What is a Key Management System And Why DO You Need One?

What is Key Management?

At its most basic level, key management refers to how you store, track, and distribute keys in your business. Keys typically grant access to company assets, sensitive areas of the building, and even corporate data, so it’s critical you are in control every step of the way. Without proper key management, you can easily find yourself in a situation where unauthorized personnel have access to areas they shouldn’t, or even where ex-staff still have full access to your building. You will also face the heavy cost of rekeying the whole facility if you have a security breach or lost key.

Why Use a Key Management System?. 

Manual key management is labor-intensive, prone to error, and can be easily manipulated. Electronic key management systems allow you to not only store and distribute keys, but through automation and analytics, also improve your security and efficiency. They bring you:

• Lower costs: Keys are always accounted for, with no wasted time trying to find sets. Productivity stays high, key loss drops, and you don’t have messy rekeying costs.
• Risk Management: The transaction log ensures you have airtight records, keeping staff accountable.
• Efficient Operation: Key management systems adapt to your needs. Need to prevent a specific shift from signing out a key? Need to set a curfew? Do staff need to reserve access to the key? You can do all this and more.

What Does A Typical Key Management System Look Like?

We’ve passed the old pen-and-paper days. Modern key management systems are automated and use the best of physical and electronic safety standards. Key management  systems will be specially adapted for each business, but you can expect:

• A Key Cabinet: A physical space to keep key sets from unauthorized access. Each key slot may be locked, ensuring other sets cannot be removed when one signs out.
• Smart Interface: A way for users to authenticate themselves. It could be a PIN system, radio frequency identification (RFID), fobs and cards, biometrics, or even smartphone authentication. This can also be used to deliver checklists or instructions on key sign-out.
• Fobs/Cards: In some systems, tracking keyrings (fobs) are used to check and verify the keys. Intellekey systems use RFID fobs.
• Software: Many modern systems use software to help smooth and automate the process, as well as control/monitor key usage.

Key management systems both improve your security and help you run a smarter, tighter workplace. You will see better access control, which enhances security. This means you will also be improving your risk management practices. This leads to loss prevention, and thus lower costs overall. In turn, you can boost your operations, construct staff workflows that work with their real-time schedules, and keep overall tighter control of business operations. It also drastically helps with fleet management for businesses that maintain fleets. You can even link driver licenses and certifications to the system, warning you if renewals are overdue.

Key management systems may store your keys, but they do so much more, too. By providing simple, automated processes that tighten security and improve workflow, you will see a safer, more productive workplace all around.

Curious to know more about RFID key management systems? The helpful team at Intellekey is always happy to hear from you, so don’t hesitate to reach out today.