Applying Today’s Access Control Trends to the Education Sector

As we began the new year, we spent a lot of time talking about how we expect the state of the access control market to look in 2019 and which trends we think will be the most notable in the industry. 2019 should be full of evolution and progress, as we’re seeing the latest technological advancements impact nearly every vertical in a positive manner.

One area that stands to benefit from emerging solutions and developments is the education sector. Access control has become a central component for the safety and security strategies of today’s schools, and due to the complicated threats and challenges these facilities face, a school’s access control technology must be innovative and intelligent enough to ensure comprehensive protection.

As we think about what’s to come for access control in educational organizations in 2019, we can take a look at some of the predicted trends for the industry and see how they apply to this market.

With the many buildings, open spaces and intricacies that make up an educational campus, the integration of multiple components and technologies into one common platform has become the ideal strategy for achieving maximum protection. Vanderbilt’s recent integration with Allegion, for example, enhances facility protection for K-12 schools and universities by enabling users to remotely monitor and lock down secondary perimeter doors with the touch of a button in the event of an emergency. These kinds of collaborations will only continue in 2019 and beyond, as access control providers form partnerships and provide paths toward full integration with solutions such as video management and intrusion.

As the cloud continues to prove itself as a viable and convenient data storage and management option, educational facilities are likely to leverage its flexibility and ease of use for efficient access control. An integrated, cloud-based access control and video management solution allows users to seamlessly monitor access activity throughout a campus and link events at doors with integrated video. 

Mobile credentials can be considered the future of access control as organizations start to transition away from the traditional physical key card. In the education market, where a younger generation is looking to leverage their smartphones as much as possible, mobile credentials can be beneficial for both operational and security purposes. Instead of issuing new keycards to students each semester, schools can issue virtual credentials to students remotely.

The demand for mobile credentials stems from the craving for mobility in general, which can apply to all aspects of access control. It has become increasingly paramount for school security officials to be able to investigate alarms, enable/disable credentials and view footage tied to access control systems from any location at any time.

Though educational facilities are now seeing more threats to the safety of students and staff than ever before, school security personnel can take a proactive stance by staying on top of and taking advantage of the latest access control technology trends.

Read more about how schools such as Gilbert Christian Schools in Arizona and Oregon State University are leveraging Vanderbilt’s technology for their access control needs.