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Our Corporate Partners

The extensive reach of access

control and what value that brings

There’s a long running television program called the Antiques Roadshow.
Whether or not you want to admit you watch it, is up to you. But I confess: It’s
a pretty great show that I’ve never missed an episode of. In fact, I can even
draw some metaphors to physical access control from it. But let’s back up a
second for those of you who aren’t familiar with the show at all.

Antiques Roadshow originated in the UK, and there are now several
international versions of the show. It’s that popular! The premise being total
strangers haul in their suspected antiques aka junk and/or “dusty stuff” to be
examined and valued by auction house experts. Sometimes, owners of said
antiques are shocked to learn that their goods are worth huge sums of money
(you can see one of these examples of “The Rolex Guy” to get an idea of the
stories behind the show).

But, what does any of this have to do with physical access control systems (PACS)? I’m glad you asked…

The difficult part first: Some ugly truths about access control
More often than not, these antiques I mentioned at the start of this blog were sitting in someone’s basement—
long forgotten. When their owners decide it’s time to dust it off and take a good look at what they actually
have, it’s not so much different than underappreciated, underutilised, and undervalued treasure sitting in your
company headquarters’ basement?

Think about the last time you started a new fancy job, somewhere with its own corporate campus, let’s say.
The C-suite probably sat at the top of one of the towers of the complex . You probably took an elevator up to
the fancy HR office, signed your contract, got shown your desk or office with a view, and then you were told to
“report to the basement level” to get your security ID/key card. Just because access control systems don’t tend
to be “bling bling” and shiny, they’re often overlooked and ignored when they’re crucial to your business.
If we’re being completely honest, when was the last time someone invited you to come and have a look at (or
bragged) about their new fancy....card readers? If you’re a security manager or leader, you know this already.
You’ve probably been shouting about the possibilities of physical access control since its inception, or since
the IoT revolution. But because 90% of access control systems are hidden away, they go un-noticed. Their
potential as a business driver, changer, and influencer never gets realised.

But what if we told you that our expert appraisers at Nedap Security Management could come to where you
are, visit your town like on Antiques Roadshow, and tell the watching crowds what we’ve found?

“We’ve found a treasure! Let’s put it on display and show it off. Let’s see what this system can do!”
Granted, it doesn’t have to be that theatrical, but let’s face it. All too often, physical security is seen as a “grudge
purchase”— something that must be done to either simply tick a box and say the facility is “secure,” or because
its mandated by regulations.

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