Access control technology make managing entry into a business and its sensitive areas easy. They also streamline employee processes and provide convenience that helps prevent unauthorized access through lost or stolen physical keys.
Discretionary access control systems allows data owners to decide what permissions to grant. This method decentralizes decisions and is most effective for businesses with limited resources or high turnover.
Security
Access control technology are designed to prevent unauthorized users from accessing confidential data in computer networks, servers, and digital files. Many businesses have regulatory compliance issues, such as HIPAA (healthcare) or Service Organization Control 2 (SOC 2). Complete access control systems are essential to meeting these requirements by limiting access and ensuring that only authorized people can gain entry.
Using advanced features, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, access control systems provide fine-grained control to authenticate and authorize users. This allows for better compliance with regulatory and industry standards and helps identify and flag any attempts by unauthorized users to circumvent the system.
Many more sophisticated access control systems separate the physical security system from the company’s network, improving security and avoiding potential vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit. Additionally, access control systems use distributed processors, also known as field controllers, that make decisions about granting or denying access, taking the load off of the main system computer and allowing for a faster response time.
Reliability
Access control systems are powered by electronic technology that manages who enters a location. When a person presents their credentials (a physical key card, fingerprint, palm, or face scan) to an access system reader, the machine verifies them and grants entry.
This system can be integrated with security cameras, alarms, and other business technology to provide your company with a comprehensive, holistic, and secure solution. Integrated access control improves responsiveness, simplifies tracking and operations, and allows businesses to add new checkpoints, locations, and users.
For example, doctors’ offices and insurance companies use complete access control to follow HIPPA regulations for health documents. It also helps protect IT rooms and equipment racks from unauthorized people so that only trusted employees can access sensitive data and hardware. This is an essential feature for hospitals with MRI machines. Other valuable features include backups to ensure that events aren’t lost if the main controllers fail.
Reporting
A central feature of an access control system is the ability to monitor who comes in and out. This is particularly useful for businesses that need to know how much traffic and activity occurs at a particular door or location in the building.
Access control systems can include various authentication methods like cards, PINs, smartphones, face recognition, and fingerprint scanning. They can also incorporate security cameras and alarms. Many have cloud-based servers that eliminate the need for an on-site server. This enables the security coordinator at a business to change system programming from an off-site server using a web browser interface.
Some access control technology systems utilize role-based access control (RBAC). This type of access allows users to enter a building using a defined set of permissions based on their job function. This can help minimize security lapses, streamline workflow, and increase customer or employee efficiency. It also helps organizations meet regulatory compliance.
Flexibility
Complete access control systems offer flexible features that meet a variety of security needs. They can range from a single-door keypad that controls regular locks to a database-driven system that monitors thousands of doors and sensors worldwide.
For example, a system that uses primary (non-intelligent) readers can read the card number or PIN and send it to a control panel for verification. This information can then be used to control door hardware, provide configuration updates, and retrieve events. These are known as RS-485-based reader types.
Some complete access control integrate with video surveillance to allow security personnel to verify a person’s identity before granting them entry. This will enable organizations to reduce the number of times a security staff member has to unlock or lock a door, which can also save time and money. Some systems also integrate with HR to enable a quick and seamless update of employee status, including terminations, suspensions, department changes, and new hires.