How Mobile Access Control is Transforming Offices,
Apartments, and Construction Sites

Mobile access control replaces RFID cards and employee badges with credentials stored on a mobile phone. To use them, you simply tap your phone over a reader.

Eliminating physical cards makes mobile credentials much more affordable, flexible, and practical.

Mobile credentials are far more affordable than cards, meaning everyone who enters a space can have their own mobile credential.

They can be issued and revoked in the cloud, so there is no need for security, HR, or IT personnel to issue and collect physical cards.

These credentials can also expire automatically and restrict access to specific areas of a building or site.

How do these advantages translate into real world benefits? Here are several specific examples of how Mobile Access Control improves offices, apartments and condos, and construction sites.

Mobile Access Control Makes Offices More Engaging, More Secure

We have written in detail about how Mobile Access Control makes offices more secure, but here are three of the most important highlights.

RFID cards have a tendency to “walk off” with the people they are issued to, both accidentally and on purpose. Mobile access control makes offices more secure by replacing physical cards with mobile credentials that can be issued and revoked in the cloud, and can expire after a set period of time. This means lost and stolen cards are no longer a security risk.

Mobile access control can be the key to unlocking a great Workplace Experience (WX). Accenture defines WX as “a new approach combining technology, operations, culture and employee experience in a holistic way.” Employers are integrating Mobile Access Control into their workplace apps allowing employees to enter the office, book and enter meeting rooms, use copiers and printers, and even find each other.

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Conventional approaches to visitor registration are inconvenient and pose risks to both physical and information security. With Mobile Access Control, visitors can pre-register before visiting an office and receive their credentials on their phones. They cannot access areas they should not, and cannot accidentally walk away with an access card. Pre-registration means there are no paper-based visitor logs with sensitive personal information, and no long waits in the lobby.

Mobile Access Control Means Apartment Buildings Work for Residents

Mobile access control makes it practical and affordable to issue mobile credentials to all residents, long-term guests, cleaning and maintenance staff, and even delivery people. This improves apartment living in several ways.

By managing who has access to what areas, and at what times, residents can feel secure that only people who should be in the building are in the building. Staff members can only enter during their shifts. Residents can only enter while their leases are active. Guests’ credentials automatically expire.

For many apartment complexes, amenities are their biggest selling points. But to keep these on-site gyms, lounges, swimming pools, and work areas attractive, their use has to be restricted to current residents. Mobile access control prevents outsiders and former residents from entering by using expired cards, and prevents residents from sharing cards with friends.

Keep packages secure. Americans who shop online spent $222 per month in e-commerce spending and 36% report having a package stolen, according to a study by C+R Research. While people who live in houses can add doorbell cameras, apartment and condo dwellers do not usually have this option. Mobile access control makes it practical and affordable to issue mobile credentials to delivery people, so access to unattended mailrooms can be restricted.

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Mobile Access Control Makes Construction Sites Safer

Card-based access control systems are extremely popular on construction sites and other large-scale worksites, such as ports. Replacing RFID cards with mobile credentials has security and operational advantages.

First and most importantly, using mobile credentials stops card loss and theft. This is such a substantial security threat that some organizations now charge employees hundreds of dollars to replace lost badges, but this places blame on employees without addressing the real problem.

Mobile credentials are also more flexible and affordable than RFID cards. Major construction projects can involve hundreds of tradespeople and contractors who should have access to a site for a limited period of time.

In the past this has meant project managers had to choose among issuing expensive access cards, requiring contractors to check-in and out with a security guard, or leaving spaces unsecured. With Mobile Access Control it becomes practical to issue everyone on site a mobile credential that automatically expires and grants access only to specific areas of the site.

Finally, mobile credentials eliminate a longstanding HR issue on construction sites, buddy punching. This is the practice of one employee checking in for another employee using a shared card or PIN code. Employees are much less likely to hand over their precious smartphones to friends. At Suprema, one of our customers in the MEA region adopted our Mobile Access solution specifically to combat buddy punching.