How IoT Solutions Are Revolutionizing Access Control Management.

Operation represents the longest phase in the building lifecycle. All the more reason to focus on high security, smooth functionality, and the preservation or even increase in value of your own assets, which also include all access systems. How can digital solutions make monitoring and management more effective? What is needed for this? And where is the journey heading in the future?

Day after day, operators and owners must ensure the smooth operation of their buildings and the protection of the people inside. The requirements are more complex than ever: Often, a large or even decentralized base must be managed at the lowest possible cost with minimal personnel resources.

At the same time, reliable, compliant, and secure operation of all access systems must be ensured. Added to this are challenges relating to hygiene and infection protection.

How can all requirements be reconciled? How can usable data for operations be obtained from the black box of the door? And all this in real time, ideally without additional effort and financial disadvantages?

How digital building solutions can help

In an ideal, digital building world, various solutions are integrated into the building management system (GMS) via open interfaces (Application Programming Interface, API). Connectivity is high. Sensors collect data, analytics software processes it, and actuators enable targeted remote interactions – for smart access systems and the entire building operation, the Internet of Things (IoT) thus offers many possibilities:

Condition monitoring and asset management in real time:When doors proactively send warning and status messages and performance analyses are visible in real time, the right actions can be taken at the right time.

Managing people flows and room occupancy:Especially in publicly accessible areas and buildings, it is important to be able to react to special circumstances in real time via access management – keywords: control over visitor numbers, room occupancy, and infection protection.

Keeping door systems operational at all times:When doors independently detect, report, and respond to anomalies, service needs can be effectively reduced – moving away from fixed maintenance intervals towards targeted actions as needed by the door systems.

Access from anywhere and at any time:Digital applications should be available and accessible around the clock and from anywhere – remote interactions are a given.

Utilizing historical data:Compliance with standards plays an important role in building operations – if historical data is available for, e.g., audits, these can be handled much more efficiently digitally.

Saving on insurance costs:Those who comply with required regulations or can demonstrate safer building operations through digital solutions benefit from lower insurance premiums.

Maintaining or increasing building value: Of course, investing in digital building infrastructure also means that the overall value increases. In addition, special functionalities can make the building more attractive to certain user groups.

Why digital data is needed for real insights

Clearly, the advantage of digital building connectivity lies primarily in increased transparency. It is also clear that comprehensive data collections are needed as a basis, from which high-quality insights can be generated in real time and as historical analysis via analytics technologies.

For this, digital building solutions must collect, analyze, contextualize, visually prepare on clear dashboards, and make usable for the end user the operational and performance data from access systems and other systems. Not only at the site itself, but also remotely via the cloud, instantly across multiple locations or over a longer period of time. Who wants to wait for the service technician when a high-traffic door suddenly can no longer be opened?

And so, when it comes to digital solutions in building operations, it is about:

• connecting physical components,

• collecting the data generated during operation,

• making this data usable as real-time insights,

• and responding to it from anywhere with targeted interactions.

What will be possible in the future thanks to “Always on”

When a digital ecosystem is formed in which transparency is the prevailing state, a wide range of applications is conceivable. Data-based analyses already enable many applications that increase safety, efficiency, and functionality in buildings. Upcoming innovations will not only be just as useful, but above all will be specifically tailored to individual needs.

Thus, doors that are “Always on” in the Internet of Things can benefit from real-time transparency for ad-hoc troubleshooting or preventive measures such as proactive maintenance. The much-desired motto “Internet of Things – don’t make me think” is coming closer when central access management platforms display all relevant operational and performance information of the connected doors in the building, so that one can quickly react to unforeseen events and plan maintenance proactively – and if this is done at fixed monthly costs, as is often the case with digital services, it becomes all the more predictable.