This article was previously published on November 5, 2020 and updated for comprehensiveness and accuracy.

Key Points:

• Effective access control is central to modern business security by protecting assets, sensitive data, and personnel throughout your facility.

• Access control systems help businesses manage who can go where, when, and under what conditions.

• The wide range of solutions means there’s a fit for every industry and risk level.

• Deploying access control involves considerations like employee clearance, integration with other systems, and balancing security with user convenience.

• Data-driven access control strategies not only reduce risk but also improve operational efficiency, space usage, and compliance with regulations.

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Business security is a continually evolving field of technology. With each advancement in the industry comes a new way to keep data, inventory, property, employees, and customers as safe as possible.

In this world of evolution, access control is one of the most impactful improvements for business security. It verifies identity via various authentication methods to allow only authorized people into specific areas.

Well-designed access control for business not only strengthens protection but also streamlines operations. Think of letting employees enter through a designated entrance, restricting data rooms to managers, or logging every access event for audits and compliance.

Read on to learn the main types of access control, how to choose the right mix, and how to integrate it with your wider security program and overall business strategy.

What is Access Control in Security

If you already have cameras and alarms, you might wonder if you need office access control. However, access control offers unique, powerful insights for your business because it adds granular control and reliable data you can use every day.

Forrester Research notes that organizations adopting identity-centric controls reduce security incidents tied to unauthorized access by over 50%.

Along with added protection, access control also improves operating efficiency and security in the following ways:

• Eliminates keys:No need to replace lost keys or re-key due to employee turnover.
• Enhances monitoring: Track who is coming and going for attendance and visitor records.
• Provides time tracking: Know when employees clock in and out to manage coverage and payroll.
• Offers customization:Create custom credentials for employees and trusted vendors, which results in streamlined operations.

Not only can you control who can enter areas of your business, you can gain data that can be useful to your operations. Keeping a log of who is entering certain parts of your building and when has many practical applications.

Examples include:

• Time-tracking and reporting for payroll and benefits, as mentioned above.
• More efficient heating and cooling, if you can predict when people will be in certain parts of the building.
• Occupancy planning for future building purchases or improvements.

• Safer space management and emergency response procedures with accurate headcounts.

There may be more applications specific to your industry and your company’s particular functions. As you learn about the different types of access control available, you could discover additional applications for this technology.

Industry Focus: According to a Deloitte study, organizations implementing real-time operational analytics report a 63% average reduction in process inefficiencies and waste due to better space utilization and staffing alignment.  

Types of Access Control Systems

There are many types of access control systems. The best way to start narrowing down options for your business is to learn as much as possible about what’s out there. Use the list below to narrow your options and help you design a layered approach for your business.

1. Basic Intercom System

An intercom system allows users to communicate back and forth using two-way voice communication. Visitors or employees can be granted access once audio verification takes place.

This type of access control is simple to use and install. However, it requires an employee to be present for listening and granting access to anyone on the other side of the entrance.

An intercom system may make it easier to gain unauthorized access if the employee on the other side of the intercom can’t discern slightly different voices. This type of access control might be better suited when paired with another type of business security, like security cameras, for added assurance of who’s really at the door.

2. Turnstile Readers

Turnstile readers are another simple form of access control. They are usually waist-high, but can also be full gates, and they grant access when a card or fob with the correct credentials is presented.

While not incredibly technologically advanced, turnstiles elevate security because they’re designed to only allow one person through at a time. Unlike a door, turnstiles make it nearly impossible for multiple people to pass through using one person’s access control credentials. For this reason, they are helpful for people counting.

Be aware that many standard turnstiles aren’t accessible for people carrying large items, like a vendor with a stack of boxes; nor are they typically ADA compliant. If you choose turnstiles as your primary form of access control, include a specially developed barrier for these situations.

3. Swipe Readers

Swipe readers work by granting access when an employee swipes a card or fob through a sensor. This type of technology allows you to program unique credentials for each user, so every person’s fob or swipe card is unique to them.

Swipe readers allow for simple system maintenance. If someone loses a fob or card or leaves the company, it’s much easier to adjust your security system’s digital settings and render a fob useless than it is to rekey a building.

However, there is up-front cost and labor associated with obtaining and distributing the proper fobs to everyone in your organization.

4. Photo Identification Systems

You may choose to pair your swipe cards with a photo identification component. Photo identification simply enhances your employees’ cards with a photo of them, which allows security personnel to provide visual confirmation of the person seeking access.

This limits the ability for someone to use another person’s card to gain unauthorized access when their appearance doesn’t match the photo on the card.

5. Proximity Readers

Proximity readers are similar to swipe readers in that they require cards or fobs that when detected by a reader, allow entry into certain areas of your business.

However, proximity readers are a step more technologically advanced in that they grant access with a wave in front of a reader, as opposed to requiring employees to manually swipe the magnetic strip of a card or a fob through a reader.

Depending on the type of reader you install, you can have more control over how close an employee’s fob or card must be to the reader to gain access. Your employees may only need to step into a doorway with their fob on their person for the door to unlock or automatically open.

6. Combination Technology Readers

Combination technology readers combine keypads with card-reading technology and are designed for higher security installations. This dual method of identification—a PIN number for the keypad and a unique card or fob—makes it more difficult for someone to gain unauthorized entry.

Examples of areas where you may require a high-security access control method include spaces that:

• Hold sensitive data, such as file or server rooms.
• Contain security system controls, including live feeds of security cameras and physical copies of surveillance footage.
• Have prescription medications or medical equipment
• Guard valuable inventory—especially if it is unmarked or not yet trackable.
• Contain safes, cash boxes or register drawers.

7. Biometic Readers

Biometrics authenticate based on unique physical traits—fingerprint, face, iris, hand geometry, or voice. They reduce credential sharing and strengthen assurance for critical spaces. Modern systems store biometric templates rather than raw images to protect privacy and speed matching.

Physical attribute identification makes false authentication more difficult than with other types of access control. For example, iris and retinal recognition technology works by scanning the unique colors, designs and blood vessel patterns within a person’s eye. This level of scrutiny makes it much more difficult to bypass than simply using another employee’s swipe card.

8. Video Analytics Interface

This type of security technology allows you to combine security access control with video analytics. When utilizing video analytics algorithms, the surveillance system can automatically compare the surveillance footage to its own data models, gathering business intelligence as it “watches” more footage.

Then, the system learns what normal footage looks like, and anomalous footage is easier to detect. The video interface can also learn to record areas when an access event is triggered, offering visual confirmation of exit and entry traffic.

When paired with access control, the surveillance system can alert security personnel to anomalies in the footage, such as deliveries at odd hours.

Industry Note: ASIS studies indicate that integrating access with video and identity systems is among the most important feature for security consultants, with an average importance score of 8.63 out of 10. Integrated deployments are linked to faster incident response and improved audit outcomes.

Installation Starts with an Audit

The type of access control security system you select, and its sophistication, will depend on your business’s unique security needs. The more risk that exists in having an unauthorized person enter an area, the more restrictive and full proof you’ll want your access control technology to be. Other factors that need to be considered include, but are not limited to:

• Employee clearance levels needed:How many clearance levels are there, and what are the varying degrees between them? Which areas are restricted? The specifics here might make one type of access control more favorable than others.
• Building layout:A system should work seamlessly throughout your full campus or building, or it becomes an inconvenience for employees.
• Remote monitoring needs: Some companies, especially those that are multi-site or have large campuses, may require remote monitoring and control of systems.
• Budget/cost:Businesses will want to find the right balance here to ensure that they aren’t paying unnecessarily for features they don’t need based on their risk profile.
• Integration with existing security and business equipment: Integrating access control systems with other security and business management functions increases value and opens the door for added use cases.

A security technician can help you identify the most logical type and placement of access control technology based on an assessment of your property and security needs.

How to Integrate Access Control with Your Security System

As you’ve read, there are numerous business access control systems on the market today. And at the rate the security industry develops technology, new access control systems will continually hit the market.

No matter how new your access control setup is, the best way to maintain its viability is to integrate it with other features of your security system. Enabling multiple layers of security will ensure your business is as safe as possible—and will collect as much data, footage, and information as possible in the event of an emergency.

Below are a few ways to integrate access control with the larger security system:

Access Control and Security Cameras

Many of the solutions mentioned above can be enhanced with video integration giving you more robust office access control by providing extra assurance that only authorized personnel are in secure areas.

It also allows you to analyze and review footage, as well as monitor and track key data, giving you valuable, real-time insight to customer traffic, purchase habits, staffing issues, conversion ratios, and more.

When paired with access control, security cameras can enable you to:

• Observe people entering and exiting a secure space to ensure everyone is accounted for and no unauthorized personnel slipped through.
• Help ensure that no criminal or forbidden activity, such as stealing inventory or accessing sensitive data, happens in the secured areas.
• Enable motion-triggered recording, which can immediately start a camera when movement is detected in a secure area.
• Store archives of video footage in case you need visual confirmation of who was in a certain space at a specific time.

Industry Note: IFSEC Global indicates that video analytics significantly speeds up forensic analysis by enabling faster identification of incidents — leveraging automation rather than manually sifting through hours of footage

Access Control and a Protected Network

Access control methods, video cameras, and other aspects of a modern security system often have a wireless component to enhance ease of installation and mitigate tampering. With these critical security functions running wirelessly—along with the other essential, internet-based business functions happening in your workplace—network security is incredibly important.

A protected network ensures that your security system, private wireless data, crucial business applications and more aren’t open to a breach. Hackers are working around the clock to exploit weak networks for schemes like ransomware attacks and stealing and selling data.

When you integrate access control, ensure your network is up to task by asking questions of your network provider, including:

• What IP-based access control devices should I invest in to protect my business?
• How will the addition of new devices affect my existing network performance?
• Should I hire a third party to install network-connected security equipment?
• What hardware manufacturers do you support?
• How do you vet hardware manufacturers to ensure they are best of breed?

Network security is a nuanced and complex piece of business security that you can’t ignore. No matter what type of physical security you employ—including access control—ensure your network provider is following industry best practices to keep your business safe and to keep your security system online.

Employee Training and Rollout

Even the best types of access control systems will fail without clear policies. Employees will need training on how to use new key fobs, keypads or readers, so that they can easily navigate around authorized areas of your building. Proper training also helps prevent accidentally triggering false security alarms.  

Provide quick, role-based instruction on:

• Credentials: how to use, store, and report loss
• Clearance: where each role can and cannot go
• Procedures: tailgating prevention and visitor escort rules
• Consequences: policy violations and escalation paths

When rolling out the system, be clear with employees on their individual clearance levels, authorized and restricted areas, and how to use any equipment needed. Also, address any repercussions if policies aren’t followed—for example, if an employee shares his or her keycard.

Do You Want to Learn More About Access Control?

The learning doesn’t end here. See below for a sampling of resources specific to access control in varied industries:

• Access Control and Video Solution for Senior Care Distributor
• How to Properly Monitor Your Self-Storage Facility
• Best Practices for School Lockdown & Campus Emergency Procedures
• Security Solutions and Consultations for National Auto Parts Chain
• Intrusion, Access Control and Video Management Solution for Medical Training Facility
• Benefits of Access Control on College Campuses

Vector Security’s team of security experts is on call and ready to talk with you about the specific access control needs of your business. Contact us today.