Mobile Credentials for Built Environments


Mobile credentials: the access control buzzword of the last five years. With Apple, Google and Samsung starting to participate, access control providers all want a slice of the newly available Wallet credential market share pie. These players are forcing – for the better – elevated end-user expectations for how they move about their daily lives.
This is especially great for greenfield electronic access control opportunities – those who are thinking about incorporating technology and electronics into their buildings from the jump. As technology in this market continues to change, however, it leads to two critical questions:
- Am I investing in something that has longevity, or is this just a tech fad?
- Is this something that will increase my revenue or decrease my costs?
It is still too early to be able to answer those questions with the utmost confidence, but what many industries have seen is that when the mega tech companies get involved, especially with standardization efforts, the industry will change. Unsurprisingly, customers are starting to expect that change, so we might as well start baking that pie now.
Let’s look at a very relevant use case as an indicator of what’s on the horizon for multifamily properties. Student IDs were made available in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet starting in 2018. On-campus housing is one of the most relevant spaces on campus where students are using their IDs, averaging about 80% of transaction volume. Mobile IDs allows students to leave everything except their phones in their dorm rooms. For college students born after 2000 who have long had smartphones incorporated into every aspect of their lives, this was a huge win. Adoption has been swifth and there’s no going back. As these students graduate and move into their first apartments, we should expect that they value this same level of convenience.
More than 35% of U.S. residents are renters who tend to be younger and more technically savvy. Vacancy rates for rentals have also been increasing in the past years, meaning properties must be more competitive in their offerings to attract and retain tenants.
Unlike homeowners, renters and condo owners haven’t historically had much control over their own spaces. That is changing with new smart home technology and Internet of Things platforms offered to multifamily home property managers. This new personalization through technology can contribute to the experience from the day a prospective tenant visits a property, signs a lease and moves in. The “mega techs” are making this easier as they work to standardize communication among smart home devices like thermostats, lights, monitors and sensors.
There has also been an introduction of package delivery technologies. Millions of packages are delivered to apartments and homes daily, a trend that picked up massively during the COVID-19 pandemic, causing the U.S. Postal Service to see package delivery grow by 32% (while first-class mail and marketing mail declined 4% and 14%, respectively) and reach an all-time high volume. That trend has continued despite workers starting to return to the office. Tenants are increasingly wanting better ways to make sure those packages are delivered safely and securely, exposing the need for delivery drivers to be able to access secure spaces. Those spaces could be through the locked front door, a locked package delivery room or a package locker system like Parcel Pending.
Mobile doesn’t stop at physical access control. Returning to our university example, students can use their Student IDs for most of their daily activities on campus, including paying for meals, checking books out of the library, attending sporting events and checking in for exams. Each of these transactions tie back to a user in an access system, but it might not be that system managing the physical access control. Monitoring student account balances, if they have a ticket for all football games or just basketball and whether they have 10 overdue library books checked out are all unique use cases with unique hardware and software requirements.
As has happened in universities, use cases in multifamily home properties are expanding beyond just physical door access, especially in Class A buildings that provide high-end amenities to tenants, including gyms, bike lockers, co-working spaces and reservable tennis and basketball courts. While some may be managed by the access control system, others are facilitated by unique software systems that need to support a different hardware form factor than what’s hanging off a wall or door. Cloud-based and mobile-based systems help to facilitate that access more effectively across software systems and their connected hardware.
What’s unique about this new model of attributing access to people versus a key is that it allows for property managers to give tenants the ability to manage who has access to their spaces more easily and securely. The days of the local hardware store copying keys are numbered. I’ve also seen signs at my local hardware store that say, “We Copy Fobs!” proudly. There is a lot of risk associated with keys being cut and handed out, just to get lost in the street or on someone’s keychain for years. The chain of custody almost immediately breaks and creates a vacuum of information about the key holder. Losing or mismanaging that key can lead to ongoing costs of rekeying a property or increased overall security costs. With the rise of mobile technologies, tenants and property owners can manage guests in real time – sending access invitations, setting automatic schedules and limiting their access to only certain doors or spaces. This could provide that comfort of security for the over 61% of Americans who live in buildings with two or more units. Establishing chain of custody increases security and reduces crime while maintaining user privacy on a device level.
Mobile credentials guarantee that the credential technology is the most secure available on the market – and that only those who are supposed to get the keys get them. The probability that I’m giving my phone or my personal login details for someone else to get access to my account information is near 0%. Maybe in cases of emergency or as a last resort, but I would never do that with my dog walker or a friend visiting for the weekend.
Back to our university example, when mobile credentials were brought to one of the largest schools in the country, including the dorm use case I talked about before, lockouts went from a few a day to several a month; nearly eliminating all room lockouts. The negative correlation between mobile credentials and lockouts was clear. “Phone, wallet, keys” is now just “phone” for students. This behavior becomes ingrained, and they’ll start to graduate and move into their first apartments with that same mindset. Or they exceed their locksmith budget for the month.
For property owners, there are major operational benefits and cost savings to not having to hire a locksmith, drive to a location or have on-site support. Creating new residents for move-ins, sharing keys to maintenance workers and maintaining a list of guest access should be as simple as logging in to a website from across town. Mobile credentials drive that change, as they bring in advancements like cloud-based systems and open standards to more easily expand to more use cases.
With that, let’s look back at the two questions from earlier.
“Am I investing in something that has longevity, or is this just a tech fad?”
My personal belief is that technology is only as good as the problem it solves. There are many problems that mobile credentials solve today and many more that we won’t realize they’ll solve in the future. Making ongoing investments in technology that improve a resident’s experience will continue to make your property competitive in the market and a great place to manage.
“Is this something that will increase my revenue or decrease my costs?”
Filling units quickly by doing remote tours on a prospective resident’s own time, to be able to provide a wider range of offerings for residents and to give residents more ownership over their units hasn’t yet been directly proven with data. I have a good feeling that mobile credentials can drive more resident retention and expanded opportunities to support revenue driving use cases.
In the university example, campuses saw decreases in overall costs by minimizing office hours, reducing the need for site visits due to access issues and lowering the number of physical cards that needed printed. I think these trends of reduced lockouts, lower maintenances cost and front desk or office staff being more productive will start to be seen in buildings where mobile credentials are issued.
Mobile credentials are reshaping the access control landscape. This shift is particularly beneficial for technology adoption in new property development. While questions about the longevity and financial impact of mobile credentials remain, early signs with student ID show strong potential in the multi-family home market. As students transition into the rental market, their expectations for increased convenience and security will need to influence property offerings. Property managers are also expecting improved experience and management of their buildings. Mobile credentials offer operational efficiencies for property managers by streamlining access management.
The integration of mobile technology into daily life, from package delivery to amenity access, underscores its potential to redefine tenant experiences and property management practices. To get it right, especially with how much information is available right now about mobile credentials, it’s even more important to lean on trusted partners to achieve the results that you’re looking for – whether building a new property or upgrading an older building. Being clear about goals, the use cases to support with a mobile credential and the overall philosophy to technology adoption are all critical to achieving a successful result that can stand the test of time.
The views and opinions expressed in guest posts and/or profiles are those of the authors or sources and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Security Industry Association.