What is Access Control?
Access control allows you to monitor and control who has access to a specific area or space. For physical locations, this may mean tracking individuals who enter your building’s premises on foot or by vehicle.
What is an Access Control System?
An access control system (or a physical access control system) typically refers to any security system that monitors access to a particular building area. Virtual access control systems can also provide access to private networks or servers online.
An access control system utilizes an identifier such as a digital ID or a custom access card to permit individuals into specific rooms or designated spaces. Each time an individual uses their identifier to access the system, the action is logged. Tracking the individual’s movements, access points, and specific times can help monitor how your facilities and buildings are used daily.
Multiple Identifier Solutions
When creating a working access control solution for your place of business, you must choose an identifier that is right for your employees. The most popular types of identifiers used by building access control systems include:
- Access cards: Individual identification badges or access cards are ubiquitous with building access control systems.
- Biometric solutions: The use of irises of, the eyes and fingerprints can also be used with an integrated access control system.
- Custom passwords: A custom password or an individualized PIN is possible as an identifier.
Building Access Control Systems
Incorporating an access control system into your building provides complete control over the management of your property. With an access control system in place, you can efficiently manage the following:
- Individual Access: Determine who has access to certain areas of your building, such as employees. For unauthorized visitors, associates, or contractors, you can require a manual check-in to provide access for increased security.
- Designated Areas of Access: Designate specific access areas for individual employees, managers, security personnel, and executives. Prohibit access to particular regions based on an individual’s employment status to maximize security wherever necessary, such as in server or equipment rooms.
- Access Times: Monitor and track when areas of your building are accessed and by whom. Ensure that employees only access locations relevant to their designated shifts.
- Specific Access Conditions: With a fully integrated access control system, determine when contractors, employees, or visitors are allowed access to specific locations throughout your building. For example, presenting identification, licenses, or certifications can all be set as access conditions for non-full-time employees.
Why Transition to an Access Control System?
While you may find using keys simple, they can become tedious when managing different access points and scaling up your business. Integrating a physical access control solution is highly advisable as you continue to grow. Using keys to manage employee access and the security of your business can pose numerous obstacles, such as:
- Key Loss/Theft: Losing keys or having them stolen is a significant risk to any company or place of business. Replacing keys can be expensive and time-consuming, and the waiting period for new keys can pose a significant security threat to your place of business.
- Lack of Management: Managing individual keys can be challenging, if not next to impossible. Keeping track of unique keys can also become problematic when you have numerous sets of keys and multiple employees. Keys may also be copied without your knowledge if you use traditional keys instead of an access control system.
- Lack of Auditing: When you provide employees with keys, there is no way to track how the keys are used or at what times. A lack of an audit trail increases the security risk at any place of business, especially if multiple employees have access to master keys and locks.
Integrating building or virtual access control systems into your business can improve security and overall workplace efficiency. With the ability to monitor access points, employees, and entire departments from one central location, streamline the management of your business while boosting the security of your property from all angles.
Have questions about how an access control system might help you protect your people and your resources, talk to one of our experts today!
