Is safety and security a priority for your business? Most businesses will do all they can to keep their staff, premises and assets protected. Using access control to secure the perimeter of your worksite, whether it’s a mine site, office block or healthcare facility, is a major step towards accomplishing that.
Access control systems have come a long way in recent years, with exciting developments enhancing their usability and flexibility. Importantly, the cutting-edge technology and features of these systems are accessible to businesses of all sizes, from start-ups to enterprise-level corporations.
We want to take a look at some of these outstanding features that help keep your business safe, while offering flexibility and control. If you’ve still got a big bunch of keys jingling in your pocket, these could convince you to contact Smile IT and ask about our access control systems!
1. Credential Options
Most modern systems offer a range of options for people to access your premises, allowing you to choose the one that best suits your business. They include:
– Cards and Fobs: Definitely the most popular because of their simplicity and ease of use. They can be programmed to allow individuals access to specific areas, and access privileges can be easily revoked or granted. They can also easily be deactivated if lost.
– Mobile Credentials: Users can get into a premises using their smartphones or other device they have on them. This is a nice and flexible option, as access be granted or revoked remotely, which is handy for visitors.
– Biometrics: If you’re an organisation needing the highest level of security, using biometric credentials is a solid option. These can include fingerprint scans, facial recognition or retina scans (just like in your favourite sci-fi movie!)
2. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
You can further increase the strength of your access security with an additional condition to entry known as MFA, or multi-factor authentication. This requires users to go through a two-step process to verify their identity and gain access. By requiring two forms of identification, MFA ensures that unauthorised access is unlikely if one credential is compromised. You’ll often find MFA in sensitive government facilities or security-conscious environments like data centres.
3. Data Encryption
Access control systems create data, and data is valuable and needs to be protected. Safeguarding the information within the system through data encryption is essential. Most modern access control systems, like the one’s from our partner Salto, employ end-to-end encryption that protects the data from the tie it’s collected to where it’s stored. This keeps user credentials, access logs and personal data nice and safe from cyber attacks.
4. Real-Time Monitoring
Real-time monitoring allows an organisation to react to security breaches immediately. Alert features notify the relevant administrators of any suspicious activity or unauthorised access. If the access control system is integrated with video surveillance, security personnel can access the live feed immediately for an assessment of the risk while taking further steps to contain it.
5. Analytics and Reports
Leveraging the data collected over time by an access control system can help identify areas where security can be improved on. Detailed analytics and reports show employees accessed specific areas, how often, and at what times. Trends and patterns can be identified, which help put parameters in place to detect anomalies that could be security concerns. These reports can also be useful when it comes to staying compliant with industry standards.
6. Integration with Other Systems
Integration is a powerful feature that allows your business to implement a holistic security system that ‘covers all bases’. Your access control can be used in conjunction with CCTV, fire alarms, security response and building management systems. This allows for a coordinated response to a security event, whether it’s automatically locking doors or initiating an inspection by security personnel.
Linking it with video surveillance helps provide a clear record of who entered an area and at what time, which can be invaluable if there is an incident that requires hard evidence.
7. Automatic Updates
This is key to avoiding cyber security vulnerabilities and keeping a system updated with newly released features. Updates can happen in the background, mitigating the risk of human forgetfulness! They can include security patches to reduce the threat of hackers, or new features that improve the functionality of the system.
8. Guest Management
A busy workplace will have all manner of guests coming and going during the day, from suppliers to clients. You want them to have a seamless entry procedure, while not compromising on your tight security. Modern access control lets you do that with temporary credentials, such as one-time use codes, that allows your visitors to come on site. Comprehensive visitor logs can be automatically kept, keeping a record of guests, what time they visited and where they accessed.
9. Scheduled Access
This is useful for administrators wanting to control when individuals or groups of people can access particular areas in a workplace. Time based permissions limit access to certain times, so a user’s credentials will only gain them access to an area during a specific timeframe. This is handy for cleaning staff or contractors who will only be operating within a certain window of time.
10. Assigned Access Privileges
No matter the size of your organisation, the ability to assign access privileges to different members of your team or to visitors is pretty handy. Privilege assignment options include:
– Discretionary Access Control (DAC): Suitable for smaller or less regulated environments, the control administrator decides who can access where and when.
– Mandatory Access Control (MAC): This is used in highly secure environments. Access is based on strict security policies and controlled by a central authority. Rules cannot be adjusted without central approval.
– Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Permissions are assigned based on job roles rather than on an individual basis. This helps streamline access management in larger organisations. For example, only IT staff can access the server room.
Contact the Brisbane Access Control Experts
If you’re a business in Brisbane or beyond looking to lock down your security while maintaining flexibility and scalability, Smile IT has the access control system for you. Robust and technologically advanced, it’ll be a seamless addition to your workplace that gives management peace of mind, helps maintain compliance and improves accountability amongst your team. Let’s chat about it today – give us a call on 1300 766 720.
When he’s not writing tech articles or turning IT startups into established and consistent managed service providers, Peter Drummond can be found kitesurfing on the Gold Coast or hanging out with his family!