Intercoms, on their own, are a powerful security tool. The technology enables facilities to effectively screen visitors before permitting them to enter a secure area. Two-way audio allows security staff or front desk personnel to communicate with a visitor, while an intercom equipped with an IP camera enables visual verification.
Trusted and cost-effective, intercoms have been successfully deployed in environments such as multi-tenant facilities, educational settings, healthcare campuses and corporate offices, to name a few. However, users can greatly enhance their building security by pairing intercom systems with access control, improving the ability for facility managers to more effectively manage access into their buildings.
Here are a few examples of how intercoms and access control are complementary security technologies, and why facility managers should leverage the inherent advantages of integrating these technologies as part of their overall facility security program.
Increase security
The old adage “two is better than one” appropriately describes the benefits of combining access control and intercoms to significantly enhance building security. Access control systems autonomously restrict unauthorized entrance into a building by requiring the person requesting access to either present an access control credential, such as a badge, or to enter a passcode into a keypad. Intercoms, on the other hand, provide a communication tool and enable front desk staff or security personnel to verify identity, and to speak with visitors before they are permitted to enter.
When used together, intercoms and access control systems provide a multi-layered approach to security. This is especially important for IT server rooms, cash rooms and pharmacies, which typically require both a badge in and badge out action and the ability to identify who was in a space at a particular time through event logging.
Improved monitoring
It can be challenging for facility managers to effectively monitor building access. Technology, like intercom systems, when combined with an access control platform, can alleviate this problem by providing real-time monitoring of successful and failed access attempts.
Let’s say that a person tries to gain access into a building by using a keypad attached to an intercom system. After several wrong attempts, security personnel can use the intercom’s two-way audio to communicate with that individual. Security staff can ask the person if they need assistance, such as in the case of an authorized employee who may have forgotten their entrance code. Or, if it’s someone who is not permitted to enter the premises trying to gain access, security personnel can also directly speak with that individual via the two-way audio to tell them they are not authorized to enter and to leave the property.
Intercoms and access control systems can enhance user experience, improve security and enable security staff to effectively monitor facility entrances and the people requesting access to enter a premises. Together, they help property managers or school security staff to reduce the risk of security breaches.
