Why keys stop working
Keys are copied, lost and never returned. Every departure is a re-keying decision that nobody makes, so ex-staff and ex-contractors keep access for years. Access control replaces that with credentials that belong to one person and can be cancelled in seconds.
Choosing credentials
- Cards and fobs are cheap and familiar. Insist on encrypted credentials that cannot be cloned with a consumer copier.
- Mobile credentials use the phone people already carry. Nothing to issue, nothing to hand back.
- PIN is fine as a second factor, weak on its own because it is shared.
- Facial and fingerprint readers suit doors where a borrowed card is not acceptable, and clock-in that cannot be faked.
- Number plate recognition handles gates and car parks without remotes.
Permissions that follow the business
The value is in the rules: who, which door, which hours. A cleaner gets the office after 6 p.m. A contractor gets the plant room until 5 p.m. today. A new starter gets the warehouse floor and not the office. Ask to see how permissions are managed and whether a change reaches every site at once.
Integration is the whole point
An access event on its own is a badge number and a time. Matched to the camera covering the door it becomes evidence. Linked to the time clock it becomes a verified shift. Linked to lighting it becomes automation. Ask whether the access system is part of a platform or an island.
Privacy obligations
Access logs are personal information under the Privacy Act 2020, and biometric templates are sensitive. Notify staff, offer an alternative to biometrics, set retention, store templates encrypted, and document the privacy assessment. A provider who cannot talk about this is not ready to deploy biometrics.
What it costs and how it is priced
Access control is priced per door and per credential, plus the controller that ties them together. A single office door with a reader and a strike is a modest job. A multi-tenant building with lifts, gates and turnstiles is an engineering project. Between those, the cost is driven by the number of doors, the credential type and how much of the wiring already exists.
The monthly cost is the software and support: hosting the permissions, the audit trail, the mobile credentials and the person you call when a door will not open at 7 a.m. Ask for that number separately and ask what it includes.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Can I cancel a credential from my phone, and does it take effect on every door at once?
- Are access events matched to camera footage, or is the log a badge number and a time?
- What happens in a power cut, and who decided whether each door fails safe or secure?
- Can a contractor be given access that expires on its own?
- Can the same credential record the start of a shift?
- Who supports it, and is it the same company that supports the cameras and the alarm?