person using phone to enter turnstile

Charter Hall Case Study: Mobile Access Provides a Secure Yet Frictionless Tenant Experience

When it comes to commercial real estate, security is paramount to the tenant experience, particularly for mixed use developments that must meet the unique needs of both office and retail residents. This is evidenced in the rapid growth of the commercial security market, which is projected to reach $376.34 billion by 2028.

But security alone is not sufficient. Today’s commercial enterprises also demand a high level of flexibility and convenience to accommodate — among other emerging trends — the realities of a hybrid work environment that sees employees splitting their time between working in the office and working from home. As a result, demand is rising for smarter access control that automates employee and visitor access requests, allows for remote management of access rights, provides unified access control and management, and integrates seamlessly into existing systems and applications.

Next Generation Access Control

Today’s physical access control solutions (PACS) still use hardware — access control card reader systems and the controllers that authenticate credentials — as well as software and credential components to create controlled access at entry points such as parking garages, exterior building doors and internal doors to restricted environments. However, in place of physical access cards, the PACS of today leverage mobile access, taking advantage of native touchless functionality to allow employees and visitors to use their smartphone as their credential — creating a frictionless experience that optimizes security.

In fact, the demand for increased convenience is behind the rising adoption rate of mobile access solutions. According to HID’s 2022 State of Physical Access Control Report, mobile access adoption increased by 8% with an additional 42% of survey respondents indicating plans to upgrade in the near future. The report also identified ease of use, ability to add or support new technologies, touchless or contactless capabilities, mobile access and integration with existing security platforms as the top five features enterprises require in new PACS systems.

Today’s next-generation PACS are also increasingly moving into the cloud, which offers a range of benefits including scalability, adaptability and cost savings. Cloud-based PACS also require fewer resources to maintain, can be managed from anywhere and streamline integration with other systems and applications.

These were among the many reasons Charter Hall transitioned to a mobile access control solution from HID.

Charter Hall: A Case Study in Mobile Access Control for Commercial Real Estate

One of Australia’s leading fully integrated property groups, Charter Hall has more than 31 years of experience in funds management and property investment in the core sectors of office, retail, industrial and logistics and social infrastructure. It has carefully curated a diverse AUD 61.3 billion portfolio of more than 1,500 high quality long-leased properties, combining insight and inventiveness to unlock hidden value and nurture a development pipeline of more than AUD 9 billion.

Charter Hall is committed to continuously exploring ways to leverage the latest technologies to advance sustainability and ensure security for its buildings and their surroundings. To that end, the company developed the Charli workplace app to provide its building communities with a range of services, features and benefits to create valued experiences that are convenient for its tenants. From concierge services to building updates and alerts, Charli was designed to keep tenants connected with the broader workplace community and provide tenant managers with quick, convenient access to Charter Hall’s property management services for service requests and to report or log issues.

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Enhancing Charli With HID Mobile Access®

Charter Hall recognized that integrating mobile access control into the app would optimize the role Charli could play in achieving a frictionless yet secure and sustainable tenant experience. They also wanted to streamline their access technology by deploying universal readers across Charter Hall properties in tandem with mobile IDs, so access could be easily adapted for each building but still controlled at a central point.

Ultimately, Charter Hall’s National Operations Team made the decision to build upon its existing relationship with HID and deploy HID Mobile Access and HID Signo™ Readers for access control. Doing so created a foundational layer for Charter Hall to build upon by pulling together all the disparate systems in the buildings through the readers and by utilizing an API-based approach wherever possible.

How the HID-Charli Integration Works

HID Mobile Access lets any compatible mobile device be used as a credential to securely access doors, gates, networks and more. It increases convenience and boosts operational efficiency without compromising security, while reducing costs by eliminating the need for physical access cards to move throughout buildings and to access secure areas including parking, printers and lockers.

The highly versatile HID Signo Reader supports the widest range of credential technologies via native Bluetooth® wireless technology, near-field communication (NFC) and Apple Wallet. It delivers unparalleled performance with ultra-secure storage of cryptographic keys and a connection to the future through secure bidirectional communication support. Each reader is also designed to be connected and managed remotely for easy upgrades.

“We took a precinct approach, which is why HID was ultimately selected. Everything is now on the same backbone, which makes it a lot easier to manage what is going on, and everything is talking to the same central point,” said Loren Mellowship, General Manager of Wesley Place, who oversees the company’s three adjacent Wesley Precinct buildings in Melbourne.

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Multiple Benefits Realized

About 4,000 Charter Hall tenants and employees can leverage HID Mobile Access via the Charli app to access the entire Wesley Precinct and its amenities, including end-of-trip facilities and FollowMe Printing. Self-onboarding also allows tenants to request and receive access any time of the day, eliminating the need to wait for a physical card, phone call or someone to come to the building.

“No one forgets their mobile device so they can use their mobile ID as a backup if they forget their physical card. Security guards also save time when new credentials need to be issued. It may only take 30 seconds to open a second app to do that, but if you’re doing 1,000 cards over a year that multiplies quickly. So, integration makes things more efficient. It saves time,” said Mellowship.

Charter Hall and its tenants are realizing significant savings through greater productivity thanks to managing access building-wide through a single app and streamlined remote credentialing. Savings are also realized through the elimination of costs associated with issuing physical access cards as well as deactivating and replacing them when they are lost or stolen.

“HID Mobile Access allows secure, seamless access from street-to-seat and frees up everyone to focus on more valuable work,” said Mellowship.

Learn More About Mobile Access Control in Commercial Real Estate

The Charter Hall case study explores the property group’s decision to leverage mobile access control as a foundational component of the security system and provides detailed insights into its integration with its existing workplace app for a seamless tenant experience. Download your copy of the case study or read up on the trends driving mobile access in HID’s 2022 State of Physical Access Control Report. Learn more about HID Mobile Access solutions.

Troy is the Senior End User Business Manager for Physical Access Control Solutions in Asia Pacific. Troy is an expert in both physical control and mobile access with over two decades’ worth of experience in the security industry. In his role, Troy works with commercial real estate (CRE), banking, data center and PropTech companies to advise and help them to understand and implement HID Mobile Access and IoT solutions.

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