Organisations today face an ongoing maze of safety challenges at their facilities in order to keep their staff, visitors and contractors safe. Managing access comes under particular scrutiny recently, as organisations strive to find a solution whereby they can pinpoint who is in the building at any one point in time. Company reputation must be upheld, providing an efficient service to everyone who enters the facility, whilst also maintaining optimum safeguarding processes. Organisations are often using access control technology or a visitor management solution, or even both in isolation, but few realise the benefits of operating the two in tandem.
Using the two systems in isolation
In many organisations, even those which are using a door access system, visitors and contractors continue to sign-in using a paper visitor book at reception. While unauthorised users cannot enter secured areas, the organisation still lacks a holistic overview of who has entered and exited the building. For this reason, many implement a digital sign-in solution to keep an up-to-date record of access. Yet using the two systems in isolation can lead to:
- Inefficient service levels – leaving your customers and clients disappointed, and potentially having damaging effects on your reputation.
- Duplication of processes for staff – wasting their time and keeping them from more pressing tasks.
- Inaccurate reporting – the data within your system may contain inaccuracies or inconsistencies if both systems are not synchronised with one another.
A visitor management system can easily integrate with access control with the use of RFID door access. An RFID reader can be built into the system which allows door access cards or fobs to be swiped against the touchscreen device to automate sign-in. If you don’t have cards which you wish to utilise, fobs or cards can be supplied which work with the visitor management suite.
Benefits of integrating access control technology and visitor management
Streamlining the whole entry and access process by integrating these two systems has a number of benefits. These include, but are not limited to:
- Quick staff sign-in:
Staff can use their entry cards with the visitor sign-in solution to swipe in, in seconds
- More efficient business structure:
Your organisation will operate more efficiently as processes are streamlined and automated, meaning reception staff have to spend less of their time processing access requests, and staff and visitors spend less time signing in
- Eliminate staff time sheets:
The days of spending hours pulling staff time sheets are over, real-time reports are available from the visitor management system. Not only does this save time for administration staff, it also allows them to focus more time on more important tasks
- Combat errors in reporting:
If cards or fobs are forgotten or lost, staff can sign-in using the tablet instead by entering their information
- Get more out of existing investment:
Integrating the two systems means you get more from your existing investment in access control. VisiPoint integrates with many of the most popular access control systems, such as Paxton
- Multi-site management:
The visitor management dashboard can help you manage multiple sites and buildings by providing consolidated reports and admin overview. You can access granular insights into the activity at each site, or see an overview of all sites.
VisiPoint visitor management system uses a built-in RFID reader to integrate with access control systems. The touch screen tablet can be matched with your existing RFID frequency so staff can easily sign-in using existing access cards. Tackling access control in education for example, we can integrate with a number of access control suppliers to secure school premises. As a result, information is passed seamlessly between the visitor management and door access systems.
If you’re looking for a visitor management system which works in parallel with your existing access control technology, get an info pack on VisiPoint visitor management below.