Access control is the ultimate security tool for any business or building with large numbers of employees. These systems ensure both great convenience and perfect internal and external security, especially with the use of card readers. In order to take the next step, how do you prepare?

Assess Your Business Needs – Who Needs Access?

You’re investing in access control for the best control of all doors and locks. These doors will have different needs for different people that access them. You’ll want to assess:

• How many people need access to this specific space or room – How often does this change?
• Should the door always be locked? Or, should the doors be open during business hours?
• Think about your managerial levels – do different roles need different access levels?

If you aren’t quite sure where to start, it’s best to begin observing your workplace. See what your office traffic typically looks like day-to-day to get a better idea. In addition, your access control experts will help figure out the best plan for your needs.

Project Outline – Environment and Logistics

When planning for access control, there’s a lot to take into consideration. You’ll need to assess the types of doors you have, how many locks you’re interested in, and the placement for card readers. For the feasibility of your project, you’ll also want to have an idea of where your IT closet is located for connection to devices. If any changes need to be made, can your vendor do jobs in other areas (i.e. doors)?

For any business, you’ll want to assess a timeline. If you have hard due dates, or dates your access control specialist needs to work around, you’ll want to take note of these. Cost is another big factor in any major project. Come up with some idea of how much you’d like to spend, and where those spending priorities fit. For example, if aesthetics are important, you’ll want to allocate proper budgeting for devices that match your doors and handles.

Depending on your company, different people could have the power to manage the system that comes with access control devices. These are typically IT people within an office space, but if you’re a smaller business this could be a manager. These are also a couple of reasons why finding the perfect access control company is essential to the success of your new security integration.

Finding a Specialist

Access control and high-security systems stretch across a wide variety of different fields of work. Usually, you’ll find security, technology sales, and locksmith companies offering these services. We recommend reaching out to a locksmith who offers access control security solutions for the following reasons:

• Locksmiths cover all scope of work that access control requires (Cabling, door work, products, etc.)
• Locksmith companies are the most cost-efficient
• Locksmiths that specialize in access control security solutions offer competitive pricing for other security products (i.e. CCTV, alarms, bio-metric scanners)

Quotes, quotes, quotes!

Once you find a vendor, or even better, a locksmith, a quote will be put together for you. This quote will be based on the needs of your property, feasibility, and any requests to be put into fruition. Prior to a finalized quote, a point of contact may wish to walk your property and establish how they can help bring your project to life.

For all access control needs in Arizona, we proudly serve the state as the largest locksmith. To read more about our access control division, visit our page for Anderson Access & Security. To schedule an access control service, be sure to fill out our online request form or give us a call at (602) 973-0343.