Imagine a visitor walks into a plush office. Everything seems to be tech-driven. The experience begins from the automated entrance. Employees punch in through biometrics. Everything seems to be futuristic! The visitor then approaches the receptionist. She gives an old school register to fill in their details. The visitor smiles. They fill in the details, scribble a signature that’s barely legible, and proceed.
In many companies, paper-based visitor registers are a relic, a ritual that refuses to die. A register costs almost nothing. Besides, the procedure is easy, quick, and convenient. Now, if you also rely on manual registers, you may have the same perception. But lurking beyond the perceived convenience is a critical security vulnerability or threat! In the above case, the company cannot determine if the visitor is genuine, safe, or a bad actor!
So now, how do you deal with the tradition? It is by thinking differently and integrating systems or solutions that drive the change, ensuring secure, authorized visitor entries. Are visitor management solutions precisely the answer? Let’s find out.
Open Data Breaches – Every Single Morning!
Yes. You read it right. Paper registers are easy to maintain. Almost zero cost. But the most immediate risk is the complete absence of data privacy. In the age of GDPR and CCPA, companies spend millions protecting their digital databases. Yet, nothing seems to dethrone paper registers. They continue to be there for decades.
Now, how and why are paper registers a security threat? They are in many ways. First, visitors can see who you are meeting, which high-profile candidates you are interviewing, which client came to your office for a discussion, and the private contact details of every guest for that particular day – imagine, along with phone numbers!
Thus, by making information available, you are indirectly sharing it with your visitors. In a way, you prepare for multiple potential data breaches every morning!
Audit Nightmare
Let’s say a security auditor comes to your desk and asks for the list of visitors for a particular period in 2024. How long do you think it takes for you to retrieve manual records? You will have to sift through multiple registers to find the required information. So, let’s say you do that in an hour or two. But what if the handwriting is unreadable? The ink has faded! And even if everything is comprehensible, can you assure the auditor of the information’s accuracy?
Answering these questions can be challenging. But that’s the cost you pay for convenience. You end up compromising accuracy and security!
Emergency Blind Spot
Data is a crucial asset. Its privacy is paramount. But human lives – priceless! However, that’s another risk associated with manual registers, particularly during emergencies.
In the case of a fire, gas leak, or a workplace emergency, the first thing you need is the exact count of the number of people in the premises. If your emergency assembly point depends on a single physical book that the receptionist locked somewhere on their way out, you will lose critical minutes in the emergency. The situation will keep worsening with every second. People’s lives will be at stake.
Even if you have the register, how do you make out that a particular visitor has checked out or is still in? How to account for visitors who’ve signed in but haven’t signed out? What about names that are not clearly visible? How do you locate them?
Emergency situations never knock before entering. They also don’t give enough time to act. Locating each person with a manual register – imagine how precarious it could be!
All of the above and many similar situations like them point toward a single initiative, a transformation that can improve the situation significantly. The answer is a visitor management software system – a platform that can digitize visitor management.
5 Reasons to Switch to Visitor Management Software
From accurate record-keeping to data insights and reporting, here are five reasons you must upgrade to visitor management solutions from manual registers.
1. Accurate Visitor Records
Instead of relying on the information a visitor provides, visitor management systems scan a visitor’s identity and automatically log visitor data. Additionally, it scans visitor history and host details from the system, reducing manual errors and enhancing accuracy. Thus, it ensures accurate documentation from the security and audit viewpoint.
2. Real-Time Monitoring
Determining the exact count of people from a manual register can be challenging. Even if you somehow manage to get the count, you won’t be able to ascertain if that’s accurate. But a visitor management system logs each visitor entry and exit, helping security personnel and administrators monitor the exact number of people in the building. It can help them respond quickly during emergencies.
3. Seamless Visitor Experience
Commercial complexes or IT parks often deal with a heavy footfall, particularly during weekdays. Manual registrations can delay entries, making visitors wait in queues. Such delays can affect their appointments, in turn, resulting in frustration and chaos. But visitor management solutions ensure seamless movements (entry and exit), ensuring blissful visitor experiences and better visitor movement control.
4. Compliance and Audit Preparedness
Security and data audits have stringent requirements. Manual registers that openly show visitor data and information fail to comply with them. However, visitor management software digitizes visitor entry and exit. Therefore, it helps companies comply with the strict requirements by maintaining digital records, NDAs, and access logs.
5. Analytical Insights and Reporting
Manual registers maintain data. However, you cannot consolidate it or convert it into a spreadsheet. Let alone analyze it. But visitor management software helps you easily gather information, analyze it, and translate it into a comprehensive report to gain vital insights into visitor entries, exits, movement patterns, peak hours, purpose of visit, etc. It can help you make informed decisions concerning visitor procedures and security.
Prepared to Make the Vital Switch?
Then choose DAccess’s visitor management software. It is a comprehensive platform that helps you digitize visitor management, making it more secure, accurate, and efficient.
The solution packs a range of features. Some of them include advanced visitor scheduling, period pass facility, multi-brand facility, internal meetings scheduling, conference booking facility, user dashboards, and more. It also helps you generate various analytical reports, including visitors visited, appointments, overstay visitors, periodic punches, visitor in-out punches, and multiple-day pass reports.
We can customize the system to match your organization’s specific visitor management requirements to optimize its impact and returns from your decision to upgrade.
Want to know more or book a demo? Please email us at info@daccess.co.in.