HID Global Middle East Survey Reveals Strong Trend for Deploying Advanced Access Control Solutions

News Highlights:

41 per cent of respondents plan to upgrade their physical access control solutions in the next 12 months
Secure mobile access and biometrics cited as features organisations want to add to their existing secure access solution
Over 73 per cent of respondents stated a preference for open standards to avoid vendor lock in

Dubai. U.A.E., January 20, 2016 –HID Global®, a worldwide leader in secure identity solutions has completed a  survey that found that secure access solutions are a concern for many organisations across the Middle East. A region-wide HID Global survey revealed that 52 percent of the respondents have already deployed basic secure access solutions to protect their interests, with almost 50 per cent of organisations planning to upgrade their access within the next 12 months. This indicates a strong upward trend for deploying advanced secure access control solutions. The most commonly relied on solutions for 29 percent of respondents were found to be basic access card solutions, while 26 percent still used photo identification. 39 percent of respondents felt the addition of biometrics would enhance their secure access solution, while 34 percent desired mobile access features for future upgrades.

The survey polled company owners/directors, security managers, facility managers, consultants, IT/technical staff, and other individuals involved in the roll out of access control security solutions within the organisation. Those polled were mainly from the banking & finance sector, healthcare, oil & gas and government sectors.

"It’s very encouraging to see that most of the organisations surveyed appreciate the importance of secure access solutions, and have already undertaken steps to protect their assets," said Wisam Yaghmour, Regional Sales Director MEA, with HID Global. "However, the findings show that there is still work to be done as a lot of organisations are either not protecting themselves entirely or are using antiquated secure access solutions that can be bypassed by skilled intruders."

48 percent of the individuals polled indicated their organisation did not have an access control system installed, owing to a belief that their premises were secure enough (45 percent), or that they did not have skilled staff to manage such a system (47 percent). While these are alarming stats, some of the respondents indicated they are planning to roll out secure access within the next 12 months (41 percent), while others expressed interest but are not sure when the roll out would take place (37 percent). Only 22 percent said no, categorically, to deploying secure access solutions in the future.

Organisations that had already deployed secure access solutions also expressed interest in expanding the breadth of capabilities offered by their existing system. 39 percent of the respondents said that they wanted biometrics, while 34 percent cited mobile access is what they would most like to have. Nine percent of the respondents would like to roll out gate/parking access control solutions, while a further two percent were interested in license plate recognition.

"With security there's no finish line, as threats evolve so must the technology you deploy to protect yourself from unscrupulous individuals. This is the reason HID Global constantly develops advanced solutions and innovates with new, cutting edge technology such as HID Mobile Access. We're here at Intersec to demonstrate exactly what we can do for companies of any size," explained Yaghmou.