Did you know that, according to Small Business Trends, 8.8% of small businesses experienced theft or burglary in 2016? If you go through this, you might have to pay around $8,000 to make up for the theft.
If you’re worried about the possibility of being robbed or you’re concerned about the safety of your staff, then you need the right access controls system for business protection.
With access control, you won’t have to worry anymore about expensive equipment being stolen, your employees’ lives being at risk if there’s an intruder, and your business’s privacy being breached.
But you may be wondering: “What is access control? How does it work? And why do I need it?”
In this article, we’ll cover what access control is, as well as what its benefits are and why you need it. Finally, you can use a solution that keeps your business, employees, and wallet safe. To learn more, read on.
What an Access Control System Is
You use an access control system to restrict or allow access to a room, building, or another area. This control system is electronic, which means that you control it not from the access place itself but instead from a computer system.
Accessing the Space
When someone’s trying to gain entry into the area, they need to use the right credentials. These credentials can be either digital or physical.
For example, they might have to use their phone to present the right credentials, presenting them digitally. If they’re swiping a key card for access, this is a physical access credential.
When this happens, this person attempting to enter the space sends the credential information to the electronic Access Control Unit. If the credentials are accepted, the user is authorized. After this, the door unlocks.
Allowing Access
On the other side, there’s the access control system. The user on this end can see a management portal or dashboard. This platform allows heads of security, IT managers, or office administrators to decide who can come in and when.
Details can be as specific as creating time windows and allowing access for specific employees or employee types (such as job title levels).
If the access control system uses a physical credential, such as swipe cards, this is where they are programmed.
The Benefits of Access Control System Business Protection
Now that we’ve reviewed what an access control system is and how it works, we’ll review some of the benefits you get from implementing it in your business. These include increased access ease for your employees, restriction of specific areas, and more.
Increased Access Ease for Your Employees
Many businesses have complex access systems they use for their employees to gain access to the building. Whether your employees have to buzz in, call a number, or memorize entry numbers, this can be tiresome for them.
It’s even more exhausting if there are specific areas of the building they need to get access to.
With an access control system, you can simply set everything up once.
Then, you never have to think about it again. The employees who need specific access to certain areas have it with the simple swipe of a card or code sent through their phone.
Restriction of Specific Areas
Another one of the access control system benefits is that you can restrict access to specific areas. Let’s say you have a large staff, but there are certain areas of the building that contain private client information.
Only a small number of your staff should be able to access it.
Instead of having to hire a security guard to constantly guard this specific area, you can use access control systems to limit entry.
This way, only the staff who are supposed to access this area can go in. Additionally, you can keep track of whoever goes in and out electronically.
Hopefully, this won’t happen, but if some important information disappears, you’ll know who has it and be able to protect your data.
No Need for Traditional Keys
There are many problems that come with traditional keys. For one thing, you need many individual keys if you have areas that have restricted access. Additionally, you’ll need many different locks. If a key gets lost then you have to change all the keys and locks.
If there’s someone who needs access to every area of your building—for example, a janitor—then you’ll have to spend time training them to use the right keys for the right locks.
There’s also a risk of keys being stolen. When this happens, you have to change the other duplicate keys and all the locks related to those keys.
The costs add up.
It’s also possible to duplicate physical keys. Hopefully, this won’t happen, but one of your employees could easily give access to your building to someone else.
With access control systems, you don’t run any of these risks. If an access card is stolen, it can be voided immediately. You don’t have to train anyone to use many keys.
Finally, if an employee does give access to an outsider, you’ll know which employee did this.
You Can Open More Than Doors
With all different access control types—whether they’re card-powered or phone-powered—you can open more than doors. Even though this is their primary use, you can also use them to open parking gates, motorized fences, turnstiles, and barriers.
This is ideal if you run a business complex that requires entry into several areas as well as buildings and rooms within those buildings.
Save Energy and Money
Another benefit of access control systems is that you can save energy and money. You can integrate these systems with cooling and heating systems as well as lights. For example, if there’s a room that’s barely used and someone swipes to get in, this can turn everything on.
When they leave, everything will shut off. You can also change the access control policy so that temperatures adjust when no one’s inside the room.
Using an access control system also saves you money. With a traditional security system, you need to hire a security guard and spend money on keys and locks.
Considering that security guards can make up to $50,310 annually, this will save you a lot of money.
Protect Your Business’s Valuables
You might have many valuables at your business, such as expensive equipment or computers. In the past, before access control systems were available, it was easy for employees to steal businesses ’ valuables.
This was because it was hard to track who it was that had entered the business.
Because individual authorization is required with this system, you can track who was last in the room before these valuables disappeared.
It will be much easier for you to identify who stole from you, getting your valuables back, or getting the money they’re worth paid out. You’ll also avoid future burglaries.
Account for Accidents
If there’s an accident at your place of business, you need to know what occurred and who was involved. This way, if there are any insurance or legal issues, you can face them with all the information you need.
With control systems, you’ll know who was involved and when.
Multi-Location Access Is Easy
For businesses that have several campuses or locations, it can be challenging to provide access to employees who need multi-location access. With an access controls system in place, however, this suddenly gets much easier.
Employees and managers will be able to easily move between different buildings and locations because all of their access locations are already in the system.
This solves the problem of having to provide your employees with different sets of keys or implementing a buzz-in system for each site.
Unauthorized People Can’t Enter
Imagine this. Someone who isn’t authorized to go into your business buzzes to be let in. They say they’re there to pick up some equipment for repair. They sign in, with a fake name, and write down a fake business, too.
Then, they go into an area that has a lot of expensive equipment.
They come out with the equipment, and let the security guard know that they’ll come back with it once they’ve repaired it. But they never come back.
If you have access control systems, this won’t happen. You’re safer when it comes to the security of your business. Only people who are in your system can access your building.
Keep Track of Your Employees
If you run a large company, it can be difficult to keep track of your employees. As a result, you might not be able to properly track if they’re arriving to work on time or late. You also won’t know if they’re working too hard and staying late at the office.
With access control systems, you’ll have all this data.
As a result, you can talk to your employees about late arrivals or about vacations they should consider taking depending on their behavior.
Make Hours Flexible
These days, businesses are starting to provide their employees with hours that are flexible. This is one of the trends that have started to occur because of the COVID-19 Pandemic. But if you have an old security system, it can be difficult to implement this.
After all, if you want to have a 24-hour security guard to let in employees if they want to work late at night instead of during the day, this can be quite costly.
Access control systems make flexible working much easier.
If you have an employee who likes getting an early start in the morning, they can come in before the rest of the office by simply letting themselves in.
Additionally, if some employees stay late for a meeting, you don’t have to stay late to lock up. They’ll leave when they’re finished, after which the building will be locked.
Make Your Work Environment Safe
In addition to keeping unwanted intruders from coming into your workplace, there are other ways that access control systems keep make your work environment safe. This is because of what happens when there’s an emergency such as a fire.
If you have ordinary locks and keys, then your employees will have to manually unlock them when there’s an emergency occurring in the building. This can take up unnecessary time, and potentially cost lives.
With access controls systems, all the doors unlock automatically when the power goes out.
So if there’s a fire, the power can be triggered to go out. After this, all your employees can safely and quickly leave the building.
Comply With Security Standards or Industry Regulations
Finally, if there are any security standards or industry regulations you need to meet, you’ll be able to do this with access control systems. For example, if you store much of your client’s private information in your office, it will be better protected with this type of security.
With access control systems, you can protect both physical and digital confidential information.
Need More Information?
Now that you’ve learned all about how access control systems can be effective for business protection, you might need more information. Maybe you want to learn more about the best access control systems out there.
Or maybe you want to learn more about access control maintenance and access control repair.
Whatever you need, we’re here to help. At 512 Locksmith, we’re experts when it comes to all your security needs. We also install and service access control security and alarms.
To learn more about how we can help you, request service now.