The Soaring Costs of Lost Keys for Businesses and How to Avoid Them

Introduction

Keys are a crucial part of any business. They’re what allow employees to get into the building, open doors, filing cabinets, use equipment and vehicles and get their jobs done. However, keys also have a dark side: lost keys. Lost keys can cause huge problems for businesses, especially if they aren’t replaced quickly. With that in mind, let's take a look at some of the costs associated with lost keys in business and how an Intelligent Key Management System can help prevent them from happening again!

Key Replacements

It's not just the cost of having to replace one or more keys that you need to worry about. There are also the costs associated with lost productivity, lost sales and unplanned downtime that can be attributed to a misplaced key.

If you're thinking it will be cheaper for your business if you just get a new lock, think again! Making changes in your locks means that you'll have to pay for:

• The replacement costs of the new lock(s) & keys
• The labor required for installation

If this happens only once, you can probably weather the storm. However, if this is something that comes up even infrequently those costs begin to add up quickly!

Rekeying Locks

Rekeying locks is a costly and time consuming venture that should be undertaken only when there is no other option. If you have lost keys to your business or sensitive equipment then it may be time for rekeying locks.

When you have lost your keys, it's important that this information doesn't fall into the wrong hands. This can happen if someone finds them outside of the building or if they were stolen from an employee’s car. Rekeying will ensure that all locks are changed so the old keys will no longer work and only new ones can be made with new codes.

Lost Vehicle Keys

Lost vehicle keys are a real disruption for your business. They can cost you thousands of dollars in both the short and long term, as well as wasting valuable time and resources.

Vehicle keys are expensive to replace, with replacement costs varying widely depending on the make, model and year of vehicle. A few hundred dollars may be typical, but some modern car keys have been known to cost way more!

In addition to these direct costs associated with replacing lost key vehicles at work or onsite, there's also a high risk that they'll be misplaced while they're not being used in an authorized location (e.g., in someone’s locker). The resulting downtime means higher operational expenses for your business: paying drivers overtime pay during their shifts; paying for other people’s gas mileage up until when you get back into production again; or even worse yet—having to pay someone else entirely!

Lost Productivity

When you lose a key, you can end up wasting time and money. Lost keys cause delays in production, disruption to workflow, and even additional costs for replacement parts if you can’t find the original. For example:

• A locksmith may need to be called out to replace a lost key
• The cost of replacing or repairing locks is an added expense
• Your workers will have to wait for new keys before they can work properly again

Risk

Key loss can lead to theft. It can also lead to break-ins and vandalism, as well.

Businesses are often at risk of theft or break-ins because employees lose their keys and other access devices. The reasons for this lost key are varied, but the end result is that businesses must take measures to ensure their assets are protected from these losses. This can be costly for many companies who don't plan ahead for such instances of lost keys or other access devices.

There are several ways that you can protect yourself from costly security breaches related to lost keys:

• Use a secure intelligent key management system like Key-Box with real-time monitoring and alerts. This also ensures only authorized people have access to keys.
• Go keyless. By replacing all physical locks and keys with a sophisticated Access Control System with RFID technology. This can be very costly and will not totally eliminate physical keys from circulation.

Additional Work

Keys are important, but their loss can be a big headache for your business, especially if you're missing multiple keys. Here's why:

• If one or more of your keys is lost or stolen, it's likely that you'll have to do extra work to find the missing key(s) and replace them. This could mean having employees spend time looking for the missing key(s) or paying a locksmith professional to come re-key the locks. Either way, this will add up in terms of both money and employee productivity hours.

Lost Sales

Lost keys are a big problem for businesses. Many companies lose sales because of lost keys, and in some cases, they may even lose customers. Imagine that you wanted to test drive a new car but the dealership can't find the keys. Would you stand around for hours until it's found or replaced or simply leave and purchase the car elsewhere? If someone has mislaid their key it can wind up being a frustrating and embarrassing situation that ultimately will cost you the sale.

Unplanned Downtime

When you have to shut down your business to replace lost keys, it's not only a loss of productivity and time. It also results in a loss of goodwill and reputation.

Even if you're able to get back up and running quickly, the impact on your customers can be huge. With so many companies competing for their attention, it's important to make sure yours stands out—and that starts with making sure they always have access when they need it!

Solutions?

Key-Box automated key management systems https://www.keyboxsystems.com/ is the most effective and cost-efficient solution to combating this problem. By deploying intelligent key management systems, you can reduce your risk of lost or misplaced keys by reducing losses through increased accountability with real-time control and tracking.

In addition, intelligent key management system provides other benefits that keep your business running smoothly:

• Remotely track all employees who have access to company vehicles or inventory items so that you can monitor activities as needed and ensure compliance with safety protocols.
• Keep track of employees who are in possession of keys and restrict access only when necessary so you don't waste money on unnecessary resources (like expensive tools or equipment).

The costs of lost keys are high, but Key-Box systems can help you avoid them.

Lost keys are a serious problem for businesses, but smart Key-Box systems can help you avoid the costs associated with them.

The first thing to understand about lost keys is that they're not just an inconvenience—they can become a huge financial burden on your business. In fact, it's estimated that replacing lost key sets costs companies around $400 per set on average and in some cases can require the entire facility to be rekeyed to the tune of thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. And even if you don't need to replace every set of keys in your company, the hassle of being locked out and hiring a locksmith will cost time and money.

Key-Box systems are designed to prevent this kind of expense by decreasing the number of times you have to replace your employee's key sets and reducing the likelihood that someone will lose their own keys in the first place (or be able to use them without permission). One way they do this is by ensuring only the authorized users can remove specific keys and with the automated history reporting you'll know who has which keys, when/if they were returned and even receive email notifications when something hasn't come back on time. Key-Box systems can even be used with your existing Access Cards or with Biometric entry solutions to eliminate the risk of random PIN code attempts to gain access to valuable keys. With these types of systems installed, your risks and costs of losses will decrease while employee productivity increases!

Conclusion

The cost of lost keys is high, but Key-Box systems can help you avoid them. Automated Key Management Systems are a great option for your business because they’re more secure and convenient than traditional key storage solutions. They also make it easier to track who has access to certain areas of your building or property and use of your assets.