Why do I need Access Control?
Access control is becoming more and more a needed tool for business security. Keys get lost. So do access cards. However, when a key gets lost, you hope it doesn't fall into the wrong hands or you rekey all of your locks, reassign the new keys and hope you don't need to keep repeating the process. If an access card becomes lost or stolen you simply turn it off. If a person tries to access your facility with the lost or stolen card, the system keeps a record of the attempt but does not allow access.
If an employee terminates and turns in their keys, can you be sure that copies were not made? Will they try to use it? How will you know? Access cards cannot be duplicated. Access cards can also have predetermined "turn off" dates in case a person forgets to turn in a loaner card. If you have an after hours constuction project that requires contractors to work from 6pm to10 pm Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, program the card for these times and have the deactivate date turn off the cards on Friday morning. This can be done from one day in advance to 50 years in advance. With activate and deactivate dates programmed to a card, a contractor can pick up their badge a week in advance, but cannot use it until Monday.
Cards can also be used for access to restricted areas such as network rooms, offices, break rooms that have uninvited guests, parking lots, the uses are endless.