In the bustling world of modern working environments, it's easy to overlook the constant flow of visitors happening within your walls. Yet, beneath the surface, visitor management systems are quietly working to streamline operations, as well as manage, monitor, and report on visitor activity.
In light of intensifying security concerns, is your business truly harnessing the full potential of your visitor management system?
In this blog post, we delve into visitor management, its pivotal role in today's businesses, and why it's the key to streamlining your security and operations.
What is visitor management?
Visitor management is more than just a sign-in sheet at the reception area. It's a comprehensive approach to safeguarding your work environment and enhancing the efficiency of your administrative tasks.
Visitor management refers to the processes used by a business to control and track the flow of people who enter a business premises who aren’t regular employees. This could include couriers, job applicants, a contractor, and more. Essentially, anyone who is not a regular full-time employee is a visitor.
For businesses, understanding the full value of visitor management is key to unlocking a more robust security posture, invaluable business insights, and creating a positive visitor experience.
What is a visitor management system?
A Visitor Management System (VMS) is a software-based technology that allows organizations to manage and monitor the movement of visitors within their premises.
This technology helps to enhance security and safety by providing a standardized approach to visitor registration, check-in, and check-out processes.
VMS solutions can vary in complexity, ranging from simple paper-based sign-in sheets to sophisticated electronic systems that capture detailed visitor information, including name, contact details, purpose of visit, and time of arrival and departure.
Beyond simply registering guests, a visitor management system offers many purposes.
What is the purpose of a visitor management system?
A visitor management system serves several purposes, including:
- Enhanced security
- Streamlined visitor tracking
- Improved visitor experience
- Data-driven insights
- Compliance management
Enhanced security
A visitor management system (VMS) enhances security measures by pre-screening visitors, verifying their identities, tracking movements, and managing access control to ensure they have access to the right areas.
Streamlined visitor tracking
Digital visitor management systems are important for keeping track of who has entered your building and when, making it faster and more accurate to access data.
Improved visitor experience
Having a visitor registration system in place is crucial to ensure a quick and efficient process for guests and employees to enter their details, resulting in a positive visitor experience. An effective visitor management tool can also facilitate pre-registration of visitors before they even step through the door.
Data-driven insights
Visitor management tools provide detailed reports and analytics, which offer valuable insights into visitor trends and help optimize operations.
Compliance management
A video management solution ensures compliance with all industry regulations and internal security policies.
How do visitor management systems work?
While a visitor management system serves several purposes, understanding how it works is crucial to ensure you are using its full potential. A VMS typically involves the following steps:
- Pre-registration: Visitors are invited or register online in advance of their visit and provide their details. This enables security teams to provision mobile credentials before they even walk through the door, for a better visitor experience.
- Digital check-in: Visitors use kiosks to enter their details and sign in.
- Access control: If integrated into an access control solution, the system grants or restricts access based on pre-approved permissions.
- Real-time tracking: The VMS enables staff to monitor visitor movement throughout the facility for enhanced security
- Automated notifications: The VMS sends automated alerts to hosts when visitors check-in or out. Visitors also receive alerts such as emergency notifications, ensuring seamless communication.
- Reporting analytics: The VMS generates reports on visitor trends, access control, and any incidents, which can be used to make informed decisions.
Who needs a visitor management system?
Any business that regularly receives visitors can benefit from a visitor management system. This is particularly true for workplaces like offices, where managing employee visitors, contractors, and vendors can be streamlined through the use of a visitor management system.
Similarly, schools and universities can benefit from visitor management systems to ensure campus security by screening visitors, checking in staff, and even monitoring attendance. Healthcare facilities can also enhance patient privacy and staff safety through controlled access for visitors.
Lastly, government buildings can maintain high security protocols and visitor screening with the help of visitor management systems.
Choosing the right visitor management system
Choosing the appropriate Video Management System (VMS) for your business can be a challenging task. However, it is essential to identify the specific requirements of your building to make sure you choose the right system.
There are several standard features that you should consider such as scalability, integration capabilities, compliances, customization, and cost-effectiveness.
Scalability
When considering a visitor management system, look for systems that can scale with you as you grow. This ensures your VMS can adapt and expand as your needs change.
Integration capabilities
A video management system should integrate with your existing security and business systems, creating a unified ecosystem that leads to more secure, efficient, compliant, and data-driven operations.
Compliances
Depending on your industry and location there may be specific regulations you need to follow when it comes to managing visitors. For example, healthcare facilities need to comply with HIPAA regulations, and businesses that collect and store data may need to comply with GDPR. Therefore, when considering a visitor management system, it's important to look for ones that meet your compliance requirements.
Customizations
When choosing visitor management software, it's important to consider customization options that can adapt to your organization's unique needs.
Why integrate your visitor management system with your access control solution
Your access control and visitor management systems are a powerful combination, when integrated they bring out the best in both. For example, integrating visitor management and access control offers advantages such as pre-registering visitors and provisioning mobile credentials before they even step through the door. This eliminates the need for manual verification on-site and streamlines the visitor experience. Additionally, a VMS integration can also enable pre-designated access zones ensuring sensitive areas remain secure.
With the help of Command Centre’s Visitor Management tools, businesses can pre-register visitors, customize visitor details based on visitor type, and view the status of visitors who are currently on-site, temporarily off-site, due to leave, or have already left. It also offers bulk selection and processing of visitors, biometric enrolment, and other reception features. The system can store returning visitors and include privacy statements or conditions of entry. In terms of data reporting, it provides an audit trail of visitor management events to identify visitor trends for improved data-driven decision-making.
Gallagher’s Mobile Connect app also enables visitors to use their mobile device as an access card, simplifying visitor procedures – for example, by granting the visitor automatic access to car-parking facilities when arriving on site. Remote provisioning allows operators to set up access in advance of a user visiting a site, with access scheduled to begin and expire at pre-determined times.
Future trends for visitor management
With advancements in AI and machine learning, the future of visitor management is evolving. In the future, visitor management systems will evolve beyond access control and data collection, becoming proactive tools that anticipate visitor needs and personalize their experience, while simultaneously enhancing security and generating valuable insights for facility optimization. Furthermore, mobile check-in and check-out, virtual AI assistants, and touchless systems are likely to become standard.
Visitor management systems offer an array of advantages, from enhanced security and streamlined operations to improved visitor experiences and valuable data-driven insights. With the right visitor management system in place, businesses can optimize their visitor management processes, safeguard their premises, and operate more efficiently and effectively.
As security concerns continue to intensify, it is essential for organizations across the world to harness the full potential of their visitor management systems to ensure a safe and secure work environment for all.