Let’s be honest. Ideally, it would be best if you did not have to worry about letting visitors into your business at all. With the increase in crime rates, you need to protect your business from theft, whether it be physical equipment or data. Furthermore, you wouldn’t want to run down to the lobby every time you get a visitor. So, isn’t it better to have a touch-less system that would let your visitors in while keeping your site secure?
Wondering how you can achieve this? Security companies like Nortech offer solutions that help avoid physical contact when providing secure access control for leisure centres, entertainment venues, offices, and more. In this article, we’ll share everything you need to know about running an efficient and effective access control system for your one-off visitors.
What is Access Control?
First things first, let’s start by defining access control. In simple terms, access control is a mechanism to control who enters a site and when they enter it. People entering your site may include contractors, employees, or visitors. There are two kinds of access control – physical access control and logical access control.
Physical access control is all about managing access to rooms, buildings and other IT assets, and so keeping these elements safe and secure. On the other hand, logical access control involves the restriction of access to data and networks.
In any access control system, whenever an entity or individual tries to access a site, network, or resource, their identity is verified by the system in order to decide whether or not they are granted access. The access control system does this through a multiple or single authentication factor.
What are authentication factors, you ask? In simple terms, authentication factors determine and confirm that the entity or person requesting access is actually who they are claiming to be.
Authentication factors are broken down into three main categories, which are:
- Possession factors – An item possessed by the person trying to enter, such as a key or and ID
- Knowledge factors – A piece of information known by the person entering, such as a username and password
- Inherence factors – The biometric characteristics of the person trying to enter, such as a fingerprint
Visitors and Access Control
Access control certainly keeps a workplace secure. Many workplaces use access control systems in unique ways to ensure employee safety in today’s dangerous world. Moreover, the entire check-in process for your employees and visitors needs to be efficient and hassle-free.
Visitor management systems are handy tools for organizations to develop and carry out visitor management policies. Now that you have a basic understanding of access control, let’s look at how you can best manage one-off visitors to your business.
Sign-in process
When you have visitors, don’t frustrate them with a prolonged entry process. Therefore, it is better to have a simple digital sign-in process that allows you to customize all fields and questions.
Visitor logs
Visitor logs are a critical part of maintaining security. Always have a digital record of visitors and be sure to keep these records secure. By keeping digital records they will accessible at all times, no matter where you are.
Host notifications
When you have a digital visitor management system, you should receive an automatic notification whenever you have a visitor. These notifications help you to manage your visitors, saving you time and reducing the wait time for visitors, thus ensuring a quick and efficient entry process.
Digital legal documents
Some companies require digital legal documents when letting in a visitor. Instead of undergoing the arduous and taxing task of uploading these documents repeatedly, the digital access control system enables more efficient repeat check-ins by uploading the documents one time only.
Take Photos
Capturing photos of visitors will help you keep track of who is entering the building. This is key to effectively managing one-off visitors, and you’ll be able to identify offenders if anything does go wrong.
Registration
A quick registration process is essential to managing visitors entering your business. Prior registration lets everyone know who is going to arrive and when allowing you to make the whole process more efficient.
Integration
This is maybe the most important thing of all. Integrating your visitor management systems with your existing workflows ensures that your visitor access control process runs smoothly and efficiently.
Final Words
When merged with a proper access control system, great visitor management is sure to make a great first impression on your visitors. Not only that, but a strong visitor management system will also streamline visitor sign-in. This means there is no need to waste paper on documents and handwritten badges for guests who visit you. Moreover, safety comes first!
An efficient visitor management system ensures the safety of your employees and the site by alerting authorities about visitors. So, say goodbye to printed badges, employee escorts and legal documents with an effective digital visitor management system!
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