Preparing for the future
There’s no denying that these are unprecedented times, presenting challenges that many of us have not planned or prepared for. Here Pat Jefferies, Commercial Director at ABLOY UK, looks at how we can use this time constructively when many of us are working from home, and what lesson we learn so far.
People in the access control sector are currently doing exceptional work managing a level of disruption we couldn’t have envisioned six months ago. Organisations are having to prepare and deal with significant changes in work patterns, skeleton staffing levels, or empty buildings and new policies affecting freedom of movement and health and safety.
The landscape is changing so frequently, it has probably changed between the time I write this and you read it. Instead, we’re all re-establishing what best practice is, and finding ways to adapt – it’s just part of our nature.
It’s also our nature to learn lessons from experience, as it’s important to remain positive and remember that the current state of affairs isn’t going to last forever. How can we use this time, where many of us are in lockdown or unable to go about our jobs in the usual manner, for creative and innovative thinking?
We should treat it as an opportunity to come together to build up our knowledge on creating efficient access control systems so that, once this over, we can create flexible and adaptable systems fit for the future.
Lessons learned
The impact has been so great because naturally no business was planning to temporarily stop their operations, and with such little warning. Consequently, many were presented with the challenging practicalities involved in safely and effectively securing a site.
In the instances of a complete shutdown, operators will have been required to physically secure the site and prevent employees from returning for their own safety. More significant problems are generated at sites where key workers still need to operate, as they need to be guaranteed safe and reliable access. With the right planning and guidance, these issues have simple solutions - whether that is via electric locks, electromechanical keys, access control or a management system which utilises the cloud.
At Abloy, we’ve also followed Government advice and temporarily limited our operations to keep our employees safe. However, we want to take this time to offer help and guidance to people looking to protect their sites and prepare for the future.
Be assured that we still have technical experts available to talk through your security problems. They’re on hand to help you move forward, whether that is by resolving access problems that might be concerning you, or helping you to highlight and fix gaps in your security for the future.
Looking towards the future
We must do what we can to make the best of a bad situation. If we’ve got more time than usual to consider and tackle the tasks we usually never get to, let’s use it wisely. Talk to us if you want to consider how you can futureproof and build reliable locking solutions and access control into your planned and contingency security strategies.
For further information on products and services available from Abloy UK visit www.abloy.co.uk, call 01902 364 500, or email [email protected]. Abloy UK