Benefits of Cloud-Based Access Control Systems

Did you know retailers lose an average of $700,000 to theft per $1B in sales? Property crime costs businesses an estimated $17.2B each year. A shocking number of employees admit to having stolen from an employer. These statistics add up to one thing — security is critical to keeping your business opera­tional. Access control systems let you manage who can get into your business and what areas of it they can enter.

With access control systems, you can implement need-to-know — or need-to-access — policies. Controlling access to sensitive infor­mation, financial documents, and expensive equipment can help reduce your risk of theft. Cloud-based access control is one of the easiest and most inexpensive options available. It’s also one of the most flexible and easy to use.

In this blog, we’ll look at the benefits that come from moving your commercial access control to the cloud, including:

Streamlined Credential Management

Cloud-based access control systems offer businesses a stream­lined and efficient approach to creden­tials management. Tradi­tional access control systems often involve cumbersome processes for issuing, updating, and revoking creden­tials (e.g. key fobs, access cards, ID badges, etc.), requiring manual inter­ven­tions and on-site management. In contrast, cloud-based systems centralize credential management in a secure online environment, allowing admin­is­trators to handle user permis­sions easily and remotely. This enables swift and real-time adjust­ments to access levels, reducing the admin­is­trative burden for personnel changes, onboarding, or security updates.

Top-Notch Security

What indus­tries do you think have the best cyber­se­curity teams? Financial? Healthcare? Well, with cloud-based access control, the answer is you. When you use cloud access control, you get the same industry-leading cyber­se­curity experts and protocols that protect financial infor­mation and private healthcare data. The same tech that keeps hackers out of your bank account will also help keep burglars out of your business.

Endlessly Scalable

Businesses change in size over time. You might have 10 employees today, but more than 50 by the end of next year. With staff sizes fluctu­ating, it’s important to be able to add new creden­tials without any limita­tions. With cloud access control, you can onboard many people all at once. So, if you go through a big hiring phase, you can handle the access control creden­tials within minutes. 

Another benefit of the scala­bility of access control in the cloud is seamless integration with multiple facil­ities. If you add another location or open up a satellite office, you can use the same management portal to handle access control for both addresses. The same is true if you plan to start global opera­tions in multiple countries. By controlling your commercial access control system via the cloud, you get maximum flexi­bility and scalability.

Over-the-Air Updates

Older access control systems aren’t cloud-based or connected to the internet. You may have to swap out all the readers in your building or manually enter every new credential. Since outdated protec­tions are a constant source of digital intrusion, keeping your security up to date is important. But with cloud-based systems, you get automatic updates in real-time. 

That said, it’s important to partner with a trust­worthy company that supports the management of cloud-based access control systems. At Bates, we provide ongoing training and co-management support so you’ll always have peace of mind around business continuity.

Remote Control and Access

The ability to remotely distribute and remove creden­tials is one of the most important benefits of access control in the cloud. It allows you to go on vacation while keeping your business secure or attend client meetings while letting an employee into the office after hours.

Cloud-based access control also allows you to share infor­mation quickly. All of your security data is stored in a central location, so you can pull video surveil­lance, share entry logs or delete users, and share reports or raw data with anyone in the company. Cloud hosting makes commercial access control stream­lined, straight­forward, and user-friendly.