Visitor Management Has Come A Long Way from the Sign-In Sheet
Visitor management systems have matured considerably over a short period of time. Twenty years ago, they were quite elementary. In many buildings, it was not unusual for a company’s visitor management system to consist of nothing more than a receptionist juggling callers, appointment books, guests and a visitor sign-in sheet.
Today’s visitor management systems are far more sophisticated and have become more capable of streamlining the most important tasks they manage. Thanks to today’s powerful and intelligent visitor management solutions, employees can pre-register visitors in advance. Visitor check-in and check-out times are electronically recorded and stored in the system’s database, where they are easily accessible all the time.
Many federal high-rises and office buildings that experience a high volume of visitors deploy a dedicated visitor management station to prevent bottle-necking at the building’s entrance. The key is to keep people moving smoothly and seamlessly. The more user-friendly the visitor management solution, the more successful.
Each year, new technology is introduced that makes managing and tracking visitor movements within the facility easier, more comprehensive and more effective at protecting employees, visitors and property. Software can be integrated with the company’s intranet to further define visitor access privileges.
As visitor management systems continue to improve, new scanning solutions make it easier to scan a driver’s license and create identification. In fact, visitor management and access control have never been more interdependent. Integrating independent visitor management systems with access control has become not only routine, but easily accomplished, allowing the two systems to work together seamlessly.
For example, a scanned driver’s license can generate a printed badge sticker, which in turn can be placed on a magnetic strip, RFID or other type of card. The card can then be preprogrammed by the access control system to identify the card-holder as a visitor.
Enterprises can choose whether to create a special card designed to identify visitors or to issue cards that look exactly like those carried by the facility’s occupants to visitors as well.
In addition to the innovative software and integration capabilities that define today’s visitor management and access control systems, a trained and capable staff is essential in accomplishing an enterprise’s security goals. In high-traffic areas, the person who handles visitor check-in and checkout should not be performing other tasks like answering phones, receiving deliveries or distributing mail. Distractions can lead to security vulnerabilities, which would not only defeat the purpose, but would be a misuse of all the great technological advances in visitor management security.
If you are looking for an integrated visitor management solution to secure your office building or work facility, contact Veristream today at 888-718-0807.
