I love new technology, especially the advances being made in mobile devices. Tablets and smartphones and wearables, oh my! (Apologies to the Wizard of Oz, but I did grow up in Kansas)

And, I know I am not alone in my love of new mobile technology. In October 2015, Pew Research Center reported that 68% of U.S. adults have a smartphone, compared to 35% in 2011. Tablet users grew from 3% in 2010 to 45% in 2015. At the same time the percentage of desktop, laptop, game consoles, MP3 players and E-book readers flattened out or have started to decline. To me this makes sense as the smartphones and tablets being used today in many ways take the place of all other portable electronic devices. With so much evidence about the consumer’s preference to use mobile technology over what has historically only been possible with PCs, it still amazes me that the security industry is still so slow providing solutions that are truly tailored for today’s mobile user.

There is hope though. While there are some alarm systems and video systems have made some real traction with apps that allow for remote viewing and control via smartphones, physical access control systems are still behind the curve. That is, except for Brivo and the Brivo Mobile Pass. As the pioneer in providing true cloud based, cloud hosted access control, I expect Brivo to create a mobile user experience that is not limited by LAN/WAN access to the traditional server and client configuration most other PACS platforms operate on. While other manufacturers continue to focus on mobile credentials and BYOD, Brivo Mobile Pass allows the user to send a unique credential from an associated smartphone to their IP door controller without any card reader interface whatsoever. When I recently showed one of our customers how to add the Brivo Mobile Pass to their phone they exclaimed, “Are you kidding me?!? So now I can let my vendors through my gates without having to drive to the site or even log in with my computer? This is incredible!”

Now, do I believe this marks the beginning of the end for card readers at doors? Certainly not. In fact, one of my other customers will not allow their users to have the Brivo Mobile Pass because they are more concerned about security than the convenience that comes with it. This customer wants to ensure that their employees cannot let someone through a door without that employee physically being at the door. Real security is seldom convenient, but for the average access control user the convenience to assign a credential that the user is extremely unlikely to leave at home, outweighs the risk of that same user letting someone through a door they shouldn’t. Brivo already uses “Geo-fencing” which allows the app to automatically pop up when a user gets close to the sites they have access to, which is a feature I use on my office system everyday. I believe it will only be a matter of time before Brivo provides their own near field communications or WiFi module in order to allow customers who want to make sure their employees who are physically at the door the option to have convenience AND a higher level of security. In any case, if you are reading this and have never seen what SIS can do for providing security and convenience through our mobile apps please give us a call to schedule a demo. Frankly, I like showing off what I can do with my phone now more than new grandparents like showing off pictures of their grandbabies! At least until I have grandbabies of my own… 🙂