According to a recent study published by IMS Research, Access Control as a Service (ACaaS) offers security systems integrators and installers additional revenue and end-user penetration opportunities that traditional access control solutions do not. Titled The North American and European Markets for Access Control as a Service (ACaaS), the study suggests that "facility managers pose a huge opportunity for suppliers of ACaaS."
How so? According to the study, in large office buildings, it’s typical to see facility managers deploying access control equipment at the building entrance and within each office. Rather than having each office maintain a server or having the facility manager administer a server for each tenant, by utilizing ACaaS the manager could, alternatively, pay a fee to have the system managed/ hosted removing the need to maintain that system, postulates IMS Research.
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Further, using ACaaS, each tenant maintains their own solution and works closely with the dealer/ provider when updates are required, says the study. For the facility manager, security concerns can be passed to a third party and the additional fees charged for ACaaS can be added to the ongoing monthly rent.
“ACaaS presents more of a plug-and-play type installation and has opened up the market to the wider installer community including locksmiths that have traditionally not installed access control hardware/ software solutions,” comments Blake Kozak, the new report's author and senior analyst at IMS Research. “Other opportunities for ACaaS also exist with smaller end-users, e.g. those with less than 50 doors to manage and within large organizations that cover a wide geography such as utilities that own several hundred substations.”
In summary, IMS Research suggests that ACaaS could be the answer for suppliers looking to increase market penetration with small, independent, family-owned businesses. The residential sector also cannot be ignored as a sweet spot for ACaaS, says IMS, having seen a recent influx of home automation and smart home technologies. The increasing popularity of wireless electromechanical locks that can be connected wirelessly to home automation systems or other smart home applications also bodes well for ACaaS technology's prospects, says the study.
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