For many owners and operators looking at making proptech and smart building investments, access control is the first area they examine – and for good reason, as modern access control solutions are a win/win/win for residents, on-site staff, and owners and operators.
Proptech solutions enhance safety and convenience, while also improving worker efficiencies and supporting new use cases.
Access control solutions may be composed of one or multiple parts – a gate and intercom system in the case of gated communities, an intercom or buzzer on a base building, access restricted elevators, restricted amenity rooms, and smart door locks on residential units. Oftentimes, access control solutions are integrated with other solutions such as self-guided touring solutions, maintenance management platforms, and delivery services such as Amazon Key, or even smart concierge platforms.
Key Benefits of Access Control Solutions
- Enhance community safety and security by restricting access to authorized persons
- Remove the need for on-site staff to buzz in delivery drivers
- Reduce incidents of residents locking themselves out of their units
- Minimize key and fob replacement costs
- Provide maintenance staff and contractors access to residential units or restricted areas, cutting down on the need to pull keys
- Create a log of contractors and other workers entering and leaving the property or residential units
- Allow residents to remotely grant access to the property or their units for services such as delivery drivers, cleaners, dog walkers, etc.
- Provide self-guided tours to prospective residents
- Support centralized leasing efforts
Access control is a desired resident amenity. Safety and security are of great interest to residents and prospective residents, with multifamily residents in a recent Parks Associates study rating the importance of security systems in their next home and community at the same level of importance as they rated a fitness center or gigabit internet speeds.
Next-gen solutions that support mobile credentialing, allow smartphones – or even smartwatches – to serve as a key to residential units or to the property, providing great convenience to residents. Guest access and guest management solutions also make it easier for residents to admit their visitors onto the property, compared to having to traditional callboxes or having to collect visitors in person.
This is an excerpt from Modernizing Multifamily Housing: Retrofitting Access Control, published in partnership with Kwikset. This white paper explores how owners and operators are responding to shifting conditions by retrofitting solutions, particularly access control, into their existing properties. It provides insights into how retrofitting is being used to justify rents, increase asset value, improve operational efficiencies, reduce cost, and improve resident satisfaction.
It examines how new access control solutions are being used to lower total cost of ownership compared with mechanical systems and how companies are deploying these technologies into even unconnected properties.
