Improving Apartment Access Control with IoT Technology

The Internet of Things is one of the most impactful technologies developed in recent years. With its help, people across all industries are changing the ways they live and work — and property management and security are no different.

Managing apartment access control is one of a property manager’s most important duties. The best properties strike a balance between effective security measures and a convenient access experience. Here’s how IoT can help out your residents and property staff alike.

What is IoT in Apartment Access Control?

IoT in apartment access control allows property security devices to make autonomous decisions and exchange information. This allows property staff to further secure their property while enabling convenient features for residents. 

In the wider world, the Internet of Things can solve many of the problems we face in our daily lives. Thanks to internet-connected sensors, we’ve been able to use the Internet of Things to do anything from mapping out more efficient routes with IoT-enabled cars and navigation systems to increasing the quality of your workouts. Thank IoT for all of the post-workout data that you get from your smartwatch!

You can even use IoT to upgrade security hardware like the following:

• Intercoms
  
• Gates
  
• Fob readers
  
• Vehicle access readers
  
• Elevator controls

These access devices can be hooked up to internet-connected sensors that allow them to solve problems and work together to eliminate redundant work.

Benefits of Apartment Access Control IoT for Residents

Residents can take advantage of IoT technology to improve every aspect of their access experiences. One of the most engaging and helpful ways residents can use IoT is to use their smartphones as a credential in their access control system.

These days, everybody has a smartphone in their pocket. Instead of carrying around an old-school brass key, residents can simply swipe to open on their phones to open the door or gate. 

That doesn’t just benefit tenants. When a resident loses a key, they tie up a staff member’s time — and take money from your building’s budget — because they need their key replaced. In the worst case, you have to replace an entire lock to ensure that nobody can gain access using the lost key.

Based on your property’s unique needs, you might want to secure certain areas on your property with access hardware like keypads or fob readers. With the help of the Internet of Things, your residents can use the same credentials across multiple devices. 

In an older system, a resident might need to carry around separate credentials for the door to the property, their own door, and any amenity spaces. However, in an IoT system, access hardware across your building can sync up and share the same credential database.

This cuts down on the number of credentials that somebody needs to access your building while maintaining security — and added convenience means happier residents.

IoT and Visitor Management

Smartphone app functionality also gives residents more features. For example, the best IoT access systems allow residents to text visitor passes to their residents.

A visitor pass is an electronic credential that gives visitors multiple ways to open the door. Visitors can scan a QR code or enter the PIN the pass provides, giving them independent access.

This increases convenience for residents and staff, who no longer have to tediously manage a set of brass keys — and because a virtual key expires, a guest can’t use the same credentials to gain unauthorized access at a later date.

How Staff Benefit from IoT Apartment Access Control

Your staff will certainly appreciate what IoT can do to improve their workflows. For example, staff can use an associated IoT technology — the cloud — to make edits and change resident permissions from anywhere, even if they’re offsite.

The cloud is an innovative way to use the internet instead of onsite servers to store data. Instead of spending your own money maintaining a server room and managing your own cybersecurity, you can depend on a reputable cloud-based company to safeguard resident data and facilitate IoT connections.

IoT devices depend on the cloud to exchange information and communicate with one another. The best IoT access control systems allow you to merge every access control device on your property into one cohesive ecosystem.

Moving a resident in means adding their credential to your access system, and you have to repeat that process when they move out. On a property without IoT integrations, you might have to spend hours manually programming each fob reader and keypad with a new credential. And you’ll have to expend all that effort again once a resident moves out. This isn’t just inconvenient — it’s also a security risk because a resident’s old credential left in your building’s system makes it easier for intruders and hackers to gain unauthorized access. 

However, on a property with IoT, adding a resident can be as simple as a few clicks. And when your access devices share information, that change can be propagated throughout your whole building automatically.