13 Sep 2017

Since 2008, Transportation Impact, a privately held 5-time Inc. 5000 company, has been providing maximum supply chain cost reduction for clients in multiple vertical markets. The company, which is based in Emerald Isle, North Carolina, has made a huge impact on the bottom line for clients by reducing shipping costs through small package and freight negotiation along with their state-of-the-art transportation management system.

Today, the company employs a team of 70 to employees and contractors, with more than 300 years of combined carrier experience, leveraging its industry savvy to drive down clients’ net annual freight spend by an average of more than 20 percent. By staying true to its core values of work ethic, professionalism, perfection, integrity and passion, Transportation Impact has developed a strong presence in its community, is among the fastest-growing businesses in the country and has been named among the Best Workplaces 2017.

With two ultra-modern office buildings based in North Carolina, the safety and security of the company’s dedicated employees and infrastructure became a major priority for Transportation Impact. It was time for the company to invest in an industry leading access control system to protect their valued employees now and down the road.

Securing conference room and executive areas

Transportation Impact is dedicated to making a significant impact on its clients’ bottom line and this dedication proliferates into their internal operations. With 70 employees working out of two office buildings in Emerald Isle, NC; they needed an access control solution to safeguard employees and their infrastructure.

The company’s corporate headquarters reside in a building that consists of 4 floors with two floors containing executive offices and conference rooms and the top two floors housing a restaurant and bar which is open to the public. The biggest challenge Transportation Impact found with a shared building is the common occurrence for the public to walk in on private meetings taking place in the conference rooms and inquire about the location of the restaurant. Having the public enter Transportation Impact’s office at will was not only a disruption, but a security risk for employees and private company information and systems. It was imperative that the conference room and executive areas were safeguarded from unauthorised access.

Having the public enter
Transportation Impact’s
office at will was not only
a disruption, but a security
risk for employees

ISONAS Pure IP™ access control solution

With its rampant growth, it was time for the company to increase the level of security at their facility and invest in an access control solution that was simple to administer across multiple buildings, could handle the addition of geographically dispersed locations and provide their users with a convenient method to access the buildings. Transportation Impact needed a special delivery, the right access control solution from their trusted security integrator, Electronic Solutions. Electronic Solutions has been working with Transportation Impact over the last few years and understood their need for a simple and convenient access control solution. Ron Snyder, President at Electronic Solutions and an ISONAS certified partner, delivered the ISONAS Pure IP™ access control solution in the fall of 2016 starting with a pilot program for ISONAS’s new RC-04 reader-controller all managed from the ISONAS software, Pure Access cloud.

Transportation Impact was one of the first companies to use the new hardware product and provide feedback on the functionality and usability of the system. In addition, they were one of the first to take advantage of the Pure Mobile credentials from ISONAS.

“ISONAS is a great team to work with as they are all about supporting their certified dealers and offering top notch customer service to help make the implementation process seamless,” states Ron Snyder, President at Electronic Solutions. “The ISONAS solution is a great product and so much easier than the past access control systems that required running several cables to install it. ISONAS offers a simple solution, which only requires an ISONAS reader-controller and a CAT 5 cable for power and data; making it an easy deployment for customers.”

Together, ISONAS and Electronic Solutions made a huge impact and created a safer workplace environment for Transportation Impact with convenient security at a minimal cost.

Convenient mobile access control

One key challenge that drove Transportation Impact and Electronic Solutions of Greenville to choose ISONAS was the need for convenient access for their users. Upon the initial installation, Transportation Impact utilised key fobs to provide access to their users. Unfortunately, a number of the key fobs were lost which resulted in employees propping open doors; circumventing the security and effectiveness of the access control solution. With the number of lost key fobs, Transportation Impact needed to find a way to incorporate access control into their employees’ normal, everyday practices. The ISONAS Pure Mobile credential allowed them to take the convenience of their mobile phone to the next level. The Bluetooth® Low Energy feature of the Pure IP™ hardware family (RC-04) eliminated the need for a physical card or key fob and allowed a mobile device to act as an access card.

With the simplicity of Pure Mobile in combination with Pure Access, there was no need to install additional software, purchase additional licenses to enroll mobile credentials, or acquire a massive bank of credentials. The RC-04 hardware and Pure Access software are ready to use with the ISONAS Pure Mobile credentials right out of the box. An employee at Transportation Impact can simply download the Pure Mobile application to their phone, present it to a reader-controller, and the facility administrator associates that mobile phone to the user’s profile.

In addition to having mobile
access, we really liked having
the ability to automate on a
schedule and set the doors
to lock and unlock during
certain times of the day
"

We were looking for an easy-to-use access control solution that allowed access with the touch of a button and we found it,” says Norm Pollock, VP of Information Technology at Transportation Impact. “In addition to having mobile access, we really liked having the ability to automate on a schedule and set the doors to lock and unlock during certain times of the day all from the Pure Access Cloud software.”

With this new technological advancement delivered to their door, Transportation Impact had the right solution in place to avoid the days of lost key fobs. By having employees use their smart phones as a credential to enter the building, the company could rest easy knowing that they were protected and in a secure operation.

Pure Access Cloud Software

With a successful pilot program under their belt, Transportation Impact currently has 11 ISONAS RC-04 reader controllers installed across two office buildings all administered from the Pure Access Cloud software, giving them access from anywhere at any time. Pure Access cloud eliminated the need for any additional onsite network infrastructure and provided full administrative and management power of their access control system from any device. Now they can assign users to the system, establish access schedules, events and holidays preventing doors from being propped open and surprise visits from the public. With 9 doors secured in their corporate headquarters and two installed in their second building on the front and back doors; Transportation Impact is ready for business.

ISONAS, Electronic Solutions of Greenville, and Transportation Impact all took the high road and worked together to implement a new access control system that helped to improve safety while being convenient at the corporate headquarters. With plans of a third office building in the works, it will be an easy road for Transportation Impact to add additional doors to their powerful access control system; now and in the future.