Amsterdam’s World Trade Center Streamlines Operations with Digital Access
The World Trade Center (WTC) Amsterdam is home to more than 300 companies. The commitment of its security team to providing a safe working environment in its permanent and temporary of-fices goes without saying. However, building managers wanted more from their access solution and specified an eCLIQ system from Assa Abloy.
More than just an office space, WTC Amsterdam has complementary onsite facilities including childcare, a gym, physiotherapy clinic, a bar and café, a dry cleaning service and more. All its facili-ties must be cleaned and serviced regularly, so the building management looked for a more time-efficient way to manage access for the many contractors and suppliers who come and go every day.
They also hoped a modern digital solution would provide a better overview of the movement around the building as well as usage data to improve maintenance scheduling. For convenience, they wanted a wire-free solution during installation and day-to-day management to ensure simpler, less disruptive exchange from mechanical locks to digital access on 1,000 doors, and also intuitive management to enable the easy changing of individual access authorizations, even at short notice.
With all these criteria in mind, WTC Amsterdam managers decided on Assa Abloy’s smart key digital access system, eCLIQ. They upgraded doors from mechanical to digital access simply by swapping the existing cylinder for an eCLIQ device. Doors are unlocked by battery-powered user smart keys, with a typical battery lifespan of 10 years. “Providing these doors with wired access control would be a huge job and be very costly. Instead, we opted for the eCLIQ solution,” explains Sander Borggreve, Facility Manager at WTC Amsterdam.
Definite Improvements in Operation
The ROI in terms of workflow benefits has been significant. “Granting temporary controlled access to third parties is very easy with the eCLIQ system. We can set access for a certain period of time, but we can also revoke it at any time,” says Sander. Scheduling is further simplified by storing keys with a Traka key management system. After removing a key from the cabinet, authorized team members insert it into the adjacent eCLIQ wall-mounted programming device. The key is issued with its fine-grained access rights in seconds – covering both door-by-door and time validity.
With the eCLIQ system, WTC Amsterdam gained not only control but also insights into usage and user flows. This data now informs the maintenance and operations teams, reducing the overall total cost of ownership for the solution. “eCLIQ works very well in practice. My employees are very satis-fied with how the keys work,” says Rutger Barendse of D&B The Facility Group who provide security staff for WTC Amsterdam. “It is easy as pie!” adds Sander.
