Security insights to help you make an informed choice
THE PYRAMID OF ACCESS CONTROLL
“Every business, big and small, should start with good access control and ultimately move to a biometrics system!” – Roy McEwan, owner 6th Sense Security.
Don’t let commercial crime or unproductive staff get the better of your business. Whether you’re a small start-up or a large company, take steps as soon as you move into your work premises by installing access control. Not only will you be securing your place of work, you will also have more control over the flow of traffic within your building. When you install a sophisticated biometrics system you will gain insights like:
• where your employees are at any given time;
• what they are doing with their time;
• how much time they are spending on a particular activity;
• whether unauthorised personal are attempting to enter restricted areas.
The problem is you’re probably wondering how you can afford access control, especially if you’re a small business just starting out and moving into your first office space. At 6th Sense Security we have come up with an ideal way for your business to afford access control. We call it the Pyramid of Access Control because you can start at base level and work your way up to the ultimate state-of-the-art biometric access control system.
LEVEL 1 or ENTRY LEVEL
This will immediately eliminate the old fashioned mechanics of the lock & key and introduce a more efficient electronic card or keypad system. This is affordable as you can decide at how many entry / exit points you would like these units to be installed.
The benefits:
• An electronic access control system is efficient
• Your staff can have their own unique access codes for keypad access
• Keypad access is flexible and can be reprogrammed at any given time
• A card can only be in one person’s possession at a time and because it’s attached to a personal ID number it cannot be duplicated. However, it can unfortunately be stolen or misplaced, or even used for buddy clocking, a term used when a staff representative loans his card to a fellow employee.
• This form of access control has a back-up battery in case of power outages, so it won’t leave the door open when the power is out.
LEVEL 2 or INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
When you’re ready to take the next step you can consider a stand-alone biometrics system using fingerprint access. These units can simply replace your card / keypad units, making it cost effective.
The benefits:
• As fingerprints are unique to one person, using a fingerprint reader safeguards against duplication and guarantees security – the reader will not accept a forged fingerprint.
• A fingerprint cannot be stolen or lost.
• Some of the fingerprint units include card and / or keypads offering backup if a fingerprint becomes unreadable – this can occur if for example someone injures their finger.
LEVEL 3 or ADVANCED LEVEL
This is a sophisticated biometrics system which is fully integrated with your network and provides everything from time & attendance reports to a link to your payroll and CCTV systems. You can also control the flow even more by creating different access groups and levels. The more advanced biometrics systems offer facial detection readers which can be used to safeguard high risk areas.
The benefits:
• It saves on time costs and improves productivity.
• It provides seamless control of traffic in the building.
• It’s highly efficient and extremely secure.
So, you can literally start with just one card / keypad access control unit at your main entrance and as your business grows you can upgrade to a fully integrated biometric access control system. The point is, you should start introducing good security habits from the beginning and in business access control is the way to go.
Read our previous article on biometric access control by clicking here http://www.6thsensesecurity.co.za/save-time-and-money-with-access-control-talking-sense.php or visit www.6thsensesecurity.co.za to find out about our access control packages.
