The Unpreventable Issue

A top priority in any business is keeping customers and employees safe and secure. This generally involves restricting access to certain locations of a building, and granting keys to only a handful of trusted individuals. Regardless of whether or not these employees are trusted and responsible, keys will exchange hands many times leading to a decrease in security. If an employee is let go there is also a chance their keys will not be returned, especially if they left on bad terms and the building may need to be re-keyed.

Hourly paid employees in the retail industry alone have a turnover rate of 65%, which is the highest rate reported in 2016. Some think the process of re-keying a building is a low-cost expense and would insist on changing all door locks as a precaution. But with such a high turnover rate this process would have to be repeated MANY times over.

Let’s say a chain clothing store has 1,000 locations across the country and has an estimated 50% turnover rate among employees. This would require re-keying 500 stores per year. Even if the store only had 3 doors, that’s 1,500 total doors to re-key. At today’s estimated cost of $200 per door, that’s $300,000 per year! 

The Simple Solution

With physical locks, access is granted with a key and the only way to prevent access is by taking that key away. Through the use of cards and readers, controlling access to a building is much simpler and less time consuming.

Access control systems are programmed and controlled through software on a computer which can assign restrictions or grant access. One common type of card is known as a proximity card, a “contact-less” card which communicates with a reader through a magnetic strip built within. Each card is unique and has its own identification number. An employee’s card number can be entered into the system and assigned to certain doors, which would grant them access to only those areas. If an employee is let go but fails to return their access card, that specific card can just be removed from the system and it will no longer work if they try to enter the building. This process takes only a few seconds and the only cost associated is the price of a single key card, which is minimal compared to re-keying a door.

Some systems even allow phones to be used as an employee’s identification instead of an actual card. There are a variety of different access control systems, from simple to intricate they are much more cost effective than physical lock-and-key entry.

Mobile Access Control

See just how simple access control can be by watching the video below featuring Mobile Access control from HID Global.

For more information or to receive a quote for an access control system, contact us today at support@techsolutionsiowa.com or (319) 668-9500.