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The importance of managing who has access to your facility

The importance of managing who has access to your facility

You manage who has access to your personal belongings. You give out house keys and alarm codes only to trusted family and friends and lock the doors of your home and car. The same level of care and thought should be given to deciding who has access to your facility, so you can protect the things that are most important to your business – employees, customers, assets or classified information.

If you are looking for an efficient and effective way to manage the security of your facility, consider installing an access control system. So what is an access control system? It’s a series of hardware (card readers, door strikes, access cards, intercoms, video integration, etc.) and software that allow you to limit or grant access to your facility; giving the right people access to the right places at the right times.

You can either manage and monitor all of these components yourself or partner with a security company to take care of these things for you. Here are 3 things to consider when you are determining what type of access control system is a good fit for your facility:

1. Your budget

One of the most important things to consider when you are looking to install an access control system is how much you are willing (and able) to spend. Many service providers offer system components that range from the relatively inexpensive (key-cards and key fobs) to large investments (biometric scanners, like retina and fingerprint scanners). As with most technology related products, small budget = simpler technology and fewer features. Although, depending on how you will be using it, a simple system might be just the ticket, which brings us to…

2. What you are protecting

It is also important to take into account the value of the things that you are trying to limit access to (as well as the cost to replace those items). If you are trying to limit access to inventory and assets, like the contents of an office supply room, you probably don’t need as thorough of an access system as you would if you were trying to limit access to something much more valuable, a showroom full of new cars, or access to a IT server room for example.

If you are trying to limit access to an area for the safety of employees or customers, it’s important to have a system that keeps them safe, but is also relatively easy for them to use. For example, if you have a storage room in a retail space where workers need to be able to come and go, but customers are not allowed; proximity cards and wall-mounted readers might be a good option because they are quick and easy to use. Simply wave the credit card sized card near the door reader and access will be granted or denied per your programmed specifications.

3. Number of employees and their varying access needs

The number of employees that will be coming and going from the facility will have an impact on the type of access control system you will be able to have, particularly if different employees need to have different levels of access. Here’s an example. Let’s say you have a factory that employs 200 people, 170 on the factory floor and 30 in the administrative office. All employees need some way to be granted access to the building, but only the administrative staff needs access to the office because it contains confidential records about the employees and the business.

You will need a solution that makes it easy to grant basic access to a large number of people, but can be tailored to give others a different level of access. One solution might be every employee has an access card.

The access cards would simply be programmed per door to allow access. Factory employee’s cards would only be programmed for certain areas, administrative staff’s cards for others.For an added level of security, the cards can also be programmed to only grant access during certain hours (such as 7 am to 6 pm) or on certain days (such as weekdays). Access cards also be added, changed or revoked at a moment’s notice. No need to track down an endless assortment of metal keys or worry about replacing locks.

While an access control system simplifies administration greatly, managing the access of this many employees can get a bit hectic and can be a challenge to manage internally. But no need to worry, sometimes the company that installs your access system can take care of all of this for you. This service is often referred to as Managed Access Control.

We’ve talked about a few examples, but every business is unique and has their own needs when it comes to the security of their employees, customers and assets.  Do you want to learn more about how an access control system could be integrated into your facility’s security system? Explore our website or contact us and set up a time for one of our security consultants to come and assess your facility.

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