Given the assets and valuable information onboard, tech companies are alluring to attackers and prone to security breaches. The old keycards or fobs are easy to lose, and there are often more in circulation than necessary. As early adopters of new technologies, tech companies stay on top of cybersecurity threats, but often underestimate the importance of physical security and protecting their spaces. The open, often hybrid work environments and corporate cultures necessitate a high-tech access control solution to easily manage the many people entering and exiting their spaces at various intervals. Read our list of physical access control best practices to protect people, spaces, assets, and data while increasing your tech’s company efficiency.
Migrate to the cloud
The out-of-date legacy access control solutions many tech companies use require frequent maintenance and are prone to hacking and other security vulnerabilities.
Minimize your security risks by upgrading your access control to the cloud and choosing a system that continuously evolves and scales with your needs. Cloud-based access control systems, like Kisi, comply with all modern security standards and certifications and require almost zero maintenance, thanks to regular over-the-air (OTA) updates.
Both software and hardware are more user-friendly for both administrators and end-users. You can easily unlock doors with your phone, get remote support, and remotely manage all your users and spaces from a single centralized dashboard.
Centralize access management
Do you have locations in different countries, each with its own access systems, autonomous managers, and budgets? Then consider centralizing your access control to have one unified system for all locations, one global security policy, and the ability to manage every space and user from a single pane of glass.
Modern access control systems like Kisi enable you to manage all your spaces remotely to enhance efficiency, convenience, and security. You can add locations with the click of a button and grant employees, contractors, or visitors access rights to visit any of your locations without issuing new credentials. With only one access system to set, maintain, and manage, you significantly cut costs and save on resources.
Your phone is the key
The hectic daily schedules make it easy to forget or misplace your office keycard or fob, but when was the last time you forgot your phone? As early adopters of new technologies, we prefer to use our mobile devices and apps. Entering and managing our spaces is not an exception.
Deploy a cloud-based solution to enable employees and visitors to unlock doors with a simple phone tap. For a contactless, more hygienic experience, wave your hand in front of the Kisi reader, and the MotionSense technology will recognize your access rights.
Access admins can also manage all users and spaces from the comfort of their phones wherever they are. What’s more, admins can opt to get notified for relevant access events, like unlocks happening in real-time and doors being propped or forced open.
Organize users and groups
Create a list of groups based on roles, departments, or other classifying variables within your business and identify the level of access each group needs to be fully efficient. For instance, all employees will need access to the front door, but not all of them will need access to the server room.
Not all groups require access to your spaces at the same time. Your full-time employees will need access each weekday during working hours, while the cleaning staff may access your spaces at other times. If certain departments come to the office only on certain days of the week, ensure your access control system reflects that.
Set time restrictions
Do people have access to your facilities during off hours? Crime rates spike over the holidays. Crime often increases when people are away from their spaces, making burglary and robbery more appealing.
Deploying an access control system that will enable you to set time restrictions is a standard best practice. Bad actors have creative ways of acquiring credentials, so even trustworthy employees can pose a potential security threat.
For more effective management, set access schedules for specific groups so they can only access the required spaces during specific periods. For example, allow access to your full-time employees during their working hours on the weekdays or to specific weekdays for the hybrid workers. Modern access control solutions like Kisi even support holiday lists for specific countries, so you can easily choose yours to add an extra layer of security during the holidays.
Least privilege more security
The principle of least privilege is pretty straightforward: Increase your security by providing users with the least amount of access over physical locations, systems, and data they need to perform their specific job functions.
User groups support this principle since users with similar roles will have similar access privileges, while different user roles will require different access privileges. For instance, an IT employee might need access to the server room but not to the printer room.
Creating access user groups achieves the granularity necessary to bring the principle of least privilege into action. One generic group of access permissions for all users is too permissive for most and too restrictive for the top few.
Implement 2FA
Two-factor authentication (2FA), as a method through which users confirm their identity, is a best practice that increases both physical and cyber security. In access control, this identification process combines two different authentication methods to verify the authenticity of the claimed access privileges.
Most legacy access control systems require entering a PIN or using physical credentials like cards or fobs to claim identity. A 2FA, in this case, means you need to scan your card and enter a unique PIN code associated with that particular card to gain access.
If you set up a 2FA on modern access systems that support mobile credentials, then you might need to unlock your mobile device before tapping it against the reader.
Efficiently manage visitors
Extend the functionality of your access control system to manage visitors that come and go from your spaces, like clients, contractors, job candidates, friends, and family.
Companies using access cards risk that visitors will easily lose, misplace, or simply forget to return them. Upgrade your access system to the cloud to better manage your card system and add additional credential methods.
Kisi integrates with SCIM to keep user information up to date and enables you to share visitor links with limited access hours and privileges. Visitors will only be able to access designated spaces during their visiting hours, and they will do that with a simple link click, without any need to download additional apps.
Admins have peace of mind of not having to issue and take care of additional cards and can send links with a few clicks. What’s more, you get to impress current and potential clients and job candidates visiting your office with the design, simplicity, and functionality of your modern access control solution.
Automate provisioning
Onboarding, offboarding, and promoting employees require access level adjustments which are tasking for managers of a growing tech company. Neglecting to update the access levels and hours, on the other hand, leaves your company open to breaches. For instance, former employees can freely walk in at any time.
Upgrade to a cloud-based access control system that enables you to easily manage access control lists remotely at all times. Integrate it with your SSO provider to securely manage users through real-time provisioning.
Kisi is compatible with all major SSO providers and supports the SCIM 2.0 protocol. Your admins can sync users and groups between your user directories and Kisi. You can also keep the user identities in your IdP in sync with the identities in Kisi, including provisioning, deprovisioning, and group membership updates.
Integrate access control
A connected company is a smart company. Implementing tech with great integration possibilities is one of the most strategic investments a business can make. Integrating your access control system enables a holistic view of your users and data, improves internal workflows, and enhances security.
The identity management platforms we discussed above are the perfect example of the benefits of an integrated access control system. When combined with video, access control systems are more powerful. You can monitor access events happening in real-time and have accurate, unbiased data to explore incidents after they happen or proactively react to situations before they arise.
Modern access systems, like Kisi, unify access control, alarms, video surveillance, and automation workflows for a complete intrusion detection solution. Admins get instant alerts on their mobile phones when violations are taking place (e.g., when a door is forced or propped open) so they can take immediate action.
The data analytics integration can help your reporting and auditing enabling better space utilization. The open API lets you integrate with your go-to tools. You can even get creative, like many Kisi clients, and integrate with your own solution.
Prepare for emergencies
Even the most high-tech companies are not immune to unexpected accidents or emergencies, like fire, active shooter, earthquake, hazardous material spills, and floods.
Your access control system should go a step further than only restricting unauthorized people from entering the building. It should also facilitate quick egress of people during emergencies or contain the incident to a specific space.
Upgrade to cloud-based access control to automate your emergency exit doors, meet exit door compliances, and put your whole space or specific areas in lockdown. Kisi enables you to effectively respond to an emergency by remotely locking or unlocking your doors with a few taps on your phone.
Better data utilization
The physical security and access control worlds are moving away from reactionary and defensive legacy systems to cloud-based, all-in-one solutions.
Modern access control solutions provide real-time analytics and data you can access through a user-friendly dashboard to gain valuable insights and visualize your users and spaces. You can view activity heatmaps or get notified of important access events on your mobile device, like when users are entering or exiting a specific place and if a door is being forced or propped open.
Combining real-time and estimated space utilization data, Kisi even allows you to monitor and manage your capacity. This ensures compliance with the latest fire codes and helps you manage your hybrid workspace more efficiently. You can even set warnings about reaching or exceeding capacity limits.
The cloud is also helpful in storing extensive event logs. You can then export reports for an effective audit trail of specific users, event types (e.g., lock, unlock), and the dates and times.
Future proof access control
Your tech company deserves the security that a future-proof access control system like Kisi provides. Deploy the complete Kisi solution that scales with you or upgrade your existing access control system.
Take your company’s security to another level and impress your employees and clients by introducing Kisi’s sleek hardware and user-friendly software. Empower people to unlock doors with a tap on the Kisi app, by holding their device to the reader, or by waving their hand.
Automate onboarding and offboarding by sending temporary access links that act as visitor passes. Stay on top of hybrid work with seamless capacity management and automating unlock and access schedules.
Manage your spaces from a single pane of glass on the fly and easily set specific access levels across your entire company. Contact our team to enter the world of connected, seamless access control.
Vera Eftimovska
Senior Content Strategist at Kisi, eager to craft the next access control story. Connecting people and spaces with person-centered yet reliable, data-based security content.
