The Key Benefits Of Fob Access Control Systems In Your Business
As a business owner, you should know by now the importance of keeping staff productive. However, as we all know, productivity is more easily channelled and harnessed when staff feel empowered. One of the best ways to make staff feel empowered? Give them confidence and peace of mind. Help them feel like you trust them. One of the best ways to do this is to invest in access control systems.
What are access control systems? Easy-to-use terminals which remove the need for staff to carry around keys. Instead, they can use entry methods like PIN codes, biometrics, or, in this example, fobs. Fobs are easy to use; just like the little wireless device you use to open your car.
If you have been considering upgrading your access systems over traditional reception and lock and key systems, read on. This guide, put together by professional locksmiths in Sheffield, will help you understand.
What Do Fob Managed Access Control Terminals Offer?
There are many benefits to having fobs become the new key for your staff. While traditional lock and key systems have their place, most commercial locksmiths recommend going keyless. Using fobs offers a business access system which is:
- Extremely easy to use, designed to be easy even for non-tech-minded people
- Quick on the uptake, with minimal training needed to get staff up to speed
- Automated, freeing up reception and security staff to carry out other tasks
- Secure, with information stored on a robust data network for 100% privacy
- Adjustable, ensuring you can always add/remove fobs as required
- Affordable; initial installation costs are higher, but so is the ROI
- Reliable, especially in comparison to relying on locks and keys
- Bespoke, with easy adjustment to the needs of your business
Fobs are a technology that no longer feels quite so unique as it once did – and that is a positive. In the past, fobs were only handed out with high-value cars, meaning the average person on the street did not see how easy it is to use a fob.
Now, with so many cars and other tech systems using fobs, they are nowhere near as daunting as they once were. Let’s look at their value to your business.
What Makes Fob Access Control Systems So Valuable?
There are many benefits to moving into the world of smart security and access control. Some of these benefits are obvious, but some are less so. In our view, the main benefits of using FOBs for your access control systems include:
Rapid Installation
First and foremost, fob access control systems are a piece of cake to install for a local locksmith. They can have the system installed and integrated with your other security systems very quickly. That ensures minimal loss of time and productivity whilst delivering long-term returns and improvements.
Minimal Mechanical Parts
The most extensive cost of repairs for lock and key systems comes down to wear and tear. Given how often keys are inserted and turned into your locks, it should come as no surprise that your locks will soon wear out. With fob systems, there is no mechanical wear and tear to worry about.
Greater Security Standards
With access control managed by a fob, you vastly improve how secure your workplace feels. For one, you can easily track and trace where key fobs are being used; doing this with traditional keys is far more challenging.
Then, there is the benefit of being able to moderate access to certain parts of the building without having security staff constantly overwatching everyone. With a fob, you can quickly approve and deny access permissions to each department of your building.
Easier Replacements
As mentioned above, if you lose a physical key, the replacement costs and time lost are significant. You need to replace, at the very least, every lock and key that was related to the missing keys. With access control, fobs can be deactivated or replaced for a fraction of the time and cost.
Loss Management
If your business suffers from significant shrinkage and loss of assets, fob access controls make it easier to track. Now, when things go missing, you can keep a close eye on who has access to the area(s) of your building where assets are going missing. This makes holding staff accountable easier.
Multipurpose Security
Everyone on your staff is given a fob, right? Well, this now functions as their ID card as well. With each fob having its unique identifier, you know who has used their fob to access which door and device.
Emergency Assistance
If your business runs into an emergency such as a fire or a flood, fob access controls make learning the whereabouts of staff so much easier. Staff could be in the break rooms. Or in the warehouse. Or in an area with soundproofing. Now, your security team can quickly locate and account for everyone simply by reviewing access logs and checking each room that was recently accessed.
Where Are Fob Access Control Systems Most Effective?
In all honesty, just about any business or household could benefit from having access control systems installed. Generally, though, we find that the following industries benefit the most:
Offices & Warehouses
While very different workplaces, both facilities benefit greatly from access controls via fob. An office can keep its departments separate and ensure people cannot just wander in off the street. Meanwhile, a warehouse could separate its storage into high-risk areas and locations that need more specific access. They also help with security, managing shrinkage, and ensuring staff timekeeping is on point.
Manufacturing Facilities
If you operate a manufacturing business, access control is incredibly useful. You can give your staff access to the right areas of the building where their skills are most effective. At the same time, you can better track your staff timekeeping and make sure that staff are clocking in and out at the hours they are supposed to. You can also prevent staff from putting themselves at risk by entering unauthorised, potentially hazardous locations.
Retail Businesses
Retail businesses get the same benefits for staff control and access, but also for keeping staff and customer areas separate. Keep staffrooms, stock areas and management suites all apart from the rest of the premises. Make sure that access is almost impossible without the correct credentials. At the same time, keep a close eye on when staff begin and end their shifts and breaks for timekeeping.
Academic Institutes
Schools, colleges and universities all benefit from access control. For one, you can stop students from wandering away from classes and getting lost. Staff can access the departments they should have access to, and you can keep access to everything from stock and IT equipment to personal belongings safe. Give students lockers that they can manage with their fob to protect their items.
At the same time, you boost security on-site and make sure that the building can be quickly locked down or opened up as required. Make sure that the building is locked down after hours so students cannot come and go after the day is over.
You can even integrate fobs with things like ID systems so students can use their fob to check out books and equipment, or even buy food from the cafeteria, etc.
Hospitality & Rental Properties
Another industry that benefits from key fobs is hospitality venues like hotels, bars, and gyms. You can restrict access to areas that should not be visited by customers, for example, while you can give people access to secure storage of their belongings.
Hotels and rental properties can provide unique access codes to rooms/properties so that only the correct people (the renters and permitted staff) can enter the room. This keeps the whole building safer whilst regulating access so people never feel like their privacy has been invaded.
Getting Fob Access Controls Installed Has Never Been Easier
As you can see, then, Fobs are a very easy-to-install system. They pose minimal challenges to your business, and can be quickly understood by staff. Other access control systems can come with a higher bar for entry, both financially and in terms of staff understanding. With fobs, anyone who has a car will have no problems understanding how to use their new access control system.
Even staff who are not the most tech-minded can easily understand how fobs work. Training is quick. Security improves. Staff feel safer. Access to critical areas becomes easier to moderate. All of your staff feel more empowered. Security and reception staff have one less task to keep a constant eye on. Basically, fobs can be the game-changer you need to make your business more agile and robust.
Best of all? You don’t need to manage the installation alone. Hire a commercial locksmith in the area, and they can carry out the installation process for you. With a professional handling the selection, supply, installation and maintenance of your access control systems, things will be in place ASAP!