Security is a top priority of businesses of all types, sizes, and industries; that’s why we here at Time Business are sitting down today to outline 5 benefits of access control in the workplace.

Access control is defined as any system that can allow or deny access to your business  as a whole or, more commonly, physical or digital spaces associated with your business. Whether you are a business owner who is weighing up the pros and cons of your own access control system (or if you’re looking to upgrade yours), refer to this guide to learn why it’s a worthwhile investment.

Access Control Provides Ease of Access For Employees

No matter which variation of Time Business access control you opt for (whether that be PM Tronics, Amanonet, Nexus 220, or turnstiles and pedestrian barriers), it provides ease of access for both existing and future employees.

Ease of access:

• Streamlines access for all employees
• Makes providing access to future employees quick and, if desired, automated
• Ensures that employees, if fired, cannot access confidential data or physical locations

This makes day-to-day security easier for business owners and staff alike.

One of the main reasons why access control can achieve this is…

Access Control Eliminates the Need for Traditional Keys

Traditional keys are easily locked, quickly copied by thieves, commonly broken, and sometimes even left in the keyhole: all of which pose huge security risks to your business.

Regardless of whether you are looking to protect physical goods, data stored on computers in your storefront, and/or your staff, the ability to eliminate traditional keys is a boon for many business owners.

Access control systems can come in the form of simple cards, keypad entry, physical barriers, or fingerprint-based AI, all of which make both entry and theft prevention more convenient than ever before.

Protect Against Unwanted Visitors With Access Control Systems

Whether it be for digital information, physical goods, or general safety, protecting against unwanted visitors is a must.

Nexus 220 is a great example of this: complete with multi-site solutions, fully redundant offline integration, full anti-passback support, building management and elevator control, ID badge design and printing, consistent tech support, and much more, having enhanced security doesn’t have to come at the risk of complicating your entry and exit protocols.

Access Control Grants Easy Access to Multiple Buildings and Locations

Traditional security, particularly keys, bog down processes when it comes to access control for multiple locations. This is especially true for hospitals that need different access requirements for different staff, schools that have overlapping faculty, or even retail spaces where protocols are different at each branch.

Access control works to circumvent these common security pitfalls by safely, securely, and easily tailoring who needs access when, no matter where they’re located.

Comply With Industry Regulations and Security Standards Thanks to Access Control Systems

Lastly, access control systems can help you comply with industry regulations by:

• Systematizing how medical leave is tracked
• Safeguarding customers’ financial data
• Restricting access to server information
• …And so much more

If you are ready to enjoy the many benefits of access control, contact us today to get started.

At Time Business, we pride ourselves on offering comprehensive commercial access control, signage, parking, and point of sale systems for your business.

One of the most important elements of a security system at your property is having comprehensive access control in place.

Today, we are outlining the three types of access control your business needs for both security and ease of use.

Commercial Access Control Type #1: Property Access Control

Streamlined property access control is a non-negotiable for any commercial premises.

Regardless of your business’s on-site location, ensuring that the right people are securely and conveniently permitted access:

• Heightens overall security
• Reduces the risk of vandalism
• Works to diminish disruptions to staff
• Helps clients and collaborators feel more at ease
• Is a long-term investment that pays itself off

Property access control commonly comes in the form of gated parking systems. At Time Business Solutions, these systems can also be tailored to your business’s specific property access needs.

Commercial Access Control Type #2: Building Access Control

Coming hand-in-hand with property access control is building access control.

Essential for secure and easily-managed identification, authentication, and authorization, building access control makes it so only staff can access designated areas.

This significantly cuts back on the risk of intruders, raises industrial safety, and deters general criminal activity, especially when combined with our video analytics inclusion, which can:

• Create a virtual boundary around a facility’s perimeter
• Be set up to trigger a notification if an individual enters certain areas
• Send email or text notifications to appropriate individuals
• Watch for object removal or abandoned objects
• Secure access doors and parking garages via tailgating detection

Commercial Access Control Type #3: Secure Area Access Control

If there are high-value or dangerous materials on-site, secure area access control works to protect both your staff and your assets.

Particularly important for the industries of manufacturing, wholesale, oil, gas, airports, and hospitals, secure area access control regulates who can view and/or use specific resources. These resources include goods, files, devices, and equipment.

Secure area access control grants:

• Enhanced peace of mind
• Further data control
• Compliance with data privacy laws
• Upheld cyber security standards
• The ability to easily and securely switch permissions as staff roles change

Contact Our Team At Time Business to Set Up Your Business’s Commercial Access Control Today

If you are interested in learning more about commercial access control or any of our other access control products, contact our team at Time Business Solutions today to talk to one of our qualified product experts.

We are always available to review your business and tailor access control systems to your business’s needs. Reach out today!

When introducing access control, it is important to qualify which type of access control is being described. It is applicable in both the fields of physical security and information security. For our purposes, this article will describe access control as it relates to physical security. Information Security access control is related to securing access to software or information and will not be discussed here. Physical security access control, herein referred to as simply ‘access control,’ relates to using a combination of software and hardware to manage access to physical locations within or outside a building or facility. This could be a healthcare related facility (ex. Seniors Care Home), a retail location (ex. store or restaurant), municipal building (government building), commercial space (ex. Office building), or residential building (ex. Apartment complex).

Access control allows for the automated verification of individuals accessing a facility. The identification is possible through the use of credentials, like proximity cards and pins, combined with software which verifies or denies the credential being presented at the access point. An access point is any entry/exit point for a facility which needs to be controlled (ex. interior/exterior door, vehicle gate to parking lot, exterior man-gate). Once a user presents their credential, and the system has authenticated the user, the user will be able to use their credential at any access point for which the user has been granted access in the software.

Access control could be summarized as, “who, what, and when?” When a credential like a proximity card is presented to a reader, the software will answer, “who has presented their card and is the card valid?” If authorization is granted, the system software will then answer the question, “what is the user allowed to access?” For example, in a multi-unit commercial building users from all tenant business may be granted access to the communal garbage room, however, employees of the tenant business would be restricted to only accessing the business of the employer along with the garbage room. Every transaction (ex. card read) would be time stamped and logged in the system answering the question, “when?”

It can also work in conjunction with the surveillance cameras so you can see the image of “who” is coming into or going out of the building. When a transaction happens in the software for an in read or an out read an identification of the tag holder can appear on the screen to assure the person at the door is indeed the person that should be holding the tag.

PM Tronics access control solution Omnia has been installed virtually everywhere there is a door to control. PM Tronics Omnia is currently operating at the following types of facilities across Canada:

• • • • Seniors Care Home
      • Big Box Retail Stores
      • Universities and Post Secondary
      • Office Buildings
      • Medical Facilities
      • Mixed Use Commercial Developments
      • Parking Lots and Garages
      • Apartment Buildings
      • Banks

If you are interested in adding access control to your facility, contact Time Business today to speak with one of our qualified product experts. We would be happy to review your operation and tailor a system just for you!

How many times have you washed your hands in the past year? Too many to count? Our behaviors are rapidly changing as our awareness about contact transmission rises due to the Covid pandemic. Fortunately, technology has evolved and there are a number of technologies you can use in your facility right now to limit contact and limit transmission.

To protect your premises you need access control solutions that are dependable and won’t slow people down. Amano McGann Canada brings Idemia’s patented, touchless 3D fingerprint technology, to Canada in the form of the MorphoWave Tower.

The MorphoWave has rapidly become the benchmark in frictionless access. The overwhelming success of the MorphoWave Tower deployments in major Fortune 500 companies across the globe not only proves the technology delivers on its’ promise, but also confirms the possibility to use it everywhere.

The Morphowave acquires four fingers in 3D for maximum accuracy, with one pass of the hand over the sensor. This ergonomic touchless solution delivers an unmatched combination of security, convenience, and throughput. Thanks to this solution, organizations can now ensure a frictionless access experience everywhere to authorized users…with a simple wave of their hand.

Check out the MorphoWave in action: 

If you would like to know more about the MorphoWave, or any of our other touchless solutions (ex. facial recognition for access control, touchless buttons for ticket dispensing in our parking equipment, etc.) please contact us today!

Séan Wingrave
Amano McGann
[email protected]

PS- Check out our touchless sensor for our parking equipment here!

There are many options to consider while planning the purchase of such a system. The best place to start is with the question, “why?”

Reflect on Why Your Business Needs Access Control

What is meant by the question, “why?” It is beneficial for the consultant to have a deep understanding of the goals for the project so that I can make the appropriate suggestions so the system will meet the goals of the customer. This may seem obvious, but many times when I visit with potential client they know, “they need a card access system,” however, in order to get the most value out of the technology we need to go a little deeper. Some examples include: is identification required? Is the focus on loss prevention? Is traffic flow for either people or vehicles (or both) a consideration? Is the focus more on securing the perimeter or the interior of the facility?

How Can Your Business Benefit from Access Control?

We will start with identification. For this example, we’re going to imagine a two-story professional building which houses multiple offices and businesses. There is a gated yard behind the building where businesses in the building park their fleet vehicles.  Two businesses are service companies and dispatch technicians with one starting dispatch from 7am-11pm, 7 days a week. As the owner of the building, you were approached by a tenant as they wanted to add an access control system to their doors. They’ve told you that the dumpster in the yard is always full and they’ve witnessed non-staff/tenants dumping garbage in the dumpster. You decided as a value add to your tenants you would take on the project yourself and provide access control to all tenants.

Determine the Goals of your Access System

As the owner, you would need to consider, “what is the goal?” You decide that the goal is to provide each tenant business with door control for their separate businesses and to control the vehicle gate which provides access to the yard. You also decide that the system will need to have the capability for scheduling (example, no one can access the yard from midnight until 6:59am, 7 days per week), and each business will need to be able to control their own set of credentials (ex. prox cards), schedules, and access points. Ultimately, the main goal is to secure the yard and the exterior of the building. If the tenants want additional door control inside their suites that will be up to them, but it must be accommodated for in the system.

Access Control System Planning

Next step would be the type of credential would you like to use? Proximity cards with a longer read range may be an idea for this site as there will need to be a reader to grant access for vehicles entering the yard. Some proximity systems allow enough of a read range so that the window doesn’t need to be rolled down (think ‘winter’).

There are other examples of credentials which can be used: fobs, mag-stripe, RFID, etc.). Additional questions are who provides the file maintenance for system, property manager or each tenant. You need to decide who has control of the fobs/cards for each business (they’ll be the ones assigning/programming cards) and the schedule for the entire building (ex. hours when the yard gate is open, access to electrical room, etc).

Building Your Complete Security System

Another thing to consider is if you would like your camera security system incorporated into your access control, now or later. Access through the vehicle gate may need to be linked to the access control system. If you wish control on who enters the parking facility, each tenant will require a credential to open the vehicle or side pedestrian gate for access.  This can affect the type of credential chosen for your tenants or a selection of tenants. Some credential options include push buttons (for remote access) combined with proximity or RFID technology for man-door access.

We can provide a single credential that will provide access to all points of entry. An option to consider is a full height turnstile for added security. When thinking about pedestrian controls, always remember to consider whether the access point will require wheelchair, stroller, or limited mobility access (ex. wheelchairs and strollers won’t go through a turnstile).

Trust the Security Experts

Hopefully the short example above will give property owners, who are considering access control, a basic understanding of how to plan for an access control system. There are many options to consider when planning to install access control. Considering these factors will help companies like Time Business perfectly tailor a system for your unique requirements.

Not sure where to begin? Give us a call and our experts can find the solutions that work best for you. 1.888.661.7444

Amano McGann Canada manufactures CCTV (security camera) based systems for retail environments. Time Business proudly offers, installs, and supports these solutions from Amano in the local markets we serve. Time Business recently had the opportunity to speak with James Edwards who is the Director of Sales for Amano McGann Canada to get his thoughts on CCTV systems, the retail space, and loss-prevention. James has over 15 years of experience providing both access control and CCTV systems to clients across Canada.

Here is the interview:

1. What does Amano McGann offer retailers?

– James Edwards- From a 10,000-foot view we have certain retail environments where it is just monitoring. We can install cameras and provide monitoring of high-value areas to ensure that if there is inventory which has gone missing, we can go back to the NVR (Network Video Recorder) to see exactly what happened during the period of time in question.

The second thing Amano does with retail is we monitor the actual number of people who come in and out of a store and time spent inside shopping.  This is important for marketing because they want to know what department the different genders go to first, as it affects how the store will be set up. Our technology can also monitor how much time people spend in each aisle or at each endcap studying products. The high traffic end caps are sold to vendors to showcase their products. For example, if a supplier wants to display their product on this end-cap it will actually cost more because this is a high-traffic area. Our system provides the data to back up this claim- how much time people are spending at that location; how much product is being purchased from that location; and how many people pass by the location.

The third area which we are very proud of is the development we’ve done loss prevention. In the past, CCTV solution providers were able to provide a ‘watch list.’ When someone who is on the watch list came into the store, a notification would be sent to staff and management. We’ve have now taken this to the next step, taking a picture and time stamping the watch list person. As the person goes through the store our cameras will follow them through the store through facial recognition software. When they go to a customer service desk for returns, the clerk will have access to the video file and when the person requested to ‘return’ a chainsaw. If the individual wasn’t carrying a chainsaw when they entered the store, the clerk will now question, “how are you returning a chainsaw when you didn’t have it when you entered the store?” The retailer has tools to control inventory losses in the store. This technology is very new specifically for the retail environment because this is a big problem. Amano McGann is having great success with Canadian Tire. Westburne Electric and numerous other retailers saving them from losses with this system.

2. What has changed since the emergence of Covid-19?

– James Edwards- A lot. When Covid hit in March 2020, people stopped going into stores and pivoted to ordering online and had the products delivered to their car.  Retailers are now starting to have areas where if you ordered online you pick your product up from a locker. Amano McGann Canada developed technology for those lockers using facial recognition cameras to ensure the patron is picking up the right package from the right area for their specific order. Our facial recognition cameras also monitor who is going in to pick up the packages and if something goes missing the software will allow us to save any scofflaws in the database and move them to a watch-list.

3. When you are talking to a retailer now, what are you recommending?

– James Edwards- We are still leading with loss prevention tools as it is the retailer’s biggest problem. The loss prevention solution provided by Amano is unique and is a big differentiator between us and our competition.

Time Business can help tailor an Amano Loss Prevention solution to greatly impact your bottom line. If you own or manage a retail business and you are looking for a loss prevention solution contact Time Business today. One of our representatives would be happy to take you through and explain your options and educate you on how the solution will impact your business. Contact Time today!

To state that the world has changed since the rise of Covid-19 would be an understatement. To state that the way in which we view care homes and long-term care facilities for seniors also forever changed. We need to do a better job of protecting the elderly and Amano McGann has the technology to help. I recently had the chance to speak with James Edwards, the Director of Sales for Amano McGann Canada about care homes and what solutions Amano has to help Care Homes and Long-Term Care Facilities protect our valuable senior citizens. James has worked both in the Access Control and CCTV (Security Camera) industries for over 15 years and has personally provided systems to Senior’s Care Homes across Canada.

Here is the interview:

1. What were the main solutions Amano McGann Canada provided Care Homes and Long-Term Care facilities for senior prior to Covid-19?

• James – With our cameras, access control solutions and magnetic locks, we secured the entire building while providing visibility into it. One of the most important sides of the care home business is the memory care area where people with Alzheimer’s must be continually monitored. It is crucial that each door is secured and that only people with the proper rights (credentials) have access to enter certain doors while the whole facility is monitored with cameras. Prior to Covid, our role as a technology integrator was twofold; first, to ensure that the exterior of the building was always being monitored. The second part of our role was to ensure the interior of the facility was completely monitored as well; including hallways, common areas, theatres, and activity rooms. We are now at the point where we can tell where any resident has been at any given time through a combination of monitoring which doors a resident has accessed (and when) by using cutting edge facial recognition technology.

2. What have been some of your greatest success with Care Homes?

• James – Right now we have one of the largest developers of senior’s care homes in Canada as a client, who has over 60 homes from coast to coast. When we first started working with them, we were securing their exterior doors. Now this client has grown with technology to the point where they have full interior and exterior access control combined with facial recognition camera systems. They now know where all residents are at all times, 24 hours per day, without having to go and look for them.

3. When you are approached by a Care Home and asked to consult on Access Control and CCTV (cameras), what do you suggest they should be looking for?

• James – Number one is that they’ll want to ensure they have no blind-spots in their facility, with focus on areas that they’ll think could be a problem. Risk Mitigation drives a lot of the decision making on technology. Examples would be if anyone gets out of the building, we can see them on the cameras or provide direction they went if they left the zone of coverage. The operator has comfort knowing that if there is activity, for example in the middle of the night, they will know who, what time and where that person is or went. If a door is opened in the middle of the night, the system immediately sends out an alert to staff. Memory care areas have to be secured in a different way than it would be if it was just assisted living or independent living. For residents with more independence they can be given access cards or fobs to provide access to areas which are restricted to memory care residents. It is important that common areas are also monitored for safety of all residents. A lot of times with older residents they sometimes have a bit of memory loss or dementia even in an independent living environment. For example, a resident may claim that someone, “took my watch.” However, they just couldn’t remember they just left it in their bathroom instead of where they would normally put it. The camera and access control allow the operator to know with certainty who has been in the room and when they were in the room. Ultimately, our technology mitigates a lot of risk for the retirement home.

4. What has changed in your role and how you consult Care Home and Long-Term Care Facilities since the emergence of Covid-19?

• James – The role hasn’t changed, it is still a consultative role, but the technology is providing increased security which are helping these homes. Retirement Homes are the hot spot of the Covid pandemic in North America, driving the highest number of cases. Amano provides technology to measure and record the temperature of all the residents and staff as are walking down a hallway. The new cameras can measure their temperature quickly combined with facial recognition. We can remotely allow them to enter the building or not if their temperature is within a variance of a normal temperature (0.03-0.05 degrees), protecting not only the residents staff as well. There has been another new development – using facial recognition, we are able to locate any resident at any time they have passed by a camera. For example, if someone came into see their father, the receptionist could do a search and be able to tell the visitor exactly the last time their father was spotted and where he currently is. It gives family members a secure feeling that everyone knows where their loved one is at all times.

5. Do you have any new recommendations when you go into these retirement facilities?

• James – The latest development is the body temperature reading cameras. Body temperature is the most adopted protocol used to determine if people are allowed to enter the facility. This technology has improved substantially since first released and the costs are more affordable as it is becoming widely adopted.

In today’s crazy Covid-19 environment can you risk the safety of your residents? Do you want to give their families the peace-of-mind to know that your staff can tell you where their loved one is at any time? Will you make every effort to mitigate the risks in your facility? If you are in the market for equipment for your long-term Seniors care facility contact Time Business today to book a free consultation. Our representatives are happy to introduce you to the latest technology focused on keeping your loved ones safe. Please contact us for a risk-free quote.