Visitor management software has played an important role in protecting end user entities and enhancing their overall user experience. Now, with covid-19, visitor management software can come in handy in preventing the spread of the disease as well.
Needless to say,
visitor management software has played an important role in protecting end user entities and enhancing their overall user experience. Now, with covid-19, visitor management software can come in handy in
preventing the spread of the disease as well.
Visitor management has evolved over the years. In the past they were mostly paper-based which carried various problems, including visitors writing illegibly or worse, putting fake names.
Now visitor management has mostly been digitized thanks to visitor management software or VMS, which
carries several benefits not seen in former paper-and-pen solutions. Electronic VMS, for example, can preregister visitors, check them against state or federal blacklists, and integrate with other security systems for example access control to make sure the visitor does not go to off-limit places.
In fact, the benefits VMS can bring to end users have resulted in a surge in demand from end users across verticals, from
enterprises to government offices to schools. According to a report by MarketsandMarkets, the global visitor management system market size is expected to grow from US$848 million in 2020 to $1.6 billion in 2025, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.1 percent during the forecast period. “Key growth factors for the market include the need to track and record all the information of concerned visitors and employees to prevent unauthorized access and movement in the organization premises,” the report said.
Visitor management software in time of covid-19
Now, with the ravaging of the coronavirus, visitor management software can also play an important role in helping mitigate the spread of the disease. This is especially the case when end user entities across the globe are now trying to reopen, which raises concerns for second waves of infection. Managing which visitors can come in therefore has become critical.
Especially, the following features included in most VMS can help in this regard.
Updated visitor fields
Needless to say, those who have recently traveled abroad are at a higher risk of contracting the disease. Those with certain symptoms should be kept out of the premises as well. To this end, VMS can help via its visitor fields. The end user can make changes to their VMS visitor fields to ask relevant questions, such as whether they are having a fever or whether they have traveled within the past 14 days, as a pre-screening process.
Badge print with additional information
Every VMS solution can print out badges, but now end users can do more with this function. “Badges typically include the visitor’s information and photograph and can also be customized to include ‘Pre-Screened for Coronavirus’ or a similar message. Everyone who sees the visitor in your building will instantly know that they have been screened,” according to a blogpost by LobbyGuard.
Reporting of contact
In the unfortunate event of a visitor coming down with covid-19, the end user should then alert their organization and staff of the situation. Vital information such as when the visitor was in the entity and which staff did they visit are properly stored in the system and can come in handy for investigative purposes. “Custom fields at check-out can monitor whether the guest had any person-to-person contact during their visit to your office and help you store that information should you want to track risk factors,” according to a blogpost by TheReceptionist.
Limit access to certain individuals
Finally, VMS can limit access to certain individuals. A good VMS solution should “allow you to place certain individuals, such as equipment repair technicians or housekeeping, on the approved list, giving them access to your facility upon sign in, while other individuals are temporarily denied access,” LobbyGuard said.