85% of employees say health and safety in a workplace is a more significant consideration now than before the pandemic

The pandemic has made it critical for every business to restrict unnecessary person-to-person contact. In that context, the spread has, reasonably, intensified concerns regarding how businesses manage visitors.

As it happens, there are several businesses still relying on visitor sign-in sheets and manual processes to manage visitors. But, are these systems viable any longer?

It’s not a question of whether companies should go contactless and paperless anymore. Instead, it is about how soon (and how smartly) it can be done.

The good news is that digital transformation has the potential to substantially transform visitor management processes. Technology can go beyond just digitizing traditional processes like paper logbooks and manual security checks to improving the focus on security, data, and compliance.

Today, visitor management systems are enriched with features such as pre-registration, ID verification, visitor identification with bespoke badges, customized notifications for hosts and visitors, and more. Businesses can fetch accurate data and track visitor information to assure employee safety, increase premise security, and meet compliance require­ments for regulated industries.

Unidentified visitors can pose a critical threat to employees, facilities, and data. To tackle these challenges, the scope of digital vis­itor management has transformed from primarily a lobby check-in point solution to a mission-critical premise security platform, embracing the complete cycle of visit operations and visitor data management.

The Impact of Visitor Management System

Digital Transformation of visitor management (let’s call the digitally transformed entity VMS now) is becoming mission-critical.

VMS allows administrators to perform their jobs more effectively by gathering visitor data, implementing security protocols, and streamlining communication between the visitor and the host. For visitors and hosts, VMS offers a seamless and pleasant visitor experience.

Business leaders are also starting to believe that it is necessary to build a visitor experience that’s effective, efficient, and seamless – from the first invitation a visitor receives from a company to their lobby experience, and beyond.

·        Brand Impact

Several studies have shown that when a visitor enters a business for the first time, it takes just a few seconds for them to form a lasting impression of the business. With prospects, customers, potential employees, regulators, and institutional representatives numbering among the visitors to the premises, can you afford to leave a poor impression?

Whether this is due to a bland welcome from the overworked reception staff, an unclear or disorganized process or a feeling that the company is not prioritizing health and safety – a visitor’s first impression at the premises can define their interaction with the company.

Businesses must make check-ins pleasant, smooth, and welcoming. In this context, digitized visitor management systems can have a remarkable impact on a business’s brand perception. Branded invites, notifications and wait-free check-in expe­riences help create strong first impressions that can lead to lasting relationships.

·        Security

Businesses are deeply concerned about safeguarding their people, facilities, IP, and data. This can be challenging, particularly when a business has multiple locations with many visitors to manage. Think about the number of visitors a front desk handles. Handling large numbers means one cannot reasonably track every visitor’s detail. Traditional paper-based logbooks are highly inefficient. It becomes highly problematic to check every visitor detail manually to cross-check their visiting history.

Today, a digitized visitor management system can contribute greatly to business security strategy to create safer environments. VMS has eliminated the need to manually screen visitors and maintain physical visitor records. With digital abilities like performing background checks, preparing watchlists, verifying IDs, electronically signatures, and building customized badges, businesses are gaining a significant understanding of who is visiting their premises, why they are visiting, and when? Having vis­ibility and control over the visitor process adds an intelligent layer to premise security.

·        Efficiency

Companies understand that checking-in visitors is just one part of the visitor journey. The cycle begins before the visitor even steps foot on-site. Inviting visitors and offering visitor logistics like direc­tions, parking, gathering essential documentation, booking meeting rooms, and meeting hosts require seamless communication before, during, and after the visit. A digital VMS does all this and allows everyone to focus on the actual visitor inter­action.

The digital VMS eliminates all sorts of paperwork, shrinks operational costs, secures a premise, all while offering the ability to “know” the visitors. In short, a VMS streamlines the entire visitor cycle and saves a business’s and visitor’s valuable time.

·        Flexibility

Every business has its distinct requirements, depending on the industry, number of sites, or policies. A digital VMS provides flexibility to facilitate different dynamics and still scale as a company grows.  The power to personalize workflows, security features, and branding allows teams to manage multiple locations, visitor types, and compliance essentials easily.

For instance, businesses with high-security environments may utilize watchlists or ID verification features to secure their people, data, and assets. Others in highly regulated industries may use document signing or obligatory videos at check-in to satisfy compliance standards. Or businesses with different units may use bespoke access controls subject to the type of visitors and choose to approve, reject, or divert visitors down a different path if they are flagged through a watchlist.

Flexibility and scalability are the hallmarks of any digital visitor management system. Irrespective of volume and scale, an integrated visitor management system enables seamless handling of every premise or operational requirement and offers the ability to scale up whenever needed.

After all of this, one takeaway is evident: the digital transformation of an enterprise starts at the front door with functional visitor management.  Given that the safety of both employees and visitors now holds a top priority for reopening businesses, touchless check-in and check-out are no longer a choice but a health-standards driven necessity. For achieving that, and the array of other benefits, smart visitor management systems seem set to inevitably become the new norm in various premises.