A Key To Easing The Lockdown? Mobile Door Access

There is a lot of chatter about returning to work and whilst this might be imminent, we need to figure out how we can create “touchless workplaces”.

Last week Buzzfeed intercepted a government document of “back to work” recommendations which includes all the things you might expect, such as avoiding the use of lifts and making hand sanitiser mandatory.

Other reports suggest places of work will make face masks compulsory, move workstations so colleagues are side by side (not opposite) or separate teams with plexiglass cubicles.

However, one essential thing is not being addressed throughout all these guidelines: how do we get through doors

‍COVID:19 - What we have learned?

‍Without wanting to go into the peril of the pandemic, the lockdown has taught us a great number of invaluable lessons:

• The virus lives and can transmit from surfaces
• Social distancing reduces the spread of the virus
• We should reduce the number of times we all touch our faces
• We should limit touching unnecessary things and objects  
• Whilst the majority of us are at home, thousands of frontline workers continue to carry out essential tasks in medicine, food supplies, delivery and maintenance 
• Humans are remarkably adaptable and respond positively to change

How will these lessons inform The New Normal?

‍The vast majority of doors and access control, worldwide, are not made with pandemic in mind.

The recent trend in tech spaces and financial centres has been towards biometrics, whilst everywhere from schools and industrial warehouses have taken to install “iPads that double up as receptionists”. Many more traditional industries still use keys, cards and fobs to enable staff to access restricted areas.

The fact is, touch, and a central place of multiple human contact, is still very much The Norm. Doubtless, this is a problem for easing the measures of the current crisis, but we also need to install contactless systems to a) avoid future pandemics, and b) enable us to still remain operational should another one come along.

What we need therefore is very clear:

• Contactless door access (i.e. not iPad, Pin Pad or Biometric access control)
• The removal of additional objects (such as cards, fobs and keys)
• The ability for key workers (delivery and maintenance) to enter workspaces even in extreme measures (such as lockdown)

Key To Easing The Lockdown

‍We are proud to have pioneered the technology to solve the new problems presented by the pandemic.

Our first innovation is that we allow people to unlock their workspace and open doors with their smartphone - the one item that everyone carries with them at all times.

Our second innovation is that we are manufacturer agnostic. That means, there is no heavy hardware or expensive installation costs: our tiny ‘tile’ reader sits by any door and leverages the existing building access control system, meaning no wires. It takes less than 15 minutes to install.

Our third innovation is that we have made door access contactless by adopting NFC technology on both iPhone and Android: the same contactless tech we all use when buying things with our debit cards and smartphones. All anyone has to do is download the Doordeck app and then point their smartphone at the tile by the door and access is granted

To learn more about our Zero Touch Entry feature, click here

‍To learn more about our current Seedrs crowdfunding campaign, click here.