4 Benefits of Cardless Access Control
September 5, 2017
Streamlining Safety: Integrate Fire Safety, Emergency Response, and Security
September 7, 2017
4 Benefits of Keycard Access Control
Keycard access control offers some advantages over cardless access control. It isn’t superior or inferior, it’s simply a different choice with different strengths. The key is to match those strengths to what your business needs. There are advantages to having a keycard access control system:
- No Unauthorized Written Records
Key codes are advantageous because they can’t be physically stolen…unless and employee has to write it down to remember it. They might write this down in several places, even after being told not to do so. A keycard’s access can’t be written down. You either have the keycard or you don’t.
- Logging Access Activity
If keycards are individualized so that every identity for every card is unique, you can easily log activity. Who accessed a secure area, how many times, and for how long. This gives you a kind of audit trail that makes accountability much easier to implement and enforce. If secure information goes missing or there’s a theft of personal data or intellectual property, you can easily and quickly narrow the investigation down with this kind of activity data.
- Easier to Change
A keycard is a physical object. It can be stolen. Yet if each card is unique, replacing it is and locking out the old card easy. You deactivate the lost or stolen card so that if it’s ever used, it won’t work. You can even make it so that you’ll be alerted if anyone ever tries to use it. The new card has a unique signature different from the old card, meaning the employee can be granted access without concern over who has the old card. This is easier for an employee than remembering a new key code, which they might have to write down in a few places before they memorize.
- Multiple Locations
Keycard access is easier for employees if they have to maintain access over multiple locations. Rather than memorizing multiple codes, a system can be programmed to accept keycard access at various locations. You can even implement different rules for different locations. Perhaps at one location, the employee has complete access, at another they have only business hours access, and at a third they have to be approved every time. This is sometimes easier to implement with keycard access.
