Ep 18: Connecting People in Spaces: Kisi CEO Bernie Mehl on Using Access Control Data to Improve Hybrid Work

In episode 18, I’m very excited to welcome Bernie Mehl, CEO and Co-founder of Kisi, a technology company offering security as a service using a combination of sensors and mobile devices to manage facilities. Bernie is out to revolutionize the field of access control through the power of Internet of Things (IoT). His commitment to excellence along with a passion for pioneering smart access solutions aligns with Kisi’s culture of pushing boundaries in tech to create smarter, interconnected workspaces—including hybrid ones—and that’s why he’s joining us as a hero of hybrid work today.

Bernie Mehl started Kisi over 10 years ago after observing how people were using access control. Using mobile phones as a form of access control became more popular as people started trusting that more, and that got him thinking: “Why not trust key cards?” Now, access control is important for hybrid workplaces because it allows remote access and removes the manual barriers of having to travel somewhere.

Leveraging Access Control Data for Granular Occupancy Insights

Bernie Mehl discussed the benefits of using access control data for workplace teams. Access control data can be used to create data for workplace strategies and analyze office usage, making it useful for both end users and admins. In the past, admins typically worked with IT and physical security specialists to track employee productivity and collaboration. Now, in addition to HR and IT sources like Wi-Fi data, access control data has become a popular data point for measuring occupancy and analyzing trends at workplaces.

Bernie Mehl shared that organizations can get bottom-up reporting and insights on a more granular level versus on top-down average occupancy level, which employees appreciate. Workplace and HR teams can combine access control data with HR data to analyze team and individual workplace usage. The granularity allows them to look for anomalies in occupancy data (e.g., spikes in spontaneous meetings). For example, companies saw that spontaneous meetings doubled in the last year, which they wouldn’t have seen if they just tracked average monthly occupancy. Organizations can use this data as a trend indicator and as a prompt to talk to teams or individuals.

Common RTO Mistakes Companies Make About Physical Security

Real estate teams and workplace teams often think about real estate cost in terms of cost per seat. However, Mehl shared that it would be more useful to segment employee groups based on their usage patterns. Different employee groups may have different usage patterns (e.g., one a month, 2-3 times, 5 times). Assigning value to different employee groups based on their office usage can provide a more dynamic way of valuing the workplace. The purpose of the office (e.g., sales hub, showroom, collaboration space) can also affect how the office should be valued.

From the access control perspective, it's a big influence on how the experience is coming back to the office for the first time back. Companies are trying to make it easier for employees to work in their offices while maintaining compliance and security. Questions like “Do you need to wait in line?” and “Do you have to wait for someone to give you access?” abound.

What Bernie Mehl found in the last couple of years is that companies started to lock their doors because not everyone is on-site all the time. The front desk was no longer staffed either. People didn’t really know whether someone was a new employee or an intern or a visitor. All of that led to offices having tighter security, which can lead to more barriers in terms of access if people didn’t have key cards or other ways of accessing the office officially. Balancing workplace experience with safety and security is becoming tougher in the hybrid work environment.

Empowering Facilities With Data and Technology so They Can Focus on People

Bernie Mehl explained that ensuring physical security is not the job of just one department in a company; it’s the responsibility of IT, workplace, facilities, or even other departments. Most of the time, IT and facilities teams are the ones involved in physical security projects. Collaboration between IT and facilities leaders is necessary to create safe and secure workplaces.

“Physical security doesn't have one assigned responsibility in a company. Sometimes it's with IT, sometimes workplace, sometimes facilities. But ultimately, our vision is to ‘connect people in spaces,’ and that's typically those two different teams. We sit somewhere in the middle.” - Bernie Mehl, CEO & Co-founder of Kisi

Bernie Mehl also proposed utilizing real-time data for remote security and compliance monitoring. He talked about standard alerts (e.g., door held open, door forced open). That would be a good moment to have remote access to security and compliance, as teams can react faster in real-time to trends or alerts. Nowadays, organizations can even use Artificial Intelligence (AI) models to determine the most important notifications for users by analyzing data such as intent, attendance, and space requirements. However, companies need to tune AI models with their own parameters and rules.

“If you're working in facilities or in workplace roles, you should be able to focus your time on making people productive and collaborative and not so much on back-office tasks.” - Bernie Mehl, CEO & Co-founder of Kisi

Innovations in Physical Security for Hybrid Work Settings

Bernie Mehl explained that his measurement of success for hybrid work strategies would focus on the ideal occupancy goal. For example, if he wanted as many people on-site as possible for three days a week, then he would look at data that tracks team access to the office and compare it with the expected access for different teams based on their functions. Look for deviations from expected access patterns and get a baseline established for improvement.

“Success in workplace strategy is a roadmap, not a ‘day one’ success. Being transparent about the gradual process increases your chances of overall success of the workplace strategy.” - Bernie Mehl, CEO & Co-founder of Kisi

Bernie Mehl also gave strategies for balancing security and convenience in a hybrid work setting. He pointed out challenges in determining who gets access. For example, the difference between an employee and a visitor is not that clear anymore. Sometimes employees are permitted full-time at one location but visitors are permitted at a different location. He recommended provisioning access rights automatically and tying access control to travel software for seamless access to different offices. For example, if a worker books a flight to a different office, they should and could automatically get access to that office.

Using New Productivity and Collaboration Data To Support Flexible Work

Bernie Mehl expressed that the integration of access control systems with other workplace technologies like Kisi and Skedda can enhance the overall employee experience and security. Skedda helps ensure that there is enough space available when booking an office location, and having access control can provide a sense of security for employees entering the office. Utilizing data from both Skedda and Kisi allows for better tracking of utilization metrics and creates a better overall experience for both end users and admins. 

A seamless and efficient process benefits everyone. Bernie Mehl discussed the pressure on facilities teams to ensure a seamless and efficient process while reducing costs and getting people back to work. That’s where having a community to engage with and share best practices becomes important. Mehl also encouraged facilities leaders to use data points from the employee workforce to convince leaders of positive trends, even if top-down metrics don’t show it yet. In the future, more data sources (e.g., occupancy and utilization data) are essential for informing hybrid work policies.

“CEO's goal is why isn't everyone at work? Why isn't everyone productive and collaborating? And if you find data points on productivity and collaboration that are new and interesting—I think leaders are convincible.” - Bernie Mehl, CEO & Co-founder of Kisi