Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Keys or Cards? What's the Problem?

  • 02/01/15

Near field communication (or NFC) may well be the future of access control on college campuses — because NFC solves the major problems associated with key and card access systems.

What are those problems? Ingersoll Rand interviewed more than 1,000 key influencers at U.S. colleges and universities to find out.

Key problems: Eighty percent of the survey participants complained about the number of lost and stolen keys. Sixty-three percent identified the failure of key-users to return keys as a problem. Forty percent pointed to the problem of damaged or broken keys. In each incident of lost keys, keys not returned and damaged keys, the school would need to issue a new key and send someone to re-key the lock to fit the new key. Costs include materials and labor.

Card problems: In the Ingersoll Rand interviews about cards, 70 percent identified lost or stolen cards as a major problem. Fifty-six percent cited damaged or broken cards as problematic. Twenty-two percent pointed to the time required to manage the cards.

NFC solves each problem. As you probably know, students, faculty and everyone else, for that matter — rarely lose smartphones. Sure, it happens now and then. When it does, all the credential administrator must do is turn off the permissions. The student or faculty member replaces the phone and reloads the credentials.

The same goes for damaged phones. The administrator turns off the permissions on the damaged phone. The owner replaces the damaged phone and reloads.

Since the user owns the phone, there is nothing to return at the end of the year.

When only a handful of phones get lost, stolen or damaged, the time required to manage the system plummets.

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • Round Rock ISD Completes New Early College High School

    Round Rock ISD near Austin, Texas, recently announced that construction is complete on a new, 46,500-square-foot campus for Early College High School, according to a news release. The new facility will allow the school’s students and staff to move from portables into a permanent building and increase its enrollment to 500.

  • Full Sail University Announces First Student Housing Facility

    Full Sail University in Winter Park, Fla., recently announced that development has begun on its first student housing community, according to a news release. The university is partnering with Nvision Development for construction and long-term management of the facility, which will stand five stories and have the capacity for more than 570 beds.

  • University of Oklahoma Announces New Campus Master Plan

    The University of Oklahoma in Norman, Okla., recently announced that it will soon launch a new, comprehensive Campus Master Plan to guide the campus’ physical development during the next decade, according to a news release.

  • Northeastern University Breaks Ground on New Housing Community

    Northeastern University recently announced the groundbreaking of a new student housing community on its campus in Boston, Mass., according to a news release. The university is partnering with American Campus Communities (ACC) for development of the project, which will have the capacity for 1,200 students and has a scheduled completion date of fall 2028.