Brivo Systems, a provider of Software-as-a-Service applications for security management, announced that Mailhandlers, part of Direct Connect Group (DCG), has installed Brivo access control management system integrated with video surveillance, to significantly upgrade security at their expanded Renton, Washington facility. ADT is the integrator on this recently-completed installation.
DCG is a national marketing service organization, serving a number of Fortune 50, 100 and 500 clients, including such companies as Microsoft, Chase, Holland America Line and Starbucks. DCG offers a wide range of integrated direct marketing services including high-volume direct mail processing, specialized fulfillment, database marketing, print production, marketing strategy, creative services and technology-based solutions.
“We work with a lot of proprietary client information and that client data must be secured,” said Matt Genereaux, Operations Manager for Mailhandlers. “As we planned the move from our previous facility to this building, we wanted to cover more doors, more internal doors and we wanted better control over who is going where in the facility, as well when and how staff are moving about.”
Mailhandlers had a Brivo system in their previous facility, nevertheless they researched other potential access providers and invited a bid from one prominent competitor. “The other system compared favorably on price,” Genereaux said, but it could not offer the level of direct and immediate control that Brivo gives us. At any given moment, I can go into the system and lock a door, change schedules, add a credential or cancel a credential.”
Genereaux and his administrators use the Brivo system to control 25 external and internal doors. They have divided Mailhandlers staff and contractors into approximately 12 user groups, each with different access privileges in terms of doors and times of access. The Brivo system is integrated with a Matrix DVR to provide video verification of all card access and alarm events.
Mailhandlers also wanted to utilize another high-level Brivo feature to achieve enhanced building security like antipassback. Antipassback requires Mailhandlers's 55 employees and its multiple contractors to swipe their credential on entering the facility and again when leaving the facility. This way, management has full visibility on where all cardholders are at anytime and how they are moving about through the facility.
In addition to antipassback, Genereaux and staff use a combination of system alerts to provide them with timely information to troubleshoot the Brivo system for false alarms, maintain tighter control over their server rooms and eliminate incidents such as propped doors for personal breaks. Genereaux is also planning to make greater use of the Brivo system's capability to run a myriad of reports on all access events and patterns.
“We had visited one of our clients, and I immediately noticed the level of access control they were using, people carding in and out,” Genereaux said. “I figured if our customers are doing it, then we need to be doing it. With our new system, we've added a level of security that people can see and our clients want to see it. Brivo is meeting our goal of enhanced security for our clients. We have much better control and visibility, and I see lots of possibilities to do even more with this system.”