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www.securitysystemsnews.com January 2016 SECurITy SySTEMS nEWS market trends 18 By Kenneth Z. Chutchian I t doesn't take a sophisticated access control system to keep people out of the building or allow them inside. Nor does it take a high-end system to pro- vide useful data that can help a company's bottom line. Access control can produce access to intelligence Nevertheless, by underutiliz- ing access control systems they already have in place, many mid- to large-sized businesses are missing opportunities to uti- lize data that can save money and create recurring revenue, according to security experts interviewed by Security Systems News. "Unfortunately, the reality is that the physical security department and access control are often looked at differently than other parts of a company because they don't generate revenue," said Scott Sieracki, VP of sales of Viscount Systems. That mindset is changing in many large companies—par- ticularly Fortune 500 compa- nies, Sieracki said. "For tens of thousands of smaller compa- nies," however, the capability is in place, but "it hasn't been a thought." "They look at access control as a capital expenditure, with operating costs from consump- tion," rather than as a tool for revenue or cost savings, Sieracki said. So what kind of data are we talking about? At the most basic level, door locks, card read- e r s a n d t h e s e c u - rity cards themselves c a n p r o - vide infor- m a t i o n i n s t a n t a - n e o u s l y o n t h e c o m i n g s and goings of employees and contractors. This can allow managers and decision makers more intel- l i g e n c e o n b u i l d i n g u s a g e , resource use, suspicious activ- ity and how much time vendors are spending on the job in your facility. "If the contractor is in the building for 15 minutes and provides an invoice for two hours of work," the data mining has produced a savings oppor- tunity, Sieracki said. At Fortune 500 companies, he said, you're talking about hundreds and thousands of con- tractors in any given month for which access control can vali- date billable hours. The ever-evolving structure of work days and work weeks in the 21st century almost demands the kind of information that can be culled from access con- t r o l s y s - tems, said M i t c h - e l l K a n e , p r e s i d e n t of Vander- bilt Indus- tries. W i t h a f a c i l i t y open 24/7, h e s a i d , badges, cards, readers and locks can provide information lead- ing to "ad hoc" scheduling to close off some areas, maximize building use and lead to more efficient use of heating systems. "It's exciting what the end user can do" with the informa- tion, said Kane. "It's clean and easy. … The opportunities are endless." It is conceivable that half of a large company's conference room space is not really need- ed, after analyzing usage and Nothing happened today In a perfect world, no one thinks about access control except you. The hundreds of people coming and going don't think about you, or what a good job you're doing, or how they always manage to get seamlessly where they need to go. Because you chose Synergis access control, it was another great day. genetec.com / synergis © 2014 Genetec. All rights reser ved. Genetec and Synergis are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Genetec. Scott Sieracki Mitchel Kane Continued on next page Security experts share how companies can utilize data from access control to better manage their business