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SMART TECHNOLOGY
30
Goodbye keys?
The future of workplace access
Hady Abdelnour, co-founder of Smarke, explains why bunches of keys
are destined to become historic artefacts
Safety & convenience
A key challenge is the connection of these
front- and back-end technologies with
other devices. They need to be able to
exchange data, while maintaining a high
level of cyber security.
Security and convenience are the two
most important issues. Homes and offices
have to be secure to prevent unwanted
access, while at the same time allowing
us to enter without an overly complicated
process.
The property Access and Safety market
will end up being dominated by those
devices that can connect and integrate
seamlessly with other home and office
technologies, offering maximum security,
alongside simplicity and convenience. This
is important because all home devices will
ultimately run in an invisible background
mode, controlled by an overall intelligent
system such as Amazon Echo or Google
Home.
We’re already getting closer to this
perfect synergy, with products like
Smarke’s smart access solution, which
can be used as a standalone product or
integrated with other smart home hubs.
Smarke focuses on allowing people to
access their buildings and properties using
their mobile phones – and to share this
access with others.
Smart locks will be part of a broad
property safety and access module
incorporating locks, external cameras and
possibly even drones that detect people
who are nearby.
Future smart homes and offices will
incorporate doors with built-in smart
locking mechanisms and smart doors,
possibly working on magnetic fields
between the frames. Access to your
building, home, car and/or office will be
controlled by a central hub that runs face,
eye or other biometric detection.
Smart locks are a step on the
journey to a future of connected locks
that communicate with other connected
devices via one truly smart hub. Such
hubs will be controlled by autonomous
intelligent software and monitored by users
via their mobile app or wearable devices.
Building access and safety technology
will be one function of an end-to-end
multi-functional smart home system
controlling multiple sub-devices via
software and protected by strong cyber
security controls.
It is too early to predict accurately
which type of connectivity these
access and safety products will use to
communicate between themselves and
other external devices, but the race is
already on between Wifi, Bluetooth, Mesh
network standards such as Zigbee and
W-wave, and other newcomers. Look out
for mobile operators trying to make a
comeback on connectivity.
When it comes to access, a
controlled lock will run in a back-end
mode. Alongside this, front-end external
cameras and drones will run multiple step
processes, continuously monitoring activity.
Once the system detects and finds a face
trying to enter the property, it will run a
facial recognition and identification test.
If the person is identified, the system will
decide autonomously whether to grant
access or not based on its data, or it will
ask the tenant for instructions. The tenant
will be able to monitor these activities
instantly and interfere at will.
Right now, the technology isn’t fully
ready for homes and small offices.
However, it is already used in high security
facilities such as banks, military restricted
zones, corporations and government
institutions. The challenge is to make it
commercially available for office/home
use and with the same level of security in
place. It is just a question of time. In due
course, we will enter our offices feeling as
if we’re actors in a sci-fi movie.
Hady Abdelnour is co-founder of Smarke.
Smarke’s smart lock solution allows
property managers, hosts and guests on
platforms such as Airbnb and HomeAway
to share secure, scheduled access to
their rental property with their guests –
instantly and remotely, through the mobile
app. No key required.
However smart your office or home may
be right now, in the future it will contain
many more connected products to
enhance both convenience and security.
In a recent article,
Business Insider
predicted that by 2020 the number of
smart home/office devices shipped will
be in the region of 200 million per annum,
up from approximately 80 million in 2015.
Products will include smart appliances,
smart energy equipment and smart home/
office safety and security systems.
What are the implications for the future
of workplace and home access?
Clearly, over time, heavy bunches of keys
will become interesting historic artefacts!
It’s likely that our voice-activated virtual
assistant will control almost everything in
our property, including opening the front
door. This will be achieved via a merger of
Face Recognition or other biometric data
with Artificial Intelligence and fixed hardware.
Achieving this will require a
standardisation in the way locks and doors
are delivered to market. Millennials and the
digitally affluent will drive the consolidation
of a variety of approaches into one universal
standard with a secure digital touch point.
Already, innovative companies are
introducing products that will replace
antiquated keyholes, peepholes and
doorbells, including smart locks, sensors,
monitors, cameras and alarm systems.
August Smart Locks, for example, sells
digital keyless door locks and doorbell
cameras that enable the property owner to
provide third party remote access to their
office or home.
Hady Abdelnour,
co-founder,
Smarke
Access to your
building, home,
car and/or
office will be
controlled by a
central hub that
runs face, eye or
other biometric
detection
