How Mobile Credentials Reduced Costs and Streamlined Operations at Sienna
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How Mobile Credentials Reduced Costs and Streamlined Operations at Sienna
At Sienna, growth has been steady for decades. With its first homes being sold in 1996, the 10,800 acre community has ranked in the Top 50 fastest-growing master-planned communities in the United States and was named community of the year in 2016, 2020, and 2024. Sienna is currently at 80% build out, with approximately 12,000 homes completed and thousands more still to come.
As the community scales, so does it needs to manage operations and access control for the 40,000 residents who enjoy the amenities every day.
One challenge Sienna faced was the growing expense of physical access cards, which prompted them to begin looking for a more cost-effective, time-saving alternative.
When Growth Makes Physical Credentials Harder to Sustain
Before the launch of the Sienna App in 2019, Sienna relied on chipped access cards for resident and staff entry to amenities. At first, this system worked. But as time went on and technology advanced, the cost of physical cards added up quickly.
Costs included:
- Card printers (which can cost upwards of $12,000)
- Ink and consumables
- Ongoing equipment maintenance
- Replacement inventory
- Staff time to issue, manage, and reprint credentials
Every new move-in required card production. Lost or damaged cards require replacement. Residents were charged for replacements and additional cards for children or caregivers. The costs of cards were not just management-facing but also resident-facing.
As Cyndi Hernandez, a 20-year Sienna team member, shared:
“It wasn’t just the card — it was the printer, the ink, the maintenance. All of that adds up.”
As Sienna continued its trajectory toward full buildout, leadership recognized an opportunity to modernize community access before costs scaled further.
A Shift to Mobile Access Control
In August 2019, the community implemented the Sienna App with Alosant-Powered Mobile Access Control, replacing physical cards with secure mobile credentials inside the community app.
Instead of carrying a key card, verified residents now unlock amenity entry points using their smartphones.
The shift eliminated most reliance on physical printing infrastructure and introduced fully digital credential management.
Approvals, activations, and deactivations are handled in a centralized admin system, thus streamlining oversight for staff and reducing administrative effort for replacements.
OneCredentialTM: Oversight and Protection Built In
Supporting Mobile Access Control is OneCredentialTM, which securely ties each credential to a specific device that is authenticated through a verified resident profile.
The community can now eliminate credential sharing by temporarily deactivating accounts when a login is detected on an unassociated device. Strengthening control over high-demand amenities allows the team to maximize reservations per resident per day, and control when reservations can be set.
For Sienna, control matters. Pickleball and tennis courts, for example, are active from early morning until late evening every day. Protecting reservations and ensuring fair access is critical for the team.
OneCredentialTM, linked to an individual device, adds a layer of oversight that physical cards cannot.
The Measurable Impact
Lower Ongoing Costs
The transition to Mobile Access Control significantly reduced recurring expenses tied to physical cards, including production, printer equipment, consumables, maintenance, and replacement handling.
As Cyndi noted:
“The cost difference was significant, especially in the beginning.”
By minimizing reliance on physical credentials, Sienna lowered hard costs while maintaining secure, verified access.
Streamlined Operations
Digital credential management simplified resident onboarding, activation, deactivation, move-out transitions, and oversight of high-demand amenities. Instead of coordinating card printing and distribution, the team now manages access digitally, saving time and reducing administrative friction.
A Community App that Supports Lifestyle
What started as a cost-reduction initiative in 2019 has evolved into a scalable operational system supporting thousands of Sienna residents across the community’s 50 access points. Sienna also leverages the app for events, communication, and a reservation system that supports all of their activities.
A Smarter Way Forward
For communities managing thousands of residents and dozens of access points, physical credentialing becomes increasingly complex.
The experience of Sienna demonstrates that modernizing amenity access can:
- Reduce hard costs
- Simplify administrative oversight
- Protect high-demand amenities
- Improve everyday convenience for residents
And most importantly, do so at scale.
