Access Control: What You Need to Know

With an estimated growth of nearly $4 billion over the next six years in the U.S. alone, the access control market is one of the fastest growing segments of the loss prevention industry. Access control systems are a business’s first line of defense, and with increased coverage of vandalism and crime events in public spaces, it’s no wonder that business owners are enhancing their security efforts. But why should your business invest in an access control system? Simply put, these systems are customizable and will protect your company’s most valuable assets. Here’s what you need to know about integrated access control systems:

Systems can be customized to meet your property’s specific needs.

Every business is unique, so it makes sense that each system would need to be custom-built to protect the assets and property of each business. When you think of access control, you often think of authentication control or a control system that allows levels of access to your property based upon various authentication methods. This is most frequently seen as biometric authentication, like fingerprinting or card and chip access. Here at State Systems, our access control technicians are specially trained to examine your business and engineer a comprehensive access control system that fits the needs of your property.

Access control systems can store important data that enhances business security.

One element of access control that is often not thought of is the system’s ability to store information that can help your business monitor who has access to your property at any given moment. If a business suffers property loss as a result of a crime, access control systems can act as a starting point for an investigation by providing information about who may have had access to the property at the time of the crime.

Cloud-based systems are changing the landscape of access control.

The benefits of traditional customer-managed access control systems vs. cloud-based access control systems are being debated. Customer-managed access control systems require the business operator to manually manage and update each element of their access control system. This can be incredibly complex and causes challenges when businesses want to make changes to their system or add additional security measures. With cloud-based access control systems, updates and maintenance to all elements of the access control system can be done simultaneously across the network, which can expedite the process of adding features or making changes. Adapting to new technology is something businesses must do at their own pace, but switching to cloud-based access control systems may help smaller businesses run their access control system more efficiently.

Access control systems can provide internal and external control.

Our natural reaction when we hear the term “access” is to think of an external control measure, but there can be needs for access control within your property, as well. Take this for example – when you rent a hotel room, you are given a key that provides access to your room and other guest areas of the hotel facility. Your room key does not, however, give you access to every guest room at the hotel. This same example can be applied to your business – customers and visitors need a certain level of access, while employees need greater access, and you, as the business owner, need total access. An integrated access control system can be fitted to suit both your internal and external access control needs.

Interested in learning more about access control systems and how you could have one installed at your business? Learn more here»