Keys go missing all the time. Millions of keys are lost every year in the United States. It’s human nature to lose things, especially when those things are small, like keys. Unfortunately, when keys are lost, it forces businesses to spend time and money rekeying locks and distributing new keys, not to mention the assets that become vulnerable during the time it takes to rekey a business or multiple business locations when a master key goes missing. Fortunately, there's a simple solution.
InstaKey® has spent over thirty years on a mission to ease the pain felt by businesses that have key holders who lose keys. They have transformed locks into user-rekeyable, interchangeable cylinders that can be rekeyed up to twelve times without changing out cores or calling a locksmith. On top of that, they have restricted key blanks (making it so they can’t be copied), so they don’t end up in the wrong hands. They’ve even stamped unique serial numbers on keys to make it easy to link them to their cloud-based software, to keep track of who has what keys and what those keys access—without making keys ridiculously expensive. All this innovation goes toward helping people save time and money and makes mechanical key systems more secure.
InstaKey’s next evolution of their mission is a partnership with leading smart lock manufacturer RemoteLock™, allowing InstaKey to offer commercial-grade smart lock technology that can be managed and controlled from your smart phone, tablet, or computer. When necessary, InstaKey’s user-rekeyable lock cylinder and restricted keys are used as a back-up, mechanical override. When someone loses an override key, you can rekey the lock with just the cost of a new set of keys—no locksmith or tools necessary.
RemoteLock’s OpenEdge CG Wi-Fi Smart Lock is linked to their EdgeState cloud-based SaaS software, making it incredibly easy to keep track of who’s coming and going within your business. Grant or deny access with a few taps or clicks from your laptop, tablet, or smartphone—without having to be there in person.
Now key holders can trade in brass keys for a pin number, and you don’t need to worry about getting keys back from those employees when they leave their jobs. When they leave, you can simply delete their codes immediately and remotely. Expecting a vendor to stop by? Issue a temporary code that will only be valid for the time period the vendor is expected. You’ll know exactly who came and went and opt to get messages every time the lock opens. There will always be a complete record for all activity, safeguarded in the cloud.
What are the best applications for this technology? This commercial product’s indoor/outdoor versatility allows for many uses on higher traffic doors. But if PCI compliance is a concern, installing the RemoteLock OpenEdge CG on IT closets, cash offices, delivery doors, and other similarly sensitive areas is a great place to start.
Lucky’s Market, a Boulder, CO-based national grocery store chain, has elected to use the RemoteLock OpenEdge CG access control in a handful of corporate and store location doors. Chris De Tray, CFE, CFI, Director of Asset Protection, identified this technology as a simple and cost-effective way to improve their remote IT room access control needs. “This smart lock eliminated our need for keys to our sensitive access points, required no wiring or power to the door, and we can manage our access from anywhere. We are able to use InstaKey on the majority of our doors and still have a secured back up override for this device. InstaKey’s innovative approach and partnership consistently helps our business identify better ways to simply manage our key control,” explained De Tray.
InstaKey will have a demo of the RemoteLock OpenEdge CG on display at most of the trade shows where they exhibit this year, including the upcoming RILA Asset Protection Conference to be held in Denver, near InstaKey’s headquarters. If you would like to check out the new hardware and see if it could work for your business, stop by booth 1017.
This article has been republished from a Solutions Showcase article which appeared in the March/April 2019 issue of Loss Prevention Magazine.
