How Access Control is Revolutionising Customer Loyalty (and Other Lesser Known Benefits)

Countless businesses use access control systems to protect their premises by restricting entry to authorised personnel. No longer needing to worry about locks being compromised or the inconvenience of replacing locks when keys have been misplaced, and enjoying peace of mind that your building is protected day-round from opportunist intruders are excellent advantages.

With access control, instead of keys, authorised personnel are provided with entry cards or fobs, or a PIN to enter into a keypad. The system is programmed to allow entry only to approved holders, who are easily barred should their cards or fobs be lost or stolen, or if they leave the organisation. The whole system makes everything to do with protecting your premises so much more easy to manage.

But there is a lot more to access control than simply managing entry to your premises. For example, did you know you can tie it in with a loyalty scheme? And that you can use it to verify your payroll? These more unusual uses of access control – and more – are the subject of this latest blog.

Access all Areas – or Not?

You may have certain areas of your premises that are kept locked for good reason. For example it may be that sensitive information is stored; perhaps there are controlled or hazardous substances, or confidential operations are being undertaken. An access control system allows you to set authorised zones per user. So for example certain personnel may have access only to the general areas of the building, whilst others’ cards, fobs or PINs are programmed to allow them entry into controlled zones.

Access control also allows you to lock down certain areas or even all areas of a building should there be an intrusion. Linked in with your intruder detection system, it will kick into action either automatically when a breach is detected, or with intervention from the security controller.

Keeping Track

It is often very useful to be able to monitor access to certain parts of your building. Knowing who was where at any given time could prove to be valuable information should an issue arise.

Access control systems can be configured to provide a full audit trail so that access by visitors and personnel can be tracked and recorded. This is particularly helpful when you want to track the hours spent on the job by your workforce, as the audit trail produced by the system can be used for timesheet and payroll verification.

Added Safety for Vulnerable Workers

It may be that you do not wish to restrict access to your building generally during working hours, but would like to do so out of hours so as to protect lone or vulnerable workers. Access control systems are flexible in that they can be switched on and off as you desire, or programmed to activate and deactivate at certain times.

They can also be linked up with an intruder alarm or panic button system so that if unauthorised access is detected, either remotely or by the worker, entry points can be instantly locked down.

Boosting Customer Loyalty

Access control isn’t just about restricting entry to personnel. It could be that you run a club and wish to limit access to members only. Issuing paid-up members with entry cards or fobs can be much more cost effective than employing someone to check membership cards on the door.

And the benefits within the leisure industry don’t stop there. Say for example you run a loyalty scheme. It may be that once a member has spent a certain amount in the bar or onsite shop, they are rewarded with a discount, or some other incentive. But how do you track all of this?

The good news is that access control and electronic point of sale (EPOS) systems can be linked together. This means that the member’s entry card now doubles up as a loyalty card. And it gets even better, because the entry / loyalty card can also be primed with technology that allows it to be used as a pay-card, so members don’t even have to carry cash to spend money on your premises! With everything made so simple and beneficial for members, loyalty will be given a real boost.

Is Access Control Sounding Good to you?

If access control is sounding good to you, whether it’s for one of the uses we’ve discussed in this post, or something else that has sprung to mind, our experts are always happy to chat through how it could work for you.

Access control is beneficial in so many respects. Get in touch today to find out more.