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Technology is the glue that held companies together during the pandemic, making operations possible and keeping people connected and engaged.
Right now, technology adoption rates are continuing to rise and that means there’s an exciting opportunity for IT leaders to capitalize on the progress we’ve made over the course of the past year. Everything from physical distancing efforts, flexible seating arrangements, and conference room scheduling can be managed if you have the right technology in place.
But there is one aspect that you should be careful not to overlook when planning your return to the office: Managing your visitors.
Have you ever thought of automating your front desk with a visitor management system?
Traditional solutions for managing visitors have pronounced shortcomings that were hard to avoid even before the pandemic. But today, digital solutions can overcome the failures of the past and refresh the visitor experience.
Here’s what you need to know about the state of visitor management in 2021.
A great visitor management system can be a source of simplicity for managing the lobby. Plus, investing in a modern visitor management system offers several benefits, including:
It’s not just about guiding people through the sign-in process so they can get their visitor badge, meet with their host, and be on their merry way. It’s about the experience they have while visiting your workplace. A visitor management system improves the visitor experience and modernizes your workplace.
After a long 16 months, people are ready to put an end to their separation and get back to face-to-face interaction. They are interested in coming into your office, but nobody wants to be stuck in a crowded lobby. And their excitement will quickly fade if their visit is inefficient, inconvenient, or unsafe.
When your doors open up and guests are welcomed back, IT leaders will have several new challenges to address in order to keep the workplace safe and operating smoothly.
You have to implement and enforce your new workplace visitor policies — which might include additional steps such as capturing contact information, confirming eligibility to enter, adhering to capacity limits, and emphasizing the importance of new COVID-related guidelines.
To sustain new ways of working, leaders are incorporating the gains from digital advancements made during the pandemic.
Even if visitor management software doesn’t completely replace your front desk person, it can act as their sidekick by freeing them up to concentrate on other, more value-added tasks while still providing streamlined check-ins for your guests. It’s especially convenient when it comes to registering visitors during odd hours or when your front desk staff is on a break, working from home, out sick, or even on vacation.
And hopefully, you’ll never need to use it, but an automated system means that your office has a list of visitors instantly available for security purposes, in the case of an emergency, or for contact tracing.
What’s the secret to success? In a word: preparation. That’s why you need a visitor management system that lets your employees pre-register their visitors for maximum speed and convenience.
Tools such as Teem’s all-in-one solution shields your guests from time-intensive and manual processes by doing the legwork in advance to minimize the time they spend waiting. Before their visit, they’ll get parking directions, your Wi-Fi password, and other important information.
That way, the time they spend in your workplace has the highest impact on their experience.
Outdated tools and traditional methods of visitor management diminish the experience of your visitors. So, take an honest look at your lobby and consider whether it’s time to implement better technology. An efficient guest check-in process creates a positive first impression and provides a consistent interface for returning visitors.
It can also free up some of your administrative staff’s time, so they can tackle other responsibilities that may be more impactful and engaging.
A visitor management system is more than just digital signage because it can automatically notify staff members when their visitors arrive. This eliminates the need for a front desk person to hunt down the employee who has invited the guest to your office.
With LobbyConnect, Teem’s guest registration software, hosts can be notified via Slack, text, or email instantly. It also creates a private channel for communication between the visitor and the employee, which can become very important in public spaces or if the meeting surrounds a sensitive topic.
For some visitors, lobby check-in may be the first in-person experience they have with your company. So it’s important for the guest registration system that you choose to have a clean, user-friendly interface. The ability to customize the initial “welcome” screen is another feature to look for.
Using software for visitor sign-in means you can get rid of physical visitor logs and gather even more information about guests — without slowing down the check-in process. Requiring guests to choose from a provided list of visitor types, for example, provides insight into the comings and goings in your office building, or even across entire campuses.
Taking the automation process a step further, if you have non-disclosure agreements, disclaimers or other clearances that you require of your guests, a good visitor management system can collect the necessary signatures from guests during the check-in process. These signed documents remain on file in a secure, centralized dashboard so they can be accessed by system administrators who have been given permission to view them.
If identification badges are needed for security purposes, you can set up your visitor registration system to print customized guest badges on the spot, using a compatible label printer.
When it’s time to return to the office, enterprise security will continue to be a top priority, so make sure your visitor management system allows you to track who comes in and out of your workplace, obtain signatures and attestations, and analyze your data to adjust visitor policies.
Are you preparing to invest in new tools to add to your workplace technology ecosystem?
We recently surveyed hundreds of leaders on their top priorities, biggest challenges, new concerns, and barriers to new workplace technology investments.
Download the report for a full summary of the survey results and recommendations for evaluating workplace technology investments, justifying the budget for them, and demonstrating ROI to your organization.
News, tips, and product updates.
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