The 'single pane of glass' approach

International Security Journal (ISJ) Editor, James Thorpe , chats access control, integration and scalability with Hayden Burr , Founder & CEO, Integrated Control Technology  

How is ICT adapting to evolving access control needs in today's dynamic security landscape? 

I think one of the critical things is that the access control industry has shifted in the last five years. Access control always used to be about prevention - preventing people getting inside a building or location. Now, we have transitioned into a time where it is also about allowing people freedom to access whilst also controlling and managing movements in a more efficient way.  

Mobile access is a key component of this transition. There has been a big focus on moving forward with digital wallets stored on your phone and a transition away from just deploying standard plastic cards. Another massive change has been the push for integrations - moving towards that single pane of glass approach. Many end users want this.  

One thing you cannot unsee that has appeared over the past two years is the impact of AI. Moving forward, if you are not talking about AI regarding the evolution of your product, you are going to be left behind to a certain extent.  Our approach is about simplicity in terms of access. As a business, we are focused on enabling integrations to be seamless, using ICT as the backbone. We are also looking to the future in terms of what you can do from an operational perspective to really benefit users. 

Can you discuss ICT's strategies for integrating access solutions into existing infrastructure and operations? 

Integrations are interesting. You have got the classic access control/video integration which has always been a mainstay of the industry. This integration has been vital over the last 30 years, and I have seen its value during my time in the industry.  

But there are a lot of others that ICT does, such as our five or six locking integrations. Biometrics is also a key area, be that utilising face, palm or more. However, the other essential ones are business operation integrations that are typically more ‘behind the scenes’. These can involve integrating directly into HR management platforms, ensuring that data is entered once and providing a single source of truth.  

One of our key strategies is providing an operational efficiency for any customer bringing an access control system on board. It's not just about turning the light green for the door. Our strategy for integration is that we want to provide benefits at a business level whilst delivering value to the customers. We've got integrations in finance, for example, that provide automated invoices and forecasts. This has saved clients an extraordinary amount of time by removing the need to manually invoice and count.  

Because we have open APIs, a lot of these deployments are customer-led. The ICT approach has been a game changer for many of our partners who use this integration flexibility to create their own third-party solutions for clients.  

How do you leverage technology advancements to provide scalable and futureproof solutions? 

I think it all comes back to that idea of implementing AI. Whilst it is still a developing technology, it is important as manufacturer of access control to understand how it can improve the overall efficiency of security operations. For example, using Large Language Models (LLMs) to automatically analyse vast event logs to identify patterns, anomalies, or even signs of threats that may have been overlooked by traditional event monitoring. This means LLMs can reduce false alarms and highlight genuine threats. 

Scalability is critical when it comes to access control. You might be able to do one door, but it's also about the other fifteen thousand doors and the type of solutions required for this level of project. Our systems are designed based on three product sets and three very clear delineations between them. You have got your classic appliance-based solution, your server-based solution, and then you have got a native cloud product as well. 

This structure is really important for us and our market approach as it enables us to provide the right product to fit what customers truly need. The appliance-based solution is fantastic and simple - it is ideal for one, two or ten doors and it is all managed on the device. Our on-premises, server-based solution is heavily integrated, typically going into video.  

Our cloud-based solution requires no server and no hardware. In fact, it works with the appliance-based hardware as well. So, if you're a customer, one of our critical things is that you can pick the product and then navigate between any one of those verticals - we can deliver a solution for you from that perspective. 

What is on the horizon for the company in 2024? 

Alongside our expansion in North America, we will continue with our growth into Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. We have got a great team, and we’re surrounded by a fantastic network of channel partners supporting the product here. We have added almost a dozen staff in the past eight months alone and there’s a lot of focus on growing the EMEA support team.  

Product wise, we have got some exciting new integrations and revisions coming out with our enterprise solution, Protege GX. We have also got Protege X - our next generation cloud-based, cross-platform access control and intrusion detection ecosystem - which we are looking to launch into Europe in the next four to six months. 

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