A Guide to Selecting the Right Visitor Management Software

Is your workspace safe to make a re-entry? Is it prepared enough to adhere to the social distancing protocols just yet? Does it empower the workplace enablers with the control to make instant decisions? With such questions hovering over your mind, it could be difficult to work in a hybrid setup. Visitor management systems, hot desking, and meeting room software are now the glue that holds companies together. Post the epidemic disrupted our lives, the ‘new normal’ of work emerged in a matter of months. Since then, IT professionals throughout the world have rapidly redefined technology’s role in building secure and effective work environments. Even employees recognize that workplace health and safety have become a much bigger priority in recent years. Physical security at the workplace is a strategic need in the post-pandemic era, according to 92 percent of professionals. Managing visitors is essential for keeping employees safe from viral and other threats. So, let’s begin understanding that how could technology improve the safety of your company and its employees.

What does Visitor Management Software Permit You to Do?

With workplaces quickly reopening, and vaccination campaigns in full swing, a hybrid has become the need of the hour. Visitors are bound to drop in once offices resume operations – whether they are applicants for interviews, possible clients, stakeholders attending an annual conference, or suppliers. In such a case, touchless visitor management software serves as a virtual visitor log that keeps track of anyone who comes in and goes out of the premises. It also facilitates the check-in process for pre-registered visitors while notifying you of who has visited your building at any given time. However, this isn’t enough to put an end to Covid-19-related worries. Following are some non-negotiables for visitor control in the post-pandemic world:

• Confirming visitor eligibility for Covid-19, including temperature checks and so on.
• Obtaining visitor contact information in a non-contactless way
• Observing the occupancy/capacity constraints of the building

Facility managers have essential information to address these concerns and stay compliant with policies, thanks to automated visitor management software. Wondering how? The platform may be used as a self-service tool for collecting visitor data and offering significant insights by sorting, analyzing, and obtaining data for any period. These insights can then be used for contact tracing, security, or any other reason by businesses.

How to evaluate the performance of your VMS software?

What are the key features your visitor management software must have? What is the most important element? What could be kept optional? How could ensure its optimized use? Let’s take a look at the qualities that a good VMS software should have. While evaluating vendors, there are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Pre-registration of visitors

Pre-Covid-19, pre-registering guests was a way to cut down on wait times at the front desk. It is now a must. Your front desk employees could pre-register visitors with the correct system. This is essential for avoiding crowds in lobby areas, minimizing human interaction, and speeding up the check-in/out experience for visitors and employees. Your company can also choose to reschedule visits based on the degree of occupancy in the workplace. The program may also send calendar invites with visit details to the host and visitor by pre-registering visitors (s).

2. Touchless visitor check-in

The majority of businesses around the world do not have touchless technology on their premises. To enter the office, 96% of employees must contact equipment and surfaces such as door handles, elevator buttons, sign-in kiosks or devices, and access control systems such as keypads. The spread of the virus could be efficiently stopped by using touchless visitor management software that allows contactless processes. Customers, contractors, interview candidates, and others can use their smartphones to sign in using a standard QR code. Furthermore, when employees and guests enter the office, touchless VMS is essential for conveying a sense of security and comfort.

3. Keeping an Eye on the Occupancy

In addition, visitor management software must ensure that the number of visitors in a workplace does not exceed the limit set by regulatory authorities. Facility managers can achieve this by only permitting guests who have pre-registered. Additionally, the visitor control software can alert concerned office wings, preventing untimely additional check-ins/outs and workplace overcrowding.

4. Health Evaluation

Conducting regular temperature monitoring is now an important part of safeguarding employee safety in the workplace. Ensure that your visitor management solution supports contactless temperature detection technologies or interacts with thermal scanners across your business to prevent guests from entering if they don’t meet the required requirements. Alternatively, you can distribute health questionnaires to guests while they are being pre-registered. Depending on the responses, the visitor control software can grant or deny permission.

5. Contact Tracing

If you learn that a visitor contracted the infection after leaving your workplace, you’ll need to find and confine all employees who had contact with the visitor. Furthermore, the guest spaces must be emptied, disinfected, and isolated for a specific period. Visitor management software can keep track of your visitors’ activity on your premises and assist your team in taking quick action. Furthermore, because you have data on the visitor’s and other employees’ time-stamped movements, you can precisely take the necessary steps to prevent the infection from spreading further.

6. Distributable Data

For hybrid workplaces, real-time visitor data sheets in shareable forms are also essential. This is where cloud-based visitor management software comes in handy. These solutions make it easy for visitors to register and for your staff, as well as the HR department, to keep track of the flow of visitors. Aside from contact tracing, real-time data might be useful in cases of theft or other security concerns. The cloud-based visitor management software will also allow office management to track staff check-ins, check-outs, arrival times, visitor logs, and other information from anywhere in the world.

7. Compliance with Data Privacy Laws

Data privacy is one of the most important factors to consider when selecting the correct visitor management software. Visitors’ and employees’ personal information, time-stamped movements, location data, and your organization’s intentions are all stored in these cloud-based visitor logs. As a result, your platform must adhere to data storage, retention, and erasure standards at all phases.

Now it’s your turn

As companies reopen for business, it’s critical to invest in a workplace IT solution that ensures employee safety and security. The simple and intuitive visitor management software at Veris allows for contactless visitor registration via QR-code-based digital passes. It also helps in creating a safe and healthy workplace environment, gain precise insights regarding your workplace visitors, conduct routine temperature checks, and digitally log visitor temperatures at entry points. This categorizes Veris Welcome as one of the ‘must haves’ for organizations the world over.

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