Technology and IoT devices, such as smart sensors, have made it possible to improve many areas of business operations. One of these is digitizing your building access controls.

If you’re still using physical keys and locks, you’re behind the times. Today’s advanced building access control systems allow you to more easily control and monitor access to multiple areas of your building to reduce the risk of theft or unauthorized access to sensitive information.

In a well-managed IT network, you can connect multiple areas of your operations to automate processes and collect important data analytics. Physical access to data and computer systems is an important part of your overall cybersecurity risk management plan and is included in many data privacy compliance requirements.

The physical security market is expected to grow from $83 million in 2018 to $136 million by 2024.

What’s Involved in an Access Control System?

An access control system is designed to give you complete control over who comes and goes throughout your property. It typically uses electronic keycards, a keypad, or biometrics to grant access.

Typical components include:

Master station
Site controller
Entry control unit
User input device

This electronic system has multiple benefits and can help you reduce costs, improve security and safety, and improve user access experience.

Reduce the Cost & Risk of Lost Keys

You can eliminate the cost of replacing door keys, which inevitably can end up being lost by various employees multiple times throughout the year.

Electronic access control is “key-less” which makes life easier in a number of ways. This includes no need to chase down former employees for keys they may still have to the building. No need to have a locksmith physically change locks for security, everything can be done through the access software.

Gain Better Control of Who Can Access Your Building

You can control exactly who enters your building by giving each employee a unique access control card or using biometrics.

The onboarding and offboarding process is also streamlined because an employee can easily be added or removed from the access control system. This improves security and ensures no one has made a copy of a key that they intend to use later for nefarious reasons.

Increase Safety for Employees

Access control systems can increase the security of your employees who may be working in the building during off-hours or pulling the night shift. With complete control over who can and can’t enter the building and at which times, you can give employees peace of mind that they won’t be surprised by an intruder.

Access Visibility & Reporting

You know exactly who is accessing which doors in your building at which times when you use an access control system. Access is tied to a specific person, which gives you important information you can use for an investigation or to see when employees enter and leave the building each day.

Automated reporting can highlight any anomalies such as an employee accessing a door at 3:00 a.m. when your office is closed, allowing you to immediately follow up to investigate further.

Reduce Theft at Your Business

The median loss due to employee theft for a small business with fewer than 100 employees is $200,000 annually.

More control over who is accessing your building and areas of your building results in less theft for two reasons.

You know exactly who is accessing which areas of your building and can keep out those who aren’t given access in the electronic system.
Your employees are aware that they’ll leave a digital footprint, so are less likely to try to steal from you.

Improve Data Privacy Compliance

If you’re in the medical profession, then HIPAA is an important data privacy standard that you need to stay in compliance with to avoid costly penalties. An access security system can help you reduce the risk of sensitive protected health information (PHI) being accessed by unauthorized personnel.

You can add keycode or card entry to track access through any doors in your building that you choose when using an access control system. This includes offices containing patient files or breakrooms that may hold employee laptops or tablets with access to PHI.

Integrate Your Network Security & Your Physical Access Security

You can seamlessly integrate your network security and your physical access security to improve overall cybersecurity monitoring, alerts, administration and more.

This gives you further visibility into your data access as a whole and can tie incidents that include building access and workstation access together in comprehensive reporting.

Strengthen & Streamline Your Network Security with Neuron Computers

Our cybersecurity professionals can help your San Fernando Valley area business with a wide range of security protections to lower costs, improve compliance, and mitigate risk.

Contact us today to schedule a free consultation. Call 1-833-4-NEURON or reach us online.