Safety Trumps Convenience

We’ve all had a scenario like these: Your appointment arrives fifteen minutes early and you’re still in a meeting across the building.  Or a repairman shows up at the gate of your apartment community, but you’re stuck in traffic. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to open the door or gate for them so they can get in rather than waiting around for you to arrive?

At VIZpin, we often get asked why we don’t offer a “remote unlock” feature that would allow a VIZpin user to log in to their app or portal and simply push a button to remotely unlock the door even through they’re not in range.

The bottom line is that we can’t. That’s because VIZpin uses smartphones instead of a local network.  Without a local network, there’s no way to remotely connect into the readers.  This design is also the same reason we have none of the costs or vulnerabilities of a local network.

But even if we could, rest assured, we would not make a remote unlock feature available.

Why? In a word, security.

Superior security is one of the major differentiating features VIZpin provides that traditional access control systems cannot match and giving users the option to buzz non-users in would create a security risk. Not only do you not know exactly who’s at the door, but there’s also no activity history of who was let in. And that creates exactly the type of potential liability nightmare building owners and managers are trying to avoid by choosing VIZpin.

However, we do have a solution. With VIZpin, you can remotely let someone in by sending them a temporary Smartkey. VIZpin users know that it only takes two or three minutes to download the app, register, and be sent a key. And it’s not too much to ask the person waiting at your door or gate to do that. Then, they can get in even without you being there and there is a record of who they are and when the entered.

While it’s true that we live in a world where we’ve come to expect things immediately, isn’t it worth two or three minutes to ensure the security of your property? Of course it is.