When looking at your total operating costs, it can be tempting to see your key control program as a line item you can cut back on. After all, your facility has locks, employees have keys, and you can trust your staff to be responsible. But mistakes happen. Records don’t stay up-to-date, employees come and go, and keys go missing. And that can lead to higher operating costs across the board. Here’s how skimping on your key control system can end up costing you more and how investing in better key control can save you money.
The High Cost of Poor Key Control
You could face a major financial hit if a key is lost or stolen. This is especially true if the key in question is a master key. Locksmith callouts are pricey. Rekeying a single lock may not seem expensive. But the more locks you have, the pricier it gets. Rekeying a whole building, or even an entire multi-location facility, can get very expensive very fast. For some facilities, rekeying could have a price tag of more than $19,000.00, not including the cost of labor. And those are just direct costs. Here are some of the less obvious operating costs you can face if you don’t have a sufficient key control system in place:
Increased Risk of Loss and Personnel Safety: When a key is lost or stolen, you’re immediately at risk of a security breach. Missing keys can fall into the wrong hands, and your facility could face the possibility of product or equipment theft or employee safety after hours.
Decreased Productivity: Lost or stolen keys don’t just create a security risk, and the cost isn’t just in replacing keys and rekeying locks. Often one of the biggest operating costs is the loss in productivity. Missing keys shut down entire workflows as employees spend valuable hours tracking them down.
The Impact Good Key Control Has on Your Operating Expenses
A good key control system minimizes your risk of losing track of a key, maintains an up-to-date record of who is responsible for which keys, and streamlines the process of changing or rekeying locks. While the upfront costs may be high, a strong key control system enhances your facility’s security and boosts your bottom line in the long run. Here are some ways good key control can lower your operating costs:
Increased Productivity: When employees don’t have to worry about searching for a missing key or waiting for a locksmith to arrive and rekey locks, they can focus on their daily duties. Proper key control minimizes human error, and it saves your organization time and money by allowing staff to stay on task.
Risk Management and Loss Prevention: A good key control system can track and audit keys and keyholders in real-time. You’ll be able to see who has access to which key and learn about missing keys sooner. The sooner you know a key has gone missing, the sooner you can recover them or rekey your locks, minimizing your risk of a security breach. Integrating user-rekeyable locks into your key control system can save you even more money. With user-rekeyable locks installed, you can rekey an entire facility yourself instead of spending extra money on a locksmith callout.
A robust key control system may seem pricey at first. But it raises your operating costs across the board in ways you may not realize. InstaKey’s fully integrated key control system gives you a fully customizable solution to minimize risk within your business while keeping operating costs down.
Talk to a key control expert today and find out what InstaKey can do for you.
