If the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was any indication, the exhibition industry is off to a great start this year. Convention centers, exhibition halls and other conference venues are home to thousands of events throughout the year, and maintaining a safe and secure environment is often dependent upon a proactive security strategy. For any of these facilities, with their hundreds of doors, key control and asset management is an elemental aspect of the building security.
With a key control and management system, all building keys – including card keys, masters, keys for lock boxes and even vehicle keys are securely stored in a locked, tamper-proof automated key cabinet. Only authorized users can access keys which they have been pre-approved to use. Once the user has entered their PIN or biometric information and the identification is confirmed, the key cabinet can be opened and keys removed or returned. The system automatically records all access activity so that management has a record of who took which keys and when.
Imagine then how effective and necessary a key control system is at a venue that hosts a large trade show and where seminars are part of the daily activity. Meeting rooms must be opened for setup per the user’s instructions and then locked until needed. These rooms must also be unlocked for cleaning by the maintenance staff or opened for the catering/food service delivery. Large trade shows usually also have press rooms or vendor hospitality rooms that are open during show hours and locked after hours. Keys for these rooms and the conference meeting rooms may be obtained daily by convention center staff from the key cabinets, or a set of keys may be temporarily issued to the trade show client for the length of the show.
In either case, because the key control system automatically tracks all key usage, security management has a record of who accessed what key and when. If keys are not returned as scheduled, email alerts or text messages can be sent to appropriate management for their follow up action.
Keeping a large convention center safe and secure is no small task but automated key control and management systems help make it just a little easier.
