between a punch and a payable day is still being done by hand.
What the device already does well
Identity, reliably
It establishes who was physically present better than any phone-based method. That is a real strength.
Accurate timestamps
Captured at the moment, not entered afterwards. The raw data is genuinely good.
It already works
It is installed, paid for and running. Replacing it would be an unnecessary project.
The device produces data, not a register
A biometric machine gives you punches, usually exportable as a file. What it does not give you is a muster roll.
Between the two sit the rules: which shift that person was on, whether the shift crossed midnight, the grace period, the late mark, the half-day threshold, the weekly off, the holiday calendar for that workplace, the break deduction, the overtime rounding and its monthly cap.
In most companies that gap is bridged by a spreadsheet and a person, once a month, under time pressure.
Which is where the errors are
The punches are rarely wrong. The interpretation of them frequently is — because it is done by hand, at speed, by somebody applying rules from memory across several hundred employees.
That is also why the resulting overtime figure is the number employees challenge first, and why the challenge is often justified.
Keep the device, add the rules
This is not a replacement decision. Punches push from your existing device into Klok, where the shift, grace, late-mark, break, holiday and overtime rules apply automatically and the register builds itself.
The hardware you have already paid for keeps doing the job it is good at. What changes is that nobody spends the last week of the month turning its output into a payroll input.
And the phone covers who the device cannot
Field staff, drivers, site workers and multi-location employees never walk past the gate. Phone punching bounded by location covers them in the same register, so you stop maintaining two systems for one workforce.
What happens after the punch
The device captures
Your existing machine, unchanged, doing what it is good at.
Punches push in
Into the same register as phone punches from staff who never pass the gate.
Rules apply themselves
Shift, grace, late mark, breaks, weekly off, holiday and overtime — by policy.
Payroll takes it
Payable days and overtime hours flow into the run without anybody re-entering them.
Klok vs a biometric device alone FAQs
Do we have to replace our biometric device?
No. That is the point — punches push in from the device you already own, and it carries on doing the identity job it does well.
Which devices work?
Devices that can push punch data out, including common ADMS-capable models. If yours exports punches in any structured form, it can generally be connected.
Can we use the device and phones together?
Yes, and most companies with any field or multi-site staff need to. Both feed the same register, so you are not maintaining two attendance systems.
What if the device goes offline?
Punches buffered on the device sync when it reconnects, and phone punching covers the gap in the meantime. A single point of failure at the gate should not stop attendance.
We already own biometric devices. Are they wasted?
No — keep them. The device captures punches; what it does not do is apply your shift, grace, late-mark and overtime rules or feed payroll. Import the export and the machine keeps earning its keep.
Why not just use the device software?
Device software reports attendance. It does not know your leave balances, your holiday calendar for that location, or what payroll needs by cut-off — so somebody bridges the gap by hand every month.
What about employees who work away from the device?
That is precisely the gap: field staff, multiple sites, drivers. A phone punch covers them without a second attendance system, and both sources land in the same register.
See it on your own data
Fourteen days, no card, no consultant. Import your spreadsheet and watch it compute.