Today’s administrative staff are asked to perform a dizzying array of tasks all while being constantly interrupted. Many tasks take them away from their posts at the reception area of an office or building, occasionally leaving visitors to wait around confused. Should they take a visitor badge? What’s the visitor registration policy? Should they wait for a receptionist?
Visitor management is today’s solution to the challenge of monitoring who has arrived on campus, to the office or at the hospital — and where they are during their visit. Creating systems for this type of work reduces the manual processes of the past and thus takes a crucial task off the crowded to-do lists of busy colleagues.
There are many ways your business can benefit from implementing a more contemporary visitor management system. Chief among them: Achieving a better sense of transparency and security while simultaneously reducing the need for manual efforts from staff and cutting down on human error.
What is visitor management today?
Tracking and tracing the clients and guests who visit your office is an essential procedure. Employing a digital visitor management system helps to streamline and effectively track anyone who visits your business. It all starts simply enough: by asking all guests to enter their name on a tablet and seeing a label instantly printed out with their moniker emblazoned across it.
There are safety considerations as well as logistical reasons for tracking visitors — such as notifying staff when a special guest has arrived.
Access control is a key reason for tracking visitors. Deploying specialised visitor management systems that can be connected to the internet allows an administrative employee to quickly check visitor details against criminal databases to make sure guests are permitted to be on the premises.
Less nefarious reasons exist for tracking who has been admitted as well. Perhaps a special event is happening and it’s important to limit the number of people in the building per fire codes or insurance regulations. An electronic visitor management system can help track the number of people on premises.
What are the advantages of a modern visitor management system?
Many organisations benefit from use of an electronic visitor management system, among them:
Schools
Educational institutions are bustling places, with volunteers and parents coming and going. Specialty tutors or music teachers arrive every few days for lessons. And rightly so. We want our schools to be full of interesting people educating our children. But there are also complex matters like parenting orders and which family members have the legal right to pick up a child from school. A hard-and-fast policy of requiring each visitor to check in and wear a label can help school officials more easily keep track of these complexities.
Healthcare
Hospitals are large, labyrinthine places with visitors and patients moving around. It’s a lot to keep track of, and it requires healthcare workers and management to work together. A good system is crucial. Given the global pandemic which began in March, 2020, it’s become essential for healthcare facilities in particular to consider contract tracing needs. Being able to quickly call up records of who was in the building and possibly exposed to an illness saves health officials time and headaches. Deploying digital visitor management software allows authorities to better track who has been in the building — and when — in a way that reduces the number of human errors involved in tracking people.
Professional services
A reliable visitor management system creates a fresh visitor experience at your workplace. It can also be useful for compliance purposes. Many professions have strict privacy standards. Lawyers, for example, must protect privileged correspondence. Businesses dealing in innovation and intellectual property also have important reasons to protect their work product. Investing in a visitor management system is a key investment in achieving privacy for clients and employees alike; having unnamed visitors wandering hallways can be critically problematic.
Transport and warehouse
Gargantuan buildings with multiple entry points are a challenge to secure. A digital visitor management system can be posted at multiple entry points, with check-ins monitored through one piece of software. This kind of automated visitor management system ensures compliance is useful for off-site managers interested in tracking times of deliveries. It also helps monitor compliance among approved workers and delivery people who are only permitted in specific sections of the warehouse — handling hazardous chemicals, for example.
Considering the types of visitor management systems
There are many types of visitor management systems, beginning with the pen-and-paper method. It relies on a dedicated employee, though, usually a receptionist. While organic human interaction can add to the visitor experience, this will come at a cost.
As for digital options, there are many choices. Some systems can feel reminiscent of airport biometric scanners, requiring fingerprint or facial recognition scans. Others might rely on a plastic id badge and require employees or frequent visitors to swipe in and out of the premises at a dedicated kiosk. There are also cloud-based options, allowing visitors to check in using their smartphone with third-party apps storing data in the cloud.
Data can also be stored in the cloud with visible systems. The Brother system, with its small footprint, is unobtrusive. It’s a neat way for guests to contribute to a culture of transparency and feeling of security.
Data can be stored on site, too, living on a local computer. If the visitor log data is to be kept on-site, storage methods should comply with legal requirements and best practice privacy standards.
How can Brother help you implement a visitor management solution?
Using nimble solutions from Brother, organisations can modernise their visitor experience, allowing guests to digitally sign in using a shared tablet located next to a mobile label printer which can automatically generate a sticker label ID badge.
Worn by visitors, the sticker can boast a photo or a scannable digital footprint like a QR code that colleagues can use to track the guest or client’s whereabouts. This kind of tracking allows managers to know where each visitor is located at all times.
If you have questions about how Brother can help your workplace begin using a more modern visitor management system, please contact us today.
