Security in most business contexts has expanded massively in recent years. We now have a whole range of systems that would be unrecognisable to people just a few decades ago, from VPNs to three-factor authentication.
That being said, locks – and keys of one kind or another – remain critically important to all businesses that maintain physical premises. Here, we take a look at what key management systems look like nowadays, and the role that they will play in 2026.
Modern Keys
While keys used to pretty much only consist of subtly formed pieces of metal, we now have a whole host of other options available to us. There are now locks that use biometric data, key cards, codes, fobs and even scannable codes on mobile devices to control access, and it’s important to recognise where one of these might be a better option than others.
It’s also important that business owners recognise that each of these kinds of keys requires a slightly different key management system. You simply can’t afford to implement a single, static solution if you use multiple forms of access control, and you’ll need to assess the various technologies you’re using in order to choose the right approach for your business.
Audit Trails
No matter what kind of keys your business uses, it’s important to use a key management system that facilitates audit trail creation. You need to know who has access to keys, and ideally, be able to automatically add all of this information to a digital logbook, both for regulatory compliance and to help you get to the bottom of incidents as and when they occur.
For digital keys, this is often integrated into the digital technology itself, but for physical keys, it takes a bit more effort. For example, by using a modern solution such as a key cabinet from Traka, you can control who has access to physical keys, while also having access to key usage-related data that’s automatically logged whenever someone takes a key out.
Ongoing Monitoring
No matter what key management solutions you choose to put in place, you need to make sure that you continue to monitor their efficacy on an ongoing basis.
In practice, this means continuing to look for potential cracks in your approach, before they have the chance to grow into something potentially more significant and potentially result in an actual security breach.
Adopting this kind of strategic approach means that you are much less likely to fall into the trap of over-reliance on any given technology. It’s easy to think that because you’ve paid for a flashy new service, everything will just slot into place, but these kinds of assumptions often lead to significant security issues, and can be avoided relatively easily.
The role of workplace key management solutions has become a lot more complicated in recent years, but luckily, we now have access to more options than ever before. It’s important to take the time to determine which tools are most effective for your specific access requirements, and then continue to optimise the use of those tools over the years to come.
