The Best Next-Gen Physical Door Access Control System

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About 4 years ago we moved to new offices here at Telcion. We love this space. It’s bigger, has that brick building retro feel with modern design, and is located in beautiful downtown Turlock. When we moved in, a physical door access control system was already in place. It used key fobs, which worked fine at first but became more annoying over time.

What We Didn’t Like About the Old System:

1. We had to rely on a vendor to program new key fobs.

Every time a new hire needed a key fob, we would have to wait days for the vendor to program it. A lengthy process for a simple task.

2. Key fobs are old-fashioned compared to mobile access.

If you’re walking up to the door with your hands full, digging into your pockets for a key fob is a pain. Especially when you consider that we all have Bluetooth- and NFC-enabled smartphones and sometimes even smart watches on us at all times.

3. It wasn’t integrated with our Meraki video surveillance platform.

We knew that being able to integrate access logs with security video footage would be a nice feature to have.

We knew there had to be a better access control system out there that would benefit both us and our clients.

While researching, we learned that most access control systems rely on multiple vendors. One vendor makes the reader at the door. One vendor makes the controller that connects these readers and works with a customized cloud solution. Another vendor handles the mechanical or magnetic strike locks.  And finally, another vendor installs and maintains everything. This is not ideal.

After three months of research and testing, we found an access control system that we believe is the best fit for most of our clients and for us.

The solution we chose is based on a cloud system by Genea. It’s as close to perfect as we could get.

What We Love About the New System:

1. Our new door readers support Bluetooth and NFC mobile devices.

This lets us open doors with our smartphones and watches. We love this feature.

2. It's managed through a cloud-based web app.

We can add and remove users whenever we want, as well as easily view reports. We can also add guest users for a fixed time as well, giving them access without an escort.  

3. Our Meraki video cameras integrate with the cloud solution so that the access control logs are linked to video footage.

4. Installation didn't require us to replace any of our existing wiring.

The Genea access control system really fixes the issues we had while giving us some cool new features as well.

We’re happy to be able to offer this to our clients and would love to provide a demo any time you like.