According to an article on placetech.net, office key cards and access control apps could soon be obsolete. Instead of access tools that often result in queues at building entrances, turnstiles, and elevators as tenants fumble to open the app or find their card, the new kids on the block feature Apple Wallet technology, which uses lightning-fast NFC (near field communications) technology.
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The global smart building market was valued at $67.6 billion in 2021 and expected to grow to $80.6 billion in 2022 and $328.6 billion in 2029. (Fortune Business Insights)
4 out of 10 connected buildings are at risk of cyber-attacks. (Fortune Business Insights)
90% of smart buildings will be non-residential in 2026. (Juniper Research)
Those tenants with an Apple phone or watch simply tap their device on the card reader and walk in. Even more efficient access controls are being developed by embedding the technology in other items that employees and visitors carry at all times, such as ID badges. The badge would work even if it is in a wallet, backpack or purse, the same way a car key fob works. Get it in the vicinity and doors open. The employee experience with these new badges is close to what it was in the before-times, when you simply opened a door and walked in.
Developer Shapack Partners, working with European Proptech company Sharry and HID Global, has created just such an employee badge.
Michael Israel, VP of innovation at Shapack told PlaceTech that he expects Apple Wallet integration to be a gamechanger in real estate: “This is going to be one of the rare features, from a tech standpoint in the commercial world, that tenants are actually going to demand. It’s so much easier, so much faster.”
Early adopters include Chicago’s 167 Green Street, which uses Apple Wallet as a key throughout the building; Silverstein Properties, which has plans to introduce Apple Wallet badges across its portfolio; and Hyatt Hotels, which has rolled out digital keys across more than 65 locations.