In today’s fast-moving, multi-site organizations, managing who goes where — and why — is no longer just a facilities issue. It’s a strategic imperative. Disconnected access systems, manual approvals and inconsistent policies don’t just slow things down — they introduce real risk.

In Part 2 of our PIAM podcast series, HID’s Matthew Lewis and Don Campbell return to explore how organizations can move beyond fragmented access control toward a unified, policy-driven model that scales. This blog dives deeper into the conversation, highlighting how centralized access governance not only improves operational efficiency but also strengthens compliance and audit readiness.

If your organization is struggling with access inconsistencies, compliance gaps or the complexity of managing multiple systems, this is the insight you’ve been waiting for.

Listen to the podcast >>

If you prefer visuals, checkout our infographic >>

Understanding the Challenge 

As a baseline, while identity governance ensures that every individual is accurately defined across multiple physical access, HR, IT and other systems, physical access management determines where that individual is permitted to go and under what conditions.

Don emphasizes that today’s physical access challenges are not just about managing multiple access control systems, but also about capturing the decision-making process behind access approvals. “It’s about understanding who needs access, where, for what reason and who has authorized the request,” he explains. 

Understanding the decision-making process becomes particularly important when organizations have inconsistently applied access rules across facilities and/or operate across multiple facilities and geographies that use different physical access control technologies, solutions, systems and policies.

Don notes that the issue goes beyond the inherent efficiency challenge of managing access across dozens if not more sites. Manual processes can introduce errors at each step: misspellings, outdated role assignments and incomplete access revocations. And, as identity data is shared between HR, IT and facilities systems, errors begin to compound. “In complex environments,” he says, “the question isn’t how many identities contain errors, it’s how many errors exist per identity.”

These inconsistencies not only increase the administrative burden, but also create operational risk, especially when access is not revoked following a role or employment change.

Access Based on Policy-Driven Workflows

To address these challenges, Don advocates to first implement a policy engine that automates access decisions through predefined workflows. “Policies define who owns each area, the required approval steps, and any prerequisites that must be satisfied before access is granted.”

These prerequisites might include:

• Role-based access based on job function or eligibility
• Completion of safety or compliance training
• Proof of insurance or certifications
• Departmental or managerial approval

By enforcing these conditions through system logic versus manual checks, organizations can eliminate the possibility of bypassing policy or inadvertently granting inappropriate access. This is particularly useful when managing access at scale and where many different internal and external identities are involved. 

Matthew adds that this kind of codified, rule-based access control allows organizations to standardize operations across all locations, regardless of the underlying physical access hardware and systems in place.

Moving Beyond Access: Compliance and Audit Readiness

In addition to operational efficiency, centralized access governance supports compliance with internal policies and external regulatory standards. Employing a PIAM solution enables organizations to gain visibility into the full lifecycle of access decisions, including who requested access, when it was granted, by whom and under what circumstances and criteria.

This level of transparency is especially important as compliance expectations continue to evolve based on dynamic privacy and data protection regulations, internal governance mandates, supplier agreements and other factors.

Don explains, “Access management used to be largely static, but rules are changing frequently, and so are the types of data we need to collect before granting access.”

Even more, flexibility in access management becomes critical in industries where access is governed by shifting health, safety or security requirements. PIAM systems that allow administrators to update policies quickly and without extensive reconfiguration enable organizations to stay compliant and secure under these dynamic conditions.

Closing the Loop

It’s important to remember that, as access becomes more role-specific, time-sensitive and compliance-driven, access management has become a strategic layer of enterprise security versus a background function. 

This calls for a structured and scalable approach to safeguard organizations against security vulnerabilities based on misconfigurations, audit failures and compliance gaps. By centralizing approvals, automating workflows, and enforcing policy at scale, PIAM solutions deliver the operational efficiency, data fidelity and flexibility needed in today’s security and compliance landscape. Looking for a deep-dive as a next step, download our eBook — Securing the Future With PIAM.