Access control is not only important for controlling authorizations for certain areas of the company. It also serves security purposes. After all, only people who are supposed to be on the company premises and in certain areas should be there.
The possibilities of access control
As a rule, access control is used when important objects or documents need to be protected. In principle, however, access control can be used for any area. This starts with access to the company premises, where not just any private individual should be allowed to wander around. For security reasons alone, this would be negligent.
There are various options for implementing access control. A distinction is made between personal and electronic options.
Person-based access control
Personal access control includes, among other things, the gatekeeper. This is a person who sits at the entrance to the company premises – i.e. the gate. All persons are checked when they want to enter the premises.
Basically, personal access control involves security personnel who decide whether access is authorized or not. It’s a bit like the bouncer at the disco who has a guest list. Anyone who is not on the list has to give a good reason to be let in.
The situation is similar in a company: security staff have an overview of suppliers, customers and, of course, the employees who are usually out and about in the company. Everyone else has to make an appointment to be let in, for example.
Person-based access control works very well at the company entrance. However, if several areas are to be secured by access control, the implementation involves higher personnel costs.
Electronic access control
Installing an electronic access control system is the simple solution. There is a wide choice here and a distinction is made between contactless, contact-based and biometric methods.
Contactless and contact-based access control systems are also known as RFID technologies. RFID stands for “Radio-frequency Identification”, i.e. “identification via electromagnetic frequencies”. The company provides employees with chips or magnetic cards. They can use these chips or cards to open doors using a reader. Contactless methods also work with smartphones, provided they have an NFC or Bluetooth function.
Biometric access control is the most secure method as it cannot be falsified. Biometric queries are made that are directly linked to a person. This can be a fingerprint or an eye scanner, for example. These cannot be lost or falsified.
If you want to be on the safe side, mix the various options. However, it will of course be expensive.
The link between access control and working time recording
What at first glance appears to have nothing to do with each other actually has certain connections. Modern time recording systems in particular often use similar procedures to access control systems.
Time recording can also be controlled via an RFID chip, but also biometrically or anywhere and at any time via smartphone.
The advantage is obvious: access control and working time recording can be combined. This means that time recording can start as soon as access is granted and there is no need to install several different systems.
Conclusion
Access control is particularly useful when unauthorized persons are to be kept out of certain areas or the company premises. However, access control can also be used to increase security.
In addition, access control can be combined with working time recording. This offers the great advantage that one system is sufficient to implement both processes. Employees can therefore concentrate fully on their work instead of having to deal with different systems.
