The fast-paced evolution of access control and its convergence with other security and credential technologies has dramatically reshaped the space, opening it up not only to a mass market of new customers but a wider variety of security pros.
Once reserved for large enterprises, enterprise-class systems and integrators, today dealers, locksmiths, etc. are seeing green, disproving out-of-date perceived pain points (i.e., access control is too complex and IT- or training-intensive).
Instead, they’re profiting, selling the huge growing market of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), seeking affordable, right-sized security and access control systems to protect themselves and staff .
Easy-to-retrofit wireless access locks slip over the holes of standard locksets, providing built-in ID readers and lockdown security in seconds. Don’t want to mess with door-hardware or software?
Embedded self-contained access panels have no software to load, plus convenient Bluetooth readers, where customers’ cellphones become omni-present access IDs.
Advanced, feature-rich IT-free, Cloud-based or cell-based auto-networking solutions are simply designed to speed deployment and account acquisition, cutting out the Ethernet woes and costly cable runs of too-often-overkill enterprise systems.
Selling 30 million+ SMBs nationwide offers real upside and a host of opportunities, including RMR, especially if one literally hosts the system management for accounts as a monthly service, a.k.a. ACaaS.
Judy Jones, Vice President, Marketing, NAPCO Security Technologies