Digitalization is reshaping the way we live and work.
Digitalization is reshaping the way we live and work. Commercial buildings are already at the centre of this change, which streamlines access to and movement around offices, retail spaces, entertainment venues, hotels and holiday rentals, manufacturing sites, warehouses and more. However, there is still some way to go to make security truly seamless – and to get access to commercial spaces ready for what’s ahead.
Switching mechanical for digital access is just the first – essential – step towards a future-oriented security strategy for commercial spaces. Digital access helps businesses of every size and type to work smarter, collaborate better and maximize the productivity of their existing assets.
In a world of evolving physical threats, security should never be taken for granted. Commercial building users need the reassurance of a secure access system to go about their working day productively and with peace of mind. A reliable, low-maintenance digital access solution enables building management teams to define exactly who goes where, and when, across their commercial site or sites. With real-time management facility managers create audit trails or instantly change access rights for any door or user, to keep premises secure even when staff leave or credentials are lost.
From the very early stages of specification for new-builds or retrofit projects, digital locks and door closing solutions with fire, safety and green building certifications can be selected. Solutions for these commercial spaces must embrace digital openness and customizability – which in turn provide the flexibility to genuinely future-proof the buildings’ access management.
During use, when employees, contractors and visitors can come-and-go with ease, operations for building and security managers are streamlined. The most recent Wireless Access Control Report found the major factor driving the switch to mobile digital access was convenience. Digitalization offers this for everyone.
The benefits of digital access for commercial buildings
Digitalizing access provides a concrete ROI that a business can turn into a competitive advantage. It quickly puts powerful tools in the hands of a commercial building manager.
Web management software, for example, enables remote monitoring and control from one convenient point, or even while off-site, around the clock. Integrating intelligent sensors within a connected digital solution can help manage energy more effectively. Credentials stored on a smartphone simplify and accelerate the process of issuing, amending and revoking access to the private areas of any commercial space: guest rooms, backstage areas, server cupboards, cleaning equipment storage, stockrooms and more. There’s a digital device to lock almost any opening.
A vast range of digital functionality can be tailored to all kinds of commercial applications. At a new corporate headquarters for Canal+ near Paris, for example, various devices from ASSA ABLOY’s suite of Digital Access Solutions – including battery-powered Aperio wireless handles with integrated readers and ABLOY electromechanical security locks – integrate with a Genetec system to filter access to and through all technical areas, for 1,200 employees plus visitors and contractors. Aperio digital access also secures auditoriums, rehearsal rooms, wardrobes, offices, a sauna, the canteen and an archive at the Stavanger Concert Hall, Norway.
At the Flint Hotel in Austria, ASSA ABLOY’s TESA Hotel digital solution integrates guest access with self-service kiosks. Guests check-in from home, enter reception with a PIN and receive their keycard at the kiosk. In Germany, RheinfelsQuellen opted for another ASSA ABLOY digital solution, eCLIQ programmable key-operated digital access, for its Duisburg HQ and other commercial and manufacturing locations around North Rhine–Westphalia.
In co-working spaces in the UK and northern Europe, historic buildings like Munich’s Hofbräuhaus, and hotels and shopping malls of every size, across Europe, the Middle East and all over the world, digitalizing access with ASSA ABLOY has brought a real operations management ROI to a diverse range of commercial buildings – to help get their access ready for what’s comes next.