You've made the decision to upgrade your organization’s access control system. Whether it was driven by security concerns, compliance requirements or demands for a modern user experience, you’re now facing the next critical question: How to make this transition? Which path will cause the least amount of havoc — and expense?
The good news is that migrating from legacy access control doesn’t need to create chaos for employees and administrators. The key is choosing the right migration strategy for your organization's specific circumstances, budget and timeline.
Before diving into migration logistics, you need to answer a fundamental question: Which type of credentials do you want your employees and visitors to be able to use? Mobile? Smart cards? Both?
It might seem like an obvious question, but this decision will drive everything else about your migration because the rest of your access control infrastructure will need to support your chosen credential type.
Credential choice also varies across industries. Food processing facilities, for example, may restrict smartphone use in production areas for hygiene reasons. Similarly, some high-security environments prohibit devices with cameras in certain zones. Organizations that need enhanced security but aren’t ready for mobile credentials often migrate to encrypted smart cards using technologies like HID Seos® or DESFire EV3. These provide significantly better security than legacy proximity cards while maintaining the familiar card-based experience.
Most organizations choose a hybrid rollout, implementing both smart cards and mobile credentials. This allows them to accommodate different user preferences and operational requirements while building toward an increasingly mobile future.
Once you’ve defined your credential strategy, you can choose from three main migration approaches. Each has distinct advantages depending on your organization’s size, budget and operational constraints.
The Approach: Replace all readers and issue new credentials simultaneously over a short time.
How It Works: Employees receive new credentials in advance, then installation teams replace every reader in the facility over a weekend. Monday morning, employees use their new credentials with the completely updated system.
Best For: Small organizations with fewer employees and simple facility layouts.
Advantages: Clean, fast transition with no ongoing management of multiple credential types. Lower reader and credential cost.
Reality Check: While this quick turn might sound appealing, it's rarely practical even for small organizations. Truly, nothing can go wrong in order to pull this off. Any delay or unexpected installation might leave employees frustrated and locked out of where they need to go.
The Approach: Issue multi-technology credentials that work with both old and new readers, then replace readers gradually.
How It Works: Employees receive new credentials that combine legacy card technology with modern smart card capabilities — all in a single card. These work with your existing readers immediately. You then replace readers with ones supporting smart cards or mobile credentials on your own timeline, testing each new installation without impacting daily operations. Once all readers are replaced, the upgrade is complete. If the readers support mobile access, you can issue mobile credentials to employees.
Best For: Organizations with relatively small employee populations but multiple locations or complex reader installations.
Advantages:
Considerations: Multi-technology credentials typically cost more than single-technology options, so this approach works best when credential costs represent a smaller portion of your total migration budget.
The Approach: Replace readers with multi-technology models that can read both old and new credentials, then transition employees to new credentials over time.
How It Works: Install new readers that can communicate with legacy cards and modern smart cards or mobile-based credentials. Employees can continue using their existing credentials. Once all readers are replaced, deploy mobile access or new smart card credentials to all employees. Finally, to complete the upgrade, you have to configure readers to stop accepting legacy credentials.
Best For: The majority of organizations, especially those with larger employee populations or distributed workforces.
Advantages:
Choosing between credentials-first and readers-first migration often comes down to simple math. Multi-technology readers cost a bit more than single-technology readers and multi-technology credentials typically cost more than single-technology ones. The most economical approach generally is the one requiring fewer multi-technology devices.
Organizations with many employees but fewer doors benefit from readers-first migration because they can get by using standard credentials during the migration period. Organizations with many doors but fewer employees often find credentials-first more economical because they can issue fewer multi-tech credentials, while continuing to use standard readers during the migration period.
Regardless of which migration path you choose, consider your organization’s long-term plans for mobile access. Even if you’re not implementing mobile credentials immediately, selecting readers that support Bluetooth Low Energy, NFC and other mobile communication protocols ensures you won't need another major infrastructure upgrade when you're ready to offer smartphone-based access.
Advanced readers like HID’s Signo line are designed to support both traditional card technologies and mobile credentials, providing flexibility for future expansion without requiring additional hardware investments.
The right migration strategy for your organization depends on your specific circumstances, but the key is starting with a clear plan that aligns with your budget, timeline and operational requirements. Whether you choose to replace credentials first, readers first or some other combination, the important thing is making progress toward a more secure, capable and future-ready access control system.
Migration doesn’t have to happen overnight, but it should happen intentionally. With the right strategy and proper planning, you can enhance your organization’s security and capabilities without disrupting daily operations.
Ready to explore migration options for your specific situation? Our experts can help you evaluate your current system and design a migration strategy that fits your timeline and budget >>