How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint With Electronic Key Control

With climate concerns increasing, sustainability is a growing priority for businesses. In a Gartner survey, 87% of executives said their organization plans to invest more in sustainability over the next couple years in response to pressure from customers, investors, and regulators. Nearly half of businesses are implementing climate-friendly products and services.

It’s important to know how the solutions you implement can help you meet those goals. Here’s how electronic key control can help you support your sustainability initiatives by reducing your carbon footprint:

1. Use Less Paper

Reducing paper consumption is a significant way to reduce your carbon footprint. Paper accounts for half of the waste businesses produce, with U.S. offices using 12.1 trillion sheets of paper a year. By using electronic key management instead of paper key control forms and manual logs, you can reduce your organization’s paper waste. They’re more secure and efficient as well — electronic key control logs are less susceptible to human error or manipulation, and you can have key control reports automatically emailed to management.

2. Optimize Resource Consumption

As one company puts it, sustainability is “pretty much synonymous with optimization.” By tracking keys and assets electronically, you can better control the resources your organization consumes, whether it’s computers, fuel, Freon, or parts. There are countless ways to fine-tune your business processes, but the following examples illustrate how you can implement green operational practices:

Fleet Management

To improve your fleet efficiency, have drivers enter mileage when returning a key. This data helps you track driver activity and eliminate wasted fuel — especially when combined with GPS tracking. In addition, you can right-size your fleet to avoid excessive wear and tear or prevent purchasing underutilized vehicles.

IT Lifecycle Planning

If you’re an IT manager, use your key and asset management system to track equipment location, item type, model, make, warranty expiration date, vendor, and serial number. With this information, you can ensure you have the right hardware in inventory so you don’t end up disposing of unused or outdated items.

Space Utilization

By having an accurate record of key checkout history, you can efficiently manage shared office spaces, conference rooms, or equipment. You can identify underutilized areas or equipment and optimize energy usage by shutting them down or putting them in energy-saving mode.

Since sustainability and optimization go hand in hand, electronic key and asset tracking can play a pivotal role in reducing resource consumption. Whether it's fleet management, IT lifecycle planning, or space utilization, your organization will be able to implement more ecofriendly operational practices.

3. Improve Maintenance and Repair Efficiency

In addition to controlling access to keys, a key and asset management system allows you to monitor facility maintenance. You can handle work orders, identify required parts across the building, see when smoke alarms were last checked, and assess Freon levels at various locations.

Improving maintenance and repair efficiency helps minimize unnecessary repairs or equipment replacement, which has a positive impact on the environment by reducing waste. Plus, building managers will save time and effort, freeing them up to focus on overall sustainability goals.

If your business prioritizes reducing its carbon footprint, embrace digital solutions like electronic key and asset management to reduce paper waste, optimize resource consumption, and improve maintenance and repair efficiency. You’ll save time and resources while working towards a more sustainable world.