It can be difficult to find access control solutions that are both convenient and secure, but it’s not impossible. In a recent webinar, Moving to Mobile Access Control, James Moore of IFSEC Global and Peter Walsh of HID Global spoke with Allan Dawson, Workplace Services Team Manager at aircraft leasing company Avolon, about his company’s recent rollout of HID Mobile Access®.
In terms of end-user experience, the main benefit was convenience. They don't get people saying, “Oh, I left my card,” or going outside a secure zone within the building and needing help to get back in.
Travelling between floors
No one forgets their mobile phone when they pop outside for a bit of fresh air or to get a cup of coffee. That convenience for everybody is just very straightforward. In Avolon’s office in Dublin, the lifts are access controlled. So, if one wants to travel between floors, they need to activate the lift with their phone. If they forget anything that's going to authenticate them, they have to go to the ground floor and go through a process.
When people are traveling internally within the building, it's very easy for them to leave their cards behind. But again, they won't leave their mobile phone behind. From their perspective in relation to the administration, it's just seamless. It's a cloud platform.
Multiple administrative users
One doesn’t have to be on the corporate network to access any resources. They can do it from anywhere
One doesn’t have to be on the corporate network to access any resources. They can do it from anywhere. Given the current circumstances, Avolon’s office is effectively closed at the moment. But they still have new starters that are joining the business.
They still need to be able to go to the office to pick up the kit they need to work. So, to be able to issue them credentials from anywhere — whether one does it, whether one of the team does it — the convenience has just been excellent during this period of time. They have multiple administrative users, purely because of the time difference. If someone in Hong Kong needs a mobile access credential, they're not going to wait until Dublin wakes up to issue it.
Mobile access credentials
But because HID Origo is a cloud-based platform that doesn’t require any specific hardware on site, the person logs in, issues the credential and is able to manage that on their end.
The operator can see everything that happens. He can see all of the mobile IDs that were issued, when they're issued, who issued them, when they were activated and even further – one can see the mobile device that it's on. So, one knows whether it's an iPhone or an Android phone, Samsung, Huawei, whatever. So, it actually gives one a lot more information than just the mobile access credentials.