Mobile First is the 21st-Century-Experience
In many different walks of modern life, digitalization also means moving to mobile. Mobile-first is becoming the norm across regions and industries, including for building access. This rapid growth seems only natural: in terms of access, it is more secure and more convenient, for both building users and managers, when the smartphone also becomes a key.
A mobile access solution makes possible two completely different operational transformations. When properly deployed, both are equally valuable in helping businesses meet their challenges. Firstly, for site users, mobile access empowers smarter working. Accessing buildings or other openings with a mobile key helps users to act faster, work smarter and collaborate better. Similar convenience benefits have already transformed banking, travel and food delivery into mobile-first services. With mobile access, staff no longer carry or keep track of physical keys, fobs, badges or cards. No more time-wasting handover meetings are scheduled when a tenancy, employment contract or authorized visit ends.
Secondly, mobile access also streamlines facilities and security management. It simplifies managing the secure, efficient movement of people into and through premises. Mobile credentials are easier to amend or de-authorize than a mechanical key, including remotely. Changes to access permissions are made over the air, without dedicated readers or any need to ask a user to check-in their credential.
Mobile remote management can also free security teams from being tied to their desks. They can manage even granular access permissions from a portable device, leaving them more time to interact with other areas of the business or travel between locations. Thus, remote access management saves hassle and helps facilities staff work more flexibly, benefitting both their well-being and their organization’s productivity.
To the benefit of both users and site managers, mobile credentials are more secure: phones are almost never loaned out and are harder to lose than other credentials. If someone does lose their smartphone, an administrator simply cancels their mobile key and it is immediately blocked. Innovative mobile solutions can also offer specific benefits tailored to the premises. For example, at UK luxury car dealer H.R. Owen, the Parking Mode feature in one Assa Abloy mobile solution enables drivers to unlock car park barriers from 3m–5m away1. They don’t need to get out of a car to open the barrier. This reduces the risk of opportunist theft or unauthorized access, critical for sites with high-value goods inside.
It is easy to understand why mobile is, according to one analyst, “the dominant trend in access control”.2
Mobile on the Rise
Across Europe as a whole, mobile subscriber penetration in 2022 reached 90%3. In Western Europe alone, there are 459 million active smartphones4. Currently, only a fraction of these are used for accessing buildings and other openings digitally. The situation is evolving fast: recent research projects mobile credentials’ CAGR of more than 22% for the next 7 years5.
Mobile Digital Access Makes Life Easier for Facility Managers
“Digitalization helps organizations to maximize the productivity of their existing assets,” explains David Moser, SVP & Head of Digital Access Solutions at Assa Abloy Opening Solutions EMEIA. “By additionally adopting a mobile ethos, with innovative access solutions and more, businesses generate further significant ROI. They increase both user convenience and the security of their buildings. That’s why so many of our access innovations provide the option to make access not only digital, but also mobile.”
From a management perspective, mobile access enables the secure movement of people into and through premises – and simultaneously streamlines daily work for security staff. In the corporate and office sector, for example, a professional welcome is vital, for prospective staff and visitors. Mobile provides this, which is why the founders of ULab, a flexible office space in Alicante, chose Assa Abloy’s Smartair out-of-the-box wireless digital access solution with its Openow mobile key app.
Digitalizing access gave ULab staff real-time control via credentials which are easy to program and reprogram. Workspace users carry virtual keys on their smartphone inside the secure Openow app. ULab’s security team update access rights over the air, anytime and from anywhere. In case of an emergency, they could also lock or open doors, for example. Mobile access offers ULab both security and flexibility.
An ethos of social responsibility has permeated the corporate sector, too. Motives go beyond just altruism. Incorporating sustainability into an access strategy may also directly benefit the bottom line. Both business and the environment benefit when organizations reduce their power consumption by using battery rather than mains power, or more recent innovations such as energy-harvesting technology, for example. Green building certifications indicate to prospective partners or tenants that sustainability is taken seriously. Switching to mobile access also helps businesses reduce their single-use plastics consumption.
Making the Guest Experience Mobile, Secure and Convenient
Hotel and holiday rental managers increasingly see digitalization as part of a frictionless 21st-century guest experience, for room access and beyond6. “When Hotel Flint, one of Assa Abloy’s customers in Austria, renovated 19th-century Villa Weiss, extending it with a 21st-century structure, they sought an intelligent access solution which would both look good and help hotel staff provide guest services more effectively,” explains David.
They needed flexible system administration to keep them in control – even remotely – and which would future-proof door security and services. The Flint chose Assa Abloy’s TESA Hotel Wireless Online access management solution with 80 i-minimal electromechanical door locks, wall readers and fire-certified i-max locks. This complete, future-proof technology solution is equally suited to a historic building as to a contemporary structure. These electronic door devices help the Flint to offer their guests an up-to-date hotel experience, including self-service check-in and accessing their rooms by smartphone. The hotel is rated 4.7/5 on Google7, with several reviewers noting the modern amenities and service.
Broad Range of Mobile Access Solutions from Assa Abloy
Multi-residential housing is another sector where the advantages of mobile access have propelled its rapid growth. Fast-growing Spanish build-to-rent housing provider Becorp is just one company that has benefited from its convenience. For a planned new development in Barcelona, they sought a digital alternative to mechanical keys. Becorp realised that a keyless solution would save property management time, which is often spent handling hundreds of physical keys. The burden on staff is especially great when properties are newly occupied or vacated, a regular occurrence in large build-to-rent complexes.
Residents instead use secure mobile keys in their own Openow app. “Physical key management for any large development puts severe pressure on operational costs,” explains Becorp’s Xavier Casals. “Choosing Smartair wireless locks and mobile management via Openow helps us to minimize them.”
Assa Abloy offers customers a wide choice of mobile access solutions, both within complete digital access systems and via devices which plug seamlessly into an existing security management solution; with mobile keys and programmable digital keys which users update via mobile.
“We provide customers with a choice of reliable solutions tailored to meet their exact needs, so they do not have to compromise,” explains David. “Cliq Connect is a mobile extension to Assa Abloy’s Cliq programmable key access solution. A keyholder no longer needs to update their key’s access rights in person. Their system administrator simply opens the Cliq Web Manager – from anywhere – and updates it. The key-holder makes an encrypted connection between their programmable BLE key and the app on the mobile to instantly update permissions from the cloud.”
“Yet another mobile solution, Cliq Go, is designed for small and medium-sized businesses. It offers easy access management from a mobile. Cliq Go makes it simple even for non-specialists to manage their own access, digitally and from the palm of their hand.”
Adding Mobile Access Capability to an Existing Building Solution
Mobile access is also built-in to Assa Abloy digital access devices designed for seamless integration with existing systems and hardware. Battery powered Aperio locks are compatible with both Bluetooth and NFC mobile wireless protocols. Aperio mobile access offers Seos-based, class-leading cryptography and authentication, plus unrivalled privacy protection. Utilizing HID Seos technology, Aperio also supports employee badge in Apple Wallet, enabling quick, convenient entry to doors, cabinets, lockers, server racks and other openings fitted with Aperio wireless devices.
Abloy Cumulus is another mobile solution, also part of Assa Abloy’s suite of connected Digital Access Solutions. With Abloy Cumulus, tailored access rights are issued directly on a user’s smartphone. Their personalized, encrypted mobile credential unlocks any authorized opening. In addition, the revolutionary Cumulus Controller brings mobile unlocking via Bluetooth to any electric or electronic lock – from any brand.
“We engineered Cumulus to help businesses increase their mobile capability to really get their access ready for what’s ahead,” adds David. “It is completely customizable, with APIs and SDKs for smartphone app development. Mobile becomes part of their business”
“Like all our mobile access solutions, we hope it helps our customers to realize new possibilities in whatever they do.”
7 as of 22/4/25
