Setting demands for digital locks - #1 Goals and value creation

Mobile access and digital locks are accelerating at an increasing rate in the security market. Getting rid of traditional key management, reducing costs and creating new business models are some of the factors driving demand. But where should you start in your requirements for a digital lock solution?

For the individual consumer's apartment or house, the choice between different solutions is based more on price, liking and taste. But for property owners and companies that have to manage 100s or even 10,000s of locks and users, the requirements and questions become more and more complex. For companies, the goal of mobile access is one of the most important elements in choosing the right solution for their needs.

Let's first define what a digital lock is and the differences between them.

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What is a digital lock?

Different suppliers in the market have different definitions of what a digital lock is, for example: a lock controlled via a access control system, a lock that can be opened with the smartphone and PIN codes, or even a synonym for a "smart lock" for the consumer market. 

Parakey's definition is "an electric lock that opens with the smartphone and where all the technology is housed in the lock"..

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Differences between digital locks

The locks can be divided into two categories if we start from the differences between the locks that fit well with Parakey's definition of what a digital lock is: 

1. Consumer lock - These are the usual suspects that can be bought in stores like Elgiganten. They are used in connection with home automation and allow the individual owner to unlock his villa.
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2. Professional digital lock - Used by companies like real estate companies that will handle larger volumes of locks and users, meet insurance requirements, automate and distribute key management to tenants.

Ownership of the professional digital lock lies with the company or real estate company, which has equipped premises, spaces and apartments with digital locks. Which is a big difference from the consumer lock where the user himself makes purchases, holds ownership and administers mobile keys via a smartphone app. 

Being able to manage mobile keys and users on a large scale via web portal, integrations and allocated administration to each tenant is something that distinguishes the professional digital lock. Consumer locks can more or less only be managed via a smartphone app on a limited scale of about 5 locks and 10-20 users. 

Something that further distinguishes the locks is the service life and quality. Hence, the professional digital locks are of industrial quality to minimize maintenance and to be reliable for significantly longer periods of time.

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What values should the digital locks create?

The requirements for products and digital locks differ depending on the different areas of use and objectives. By reversing the tape and asking what values the digital locks should create and the problems and challenges that should be minimized, the outcome of the requirements can be very different. 

As the Nordic region's largest supplier of mobile access for businesses, we have helped our customers realize their values and goals;

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Cost savings and efficiency

Keys to be handed out and recovered. fobs which is lost and needs reprogramming. And the Excel list of who has and should have access where - is it up to date? In most real estate companies, up to 40% of a manager's time can be spent on key-related issues. 

Sending mobile keys to users reduces the need to distribute physical keys and fobs completely. If the possibility exists to allocate the right to the individual tenants (commercial and residential) to manage mobile keys on their own, key management is dramatically reduced. 

To further reduce costs, mobile access can also be used to minimize "boom runs" for external contractors in properties. As a property owner, you can often recoup any monthly service costs for mobile access in a property in just one "boom run".

Realize new revenue opportunities and business models

A clear trend is to be able to capitalize further on their properties and premises. When the need to hand out physical keys completely disappears, great opportunities are opened up to realize new business models. The most popular models we see in our customers today are;

• Offer "turnkey" premises that include mobile access and security alarm in exchange for a rent increase for the commercial tenant.
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• Offer fully ready-to-move-in premises with short-term contracts. The premises are fully furnished where the commercial tenant pays an increased monthly rent for the service. In order to significantly reduce the administration of moving in and out, distributed administration is used where the tenant manages his/her staff while the property owner has the power to block all mobile keys when moving out.
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• "Smart locks" for rental apartments against a rent increase.
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• Bookable spaces such as conference rooms and association premises. When booking the space, a booking fee is charged and a mobile key is sent out automatically and is only valid for the time booked.

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Increased customer satisfaction and valued landlord

As property owners, it becomes increasingly important to have the tenant in focus, facilitate their everyday life and offer digital solutions.

For the apartment owner, it may be the simplicity of booking an association hall and being able to access it directly or distribute a mobile key to family members and guests.

For the commercial tenant, being able to manage their own staff's access and guests to the office at the touch of a few buttons is a clear improvement over contacting the manager for further fobs.

Increased security and management of data

PINs and fobs falling into the wrong hands have long been a concern and recurring headache. It has never been easier to significantly increase your security by making sure the right key is in the right hands using digital locks. 

With the introduction of gdpr, data management and privacy have never been a more important issue. Based on the values and services that digital locks should enrich, it is especially important to know that the selected providers and digital locks comply with and protect personal data.

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How the introduction of digital and mobile access is motivated and which values are prioritized varies from customer to customer. How far they have come in the transformation to digital solutions, adapted their organization to new opportunities and focus on new business models also plays a role. We hope that this blog post can be a help along the way when it comes to setting goals for the implementation of digital locks and mobile access.

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Requirements for digital locks

With the insight of what a professional digital lock is and an objective of what they will realize for the host, we embark on several upcoming posts in the requirement setting of digital locks. 

• Mobile key and lock management from smaller to large scale.
• Integrations to systems and automated access management
• The importance of ease of use, support and onboarding
• How installation matters in large-scale roll-out
• IT security, robustness and data management.

Look out for upcoming posts in the series by following Parakey on LinkedIn or Parakey's Blog and Newsletter.

Stay safe! - Jonas, CEO and co-founder of Parakey

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On to posts #2.1 Administration of digital locks