How do you manage your visitor into and out of your commercial or residential premises? Is it still the manual, paper-based visitor management methods? The paper-based method of registering visitors in and out of your premises is complex and time-consuming. Secondly, it cannot give you proper data regarding visitors, for instance, visitor history, time spends on each visitor, the number of visitors visits each day, etc. With modern Visitor Management solutions, the reliance on paper is eliminated as visitor details are first registered by scanning National ID or Passport details using a phone or tablet and stored, filed, and easily accessed in the solutions back-office. Should a third party wish to have their data purged or made anonymous after their site visit, receptionists or administrators can simply search for the guest’s name or reference number and make the requested changes.
What is a Visitor Management System?
Visitor Management System refers to tracking everyone who enters your commercial or residential premises. For instance, a customer, a delivery person, etc. a Visitor Management System provides documentation of visitor’s whereabouts.
There are several benefits that businesses and residential premises can gain from a Visitor Management System. These Includes:
- Increased Security
To ensure sensitive third-party information is securely stored and remains confidential, settings can be configured inside the solutions back-office to ensure only authorized personnel is granted access to visitor data, limiting data breach possibilities to only a select few, trusted individuals.
- Better Visibility
As visitor information is logged in the visitor management system and a photo ID is captured, it is possible to identify and track individuals in the building.
Because a visitor management system creates a photo ID for each visitor it registers reception staff can identify visitors with ease. You can also keep track of ongoing visitor activities and study visitor patterns. Guests also have the option to pre-register, allowing receptionists to be better prepared with information on them when they arrive.
- Reduced Costs
A pen-and-paper visitor management method may seem to save you money in the short term, but it drains your profits in the long run. Without an effective visitor management system, your business is left open to compliance and reputational risks—and the costs of shutting the business down or eliminating those risks are exorbitant. Members of the C-suite can even go to prison due to violations in processes of security, surveillance, and safety. That’s why surveillance teams have to know: who is coming to the facility and are they allowed in?
Having the capability to track suspicious patterns, ensure compliance, and prevent incidents contributes to reduced costs. By reducing the frequency of incidents, compliance risks, and lawsuits, you can significantly boost your return on investment (ROI).
- Integration
A visitor management system such as Visitor Online Welcome by CompuLynx that integrates with communication, risk management, incident management, and other security tools allows surveillance to collect as much information as possible in the event of an incident. Effectively tracking a person’s visits and activities reduces the potential of losing a lawsuit or letting an incident fall through the cracks.
Integration with optional facial and license plate recognition add-on modules enables instant notification when a banned or suspicious person enters the building—whether they stop at the front desk to sign in or not.
- Optimizes Time
Employing a visitor management system allows you to schedule visits and meetings and share these schedules with prospective visitors. Upon arrival, front desk exchanges and screening are faster and hassle-free as compared to conventional systems since visitors can share their appointment details and these can be verified at a click.
Potential visitors can also pre-book appointments through VMS and hosts receive notifications. Hosts can accept, reschedule or reject the appointment request and plan their business days optimally. Reducing delays at the reception reduces the likelihood of delayed meetings thus saving time for both hosts and guests.
In conclusion, in the end, the goal of visitor management is to help guests do what they are supposed to do and meet who they are supposed to meet as quickly, effectively, securely, and professionally as possible.
By Carolyne Rabut
Content Marketing – CompuLynx
