Solving security and operational challenges with digital access

ISJ speaks with Joachim Mahlstedt, Director and Chief Commercial Officer, Digital Access Solutions, ASSA ABLOY Opening Solutions about how digital access solves security and operational challenges across sectors.

Across different settings, facility managers often face shared challenges.

Practical concerns include the time eaten up every day by mechanical key management, the threat posed by lost credentials and decisions around safe implementation of enhancements like mobile access.

In this exclusive interview, ISJ caught up with ASSA ABLOY Opening Solutions’ Joachim Mahlstedt to discuss the various ways that digitalising access can help meet some of these challenges. 

What are the challenges and benefits of digitalising access, and in particular, deploying mobile digital access? How does digitalisation address major issues security managers face today? 

Building users and managers need the reassurance of a secure access system to go about their working day with peace of mind.

The right digital solution enables building management teams to define exactly who goes where, and when, across their sites.  

Systems which embrace digital openness and customisability in turn provide the flexibility which genuinely future-proofs access management.

For example, the workload involved in key tracking can be laborious, anywhere. In a large school, for example, it will involve monitoring and securing keys for countless openings, from the main entrance to classrooms, offices, the library, student lockers, staff rooms and much more.

Intuitive software could handle that workload with much less hassle.  

Turning to mobile specifically, from a facilities management perspective, mobile access enables the secure movement of people into and through premises while simultaneously streamlining work for site managers.

Mobile has security benefits, too. People don’t generally lend out their phones and it’s much harder to lose one than a plastic card.

For the user, of course, the convenience benefits are obvious: Staff and visitors no longer need to carry or keep track of keys, fobs, badges or cards.

Their key is inside their mobile wallet. 

When we consider environments where mobile is widely adopted, we often think about offices. Have you overseen successful implementations of mobile access in the corporate sector? 

Absolutely. In the corporate world, a professional welcome is vital, for prospective staff and visitors. Mobile provides this, which is why the founders of ULab, a flexible office space in Alicante, chose our SMARTair wireless digital access system with its Openow mobile key app.

This gives ULab staff real-time control via credentials which are easy to program and reprogram. Workspace users carry virtual keys on their smartphone.

ULab’s security team updates access rights over the air, anytime and from anywhere. In case of an emergency, they could also lock or open doors, for example.  

An ethos of social responsibility has increasingly permeated this sector too. We always stress that future-orientation should be embedded within any digital solution.

Motives go beyond just altruism. Incorporating sustainability into an access strategy may also directly benefit the bottom line.

Both business and the environment benefit when organisations reduce their power consumption by using innovations such as energy-harvesting technology, for example.

Green building certifications show prospective partners or tenants that sustainability is taken seriously – and switching to mobile access helps businesses reduce their single-use plastics consumption. 

You mentioned education as one arena where digitalisation has already made an impact. In your experience, how has a digital solution solved a genuine practical problem in a school or university? 

Schools usually do not have the budget for an in-house security expert. Yet, their security challenges are the same as any faced by a large institution.

At Vejle Friskole in Denmark, managing security with physical keys had been eating up “a very long time, approximately five hours a week,” in the words of Henrik Kækel, the school’s Technical Service Officer.

Vejle Friskole’s keys have since been replaced by a wireless digital access system. Around 80 doors and cabinets are secured with battery-powered SMARTair locks, part of our suite of connected digital access solutions.

Approximately 250 students and teachers carry their own fob, programmed with individual access permissions. 

SMARTair devices fit almost any type of opening. There’s no need for separate locker keys, for example.

Reliable devices secure offices and are robust enough to handle high traffic at the main entrance.

Everything is managed efficiently with the SMARTair software. Today, Vejle Friskole staff spend around five minutes a week managing their access system. A huge time saver. 

How are digital solutions received when the client group is more traditional? If they are more used to lock-and-key technology? 

Residential care homes are a good example. They often choose to upgrade or replace an outdated access system during renovations.

Just like the Danish school we were discussing, Résidence Sainte Anne in Lyon chose a SMARTair system. Home managers can now assign individual levels of control for different doors within a single system: Wireless Online management for critical doors, Update On Card management for openings with lower security needs.

This flexibility helps them deliver better care. And, it’s much friendlier for elderly or vulnerable residents to use. 

For monitoring and control in real time, critical doors on the ground and lower-ground floors are managed by the Wireless Online option.

SMARTair software makes system operation straightforward for facilities staff, including for remote door opening.

A SMARTair device at the main entrance is equipped with both RFID reader and keypad, for multi-factor authentication at a critical access point.  

From the software interface, staff schedule it to stay open between 6 AM and 11 PM, with valid credential and/or PIN needed at other times.

It keeps everyone safer. Ultimately, digital access is more secure, more convenient, more reliable. 

Homes and hotels are two areas of everyday life where digitalisation has seemingly been fully embraced. Is there a role for digital access here, too? 

Hotels and holiday rentals increasingly see digitalisation as part of the 21st-century guest experience.

For example, when Hotel Flint in Austria renovated 19th-century Villa Weiss, extending it with a 21st-century structure, they sought an intelligent access solution which would both look good and help hotel staff provide guest services more effectively.

They also needed flexible system administration to keep them in control – even remotely – and which would future-proof door security and services. 

The Flint chose ASSA ABLOY’s TESA Hotel Wireless Online access management system with 80 i-minimal electromechanical door locks, wall readers and fire-certified i-max locks.

This complete, future-proof technology solution is equally suited to a historic building as to a contemporary structure.

These electronic door devices help the Flint to offer their guests an up-to-date hotel experience, including self-service check-in and accessing their rooms by smartphone. 

Homes, too, are getting smarter – increasingly digital and environmentally conscious. ASSA ABLOY´s PULSE technology has been recognised for its innovation in powering digital locks with energy harvesting rather than batteries or mains electricity.

It was awarded the Energy Prize at the Danske Byggecentre Building Climate Awards, for example. 

Esbjerg’s new “A Place To” housing complex see these benefits at an innovative new multi-residential development.

Over 300 apartments connect with common areas such as a cafe, fitness and yoga, big screen and workstations. Everything including door security aims to maintain a green profile throughout its lifecycle. 

Infrastructure like utilities and transport need reliability, as well as convenience and security. Is digital access suited to these sensitive sectors? 

The durability of a digital solution has both financial and security implications. Robust hardware and regularly updated software ensures that access solutions require minimal maintenance, for example.

We worked with France’s Hydreaulys water treatment facility. They required a time-efficient way to restrict and monitor access to potentially hazardous materials.

An ASSA ABLOY CLIQ digital key-based system now allows it to program access individually – and to change it when needed.

Certified digital cylinders are designed for this environment. Alongside weather, they resist chemicals and humidity. This reliability saves the time and cost of replacing locks regularly. 

Device range is critical in these environments. ASSA ABLOY’s full suite of integratable digital solutions can meet almost any need.

Finavia, operator of Helsinki Airport, wanted a single system which could incorporate multiple opening types including doors with reader-controlled and electromechanical locks, keyless padlocks and document cabinets.

ASSA ABLOY digital solutions now streamline management and enable convenient, secure access to all these, including via smartphone.