5 Tips for Implementing a Modern Access Control Solution

Businesses need your expertise to select a system with the right features and implement it to provide the greatest security.

Your clients understand the risks of leaving their facilities, assets, and intellectual property unsecured. So, they’re investing in access control solutions. In 2023, businesses around the world will spend an estimated USD 3.26 billion to secure access to their businesses. And over the next five years, the global access control market will grow to USD 4.81 billion.

Because many of your customers and prospects understand the “why” of access control, what they need help with is the “how.” Access control solutions can be as simple as a standalone system using keycards or fobs to allow authorized personnel entry to restricted areas. Or they can be distributed intelligence systems that use biometric authentication for strict access control. Technology solutions providers must help clients make the right choices as they modernize their systems to enhance security. These five tips can help.

1. Consider the Cloud

Traditional on-premises systems have limitations. They can be challenging to scale up when companies need to expand, particularly when businesses need centralized management capabilities. Additionally, purchasing additional servers and infrastructure can be cost-prohibitive.

Cloud-based systems scale more easily. They also deploy more quickly and allow operators to access them from anywhere, so even if a business expands access control to new facilities, one administrator can manage access

2. Use Biometrics

One of the most reliable ways of restricting access is biometrics. Fingerprints, palm veins, iris, and face scans can all be used to ensure that the person accessing specific data or spaces is the person they claim to be. This is a more secure method of access control because fobs, keys, cards, and passwords are easier to steal or counterfeit than a person’s unique characteristics.

3. Integrate Access Control with Video Surveillance

For the greatest visibility, integrate your clients’ access control system with their video surveillance system. This confirms that people who used credentials to pass through a door or gate or access a stockroom or data center are those your clients authorized to do so. Additionally, if a breach or theft occurs, your client will have more information to aid in an investigation.

4. Analyze Data

People are creatures of habit. Businesses typically operate in a predictable manner, and employees follow set workflows and daily routines. Data from a modern access control system analyzed by a platform leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning can monitor behaviors and alert administrators if activity deviates from normal patterns. Real-time notification can help your customers stop unauthorized or malicious activity before it results in shrinkage, data loss, or damage.

5. Update Frequently

Set your clients’ expectations that an effective access control system isn’t set-it-and-forget-it. Keeping up with security patches and system updates will minimize vulnerabilities that can put the system at risk for hacking, which may put a business’s entire network at risk.

Additionally, access control credentials that belong to employees who no longer need them or who have left the company should be deactivated so that other people can’t exploit them.

Sell Your Clients on the Benefits of Modern Access Control Systems

In addition to automating and strengthening physical security, a modern access control system offers your clients a variety of benefits that can result in fast ROI. The system you provide can streamline visitor management, helping businesses and organizations keep track of visitors and provide access codes that limit areas of the facility where they can go.

The solution you provide can also help businesses in regulated industries meet compliance requirements and automatically log people that had access to sensitive information or equipment.

Businesses are allocating funds for upgraded access control systems. Learn their pain points, design the best solutions to meet their needs, and grow your business while helping your clients protect theirs.