Access Control Technologies: Trends & Access in 2025

Access control technologies have moved far from traditional methods. Over the years, quick changes in security threats, user expectations, and digital transformation have influenced how these systems operate, prompting organizations to adopt more sustainable and intelligent systems.

Advanced technologies do more than regulate the entry and exit of individuals. They merge cloud software, mobile credentials, biometrics, artificial intelligence, and connected hardware to create consistent, data-driven protection, providing holistic visibility.

In this guide, you’ll learn about the access control technologies and trends shaping 2025, the important access control trends, and how they help businesses stay secure, efficient, and future-ready. 

By the end, you will know exactly which systems can support your needs and keep your facility ahead of modern security challenges.

How Coram Access Control is Shaping the Future of Security?

Coram access control is shaping the future of technology by combining artificial intelligence (AI), cloud-based management, and seamless integration to deliver a modern security posture. Here’s a detailed look at how Coram is doing that.

Features & Capabilities

• Hardware-agnostic, Cloud-enabled Access Control: Coram’s platform is designed to work with existing door readers, locks, and IP cameras. No full hardware rip-and-replace required. 

• Unified Platform for Doors, Video, and Alerts: Every access event (granted or denied) is linked with video footage, enabling real-time situational awareness. 

• Cloud Dashboard, Remote Management: Administrators can manage access points, permissions, schedules, mobile/biometric credentials, and monitor activities from anywhere. 

• Intelligence Beyond Entry: In addition to recording events, Coram applies artificial intelligence analytics to detect forced entries, tailgating, slip & fall, firearms, propped doors, and other anomalies.

• Scalable Multi-site Support: Whether you're managing one building or multiple sites or running a business chain, Coram scales with your organization as it grows. Its offline modes maintain access control when internet connectivity fails.

How Coram is Keeping Up With The Current Technology?

1. Embedded AI Agents in Existing Cameras

One of Coram’s standout breakthroughs is deploying “virtual security guards” or AI agents via artificial intelligence in your current security camera infrastructure. It uses these AI agents to monitor for threats, correlate footage, and allow specific searches using plain-English language queries. For example, you can search across the camera network for this query: “find a man wearing a red jacket and carrying a black briefcase.”

2. Advanced Analytics and Threat Detection

Coram supports gun detection, license plate recognition, facial recognition, and other safety alerts. All these are built into the access control and video ecosystem. 

3. Integration of Access Control with Other Access Management Systems

Coram’s architecture enables the kind of unified system that was identified as a major access control trend for 2025. Implementing this platform means access control is no longer in silos, but connected with other security layers:

• video surveillance systems 
• weapon detection systems 
• emergency management systems
• visitor management systems
• alarm systems
• building management

4. Cloud-based and Remote Ready

Coram stores and processes data in the cloud and utilizes it for real-time updates, centralized management, and multi-site visibility. Administrators can monitor on-site activities and issue credentials remotely. All these are essential for optimal security and make up the key access control trends for 2025. 

Best Access Control Technologies

As we look ahead, the leading access control solutions are defined by their ability to offer great flexibility, strong security, and smart integration.

The technologies currently leading the market are those that easily blend solid hardware with intelligent software to create responsive and resilient security ecosystems.

To help you make an informed decision, here’s a breakdown of the best access control technologies.

Cloud-Based Access Control

Cloud-based access control is a security solution that uses cloud technology to regulate access to certain areas within a building or facility. These technologies process, store, and access data through online servers. 

The cloud-based model offers centralized control, enabling administrators to manage permissions, monitor access logs, and receive real-time alerts from any location using a web browser or mobile app.

Here is how it works:

• When a user attempts to enter a secured room or area within the building, they are prompted to present their credentials for identity verification. Such credentials can be PIN codes, passwords, biometrics, or key cards.

• The authentication request is sent to the cloud, which then decides whether to grant the user access or not. This decision will be carried out based on the organization’s preset rules or policies.

• The cloud-based access control platform instantly checks the request against a verified database and predefined rules, such as the time of access attempt, the user’s role, or any custom rule.

• Afterwards, the platform makes an access decision about approving or denying access. If it approves access, it determines the level of access the user should have.

• These modern access control systems provide advanced security through continuous monitoring, which can flag and respond to unusual activity, such as an access at restricted hours. Upon detecting such, they revoke access or alert administrators.

Mobile & Biometric Authentication

Mobile authentication is an access control technology that involves verifying a user’s identity using a mobile device. It is often used as a secondary level of security after a password login or can be used as the main authentication method to gain access. 

Mobile authentication types include PIN authentication, password authentication, one-time passwords (OTPs), security questions, and multi-factor authentication. 

Mobile identities are also becoming mainstream: around 39% of organizations now actively use them, and 44% cite mobile access as a key trend shaping the access security industry. 

This means offering smartphone-based credentials is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s quickly becoming table stakes for enterprises that want flexibility, hygiene, and remote management built into their access control strategy

Biometric authentication, however, uses the biological and physical traits of an individual to verify their identity before approving access. These characteristics include fingerprints, facial recognition, iris or retina scans, voice recognition, hand geometry, palm prints, and footprints.

AI-Powered Video Integration

AI-powered video integration fuses access control data with live video analytics, which creates an intelligent security system that logs and visually verifies an entry. 

These access control technologies analyze video feeds in real-time to automate license plate reading, facial recognition, and other anomalies.

It can automatically detect potential threats like tailgating, identify abandoned objects, or verify that the person at the door matches the credentials presented. This makes video footage more reliable, reduces false alarms, and makes your security infrastructure more proactive.

IoT-Enabled Door Hardware

IoT-enabled door hardware makes door components like locks and readers connected devices within your security network. 

By connecting these physical components to the internet, IT managers can manage access remotely, assign mobile credentials, and generate temporary access codes, all from a centralized platform.

This connectivity delivers real-time monitoring of door status and entry events, enabling immediate response to security incidents.

Moving beyond the limitations of traditional keys, the IoT-enabled door hardware technology creates an adaptable and highly efficient access control system that can be managed from anywhere.

Multi-Factor and Role-Based Systems

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) confirms a user’s identity by combining two or more methods, such as an iris scan and a PIN code, to guarantee only authorized access. Role-based access systems grant permissions based on the individual’s role in the company. 

Doing this gives them access to only the resources they need to do their job. MFA verifies who a user is, and role-based systems control what they can access.

Important Access Control Technology Terms

Before exploring how access control systems work, understanding the key terms and technologies behind them is crucial for making informed decisions.

These terms form the foundation of modern security systems, helping you understand how credentials, readers, controllers, and management software work together to secure a facility. 

Below are some of the most important access control technology terms you should be familiar with in 2025 and beyond.

Wiegand vs OSDP

Wiegand is a legacy, unsecured communication protocol that uses magnetic fields for data transmission. In contrast, OSDP is a modern, secure, and bidirectional open standard protocol that enables encrypted communication between peripheral devices.

PoE (Power over Ethernet)

It is a technology that simplifies network installation by delivering both power supply and a data connection to a network device over a single Ethernet cable. This eliminates the need for separate electrical power outlets.

Edge vs Server-Based Systems

Edge-based systems process and store data locally near the physical location where it is generated. In contrast, server-based systems centralize all data and processing on a server.

Open vs Closed Ecosystem

An open ecosystem utilizes published standards and APIs to enable seamless integration of products from different vendors. Contrastingly, a closed ecosystem is a proprietary, single-vendor solution where various components are designed to work exclusively with one another.

Credential Types (RFID, NFC, BLE, PIN, Biometric)

RFID uses radio waves to verify a credential from a distance, typically through proximity or smart cards. NFC enables close-range data exchange between two devices. BLE uses Bluetooth Low Energy on mobile devices to unlock doors wirelessly from a short distance. 

PIN is a numeric code entered on a keypad to confirm a user’s identity. Biometrics verify an individual’s identity using unique human traits like fingerprints, facial recognition, or iris scans.

Encryption & Data Standards (TLS, AES)

TLS is a cryptographic protocol that encrypts information while it's in transit over a network, and AES secures data by making it unreadable, ensuring end-to-end security.

Key Access Control Trends for 2025

Access control in 2025 is growing fast, with new technologies changing how organizations secure buildings, manage users, and respond to threats. Here are the trends defining the year.

1. Remote Security and Management

Remote access management has become an essential element of modern security, especially as hybrid work environments continue to grow. 

It gives teams the flexibility to adjust user permissions, update door schedules, and respond to incidents instantly, no matter where they are. 

This trend has made it easier for organizations to keep facilities secure even when they’re unoccupied, and it will only become more essential in 2025.

2. Touchless Entry

Driven by demands for both hygiene and convenience, touchless access is becoming a go-to option for high-traffic commercial buildings that need both safety and convenience. 

Most touchless access control technologies combine legacy security solutions with touchless entry, allowing users to move through doors without physical contact or traditional credentials. 

Current access control trends suggest that adoption will keep increasing throughout 2025 and beyond.

3. AI-Powered Automation

AI is playing a bigger role in physical security by reducing manual monitoring and helping teams focus their efforts where they are needed most. 

Instead of monitoring every video footage or reviewing every access event, AI analyzes data from integrated systems to flag anomalies, guide decision-making, and trigger automated workflows. 

Hence, the access control industry relies on artificial intelligence to automate tasks, making it among the key trends for 2025. While it doesn’t replace human oversight, it significantly boosts speed and efficiency.

4. Unified Security Systems

Siloed systems are no longer sustainable and are giving way to unified platforms that connect access control with video surveillance, visitor management, emergency management, and building automation. 

This trend for 2025 is toward open, interoperable platforms that improve user experience. It provides organizations with a holistic view of security and operations, enabling optimized energy use, increased productivity, and streamlined operations across the board.

5. Cloud-Based Systems

With most companies already relying on cloud infrastructure, cloud-based access control continues to gain momentum. It enables centralized management of multiple sites, faster response to security incidents, and easier data processing across locations. 

However, cloud-only solutions aren’t ideal for every industry. That’s why hybrid systems (combining on-premise hardware with cloud software) are emerging as the practical middle ground, offering flexibility, scalability, and easier integration with existing infrastructure.

Final Takeaway

Access control in 2025 is all about AI-powered, faster, and more connected security. By implementing the access control technologies we discussed in this article, businesses can achieve stronger protection and better operations across every facility.

As buildings become more complex and threats continue to grow, choosing the right platform is what keeps security reliable and future-ready. That’s precisely what you enjoy by deploying Coram.

With its AI-powered visibility, cloud scalability, unified access, and video surveillance ecosystem, Coram delivers a modern solution for businesses that cannot compromise on safety or efficiency. 

If you’re ready to future-proof your facility, try Coram for free now and experience a sustainable and futuristic approach to access control.