In this series, GIT SECURITY EMEA ask three questions to three industry expert about the issue's special focus. This time we asked experts for mobile access solutions:

1. What applications are best suited for mobile access?
2. How can users integrate your solution into their access control system?
3. Where is the strength of your mobile access solution?

Marketing & Communications Director Digital and Access Solutions at Assa Abloy Opening Solutions EMEA

1. Lost credentials pose a serious threat to workplaces. Over 17% of respondents admitted to losing an RFID card in the last year. Mobile access helps: it’s harder to lose your smartphone, and likely you will quickly spot it missing. If a phone is stolen, password, pattern and fingerprint ID security prevent a thief gaining entry. Student halls of residence, for example, augment security with mobile access credentials. Few students instantly notice a missing smart-card; almost none survive long without their phone! App access control is also growing fast in the co-working sector. The workers of the future are embracing mobile access… right now.

2. Assa Abloy’s Openow mobile access solution integrates seamlessly with our Smartair portfolio of wireless door locks and other locking devices. Smartair Openow mobile access control enables security managers and site users to manage virtual “keys” inside a smartphone app. With Openow mobile access, facility managers can amend every virtual key’s access rights whenever they want and wherever they are. If a security administrator cancels a virtual key, it vanishes immediately from the user’s Openow app. A recent upgrade brings Openow online functionality to Update-on-Card systems — with no updaters and no hubs. Another of our solutions, Cliq Connect enables updating of our programmable Cliq keys from a mobile phone — perfect for workers and contractors on the move.

3. In Assa Abloy’s most recent Wireless Access Control Report, senior security professionals cite “the ability to remotely permit access to non-employees and revoke credentials instantly” as the biggest benefits of mobile access control. Mobile access also makes it easy and affordable to mandate multi-factor identification, via PIN protection for the access app, on-phone biometric security (fingerprint, face ID), or a combination of both. It’s also more convenient for everyone. Facility managers issue, revoke or amend access rights from anywhere, including from their own smartphone. When users store virtual keys on their phone, they no longer carry a fob, badge or any hard credential.

Vincent Dupart, CEO at STid

1. The access control market demands intuitive solutions. The smartphone has become the new key to access control thanks to its operational efficiency, smooth access and intuitiveness. On average, employees use a badge 11 times per day. This can be a real burden. But while new solutions have to be more flexible, they must also guarantee that data is protected. For more than 20 years, STid has been protecting people, data and the property of the most demanding businesses, governments and industries. We have clearly anticipated this shift towards intuitive and ultra-secure technologies with our STid Mobile ID solution.
 
2. In concrete terms, STid Mobile ID is a global, open ecosystem consisting of:

• An online platform that manages, distributes and administers dematerialized access badges
• A mobile app compatible with Android and iOS that acts as an authentication mode with Architect Blue readers
• Web APIs and a development kit to open up the ecosystem

We talk about an open ecosystem because a company can fully incorporate STid Mobile ID into its own system: the solution can be adapted to the high-security zones in a company. STid Mobile ID is available in a cloud-based version, or in a version hosted by a third party. It can be tightly integrated into all access supervision and control systems.
 
3. STid Mobile ID digitalizes all your access badges in a single mobile application. The system manages physical employees or visitors entrance, access to a virtual workstation, etc., and the smartphone, when simply switched on, and even during phone calls, becomes a means of identification. Users can tap their smartphone twice, move their hand over the reader, enter a room directly, without taking any specific action, or pass their phone in front of a reader.
But this need for intuitiveness must not be detrimental to security. STid has a strong end-to-end command of the security chain to guarantee the protection and the confidentiality of data. Proud to offer this intuitiveness, without compromising security levels!

Michael Unger, Vice Precident Product Managment at Salto Systems

1. Salto Mobile Key offers the access control industry a multitude of possibilities and can extend a security solution to include convenience as well as more efficient operations. Mobile key solutions leverage – and capitalize – on the fact that mobile phones have become the most integral part of our lives. Mobile access control solutions provide users with a keyless experience they value because it gives them instant and remote accessibility without sacrificing security or comfort. With the introduction of the Mobile Key functionality, we are one step closer to a smart keyless world. It becomes easier and more intuitive to open any door for yourself or for anyone you want to grant access to – no matter where on the globe you might be. Mobile Key technology brings a variety of access control options to your building that can enhance your user experience beyond expectation. Mobile key is about enabling connectivity among people, smart locks, and operations enabling distributed security wirelessly in any type of building and technology application.

2. At Salto Systems, we’ve always invested in research and development to continually refine and improve our products. One of the key areas that we devote a great deal of time and resources into is in developing integrations with other technology partners to combine and incorporate their services with our products. This results in improved technology and solutions which increase efficiency at a managerial level and optimises security for access control and security overall. Salto’s Application Programming Interface (API) allows third-party applications to easily operate and manage the Salto smart wire-free electronic locking platform. By providing an API, Salto gives security systems and building integrators all of the flexibility they need in developing their own application that best fits their ecosystem. This also provides the (building) system integrator full control over its (Cloud) management systems and business strategies. When the Salto integrations team receives a request to evaluate how the respective technologies can work together, Salto sends a Software Development Kit (SDK) for Mobile Key integration and the groups work together to integrate the API. This process gives Salto and our colleagues in the security industry an opportunity to work together and elevate the solution for our end users. And it doesn‘t matter with which Salto platform you want to integrate. Mobile Keys are available for both, the on-prem system Salto SPACE - data-on-card -, as well as the Salto KS - Keys as a Service - platform.

3. Technologically cutting-edge, Salto’s Mobile Key technology means the end of lost key hassles, expense, and waste. Plus, the technology isn’t limited to smart locks on a regular door. JustIN Mobile technology can also be used on a variety of Salto electronic lock applications: main entrance wall reader doors, elevators, car park barriers, meeting rooms, emergency exits, electronic cylinders, locker locks, cabinets – the list goes on.
There is also an expanding list of features associated with JustIN Mobile including dynamic user key management, automatic key renewal and cancellation, user key cancellation, and the ability to update the lock’s blacklist via a mobile phone. The blacklist capability, for example, increases security and prevents fraud by improving control of user access and management of access rights. Incorporating mobile access into building security ecosystems without jeopardizing security is essential to maintaining safety. Flexibility is also crucial because some users may not be using mobile credentials. Being able to mix and match systems technology, hardware, and credentials is a must and is a priority offering from Salto.

Read our in-depth Special Focus: The Ins and Outs of Access Control: