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Benchmark Report
So instead of imagining, we decided to ask the market. And the results were very interesting indeed, particularly
How can physical access control systems add around the topic of centralised vs decentralised access control, an area where Nedap has a history of working
with large multinational companies who face the complex challenges of managing a global estate comprised of
different systems, a siloed approach to security, combined with local laws and regulations.

The below is an exert of The Physical Access Control Benchmark Report 2022, by Nedap Security
value to business? Management.

Centralised versus Decentralised Access Control
“Software-based applications and services are now on-hand to deliver genuinely unified and centralised forms
of management. The aim of all this, of course, is to improve convenience and security – equally important
factors in the specification process for access control purchases.”— IFSEC GLOBAL, Trends, Opportunities and
How can physical access control systems add value to
business? Challenges in Physical Access Control, 2021
To understand more clearly the access control challenges of
multinational enterprise companies around the world, Nedap Valuable benefits from centralisation
have been benchmarking using market research since 2017. As IFSEC states, centralised physical access control can bring improvements in security, because you can
mitigate risks more easily and ensure greater accuracy and consistency. And it can improve convenience as
users can access any locations they’re authorised for with one identifier.
In 2020, we took our research a step further to see if we
could find conclusive data on how access control could help
organisations improve their business processes. In short, we This isn’t where the benefits end though. Centralisation can also lead to improvements in efficiency because
wanted to learn how access control can add value to business. administrators can manage multiple locations remotely and it takes less time to manage one system than
several. And it can generate cost savings because you can take advantage of economies of scale and you
only have one system to set up and maintain. When it comes to futureproofing, it’s also easier to keep one
Persistent change
It’s clear that the relentless progression of technology is giving centralised system up to date and adapt it to meet your future needs and risks than working with a variety of
organisations a whole new range of ways to maximise the systems.
value of their access control systems. As IFSEC notes in its
2021 ebook, Trends, Opportunity and Challenges in Physical Is everyone centralising?
Access Control: “End users are demanding solutions that With this in mind, we assume that centralised access control would be the preferred choice. But is that always
provide convenience and security in equal measure, alongside the case? We asked security and facility management professionals around the world whether their access
questions over integration and open standards, remote control is centralised or decentralised.
connectivity and the cloud.”

But this advancement isn’t without challenges. The current
pace of change in technology can make it difficult for security
professionals to keep up with what’s on offer, what’s best for
their needs and how best to implement it.

A plethora of choice
With many of the big players in the access control market
stepping up their product marketing and distribution
channels, there is a lot of noise. In fact, Memoori Research
AB, an independent analyst company focused entirely on the
smart-building industry, indicates there are currently “145
established manufacturers of access control systems” (one
of which is Nedap). So you can imagine the range of factors
a multinational company must consider when choosing an
access control system that will support its business beyond
providing physical security.

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