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Cloud computing is a burgeoning trend as today's world is keen to leap at the opportunity to transform into more technologically-adapted environments. In the world of business, the cloud is changing management at its most global ever. Is the cloud system a breakout hit? Definitely not. Chances are, humans relying more and more on cloud computing services to tackle problems and uprising challenges faced by a growing company and a fluctuating workforce.

At this juncture, enterprises should acknowledge that the intimate link between workforce and workplace security exists as the management demand evolves. Think about strengthening security, we all know that cloud-based access control systems claim best at reducing time consumption and lowering expenditure on operational costs while having the capability to tame the business empires' craving for security access system optimization. There are no accelerated formulas to achieve the best performance outcome if the gap between conventional and unconventional is not bridged.

To exclaim on the most trendy way of tightening security on-prem in the present, most companies have been moving the door of access control to cloud, believing that it can ultimately improve the efficiency and the security in a way that routinary don't. Here are the growing benefits and implications to convince you what cloud access control can bring to businesses:

01 Mobile-Friendly Real-time Validation

With cloud merging the application software, the Cloud Computing Applications are starring as the fastest-growing in the market with the ubiquitous smartphones. The mobile cloud approach enables access control to be designed, especially for mobile users to enjoy the 'remote access anywhere' and to use without being bound to the device operating system. Data synchronizes with people movement in real-time generated a strong monitoring platform for a revolutionary era.

02 Globally Scalable

Scalability is unquestionably another predominant and valuable feature of cloud computing. Scaling in the cloud demonstrates the delivering performances of the flexibility of time and money. There are no restrictions as to the difference between cultures, societies, and frame of mind. It is the 'One for all and all for one' demand that cloud systems can achieve. The capability to make prompt readjustment has patched up the flaws of many products that were not made reachable in achieving such a feature. Cloud is flexible. It accommodates a cavernous data flow rate without affecting the business operation and completes the transformation of existing infrastructure, creating effective leverage of the scalability of the cloud.

03 Easy to Administer Identity Management

System management personnel are relatively resourceful when compared with manual data tracking of access systems. To determine whether it is or not being accessed, whether it is allowed or not allowed to be authorized can all be done effortlessly via the Cloud-based system. The scouting process is made more accessible through this intelligence storage system when tracing the log of door activities is much-needed for management reporting and fraud-risk prevention used.

04 Increased Collaboration

Cloud epitomizes less friction between people and systems. More significantly, between systems and management. The competency of the cloud illustrates a positive increase in the productivity of handling volumes of unknown identity registration. With a cloud-based access control system, the security and control of the building can be delegated to tiered admin levels that give levels of control across the organization without compromises. That being said, the cloud improved the total cost of ownership, giving the management more control over who comes and goes.

05 Low Infrastructure Costs for Local Servers and Hardware

Costs to be paid for on-prem access control systems are the lack of remote support and the high cost of installation and equipment input. Every refinement or tuning requires a support technician to come on-site and is challenging to install. Commonly, hardware does take up physical spaces, including wiring. It all may affect not only the system operation but also the cost and time of investment. Why the fuss when the cloud is a virtualized hardware with strong server consolidation and demand zero need for on-site hardware and capital expenses? Deal only with subscription-based models that prices are reflected based on actual usage and with the deliverance of effective after service at a moment’s notice through 24/7 web live chat, webinar and demonstration videos.

06 Continuous Upgrading Features and Improvements

Static software systems limit functional programming. It is an unsafe method when the same output is given for the same input. Essentially, IT has a constant demand for enhancing competitive advantages for organizations and attaining consistency in running system management. Cloud allows users to get instant access to new features and to be a part and have a say in the product development cycle. Cloud attributes to these accessible features to be upgraded instantly for free and thereby, increase performance and capacity to run the program efficiently.

07 Fast Recovery and Forever Backup System

Reliable access control data recovery across the entire infrastructure can be complicated. Cloud’s unlimited storage for file restoration and backup has broken free the formidable hurdle in server recovery. Blazing fast-in memory is one of the strongest strengths of Cloud systems. With its built-in database redundancies to reduce latency and optimize throughput, it demonstrated the compute capacity for failover to continuously backup.

“The enterprise market has a thirst to move to access as a service, but they haven’t been able to get the response they were looking for [from providers].” -SDM article. Cloud-based systems are the ground-breaking blends of modern-day technologies. IT blindspots are removed through aspects of development such as remote-location management, infinite compute and storage capacity, unrestricted resources accessibility and more. There are so many reasons to move to a cloud-based platform. All in all, cloud access control systems are all about using a lesser amount of money and time to tighten security despite the size of the organization.

Ready to move to the cloud?

Drop us an email at info@timeteccloud.com or

Visit our website to know more at https://www.timeteccloud.com/

While the Big Mac index reflects the purchasing power parity between nations, the Intersec's performance reflects Dubai economy.

For the past three years, exhibitors get lesser, and crowds get thinner at Intersec, mirroring the fact of the economic downturn in Dubai. Nonetheless, Intersec, as the most significant security tradeshow and congregation hub in the Middle East and North Africa region, still retains its status with quality leads to offer.

Intersec, as always, connects us with our longtime partners and it was a pleasure meeting Mr Faisal Kan, the CEO of IPTec UAE, Mr Kinan Alfin, the CEO of Link2Tec, Rouaa and Noor Alkhalifa from Ultratech Sudan, Mr Mohan Das Kuttath from Okaz Telecom Saudi, Mr Ibrahim Elshamy from Intelligent Project Qatar, Mr Mahmoud from DLink Kuwait, Benacer Douadi from Safety and Protection Ltd Algeria, and many more to catch up with our latest developments.

One of the discernible trends I have observed, the main exhibition halls that used to be occupied by the surveillance system and CCTV products have shrunk, many famous brands disappear, lost in the fierce competition. Access control products, the once smaller in size if compared to surveillance, has now seized a larger hall space.

This time around, we exhibited FingerTec products; but highlighted our arrays of cloud solutions. It has marked the transformation of our company, from a hardware-driven company to a software-driven, from outright purchase to subscription-based, from standalone simple biometrics product to a cloud ecosystem company.

I'm proud that we come prepared as compared to many market players to ride on the next wave of cloud computing technology advancement. While many Chinese companies still relentlessly showing their perpetually lower price hardware products; we manage to bring forward a cluster of mature cloud products, under the trademark of TimeTec Cloud City, complemented and integrated with easy-to-connect IoT devices.

Many visitors found TimeTec's latest QF Master App awe-inspiring.

We turned a standard Android phone into a face recognition terminal that opens the door. The QF master App scans face for recognition and also scans QR codes for verification. It integrates with the latest TimeTec BLE-2 door controller via Bluetooth communication.

Two parties, one from Saudi Arabia and another from UAE, foresee the massive potential of TimeTec cloud solutions, hence, have proposed joint ventures and investments to foster stronger ties with us. Besides, Assa Abloy of Dubai scheduled a meeting with a prominent housing developer for an integration proposal of the Assa Abloy locks and i-Neighbour cloud intercom system, i-Comm, an integral part of our smart community product, i-Neighbour. And soon, our esteemed distributor of FingerTec, Magnum Connect of Dubai will actively promote TimeTec Cloud solutions with the blessings of the CEO, Mr Nayagam Pillai, to carry this product forward.

February is going to be a busy month for us with proposals to write and follow-ups to make.

Till next time, Intersec.

Teh Hon Seng, Group CEO of TimeTec Group of Companies. Prior to forming TimeTec, Teh led PUC Founder (MSC) Bhd to be listed on MESDAQ (ACE) market of Bursa Malaysia in 2002. Teh initiated the R&D in fingerprint technology in 2000, which later developed into a renowned global brand for commercial fingerprint product known as FingerTec. In 2008, he foresaw the trend of cloud computing and mobile technology, and over the years, he had strategically diversified and transformed its biometric-focused products into a suite of cloud solutions that aimed at workforce management and security industries including smart communities that centered around the cloud ecosystem. Teh has more than 10 patents to his name, and he is also a columnist in a local newspaper and a writer of several books.

It sounds almost comical, ghost employees. No, it's not referring to the staff who passed. This term refers to names recorded on payroll, but they do not work at the place, like at all. They could be real, actual people or they could also be fictitious characters, depending on who created the records for these spooky, non-existent employees. It is indeed terrifying when these employees can rake a lot of money from a company and even millions from a government. Bizarre? Not so.

In 2016, a Nigerian government cut nearly 24,000 non-existent workers from its payroll and saved $11.5 million a month! Iraq paid a whopping $380million a year for 50,000 soldiers who never reported for duty. Many other cases are affecting nations across the globe as well as corporate companies.

How could this happen in the first place? You might ask. Dishonest employees and corrupted civil servants pose real damaging risks to businesses and governments alike. And the primary motivation for the perpetrator(s) is money and how to get more money through illegal manners. It could be an individual effort or a collective effort to cheat a system, and the absence or the lack of detailed audit in any system elevates this further.

Is this crime preventable? It's easier to prevent if it happens in SME, smaller companies. However, it's trickier when it occurs in multinational, multibranch, labour-intensive organisations because the larger a company is, the massive the data to audit.

The good news is, every company can minimise the risk by employing this one simple yet effective tactic in operation. Before we dive into the solution, let's explore how could this ghost employee occurrence happen? Two ways, timecard falsification, and another is a ghost employee presence, where an administrator is giving an avatar or a 'life' to an ID in a system. All the perpetrator needs to do is to falsify time for this fake ID, and approves the 'work' done to get paid.

Now, let's talk biometrics.

What biometrics technology does is, it compares the recorded template of a person's biometric data with the biometric characteristic of a real person. If you have stored a fingerprint template inside a system, you would have to scan your finger for your data to be verified and recorded. There is two-step to biometric authentication. One, a person needs to register, then he/she needs to verify. Biometrics cannot skip these two steps to provide authentication. Then, apply this biometric technology to time clocking and monitoring to obtain reliable time data for reference and checking.

Through biometrics, even when an admin who is in charge of the system plans to cheat the system, he needs to figure out whose fingerprints are for which IDs and how would these ghosts come to work to record the time for payroll purposes. If the admin wants to use his fingers, the system will catch him even faster. The ghost needs to clock at the right time with the correct biometrics, and any edit on the attendance data will be highlighted accordingly to prevent data mishandling.

See, biometrics is indeed a simple solution to this problem.

If you think that this Ghost Employee phenomenon wouldn't affect your company, think again. Unless you have installed protection such as biometrics systems in place, no one is safe. And be wary of the people who are against the system because they might have something up their sleeves for quite some time.

Foreword

The 17th China Public Security Expo held in Shenzhen in 2019 was still as big as the previous years. But I came out of the exhibition halls faster than I did before.

There are more and more homogenized products exhibited at the Expo, and fewer and fewer foreign manufacturers taking part; far less this year. According to a report, only 5%. For China, this is an achievement, because international products have been wiped out and replaced by the locally made products. This trend also means China is capable of producing the same products, as good as its foreign counterparts, and even more economical at that.

But this boasted achievement has quickly become a hidden worry in China.

Outsiders can't get in; eventually, insiders can't go out too.

Because we can almost foresee the outcome, in which foreign products have difficulty to enter China, and Chinese products will be harder to export as well in the future. (I will discuss this in the last chapter)

From the product is king, to the application is king.

The era of “Product is King” has come to an end, “Application is King” is taking the reign.

Now, the products are standalone dotted points, and the applications connect them all, and the connectivity makes the golden age of pure products obsolete. The 4G era of connecting people has completed its mission. The future 5G emerges to connect people and things, things and things. With the rise of IoT or Internet of Things, Internet of Everything, AIoT or Artificial Intelligence of Things, the factories that produce purely standalone objects are getting bitter.

Cheap labour drives the China’s economy. The security industry was initially hardware-driven. Surveillance cameras, access control barriers, clocking readers, and door locks, they all started with hardware. Later, during the era of computerization in the last century, these products were linked to computers. Usually, the front-end of the surveillance camera, access control, etc. is responsible for collecting data. Then the data is transferred into the computer system through some interfaces such as RS232, RS485, TCP/IP for further processing to output the results. From the standalone to the local area network, the manufacturing of products and the programming of software is a division of labour, and the combination of use is also divided. This model is beneficial to China. We witnessed how Hikvision and Dahua have rapidly emerged as international market leaders that dominate the surveillance industry.

Hardware-driven market to software-driven market

Because the hardware has a big profit lies beneath, Chinese manufacturers have focused on hardware for their market expansion. The software has become a complementary accessory. It is usually bundled with hardware as a free of charge item, or charged at a minimum fee; hence, the overall software lacks comprehensive R&D planning and real allocation.

When the arrival of the Internet trend in the late 1990s, China's security industry was unmoved, security products were hardly in deep association with the Internet or could have many benefits obtained from the Internet technology. Simultaneously, Internet companies were born like rapid fire. The big guys in the security industry are still wandering in their comfort zone, thinking that as long as they are big and strong enough in their fields, they would be perpetually invincible.

Suddenly, big data appears, cloud computing happens, artificial intelligence rises, mobile internet strengthens, and the Internet of Things becomes a reality.

When these big concepts started to surface, security companies seem never to fail to boast about how their products complement the big technology trends. During the CPSE Exhibition, when we enquired further, we understand that most of them are still in the concept hype stage. The adoption is indeed quite shallow, let alone would cause a paradigm shift in the industry. The hype might fool the capital market, but not the real market and customers. However, this is quite a universal norm for China's security industry.

When we say Factory 4.0 or Manufacturing 4.0, strictly speaking, the factory in Factory 4.0 stage is no longer about a factory, but a tech company. The Factory 4.0 is not merely the adoption of cutting-edge IT equipment, or to enhance the automation process so that it can upgrade itself from Factory 3.0 to 4.0, and it is a thorough DNA reengineering process for an organization. For Factory 4.0, it is not only about the products networkability, but the products also have to integrate with various cloud applications to form a comprehensive IoT ecosystem.

If the progress of 1G to 4G in telecommunications impacted individuals and the B2C consumer market the most, the introduction of 5G is expected to affect B2B significantly, bringing vital change to all industries, the mega smart city projects included. We foresee through interconnectivity between IoTs, and the revolutionary cloud applications, this trend will redefine and rebuild the ecosystems between industries, which is also a massive opportunity for the security industry. It's just that, are you ready?

The four elements of the Internet of Things era

1. Cloud computing and cloud applications are the life support of IoT; therefore, the cloud is a must for all industries in the 5G era.

2. IoT is cloud-driven, and therefore, hardware-driven companies have to transform themselves into software-driven companies. For hardware vendors, this is a tough genetic modification project to undertake.

3. Since cloud computing can do 90% of IoT processing, hardware gets simpler and cheaper. This element is a big blow to manufacturers who merely rely on hardware to generate revenue.

4. The interconnectivity between objects in multiple scenarios and cross-platforms, spawn new consolidated ecosystems and multiple cloud applications.

The secured and unsecured security industry

As the 5G era approaches, the IoT era arrives concurrently. The security industry is at the crossroad of innovation. The imminent game-changer is approaching. And big tech companies are more sensitive and ready as compared to the security companies with their infostructure groundwork. And, the siege has begun. Huawei is coming, Baidu is coming, Alibaba is coming, Tencent is coming, there are many more out there making their ways.

No matter how they enter the arena, either as friends or foes, they will directly or indirectly compete and take up some good slice from the security industry. As foes, they compete directly in your territory, with cooler stuff; as friends, they seem to drive traffic to you from their internet platform, but in the end, they will get the upper hand, bag bigger benefits.

It is apparent that the platforms built by the Internet giants, such as the enterprise platform of Alibaba’s DingTalk, Tencent’s WeChat and Small Program, have become the pain points of many industries, including security.

Due to a lack of cloud computing full deployment, the hardware-driven security companies continue to provide free software as a strategy. And, this strategy has made them stalling in developing cloud applications that could generate them with direct profit from subscription-based Software as a Service (SaaS) model. At the same time, they are also unable to use the cloud to drive the hardware sales, and they end up losing at both ends.

China's tech companies have successfully replaced foreign security products to becoming threats to the security companies. For this new threat, I reckon security companies affected have to succumb and play along.

The game-changer in the domestic market is not affecting the overseas market just yet. Due to the diversity of the international market, the application of IoT does not influence product-oriented sales entirely. Apart from the impact of the Trade War between the United States and China, some market space for overseas products is still available. However, as China's labour costs rise, the advantage of low-cost products diminishing; and as the IoT and the cloud become mainstream, the export market will be affected tremendously, very soon.

The predicament of China’s export market in the future

Some people may say, why should we separate the traditional Chinese security companies from the incoming Internet companies? If we regard China as a sole force, and these companies merge as one, can they not dominate the world?

Otherwise.

Because of China's Great Firewall Policy that segregates China's Internet world from the outside world, it separates the seemingly integrated Internet into two different forms. Extra and tremendous adaptation efforts have to be put in for overseas cloud applications to suit China’s environment, and vice versa for China’s cloud solutions. Integrating an application system is much trickier than adopting individual products; this is the common challenge for the industry players.

The road to moving forward

Whether it suits your agenda or otherwise, technology trends and market ecosystems are moving the IoT way. Hence, how should the security industry player react? My brief view is as follows:

First, the need to deepen awareness about cross-industries and how it works; second, the need to define new products and standards; third, the need for deep integration of 5G and artificial intelligence, cloud computing and other technologies; fourth, the need for an organization to transform from hardware-driven to software-driven.

Only by maintaining an open-minded attitude towards new ideas, willingness to cooperate with new partners, walking the talk, only then security industry players can create new values in the new cross-industry and cross-sector security industry.

Access Control is always viewed as a traditional market, stagnated and not at all sexy for newbies to

set foot in. Though there is some development observed over the years in this business of the old lock and bolt, only recently that it becomes more exciting and appealing with the incorporation of the latest technologies into its various solutions.

We list down four main factors influencing the change of view in access control market progression in these recent years.

Let's talk about IoT
The Internet of Things or acronym IoT is changing the entire designs of products and solutions for

numerous industries around the world, access control included. With the introduction of IoT into

access control, the possibilities it brings such as remote monitoring, simpler installation, data

centralization, real-time data, mobility, and many more, are excitable and valuable than before.

Forget cumbersome and expensive wiring when you can connect your smartphone to a Bluetooth

controller to control access to your premises. You can get notified when someone accesses your

premises in real-time, get a report of what's happening and top that with mobile credentials available

on your smartphone, IoT provides convenience beyond compare. IoT really makes manufacturers

take a step back and rethink how they should offer their products and solutions to the consumers

going forward.

Cloud it Up

With Cloud, the access control that was once strictly location-based has now opened up extra

opportunities to its users. Cloud provides better data management and access to real-time data

remotely, and the fact that now consumers can subscribe to Access Control as a Service (ACaaS)

has facilitated high adoption, especially from small to medium-sized businesses. The reason

being, the deployment of ACaaS places system management, maintenance, and support to the

system integrator while the companies still can benefit from cost savings without compromising on

technical support and scalability. While the subscription cost might be a concern for starters,
like all technologies, the pricing will stabilize over time to the advantage of the consumers, eventually.

Open Platform Seamless Integration

The availability of open-platform technology has made seamless integration of access control

system with other solutions possible. "No solutions fit all" is a fact, and by using the open-platform

capability, organizations can address their diverse needs by integrating their access control with

other solutions they require such as surveillance, attendance, and many more without much hassle.

It just makes sense to optimize the investment to its fullest by tapping on its full potential.

Various Usage

All these advancements in technology providing an access control system to function more than

mere security with the addition of multiple functionalities into one system. For example, an access

control system that can integrate with a visitor management system. Therefore, it can control the

incoming and outgoing visitors into business premises, as well as an access control that can also

work as a clocking method for the attendance of the entire organization.

The latest emerging technologies have given the access control industry a new lease of life, and the

players are embracing the development like no other. People are pushing the envelope with unique

creations that will propel this industry further in our effort to provide organizations with more reliable

security products and solutions. And for those who are adamant about sticking to the traditional way

about access control, the market continues to change at a faster pace, and it waits for no man.

Visit www.timetecaccess.com

Benefits from Cloud-based Access Control System

The Ride-on The Next Cloud Wave at Intersec, Dubai

Biometrics, the Protection from Ghost Employees

New Challenges for Security Industry in the Era of the Internet of Things

The 4 Main Drivers of Access Control Market Growth

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