Cloud-based access control systems — or hybrid access control systems that may communicate with the cloud rather than operating solely in the cloud have been available for quite some time now, but there continues to be some trepidation toward adopting cloud-based solutions. According to industry experts SDM spoke with, attitudes toward cloud-based solutions have changed to the point where it would be remarkable if a customer wasn’t somewhat interested in a cloud-based solution. Still, there exists some lag in the technology’s adoption.

“I don’t hear many people today saying, ‘I really want to operate some access control software, and I’m going to make a special space in my data center to do that,’” says John Szczygiel, executive vice president and COO, Brivo, Bethesda, MD. “That would be unusual.”