The topic of visitor management and its possible forms has never been as popular as it is now. Although for many companies, visitor management is still a very distant concept, a growing number of companies are introducing VMS and other tools which help to analyse and control the flow of people. In today’s article, we will focus on visitor management systems and their features. We will also look for some easy-to-introduce alternatives. Read on!
Visitor Management Systems
A Visitor Management System (VMS) is a type of software that keeps records of all the visitors that enter the building or the office. In the simplest form, a VMS simply gathers information about people who visit your business.
Contemporary visitor management systems offer a variety of additional features that simplify communication with visitors. They can, for instance, automatically remind your visitor about the upcoming meeting or track visitors in real-time to see if they show up at the meeting on time.
The benefits of the VMS
Having a VMS at your company can bring several benefits to you and your employees. Discover the biggest advantages of introducing such a tool to your organization.
Security
Thanks to the VMS there are no unpredicted visitors in your office. This is the easiest way to protect your employees’ privacy and avoid a potential robbery.
Better visitor experience
The purpose of the Visitor Management System is to simplify the procedure at the entrance to the company. If your visitors use to complain about queues at the reception desk, the VMS can reduce this problem as visitors can skip the line and directly enter the office.
Easier overall management
The visitor management system can be integrated into the access control system. This way you can track all the people who enter your office, including employees. Such integration of these two popular systems enables instant contact tracking.
Do I need a VMS?
Although electronic visitor management systems seem to have many potential benefits, there are also drawbacks to this technology. The biggest issue with VMS is its price, which can be unreasonably high. Cheaper systems may not perform well and their possibilities are often extremely limited. The price usually goes up with the size of the company, the number of potential visitors that enter the company daily and some additional functions which should be integrated within the system.
Some alternatives
If you want to control the flow of people who visit your office, you have several options other than costly VMSs.
Pen-and-paper log
A paper logbook is a low-cost solution to track your visitors. It is free and any of your employees can handle it. The biggest problem with a paper logbook system is that it is not efficient at all. What is more, it can lead to some data privacy issues as a paper logbook can easily fall into the wrong hands.
Parking spot booking system
If your company has a parking lot, you may consider introducing a parking spot booking system instead of a VMS. A parking app such as Parkalot will enable you to keep track of visitors who leave their cars at your car park. It also offers a wide array of additional benefits for your company. The system allows you to define special areas meant for your visitors so that they can always leave their cars close to your office.
To sum up, the introduction of a VMS in your organization can be beneficial for you, your teams and visitors themselves. However, if you also want to provide your visitors with free parking spaces to leave their cars, you should consider implementing parking spot reservation software that can also track your visitors’ presence.
If you’d like to introduce Parkalot – our car park management app – to your company, please contact us at contact-us@parkalot.io or book an onboarding call.
Start using Parkalot within an hour. Allow your colleagues to commute by car, and park in the parking spaces assigned to those who are working from home.