(800) 773-2873
(818) 800-1400
COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL CUSTOM SECURITY
SECURITY SYSTEM, SECURITY CAMERAS AND ACCESS CONTROL
Serving Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley, And Santa Clarita.
CLOUD VS. ON-SITE ACCESS CONTROL
The Difference Is Much Bigger Than a Monthly Fee
When businesses compare cloud access control with traditional locally managed systems, one of the first differences they notice is cost.
A locally managed system can typically operate without a recurring cloud-service subscription.
Cloud access control normally includes an ongoing service cost.
But that is only one part of the decision.
The architecture can affect system recovery, downtime, management labor, remote administration, software maintenance, multi-site operation and integration with other security systems for years after installation.
LOCALLY MANAGED ACCESS CONTROL
Secure Tech installs professional locally managed systems including ZKTeco and Paxton.
These can provide:
• Card and key-fob access
• User management
• Door schedules
• Access permissions
• Event history
• Multiple-door management
• Local administration
• No recurring cloud subscription for core management
For a single property with straightforward requirements, this can be a practical and cost-effective approach.
THE LOCAL COMPUTER & DATABASE MATTER
Access-control hardware at the doors is only one part of a traditional locally managed system.
Management software, databases, configuration information and the computer or server can also become critical parts of the environment.
Computers fail. Hard drives fail. Operating systems change. Software becomes outdated. Databases can become corrupted.
When a serious management-computer or database failure occurs, recovery may require replacement hardware, software installation, locating backups, database restoration and technical labor.
In some circumstances, complete recovery may be difficult or impossible if necessary backups or configuration information are unavailable.
DOWNTIME HAS A COST
The price of access control isn't limited to the original installation.
Downtime and recovery have costs too.
Technical labor may be required to diagnose failures, replace equipment, reinstall software, restore databases or rebuild portions of the management environment.
There can also be an operational cost while administrators cannot properly manage the system.
For businesses that depend heavily on access control, these costs can become more important than the monthly fee originally avoided.
CLOUD ACCESS CONTROL CHANGES THE RECOVERY MODEL
Secure Tech works primarily with Alarm.com for cloud access control and also offers Brivo where appropriate.
Cloud architecture reduces dependence on a particular locally maintained management computer and database.
If a local management device fails, replacing that device generally does not mean rebuilding the entire management environment from a locally maintained database.
This can make recovery from certain failures considerably faster and more efficient and can reduce recovery labor and management downtime.
Cloud architecture does not mean hardware can never fail.
THE REAL COST OF OWNERSHIP
Comparing systems only by asking:
“Which one has a monthly fee?”
can miss the larger financial picture.
Local ownership can also involve:
• Management-computer/server maintenance
• Software compatibility
• Database backups
• Software updates
• Technical support
• Recovery labor
• Replacement management hardware
• Potential operational downtime
Cloud access control shifts much of the management-platform infrastructure and maintenance to the cloud service.