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Powell Tronics synonymous with innovative access integration

Powell Tronics continues to evolve from its humble beginnings as simply a supplier of standard access control systems to a provider of advanced integrated security solutions. Leveraging its extensive access control experience along with successfully surpassing the ongoing demands of end users, the company strives to provide current and innovative bespoke access control solutions that maximise utilisation of access security, and provide improved return on investment and sustainable operations.

John Powell, MD of Powell Tronics, explains that the days of adopting a silver bullet approach to access control are gone and customised solutions are becoming the new standard. By working closely with its customers, Powell Tronics has applied innovative thinking to its problem solving methodology.

An energetic and youthfully staffed design department is responsible for developing software and hardware that is technologically on trend and works synergistically with best practice systems provided by the company’s local and international suppliers. Capitalising on the features and functionality of well-known brands is a primary goal for the team and has resulted in a number of pioneering solutions that are proving extremely popular in the market.

Powell says that solutions like PT-GUEST, that use mobile Wi-Fi devices to control visitor access, the company’s ATOM time & attendance software and its cashless vending solution, are just some of the products that are experiencing high levels of uptake by end users.

He adds that the company’s best-kept secret to date has been the development of its PT-AD software that integrates MS Active Directory with access control. The software PT-AD seamlessly bridges the gap between HR, IT and security by automating users’ physical access based on their network access. So when a new employee joins a company and a domain account is created for them, the HR information is automatically transferred to the access control system so all that is needed to complete the cycle is to allocate them a tag. When the employee leaves the company and their domain account is disabled, their physical access rights will be immediately revoked.

Powell Tronics is not only the premier southern African distributor of Synerion workforce management (WFM) products for enterprise-wide solutions, but has also developed its own budget-friendly web-based time and attendance system – ATOM – for Morpho biometric sites or fully integrated into Impro access control systems.

The company distributes leading brands from Golmar, Impro Technologies, Safran Morpho and Synerion, from four established centres in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth. To assist customers with improved support, the company has implemented a strategic expansion programme that will provide a fully interactive experience with a boardroom and pre-sales meeting area where customers, consulting engineers and developers can discuss issues in a collaborative workshop environment.

Powell Tronics places emphasis on improving skills in the industry and underlined its loyalty to customers by building a fully equipped training centre in Rivonia, to complement its existing Cape Town facility. In order to provide exemplary service to all facets of the security systems sector, training on biometric identification, certified Impro training and visitor management is provided. All products supported by Powell Tronics, including IP technology, electric locks, mobile solutions, intercoms, biometric fingerprint readers, 3D facial recognition and RFID readers form part of the training programme.

The company’s stand at Securex 2015 was highly representative of its entire range of both renowned supplier brands as well as its own bespoke solutions. The response to its ability to readily integrate with other systems, its energy efficiency and ease of use of the Powell Tronics range was extremely positive.

Powell emphasises that the sustainability of Powell Tronics would not be possible with the absence of any one of the most crucial elements. These include what he deems an ‘awesome team’ of employees that are committed to the growth of the company and the unswerving support of its customers; the company’s loyalty to the brands it markets; and the continued support of its major suppliers. These symbiotic components will form the driving force behind the company’s goal to triple its exposure in Africa over the next 18 months.

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