International. We've been talking about returning to the workplace for over a year and while we need to be closer to that happening, there's no clear end to the pandemic in sight.
The launch of vaccines has certainly accelerated our path to the end of the crisis, but that end is unlikely to be a definable moment. Instead, we will begin to return to our offices when the balance between public health and economic pressure drives regulations to allow it. This will be while the virus is still circulating, albeit with a lower infection rate. Therefore, our buildings will need to be part of the solution by protecting occupants from virus transmission, and these strategies need to start with access control.
According to the 2021 Return to Office Survey published by Brivo and WhosOnLocation, 53% of workers expect to return to a full-time physical office in the next six months. However, 59% of respondents have expressed health and safety concerns about return. According to the survey, the biggest concerns about returning to work are office hygiene and protective measures, proximity to other workers, and the effectiveness of contact tracing. All of these aspects can be addressed, at least in part, by access control systems designed specifically for virus mitigation and physical security.
"As COVID vaccines are rolled out, organizations that have been operating remotely or with lower capacities are now planning to return to offices and other workplaces. While some may remain permanently remote, those returning must address health and safety," said Steve Van Till, CEO and founder of Brivo. People need simple, practical ways to enforce contact tracing, social distancing, and healthy building requirements."
"Software has always been an important factor in the development and growth of the physical security business. We are now entering a new era in the video surveillance business powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI)," explains our comprehensive physical security report. Artificial intelligence technology can and will make a direct and massive contribution to increasing the performance and value of video surveillance solutions. However, security systems are by no means an island and in many cases will ultimately need to be connected to the broader IoT, if all the information is to be turned into actionable data."
When integrated with AI-enabled occupancy analysis and video surveillance, access control systems can bring a much greater degree of detail to track and trace systems, then access control can prevent identified occupants and visitors from re-entering before they are authorized to do so.
Sometimes the access control system itself can be part of the problem, especially in the context of infected surfaces. Many existing access control systems involve physical barriers that must be moved by those entering or leaving the building, other systems involve touching cards or phones on readers or handing over identification to security personnel, such systems can become a hotbed of virus transmission and undermine return. strategies to work with. In response to this, contactless entry systems are becoming a necessity for buildings that require access control for security in the post-COVID era. Smartphone apps and AI-enabled facial recognition lead the way in this regard and those embedded in broader building systems can offer greater security and functionality.
"From a design perspective, there is a growing demand, due to COVID-19, for contactless access. In this case, the integration of technologies and the use of machine learning can be leveraged to provide efficient, safe and secure access. Machine learning and artificial intelligence are well suited to leverage data sets and, over time, understand conditions and match them to access control and individual requirements," said Salvatore D'Agostino, CEO of IDmachines. The more physical security systems adopt standard data types, sets and structures and the smarter these systems become, the more intelligence can be put into predictive analytics."
Predictive analytics is a goal of access control. Understanding who is likely to enter the building, where they are likely to go, who they will meet, and what they might touch provides even more details for virus mitigation strategies. However, just like controlling occupancy levels, implementing secure contactless entry systems, biometrics, contact tracing, and advanced predictive analytics, access control systems need to be integrated into broader systems. For buildings with definitive virus intelligence, access control can play an important role in an integrated ecosystem of technology technology that provides data streams to be analyzed by AI. The result is a building that intelligently enforces preventive and protective virus control that will support a safe and productive return to the workplace.
"While AI is becoming an integral part of business operations in a myriad of market segments around the world, security applications have been slow to adopt it in the mix. However, the additional health risks that organizations now face due to COVID-19 have forced both security solution providers and users to rethink how AI can help mitigate those risks," says Kurt J. Measom, vice president of technology at Boon Edam Enterprise Security. Integrated systems are leveraging advances in AI-powered solutions that are accelerating the development of cloud integration platforms and a growing inventory of mobile access control devices, contactless and biometric options."
Source: memoori.
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