The security industry is at a point where it looks at anything that is mechanical and asks, ‘how can we electrify that, make it communicate with other systems and provide more security, convenience and value to our customers?’ That is the security mantra of the day, as electronic access control solutions leveraging the cloud and using mobile credentials and AI are now controlling something that was once fortified using a single key.
Looking specifically at the commercial side of the business, the growth of electronic access control is changing the way customers secure their businesses and facilities.
Alessandrini started in locksmithing back in 1976 with Pasek, which was later acquired in 2019 by DH Pace, an organization that delivers a broad range of mechanical door products and electronic security systems both locally in New England and nationally since 1926.
“When I started, I had my CRL locksmithing credential and I was installing locks and alarm systems and then electric locks and locking systems, which turned into larger integrated systems over the years,” he says, noting that Pasek now handles everything from mechanical and small electronic access control jobs to large systems integration projects for national accounts.
Alessandrini points out that within the last 10 years, he has seen the most growth with customers wanting electronic access control on their commercial door.
“The locksmiths today, if they really want to stay and grow their business, they have to get involved in electronics and electric locking,” he asserts. “That's the direction it's going – the wireless, cloud-based systems now in some ways make things a little easier for locksmiths to get into the business. With mobile credentials, everything's cloud- and software-based and easy to maintain.”
He continues, “And certainly the generation of today's locksmith, I mean they are more technically advanced than they were 40 years ago when I was starting out, so getting into electronics and electric locking and power and all that, I think you're going to see more and more of it, too.”
Alessandrini astutely points out that locksmiths have a unique opportunity because locks aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, regardless of whether they're electronic or mechanical.
“You're not going to have electronic locks on every door, but they're increasing in demand and are here to stay, so you're still going to need a locksmith to install them, service them and really get down into the cylinder and all that, if needed, which only a trained locksmith can do.”
Going Mobile
The adoption of the phone as the go-to for everything, including as a secure credential, is driving interest from all areas, as the use cases continue to multiply. With mobile credentials, some areas are better suited for it, such as colleges and universities and multifamily locations, while hospitals and government or federal buildings still prefer to have that hard credential, like an ID badge.
“Hospitals have required ID badges, so that's their credential that lets them in any doors, but overall, I think you will see more of the mobile and electronic credentials,” he notes. “It's really caught on in colleges and universities. And if you go to any store, they have Apple and Google Pay, so you can buy your coffee with your phone – everything's paid by phone, especially with today's younger generation; that’s what they know and expect.”
There is a level of convenience and security of having the ability to send a credential to a student for their dorm room and other facilities, or within multifamily and real estate where you can allow certain people to have access to an apartment for a certain period.
“It is a benefit to property management companies, for example, that may have a tradesperson going over to do some work in the building – an electrician, plumber or someone to polish the floors, whatever – and they can issue a temporary credential via phone, which can have a set time limit on it, and certain days allowed, so they can limit the time that that person can have the credential, or change it at any time.”
Locksmiths who are already offering electronic access control options, systems and products, are beginning to also see the benefits of recurring revenue on their overall bottom line.
“We're seeing a big uptick in the RMR with the hosted applications,” says Alessandrini. “The biggest challenge there is making sure that you manage those systems and are able to invoice them on a regular basis. We tend to do it yearly because it's easier to track that way. Some people like to do a monthly, but that can get complicated.”
In addition to the recurring revenue a locksmith can earn once they start building up a number of these hosted accounts, Alessandrini says a locksmith can manage these accounts remotely without having to roll a truck every time.
“If someone calls with a problem, you can get online with the system, see what the problem might be,” he explains. “It might be something you can reset remotely, or you may determine that you have to roll a truck because you know the electric strike broke or the lock is broken in some way.”
He continues, “I think the other use of mobile credentials is to have that credential be able to be used on more and more devices across multiple systems. And then just the ease of use with that application, but it's up to us to educate the customer on the benefit of the technology.”
Smart locks, the Cloud, Biometrics and Data Analytics
While cloud-based systems have seen a huge increase in adoption since COVID, Alessandrini says he still gets some push back from customers.
“With the cloud-based systems, it’s kind of ironic – some people embrace the cloud and other people don't want anything to do with it, or they don't want any of their info or data up in the cloud whatsoever,” he says. “You see more of that with the financial companies, for example, as they want to keep that data internal within their own organizations, their own data centers, things like that. But we are seeing an increase in the use of data analytics on the video side as the cameras get more powerful, more so than on the access control side.”
As locks get smarter and communicate with the cloud and other systems withing a facility, such as video, locksmiths can offer everything from an audit trail to more advanced analytics.
“It’s an easier way to control who goes where and when,” Alessandrini points out. “With a mechanical key, there are a lot of things you can do with the master key system to prevent which keys operate which locks. But if you have an electronic credential, you can limit that to any door, by day, by time, and you can program in things like holidays. You can restrict access or take away someone’s access at a moment’s notice, or you can grant them additional access at a moment’s notice, depending on what the need is. So, no more waiting around for keys – you get the electronic credentials that can be quickly updated.”
On the mechanical side, Alessandrini is also seeing an evolution and increase in electronic keys coming out, including high security keyway systems from many of the top manufacturers.
As systems get more advanced on the access control side, Alessandrini says biometrics is another big growth area, such as with facial recognition, which is an area of focus both for customers and with the public in general.
“With biometric devices, you can simply walk up to a door and gain access the same as you would with credentials on your phone but you can have a longer read range and you don’t have to take the phone out of your pocket to do something, so it'll read as you walk up to the lock. Facial recognition, for example, that's certainly a good solution for passing through turnstiles and high throughput areas but you must have the right applications to make the case for that type of system.”
While he is seeing growth within biometrics, there's still a hesitancy of people who are worried about having their face or identity captured or saved somewhere. But, as Alessandrini points out, many of these systems are using things such as distances of the eyes and your facial features, or biometric markers, to identify a person, not a stored image.
He adds that as these biometric systems continue to get more reliable, and more affordable, adoption will increase within access control, especially around the commercial door.
Securing the commercial door is all about leveraging all systems and technology together to provide more seamless access control, while providing much more actionable data that can be used for both security and non-security benefits, such as operational efficiencies, business intelligence and addressing anomalies in real time as opposed to after an incident has occurred.
Alessandrini says customers are looking to tie access control and video with advanced analytics and AI, which is a big buzzword within commercial security. “These cameras now can pick up a male wearing a blue baseball cap and search that data in a matter of minutes, as opposed to going through and sitting there looking for hours,” he explains.
Even if locksmiths aren’t getting involved with that kind of high-end integration, if they’re not offering electronic access control, it is going to get more and more difficult to succeed by just taking care of mechanical locks.
“You’re not going to be able to build your business the way you can if you don’t embrace electronics,” he asserts. “And there are many opportunities to work with larger integration companies who need tech-savvy locksmiths to help with the mechanical side of these jobs.”
