By Tim Purpura
Vice President Global Sales & Marketing, Morse Watchmans

Trends, Topics and Technologies

Securing Office Space in the Post-Pandemic World

Workers across all industries are getting back to work and planning to attend industry events such as ISC West where security professionals will have an opportunity to get together and resume some semblance of normalcy. However, it is pretty safe to assume that business practices moving forward relative to travel, in-person meetings, tradeshows and events are not going to look like they have in years past. The same holds true for in-office workforces, as hybrid office/work-from-home policies will most likely be with us for some time to come.

This presents an interesting challenge: how to best maintain tighter security and health safety protocols in buildings and offices that are largely empty with most of the desk jobs being performed remotely to help enforce social distancing. While there may be security officers on site or video surveillance, which is still being monitored, there is no getting around the fact that the absence of personnel may make the facility more vulnerable to criminals.

There is a large range of security products and protocols now available to help protect office spaces. Among these, one which could easily be overlooked but which is essential to overall security, is a key management solution.

Physical keys continue to be prevalent in every type of facility. Many internal and external doors, along with closets, cabinets, and drawers are secured only by their physical locks. The keys to these locks must be carefully controlled and managed in order to restrict access to only those individuals who have the need and authority to open them.

It can be shocking to go into a building management office and see drawers or shoe boxes full of loose keys. Even an “organized” pegboard can be a crime waiting to happen. Often these keys can be taken by anyone, and there is little recourse if a key goes missing. Manual log-keeping is highly prone to errors and entries lacking information as well.

Should a key ever get into the wrong hands, there are a number of negative outcomes that could result. A criminal could make a copy of the key to an office, storeroom or server closet and use it to commit multiple crimes. The loss of a key might require expensive replacement of locks for one or many doors.

To best ensure the highest level of control and safeguarding for keys, there is no substitute for a key management system. These high-tech key boxes turn each individual key or key set into a data point, so that the use of each can be limited, tracked and audited. Keys or key sets are permanently attached to a fob with a data chip. In order to access a fob, it is necessary to enter credentials in the form of a pin, ID card or biometric information, providing date, time and personnel information each time the fob is removed or replaced within the cabinet. The system can be configured to suit the user, with multiple forms of credentials required for authority if desired.

The key cabinet itself can be kept in a restricted-access location, with an additional credential station located outside. With this in place, only those individuals who have authority to remove keys from the cabinet can actually touch the cabinet.

If a building is empty and a criminal does attempt to break into the key cabinet, alarms and notifications can alert management that an incident is taking place. Should there be a fire, flood, or other incident that requires immediate attention, first responders can be provided with the instant information they need to find and access exactly the keys they require.

A great deal of attention is being given today to security solutions with the most advanced technology. Artificial intelligence, predictive analytics and other leading-edge innovations often attract much of the attention at conferences and in the press. These emerging technologies are highly important – however, it is also important to keep in mind the realities of what is currently in place in office buildings, and how to best secure those spaces given that reality.

Physical keys are in use in virtually every building today. These keys must be controlled and protected in order to ensure that the premises are as secure as they can possibly be. And this is especially vital at the current moment, when there may not be a full staff of security guards present at the site.

Staying safe in today’s world includes protecting the keys that protect offices and corporate spaces.