3 Benefits of Building Access Control Systems You May Not Know.
When it comes to building access control systems, the standard benefits immediately come to mind. However, there are three, not so obvious, benefits that businesses should know or else they are missing out.
Access control systems are key for businesses in keeping their locations or campus secure. Benefits include increased security, reduced risk and ensured compliance. These systems make it easy to adjust access, lock down a building, and create layers of security clearance. Updates can be made quickly and from anywhere on a phone, tablet or computer. Access control systems can use the power of the cloud so they are highly accessible with disaster recovery built in.
Many businesses, however, fail to take full advantage of three additional key benefits through their managed services provider that can transform how they operate to create growth and reduce costs.
1. The ability to have a robust program without added overhead for device support
Businesses can add as many locations or as many card readers to their single location and not require additional overhead to manage device health or moves, adds, and changes. With a managed services provider, businesses receive what is way better than a warranty; they receive proactive monitoring and maintenance for full endpoint device management. Software updates and firmware patches are rolled out when available and within a timely manner to ensure no vulnerabilities. Through a framework of people, process, and technology, a managed services provider is a direct extension of your team without the added overhead. They provide a service desk who quickly handles all system changes so the business can focus on other priorities.
2. Data analytics can be used to solve problems and make better business decisions
Typically, data in an access control system is not in a digestible format, so businesses fail to take full advantage of this benefit. Through professional services, a managed services provider utilizes technology and automation to extract access control data analytics and then populate it into robust dashboards, so various departments have tangible reports. Examples include:
Cafeterias: Determine space utilization through data counts in cafeterias to understand peak times, required inventory and also ensure the proper cleaning measures are being taken to support the traffic.
Shared Spaces: Have a better understanding of your current meeting room utilization to determine how frequently they are used and the peak days or times. This can open up conversations to determine if more or less space is needed or if there is a more efficient schedule that can be rolled out. This also goes for shared lockers.
Parking Garages: Garage access points track the entrance and exit of all employees which can be useful for determining the flow of traffic so you know if you have the appropriate amount of space and if the design is conducive. Businesses can also determine the number of guests coming into the facility to ensure parking is accommodated and it is an easy and no hassle experience.
3. Building access control systems can support many integrations
While building access control systems are great for managing access for security purposes, they can do far more. Various sensors can hook into the system to signal alerts when necessary. For example, temperature, humidity, carbon monoxide, and water are a few of the systems that can be integrated with set parameters. If these thresholds are not met, an alert is signaled to the service desk for next steps. These alerts can prevent problems before they happen. For example, a distributor could suffer from a serious financial loss if their freezer temperature changes without them knowing and perishable foods were affected. By integrating the temperature controls into your access control, you eliminate the need to implement an additional system.
Are you ready to take full advantage of the many benefits of an access control system?
At Star Asset Security, one of our core values is to think outside the box so we can put together creative solutions to help our customers solve problems, drive their business forward and enhance their physical security and IT networks. Visit www.securethinking.com to learn more today.