Faced with the sudden end of life of their legacy access control software, PepsiCo selected Honeywell’s Pro-Watch security integrated management suite to help meet its compliance requirements, reduce total cost of ownership, and provide flexibility and scalability.
“We were really put in a bind when our legacy access control software provider suddenly announced end-of-life for the product we were using,” said Jeffrey Reed, PepsiCo’s Global Security Application Engineering Manager. “It was an obscene deadline. When they abandoned the product, they basically abandoned us.”
Jeffrey and his team support more than 300 locations that include Pepsi, Frito-Lay, Quaker Oats and other brands, as well as more than 100,000 people serving those brands. These are largely warehouse facilities, with products that have a shelf life, making security especially critical.
Even though promises were made offering a migration path to a new product, Reed contacted his integrators and began another internal audit of locations – audits he had been conducting on an ongoing basis since September 11, 2001, to create standardisation. That audit and review process suggested Honeywell’s Pro-Watch Access Control Software as the standard and basis of the support he needed.
“In our review process, we found that Pro-Watch had what we were looking for in terms of features: custom reporting capabilities and out-of-box customisation of badging,” said Jeffrey. “Additionally, the web-based workstation made deployment so easy. Beyond these features, it’s really all about the support AFTER you implement that is the real tell. And that was how we knew we made the right choice.”
Pro-Watch software also allows the company to provide remote security management for badging, reporting, and alarm and event monitoring. In addition, Pro-Watch allows for multiple readers.
“I like the hardware that these card readers attach to,” said Karen Hudgins, Jeffrey Reed’s partner Global Security Application Engineer at PepsiCo who worked in partnership in bringing Pro-Watch online. “Plus, it’s Windows based.”
A major feature of Pro-Watch that was attractive to the PepsiCo security team was its expandability with functionality they can call up as needed, such as Logical Device Exceptions. With the Logical Device Exceptions functionality, the software enables the administrator to grant, revoke, or delete card access to Logical Devices (any input device such as a card reader or output device like a door), which are tied to individuals. This saves time because the security officer can search for a logical device anywhere in any location, generate a listing of people associated with that device, and adjust privileges by selecting and clicking.
