When you start researching an access control system, it's easy to get distracted by the glossy promises of advanced in-building tracking. The better starting point is a much simpler question: what data do you actually need to run your building?

Your primary aim is always the same - let the right people in, with as little friction as possible. Run a coworking space, and you won't want every internal door gated by a card swipe; that friction lands straight on the member experience.

The office dilemma: who’s inside?

A common mistake in office design is assuming that a card reader at the door gives you a perfect record of who's in the building. It's tempting to treat the swipe log as gospel, but a reader only records the credential presented to it - not the movement of an actual person.

So if your goal is to know exactly who's inside, for fire safety or attendance, a reader on a standard door won't get you there. People are polite: they hold the door for colleagues, and your entry data quietly drifts away from reality. Worse, someone lends their card to a colleague or a visitor, and the log now describes the wrong person entirely.

The only reliable way to know who's inside is to make the act explicit - a turnstile, or a "registration" reader at the entrance that everyone swipes on the way in and out.

From there, hardware should follow function. What suits a corporate office makes little sense in hospitality or education:

• Hotels: A hotel logs the swipe when a guest enters their room, for security. It has no operational reason to record them leaving. In fact many hotels run older “offline” systems that don’t have the facility to easily track any form of usage.
• Offices: Zone-by-zone occupancy might justify a reader on both sides of a door. For most rooms, a push-to-exit button is the better choice - it keeps movement quick and simple.
• Schools and universities: Turnstiles work, but the sheer volume of people can choke the flow at peak times. Registration kiosks, where students check in with a swipe, often serve a campus better.

Digital passes and the reality of tailgating

More building managers are turning to smartphone wallet passes as credentials, and it's a smart way to cut administrative cost. They also curb card-sharing: people are far less willing to hand over a personal phone than a plastic badge.

But be clear about the limits. A digital pass stops card-sharing; it does nothing to stop someone holding the door open for the person behind them. No software update can patch basic human politeness. If your data strategy depends on zero tailgating, that's a job for physical barriers - not credentials alone.

Don’t forget data privacy obligations

One last point gets routinely overlooked: data collection and legal responsibility move together. The more you collect, the more you're obliged to protect. Every timestamp showing when a named individual passed through a door is personal data you're legally responsible for securing.

So if you don't truly need that data to run your premises or protect your property, the wisest move is not to collect it in the first place. Lean data isn't only better for the people using your building - it's a far safer footing for modern compliance.

How to get started

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