Business electronic security cards for office access

Business owners worth their salt are always on the lookout for new and improved methods of security. You might have gotten a system of security cameras and protected the workplace computers from intrusion and data loss, but what’s next? The answer might seem painfully obvious: your system of locks.

There’s a certain quaintness to the old lock-n-key, but it’s getting outdated fast even on people’s homes, to speak nothing of businesses. Even the more advanced mechanical locks can be broken or otherwise manipulated for entry, let alone their garden variety counterparts. So what’s a good alternative? If you have the funds, electronic locks are definitely your best pick.

Benefits of electronic security locks

Of course, we’ve all watched movies where the hi-tech thieves pull out a fancy gizmo and hack into the security lock, opening it in no time. We won’t say this isn’t doable, but these kind of thieves are more concerned with robbing Fort Knox or similar institutions than they are your small business. For the type of security breaches most businesses deal with, electronic security locks offer unparalleled security and ease of use.

To provide nearly perfect protection, electronic locks are often accessed by a combination of a card and passcode. To make the workplace more accessible, business owners will sometimes opt for one or the other, although the standalone effectiveness is limited – part of what makes keys and locks so obsolete is that a key can be stolen or lost and found by someone with dishonest motives. Your fancy electric lock might end up being no more effective than a rusty old key-lock if someone can just pilfer the card and zap it through.

What to protect and how to do it

As already mentioned, you’ll want a combination of passcode and card for the most delicate areas in your workplace since these rarely require constant access. Examples might include the warehouse, any type of storage room, the file cabinets, your office and so forth. Ask yourself a simple question: is the room being accessed frequently? If not, there’s no reason not to slam a complete electronic lock on it.

Rooms with lots of traffic can get a bit trickier, though. For doors separating hallways and so forth, you’ll have no choice but to use a swipe-only lock to avoid a reduction in workplace productivity. Nothing wrong with that, though – consider that these doors would otherwise have no protection whatsoever, as the majority of employees couldn’t bother to lock them every time they pass through (not to mention that this would take more time). With a swipe-based lock, the door will be on constant lockdown but can still open in mere seconds for those with the right security clearance (makes your business sound high-profile, doesn’t it?).

Installing an electric lock system isn’t the cheapest venture, especially if the office is large and has multiple doors in need of a lock. The investment will pay off, however, especially when you take into account the option of having different levels of clearance for different workers, which is something many businesses desperately need. Still, this type of security doesn’t have to be all that expensive. Some cheap examples are:

  • Electric door kit that allows both proximity card and password-based protection for $116 per door, or
  • Password-based lock with several different levels of access for $50.
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