Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself: Invest in a Visitor Management Tool for 2022

Nowadays, you think twice when you see another unknown person in the vicinity.

Remember the good old days when you walked past them, even brushed shoulders, as you shuffled to your destination in the office building?

That autopilot indifference has been replaced by more caution.

The world changed. Invisible viruses took over our collective imagination and gave us over to a distinct social responsibility. We hold this responsibility grudgingly but solidly as we move to the next—and hopefully last—phase of the danger.

And in doing so, we learned that we can love our neighbors just as much as we love ourselves. Our selfless acts, in curbing our natural need for close-quartered companionship, have reminded us that there is a greater good that we can strive for.

This greater good is best extracted through a visitor management system.

Visitor Management Systems Make Unknowns Known

As companies see larger and larger fractions of their workforces return to the office over the next few months, they need to obtain data on the unknown variables so that they can retain a sense of calm inside their doors.

Unknown variables can be a new deliveryman, a new contractor meant to repair your office’s HVAC system over a week or a client whose vaccination status you may not know. Knowledge is power in this microcosm, and you want to make sure you know as much as you can about the people flowing in and out of your doors to ensure security, safety, and efficiency all around.

How can an office verify a visitor today, without being too nosy? By scanning and temporarily storing basic data like:

1. National IDs
2. Photographs
3. Phone numbers

How does a visitor management software do this? It is a data collection tool that adheres to data privacy ethics. It stores the needful data from your visitors without demanding too much.

Walk-in visitors, i..e. visitors who turn up at your doors without an appointment, can be admitted into your workplace through this safe medium. That way, you know the potential danger or usefulness of someone coming in.

Visitor Management Systems Uphold Health Standards

As the third wave crests over nations like India and the U.S., federal and state governments are still upholding some of the restrictions and social distancing norms of the last 24 months. The new variant, Omicron, is known to be far more transmissible than the Delta variant. But it is also 12 times less virile than Delta variant^[1] and is 91% less likely to cause death.^[2]

Nevertheless, to resist the march of Omicron, employers can fit their workplaces with a contactless visitor management software that is connected to external health databases. A visitor management software can integrate with governmental vaccination databases and crosscheck for relevant information like recent COVID status, RT-PCR results, and more.

As this information is handy to all the people involved in the workplace, it eases the management process for the HR managers and owners. In nations where vaccination drives are making their mark on the population, it is always good to know who has taken their shots.

#IndiaFightsCorona:#COVID19 UPDATE (As on 21st January, 2022)

➡️3,47,254daily new cases in the last 24 hours

➡️Daily positivity rate – 17.94% #Unite2FightCorona #We4Vaccine

1/4 pic.twitter.com/yIzu0ZbibK

— #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) January 21, 2022

Visitor Management Systems Tidy the Frontdesk Experience

With invited guests and clients coming in, every workplace has an unwritten requirement to look good. The frontdesk experience has to bear the burden of this requirement first, before the concerned guest can get to the actual reason for their visit—be it a meeting, a product presentation, or a friendly get-together.

Brand image relies a lot on the visitor’s experience. And brand image often suffers from bad frontdesk experiences. Brusque receptionists, time-sapping visitor registration processes, paper-based data records, and hesitant communication between management and frontdesk personnel will reflect badly on the company.

When a guest enters, they want the entry to be polite, seamless, and time-efficient.

A visitor management software masters each of the aspects of entry with a prompt smartphone-compatible verification system that uses handy QR codes. It tidies up the process and makes tasks easy for personnel who man those stations:

1. Pre-Appointment Fluidity: Visitors can have their appointment accepted by their hosts at the tap of a smartphone screen, and then receive acceptance (or rejection) notifications through QR-activated texts or email. It is quick!
2. Group Visitor Entry: If a posse of your clients has an appointment for a product presentation at your office, the visitor management software helps you group them into one visit to save time—it simplifies the receptionist’s job.
3. Pass Category: Visitors are numerous. They can be clients; employees; cleaning and maintenance staff; IT, architectural, or engineering contractors; or managers. Categorizing them is an easy task for visitor management software.

And its real-time notification system can also prompt the host to come out and personally escort them to the inner offices, when they show a QR code at the office’s self-service kiosk at the outer doors. They can book appointments online and cancel them online.

Visitors are made to feel like VIPs; the highest form of respect in the business world is when people give you their time and make the best of your own time. As they move out, they can even be sent a ‘Thank You’ message for their visit!

Visitor Management Systems Join With Access Control Systems

Access control technology can be a lot of things: electromagnetic card readers, turnstiles, flap barriers, facial recognition scanners, body temperature scanners, biometrics, and more.

These systems are used for security purposes, and because they are closely related to visitor management systems, you can integrate both together to maximize usability. The VAMS product accommodates visitor flows that include access control technology.

For example, if your workplace’s entry has a turnstile that opens only when verified QR codes are placed near its electromagnetic reader, you can manage the system in such a way that whenever someone displays a QR code and enters, the hosts/HR managers will receive a smartphone notification and the data will be stored on the visitor management system.

In the end, when you choose visitor management software for your workplace, office building, or residence, you are seeking to make life secure, safe, and more efficient for your fellow human. You are loving your neighbor as you love yourself—and giving you and them a means to manage life in the new era.