French coworking space benefits from cost control and easy self-management

Challenge

Focus is a French real-estate company with offices nationwide. It specializes in business colocation, offering turnkey office spaces and related services. At its Lyon co-working premises, Focus needed a reliable, agile access control system which combined aesthetics and high security features. For easier installation and cost savings, the Focus team decided on a battery-powered rather than a wired solution. In planning efficiently for the future, they wanted a solution to evolve with their business — adding new features or functionality without the need to replace devices.

Requirements

• A scalable, wireless solution which gave them control in real time
• Intuitive software that offered remote door opening and management
• A reliable solution which could be installed without disruption
• Easy retrieval of access logs, for rapid incident investigation
• Flexibility in granting tailored access rights to teams or individuals
• Devices with memory which would remain secure even in a power cut

Solution

After extensive research and discussions with a range of service providers, Focus selected ASSA ABLOY’s SMARTair access control system with Wireless Online management. For reliability, security and flexibility, it seemed an obvious choice.

“For quality reasons, we needed an expert supplier to meet our security and confidentiality needs,” says Gauthier Massardier, Real Estate Manager at Focus. Doors at their Lyon workspace are now securely locked with battery-powered wireless devices. All credentials, door locks and users are managed in real time from the SMARTair TS1000 software. Building managers can update the access rights of any space user — or easily cancel access permissions for everyone who should no longer have access to coworking spaces. SMARTair gives them the option to extend functionality in future, with features such as unlocking by mobile app, remote lockdown in an emergency or a Web Manager to administer multiple sites. SMARTair real-time access control is also cost-efficient to manage compared to wired access control — which needs mains electricity — or traditional mechanical security, where locks must be administered manually and individually. In the medium term, Focus plans to equip many other sites with ASSA ABLOY solutions — to further enhance security and streamline daily access management at its workspaces.