The Corporate World Can Finally Welcome Amazon’s Palm-Scanning Tech

Amazon is introducing its palm-scanning technology, Amazon One, to corporate security.

Initially designed to streamline payments in grocery stores, this palm-scanning technology is now repurposed as an access control and authentication solution for businesses. Employees can gain entry to their workplaces or securely access confidential information, such as financial reports or HR files, with a simple wave of their hand.

The technology has already been embraced by multiple entities, including IHG Hotels and Resorts, turnstile innovator Boon Edam, and escalator and elevator giant Kone. Amazon has yet to reveal further details on the biometric system’s pricing, despite revealing a plethora of information on the service’s preview mode in the US market.

Amazon is marketing its technology as follows:

• More efficient and secure compared to traditional security systems, such as key fobs, badges, and passwords.
• More convenient – enabling users to access their domains with the palm of their hands.

Initially introduced in 2020, Amazon aimed to provide customers with a new shopping experience, all with the simplicity of swiping their palms. Fast forward to the present, the Big Tech giant aims to dispatch this biometric security system in various establishments, including Amazon and non-Amazon locations, such as Whole Foods, Go convenience stores, Fresh supermarkets, sports arenas, select Panera Bread restaurants, and some Starbucks branches.

However, like everything else in the tech universe, the introduction of new technology is often met with criticism. In this case, privacy advocates have expressed concerns over privacy risks and extreme surveillance. They view the introduction of such technology as a major breach in users’ privacy, obscuring personal identity. In parallel, Amazon assured that purchase data from non-Amazon store scans are not collected.

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