Special Feature: Smart Buildings & Access Control
3 4 · d e t e k t o r i n t e r n a t i o n a l
"Organisations now see the
benefits of using mobile access"
Jaroslav Barton, HID:
How has the pandemic changed
the access control market?
"We were the fi rst company to
introduce contactless access control
solutions and it has been an essen-
tial part of our solutions portfolio
for a long time. So, from this point
of view, there was no diff erence for
HID. I would say that the major
change is in the new workplace
conditions and how customers and
organisations now want to manage
them in a diff erent way. During the
pandemic, companies have been
very cautious, and we have seen an
increased interest in new technolo-
gies that enable digital methods
of operating access control to the
premises, for example mobile access
rather than plastic RFID cards that
have been used traditionally."
Why?
"Th e customers have started to re-
alise that mobile access brings them
additional benefi ts not just high
security and convenience for the
end users, but it also helps them
to maintain the required
measures of safely returning to the
workplace. Using smartphones, you
can operate the door and the read-
ers from a longer distance. Th ere is
no need to touch the readers like
you need to do with some cards.
But, even more importantly is the
way that mobile credentials are
managed, it is completely diff erent
to cards with RFID credentials. If
you want to issue a new plastic card
the user needs to come to you,
take a picture and you need to print
the card for them. You also need to
hand over the card to the employee,
which requires personal interac-
tion. With mobile credentials, all
this can be managed remotely: you
can send the mobile credentials to
an employee over internet and he
or she can download it. It is done
in a secure way, and they can start
using it immediately without any
personal interaction."
Which markets are early adopters
of mobile access control?
"HID pioneered the mobile access
market and we have seen that the
adoption is not just by country but
more about the type of organisa-
tion and how open they are to
new technologies. We have seen
a huge adoption of HID Mobile
Access by technology companies
and universities, because they see
the benefi ts of using mobile access
and how to issue the credentials. It
is much easier and more effi cient to
issue credentials to a phone when
you have 10,000 students enrolling
in September, rather than to ask
them all to come to the offi ce and
get their cards printed. Th is off ers
an improved user experience too.
And this is what we have seen more
recently; organisations wanting to
make this process more effi cient
and to remove physical touch-
points."
Are smaller companies also
adopting mobile access?
"We see adoption across the whole
spectrum, from large corpora-
tions to small and medium sized
organisations. Th ese smaller busi-
nesses fi nd other advantages. In a
small company, typically employees
are not required to wear badges
containing a photo ID, because
people know each other. So hav-
ing a personal ID badge is not an
issue. Th ey simply need the card
or the credential to open the door,
so for them, using a smart phone
is a more natural and easier way
to manage the access control on a
daily basis."
Will traditional cards disappear?
"I do not believe the card will
disappear, at least not during my
lifetime. But the market is moving
towards using smart phones and
diff erent smart devices like weara-
bles as credentials. We also see
many organisations where there
is a coexistence between smart
phones, mobile access and physical
cards."
e pandemic has made work-
places much more exible with
many people working from
home. How is this a ecting the
access control market?
"Th e mindsets of the organisations
have changed. Before working from
home was considered a benefi t for
the employees, today, it is a neces-
sity for many organisations. I think
organisations will be more open
to employees working from home
for a few days a week and will be
looking for ways, how to manage
employees more digitally. Secondly,
organisations will be looking at
how to make their operations more
effi cient, for example occupancy
management. Some companies will
discover that, previously they had
1,000 employees in their offi ces,
and nowadays, maybe that number
will be closer to 800 because there
will always be some people working
from home."
And that will speed up digitalisa-
tion?
"Yes, and one of the next things
with digitalisation and mobile ac-
cess is the advantage of managing
the visitors. Until recently, visitors
arrived in reception and were
queuing at the desk in order to
provide their details. If everything
is done digitally instead, they can
pre-register online in advance, and
by using mobile access, they can
be sent their mobile credentials to
their phone before arriving at the
organisation and spend much less
time in reception. Another big
thing is the combination of access
control solutions and indoor
positioning and indoor location
services. With location services,
you can analyse how many people
are in the offi ces and if spaces are
used effi ciently. During the pan-
demic, for example, it has helped
organisations tell employees, to
use a specifi c fl oor to keep socially
distant. What is more, these sys-
tems can automate contact tracing
because they know if people have
come into contact with someone
that has tested positive for Covid."
Jaroslav Barton, HID Director of Product Marketing, Physical Access Control,
Global Regions.
Detektor International met up with Jaroslav Barton,
HID Director of Product Marketing, Physical Access
Control, Global Regions.
"Organisations are now looking for ways to create
a digital experience for employees when it comes to
access control", he says.
Rea
de
rs
Cred
entia
ls
3rd
Par
ty
Pr
og
ra
m
m
er
s
Co
ntr
olle
rs
Wired
readers
Wireless door
locks (Aperio)
Wireless
locks
Digital
cylinders
Biometrics
Mobile
keys
Cards &
Tokens
Smart
keys
API
eg. Alarms,
CCTV etc
Video & Audio
intercom(s)
Wall
updaters
USB
readers
Desktop
updaters
Cluster
controllers
Reader
modules
Gateways
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