The concept of “smart” lobby design is nothing new. Organizations have long seen the value in designing corporate lobbies that reflect brand values and aesthetics. Acting as the first impression for potential new customers, employees and guests, enterprise customers are consequentially willing to invest significantly in such spaces. However, COVID-19 and the subsequent move toward hybrid working have since changed what it means to have a smart lobby.  

Today’s smart lobby designs represent the market’s demand for form and function. They are places where technologies are fully integrated to meet organizational goals related to security, throughput, sustainability, and beyond. This is what makes secured entry solutions a cornerstone of smart lobby design. For security integrators, secured entry solutions also represent a tremendous opportunity to create new streams of revenue.  

Leveraging Secured Entry Solutions in Smart Lobbies

Secured entry solutions are recognized for their innate security functions, but when deployed in a smart lobby, their versatility starts to shine. Security revolving doors, for example, promote sustainability via draft protection while also preventing unauthorized access attempts. Similarly, optical turnstiles installed to better manage pedestrian traffic can also be outfitted with touchless credentials for fast, easy and sanitary hands-free access. Security integrators who understand the various applications of secured entry solutions in smart lobbies are well equipped to meet the needs of their customers while boosting their own profits.

Secured Entry Solutions for Functional Traffic Flow 

A key element of smart lobby design is to better manage pedestrian traffic flow and patterns. Congested lobbies are both inefficient and ineffective, creating confusion in a space designed to promote structure. The opportunity for confusion has only grown in the time of hybrid working that sees some employees come into the office on some days while not on others. Secured entry solutions can help create order by creating separate, controlled entry and exit points for employees and visitors.  

Consider an employee only entrance that allows employees to bypass the public-facing lobby altogether. Interlocking mantrap portals and security revolving doors integrated with access control solutions are ideal for employee only entrances because they prevent unauthorized entry without the need for security guards. Such solutions enforce single entry by using various sensor systems to ensure that only an authorized individual gains access by preventing piggybacking and tailgating. In this way, secured entry offers ROI in the form of labor reallocation or reduction while decreasing lobby congestion.

Secured Entry Solutions for Mobile Access

Conversely, guests, contingent workers and visitors will need to first visit the lobby before accessing other areas of the building. Here, optical turnstiles equipped with mobile credential readers are the preferred solution. Mobile credential readers integrate seamlessly with visitor management solutions to enable preregistration and further promote streamlined lobby operations.  

With mobile access-enabled secured entry solutions, visitors can start their lobby experience virtually. Access permissions can be granted remotely by administrators with visitors receiving a mobile credential prior to ever being on site. Upon arrival, visitors need only scan their credentials at the mobile credential reader and proceed through the optical turnstiles. Visitors appreciate the fast and convenient check-in process while the organization benefits from improved operational efficiencies.  

Secured Entry Solutions with Biometric Identity Verification and Access

The use of facial recognition as an access credential has accelerated as a result of the pandemic to enable fast, touchless access. And while the reduction of touch surfaces promotes health safety practices in smart lobby environments, the deployment of facial recognition alone at entry points doesn’t prevent unauthorized access. 

Many corporate lobbies deployed biometric access control solutions with traditional swing doors, but this doesn’t eliminate the vulnerabilities of tailgating and piggybacking. Only secured entry solutions, such as a security revolving door, can deter, detect, and prevent unauthorized access attempts while still making use of biometric credentials to correctly identify and authenticate the identities of authorized users.

Secured Entry Solutions for Sustainability

With many new environmental, social and governance (ESG) mandates rolling out nationwide, corporate customers are paying closer attention to the role of technology as it relates to energy savings and sustainability. As a result, smart lobbies are increasingly being designed with sustainability as a top priority. By nature of their design, security revolving doors lend themselves to this objective.  

On average, eight times less air is exchanged with a revolving door than with a sliding or swinging door, making revolving doors the most environmentally friendly entry solution. When integrated with direction motion sensors, revolving doors only rotate when a user is exiting or entering the building. This prevents unnecessary door rotation, stopping the door’s rotation immediately after use, resulting in tangible energy savings, lower maintenance costs, and improved temperature stability within facilities. 

Secured Entry Solutions with Aesthetics

Smart lobbies are functional yet fashionable spaces designed to visually represent a brand. People are quick to judge a book by its cover and great smart lobby design sends a message that a corporation takes pride not only in how the lobby looks, but how it is being used. Today’s secured entry solutions can be designed with a variety of different materials, glazing options, and architectural finishes to complement a facility’s design aesthetics.  

Secured Entry Solutions also help immediately communicate important messages by means of their aesthetics. For example, highly secured facilities such as government buildings and data centers can design their smart lobby to include prominent full-height turnstiles that clearly provide a visual security deterrent. Conversely, Fortune 500 companies may opt for sleek optical turnstiles that blend into the surrounding décor and convey feelings of prestige and openness.  

Implications for Security Integrators

Secured entry solutions open the door for security integrators to capitalize on the trending demand for smart lobbies. As the anchor point for many other integrated security solutions (access control, biometrics, visitor management, etc.), secured entry solutions provide an entrée for integrators looking to pursue new sales opportunities. Security entrances also offer a reason to revisit existing customers who may be looking to bring their corporate lobby into the 21st century following a transition to hybrid work models. Furthermore, long-term service contracts are the perfect complement to new security entrance installations, delivering recurring revenue for integrators. 

By including secured entry solutions in smart lobby designs, systems integrators are afforded a new source of revenue that delivers higher margins than most other security-related solutions. It all comes down to conveying the multiple value propositions these versatile solutions deliver to customers. Now considered a mainstream solution, secured entry solutions promise to provide numerous benefits for the smart lobbies of today and tomorrow, and new revenue streams for systems integrators who capitalize on these versatile and profitable solutions.