Every business needs a secure and reliable way to manage visitors. A visitor sign-in system effectively ensures safety and security for your visitors, employees, and property.
According to a report published by MarketsandMarkets, the market for visitor management systems is estimated to grow from USD 1.6 billion in 2023 to USD 3.0 billion by 2028. So, clearly, organisations are becoming increasingly aware of how visitor sign-in systems can help their businesses run more efficiently.
What is a visitor sign-in system?
An electronic visitor sign-in system is software or hardware that tracks when visitors arrive, visitor registration and departure at a building or premises. These systems are used in a variety of facilities as part of a visitor management process where monitoring who is coming and going is important. They can also be used to facilitate easy access for authorised people and to restrict access, where necessary, in locations such as:
- Corporate Offices: A visitor and employee sign-in system is a modern way to enhance the on-site security of a busy HQ without long lines at reception desks. It also provides customisable features that enhance data protection and ensure accurate headcount in an emergency.
- Healthcare facilities: Improve patient flow, as well as contact tracing and wait time monitoring. A visitor management system will make it a pleasure to check in, manage car parking and navigate visits to your facility – elevating patient experiences.
- Educational institutions: With a focus on student safety, measures to sign children in and out of school are vital. With visitor management software, support staff can ensure that safeguarding is enhanced, and that access to the site is strictly controlled. It can even be used to track student attendance and monitor entry and exit times.
- Government facilities: Controlling access to a government site is vital. Visit details are stored and tracked securely to allow access while ensuring security and compliance.
- Business events: Your guests will want to avoid long queues to get in, and a visitor sign-in app can significantly improve the experience people visiting your premises have, in addition to keeping unwanted visitors away.
Related reading: What is visitor management?
How do visitor sign-in systems work?
When a visitor arrives, they can enter their name, the time of their arrival, and the purpose of their visit using the keyboard or touch screen. This information is then stored in a database, only accessed by authorised personnel to monitor who has visited the building and when.
Visitor management is an integral part of any large corporation, as it helps ensure all visitors and customers are greeted and identified efficiently so they can quickly get to where they need to be. While some organisations rely on informal methods or receptionists, an electronic visitor management system can streamline the process.
Visitor and workplace sign-in software can also provide valuable data to analyse the usage of your desks, meeting rooms and car parks and optimise the use of your office and car parking space.
Visitor and staff sign-in apps can also allow for the pre-booking of meeting rooms, allowing support staff to be prepared to set up equipment, provide refreshments, and direct visitors to the correct room for their meeting – essentially making the process of having a meeting at your premises a seamless, well-organised pleasure.
Here are the essential advantages of rolling out a visitor sign-in system for your business.
Related Reading: How to Create a Workplace Visitor Policy for the Post-Pandemic Workplace
So, what are the benefits of a visitor sign-in system?
1. Cut out manual processes and improve digital efficiency
Has your reception ever struggled with meeting changes and updated visitor lists? With thousands of meetings changing size, date, and time, it’s easy to overlook tasks like updating caterers or cleaners. This can mean your front desk can’t identify visitors when they arrive.
A visitor sign-in app can solve this problem by helping your reception staff save time and effort on tasks like helping visitors sign in, printing legal documents and assigning visitor badges. It can also notify hosts of a visitor’s arrival, create digital copies of visitor data, export visitor data and generate reports, allowing the team to focus on more critical jobs at the front desk.
Related Reading: The Role of Training in Effective Visitor Management
2. Enhanced workplace safety
With data security being a primary concern for businesses, keeping track of who visits your workplace is essential. A visitor sign-in system has several security benefits. Not only does it help you stay compliant regarding the recording of visitors, but it also gives you peace of mind that your organisation can easily screen visitors and is appropriately safeguarded.
Having to sign in is a great crime deterrent. It’s a simple yet effective way to make people think twice before entering a building with bad intentions.
Some electronic visitor sign-in systems can also print out visitor badges, which the visitor can wear while on the premises. Visitor identification badges are an effective way to ensure safety in your building. With badges, visitors are identifiable to your employees, allowing them to watch for anyone who shouldn’t be there. Depending on your company policy, visitors may be restricted from certain areas or even not allowed in the building unattended.
Keeping track of visitors’ check-ins and check-outs via real time reports lets security personnel know who is in the building. This simplifies closing procedures, and allows security guards to spot suspicious activity and intervene before any crime is committed. In an emergency, like a fire, the data stored in the cloud can help determine if everyone has safely evacuated the premises.
Related Reading: What are Visitor Management Systems and How Can They Help Your Business?
3. Visitor privacy
If you’ve had a paper or computerised sign-in system work relatively well, you may assume it is fine to stick with it. However, your visitors and staff may feel differently. Most people prefer to control the personal information they share with others. A visitor sign-in app with a QR code on a mobile device ensures the data is collected and stored securely for great first impressions.
In contrast, a paper visitor logbook is less safe and reliable. Every guest can see who has been before them. It also opens the door to data mining, as anyone can quickly skim through the pages and take away whatever information they please. It’s also impractical for anyone to constantly watch the book.
A digital sign-in system keeps data secure and confidential. Once visitors finish the sign-in process, their data is securely stored in a database. This can either be in the cloud or an on-prem system, depending on your security and infrastructure requirements.
Related Reading: What are Visitor Management Systems and How Can They Help Your Business?
4. Improve your visitors’ experience
We have all been there. We turn up for a meeting right on time, but when we get to the building, the receptionist is on the phone and cannot escape from whoever is on the other end. Before you know it, you’ve been loitering at the front desk for 15 minutes. You were expecting a warm welcome but now you’re late for the meeting – not a great visitor experience. All this just to let the host know you’re there. What’s worse is that you know exactly where you’re going and who you’re seeing. With a visitor sign-in system, you can avoid any delays.
With a user-friendly sign-in system, visitors can sign in autonomously without needing any assistance from the reception staff. They could avoid the queues at reception by quickly scanning a QR code to check in, rather than waiting for someone to record their visit. This is particularly handy at busy periods, such as the start or end of the working day, for example.
Furthermore, with some visitor sign-in systems, there is no need to wait in the reception area, as email notifications are sent to the host as soon as a visitor arrives. Or you can even pre-check in individuals for an effortlessly quick registration.
Electronic visitor sign-in systems can create a more professional and organised atmosphere for visitors, which can help to improve their overall experience.
Digital systems are not the future, they are here now, and with a visitor sign-in system, you can show visitors your company uses up-to-date technology. Just think — your digital receptionist is always on-hand and ready to automatically display your brand image, products, and message.
Related Reading: How to Maintain Workplace Compliance in the Post-Pandemic Office
5. Better data collection
Have you looked at your paper visitor logs lately? Is the handwriting legible? Are your guests providing all the necessary information, like check-in/out times and email addresses?
If your reception area is busy, it’s easy to overlook the odd error, but this can significantly impact the validity of the data you capture, which can have a further impact on your ability to control access to your premises, be proactive in case of an emergency on site, and efficiently use your meeting rooms. After all, if someone fails to sign out and they were booked into a meeting room, you may be unaware that this space could be used for another meeting.
Electronic visitor sign-in systems can help to organise visitor information, making it easier to manage and access. This can be especially useful for busy facilities receiving many visitors regularly.
Digital visitor sign-in systems simplify the data collection process in critical ways. They designate specific fields as required, meaning no more blank spaces for crucial information. Plus, the data entered is automatically legible and accurate, avoiding typos and mistakes. The technology can easily include attachments, such as non-disclosure agreements and waivers. And, with an eSignature app, your visitors can sign these documents digitally.
Additionally, this could help avoid missing out on data that could be used to further grow your business, automate your processes and analyse your visitor demographics. By offering an opt-in “can we contact you with promotions” into the sign-in process, for example you can effectively, and with consent, grow your marketing database quickly and effectively.
6. A sustainable solution
And what a waste paper logs are. Every year, people in the UK use 12.5 million tons of paper and cardboard; that’s one-fifth of the total waste produced in the UK. To put that into perspective, you’d need a forest the size of Wales every year to produce that amount of paper.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. With the right tools and processes in place, you can make sure your visitors’ data is put to good use without damaging the environment. By using a visitor sign-in app, you’ll eschew the need for reams of paper logs which will need to be disposed of, and add to your carbon footprint.
And these are not the only sustainability benefits. By implementing visitor and staff sign-in software, you can keep an eye on who is using your facilities’ meeting rooms, allowing you to implement smart lighting and heating throughout your building and automatically switch off resources to the rooms that aren’t in use. This has obvious benefits for your energy bill as well as your carbon footprint.
Related Reading: The Benefits of Flexible Working for Gen Z
It’s time to upgrade your reception desk
Implementing a visitor sign-in system effectively ensures the safety and security of your visitors, employees, and property. It is an invaluable tool that can help you maintain order and control in the workplace. Its benefits include improved visitor management, enhanced security, increased compliance with safety regulations, better communication, and improved efficiency.
However, it is essential that this is done correctly. We can help ensure your transition to this way of operating is seamless, and provides all the benefits of better access control, quicker foot flow through your facilities, improved security and better analysis of how you use your space.
Here’s how…
Step 1: Conducting a needs assessment
This is the first part of the process. One of our expert advisors would be happy to talk to you about your current set-up, and advise you on how best to proceed. Depending on the traffic that enters your premises and how people access your building, more than one sign-in system may be needed. Understanding your workplace will allow us to identify the best possible setup for your needs.
Step 2: Training
Staff will also need to know how to use the system before it goes live. As an intuitive system, Cloudbooking is extremely user-friendly, but we will be happy to demonstrate how to use the system so that you’re ready to go once you’re all set up.
Step 3: Visitor communication
When implementing a new system, your visitors will need to know about it at the earliest opportunity. Whether you have a standard confirmation on your booking systems for meeting requests, or you put up signs in reception, why not take the opportunity to acknowledge that you’re implementing this system to benefit employees and visitors alike (and the environment too), allowing them to feel positive about the change.
Cloudbooking’s visitor management systems can enhance your business’s security, efficiency and customer experience and keep your team safe. Contact us now for a no-obligation product demo.
