The Need for Touchless Access Control in Covid Times and Beyond

Main­tain­ing con­trol over who enters your facil­i­ty is a fun­da­men­tal pri­or­i­ty for any busi­ness, but the Covid-19 pan­dem­ic has added new urgency to the need for secure, touch­less access con­trol sys­tems.

Busi­ness­es must ensure they restrict access to unau­tho­rized per­sons and track who’s com­ing and going. Mean­while, your employ­ees need to be able to eas­i­ly enter their autho­rized spaces, ide­al­ly in a con­tact­less man­ner that pre­vents the spread of germs and virus­es, espe­cial­ly amidst a glob­al pan­dem­ic.

This post looks at how today’s access con­trol sys­tems can deliv­er depend­able secu­ri­ty and peace of mind.

How Access Control Systems Work

Elec­tron­ic access con­trol sys­tems help busi­ness­es con­trol and mon­i­tor who enters a space based on exist­ing autho­riza­tions.

A tra­di­tion­al sys­tem works like this:

• Elec­tron­ic locks are installed in the busi­ness’s entry points or secure spaces through­out a facil­i­ty
• Only pre-autho­rized peo­ple with cre­den­tials can unlock the doors
• Employ­ees’ cre­den­tials are autho­rized via key­pad PIN codes, key fobs/cards, fin­ger­print read­ers or oth­er meth­ods
• The doors remain locked to all oth­ers who do not have these cre­den­tials
• Access con­trol sys­tems can also keep records of all entry activ­i­ty so that you can see who entered and when

Some access con­trol sys­tems can also be equipped with live video and audio com­mu­ni­ca­tion, allow­ing your secu­ri­ty staff to com­mu­ni­cate with those at the door and remote­ly access as need­ed.

The move to touchless access control

Even before the coro­n­avirus pan­dem­ic, new­er touch­less access con­trol sys­tems were becom­ing the norm because of their advanced tech­nol­o­gy and ease of use. But the threat of viral trans­mis­sion has made these sys­tems even more invalu­able as busi­ness­es work to keep their employ­ees safe and healthy.

Touch­less access con­trol sys­tems elim­i­nate the need to enter PINs into a key­pad or swipe a card. Instead, autho­rized staff can use their own smart­phones to gain access.

This touch­less entry can be done in two ways:

• 100% hands-free: The access con­trol read­er auto­mat­i­cal­ly receives the per­son­’s cre­den­tials from the device as they reach the entry point. This means the phone nev­er needs to leave your pock­et or bag to unlock the door.
• Mobile unlock: The phone can be placed near the read­er to gain access and/or require an addi­tion­al PIN to be entered in the mobile app.
• When part­nered with an auto­mat­ic door open­er, the access con­trol sys­tem will unlock and open the door.

These sys­tems can be installed through­out a build­ing or even across mul­ti­ple loca­tions. So, for exam­ple, if the com­pa­ny has mul­ti­ple offices, then autho­rized employ­ees can use their mobile phones to access each one.

In addi­tion to the sim­plic­i­ty of hands-free entry, the touch­less design cre­ates a con­tact­less process that elim­i­nates the risks of viral trans­mis­sion from using a key­pad-based read­er.

Certified Openpath Partner

Open­path is a lead­ing inno­va­tor of touch­less access con­trol sys­tems that can be man­aged via the cloud. As a cer­ti­fied Open­path part­ner, PROTECTION PLUS helps busi­ness­es auto­mate their secu­ri­ty pro­ce­dures and enforce com­pli­ance with Open­path’s best-in-class safe­ty access con­trol solu­tions and cut­ting-edge cloud-based soft­ware.

Learn more about pro­tect­ing your busi­ness with smart access con­trol sys­tems, or con­tact us for free con­sul­ta­tion.