Five Ways to Upgrade your Access Control System

Five Ways to Upgrade your Access Control System

It’s 2021 – not only a new century but two solid decades into the new millennium. Most likely your access control system is from the 20th century. Now’s the time to rethink how you manage your physical spaces.

Access control has evolved. It’s no longer about keeping the bad people out, it’s about creating frictionless facilities and allowing people into and through the space because they are supposed to be there. 

As an example, who stops to pay a toll with cash? With digital toll transponders and easy pass access, many commuters are allowed to breeze through a toll booth, reducing traffic, easing the misery of congestion from stopped traffic and making the collection of toll dollars easier. 

The new access control is similar in that it’s using massively updated cloud technology to create frictionless space. Updated access control providers are making the management of buildings easier for facility owners and managers and creating a more agreeable tenant or resident experience. 

Here are five ways to upgrade your access control technology.

Move to the Cloud

The joke’s over. Those who thought cloud computing was a fad are gone. Cloud-based access control is here to stay. As enterprise businesses are bringing physical security up to date with their cybersecurity practices, cloud-based access control is the top solution to allow for improved security and flexibility. Several benefits include remote management, integration with other security systems and better data collection and storage. 

Integrate for Future Flexibility

Within any industry that has been touched by digital transformation, the opportunity to integrate technologies together grows. A great example of this is in the finance industry where payment capabilities are integrated into websites to allow for a frictionless shopping experience. Imagine trying to buy something on Amazon but not having an integrated shopping cart capability. 

The same is true with access control. As more property technology is brought online, the greater the value in bringing integrations together. Door access, video surveillance, video intercoms, mobile credentials and wireless locks are just a few of the solutions that can be integrated with access control. 

Integrated video management and access control

One of the most beneficial integrations in updated access control is the integration of video and access events. When you combine video and access you can get a clearer picture of who has access to your building (pun intended). 

There are more advanced capabilities being introduced to the market that use artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve the fusion of video and access events. Solutions like Brivo Snapshot provides time-saving capabilities that automatically detect faces from a video and displays the image in context to the access event.

More advanced physical security options

As physical security continues to add more value to your full security practice, access control has moved beyond just tracking fobs at the front door. Mobile credentials, visitor management solutions and health-safety features give you more control over your physical space. 

These higher-end features are the future of building access management and taking advantage of solutions like Global View and Data Explorer in Brivo Access and can help you advance your practices today. 

Continuous Updates to Software

Unlike on-prem systems, software as service solutions allow for continuous innovation and updates to the software. For example, when you buy floppy disk software from the store and you load that into your computer, you are stuck with that version. All of the continued innovation and updates that the company puts into developing their software is not accessible from the static version from the disk. Over time, that software is frozen in time. 

With Saas software that is offered as a service, updates are continuous and new features and fixes are offered on a regular basis. This ensures you have the latest and most powerful version of the software from the publisher. 

If you don’t currently have a cloud-based access control solution for your facilities, now is the best time to consider including this in your building security plan. With cloud-based access control coming of age, the capabilities are limitless to create a future leading security solution for your property.