5 Reasons Why You Need A Visitor Management System to Help Keep Your Business Secure

We’ve already talked about the one digital tool your business needs in 2020. Now we’re going to hone in on one of the necessities of implementing a visitor management system in your workplace; keeping your business secure.

From data privacy compliance to having a clear oversight of who is in your building at all times and the importance of visitor ID badges; in this article, you’ll learn why you need a visitor management system to help keep your business secure.

#1 Data security

Visitor management systems are cloud-based, meaning they are significantly more secure than existing legacy systems; your cloud-based visitor management system is always kept up to date with the latest security patches and major upgrades. Popular VMS providers constantly monitor the system for any potential security issues or vulnerabilities.

Overall, not only do you have a more secure system protecting your visitor data, but it also places less of a strain on your IT staff. This will help them focus on other, more pressing systems and business-critical projects.

#2 Data Privacy + GDPR

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) has been implemented for businesses with an EU presence to provide standard regulations that ensure visitor privacy. The rules of the GDPR apply to any business that collects personal information within the EU, which includes offices with reception desks that require guests to sign in before entering.

While GDPR is being enforced only in the EU, it does present a lot of good guidelines that can highlight a company’s efforts to protect visitor privacy. It therefore wouldn’t hurt to incorporate some of their rules into your own processes regardless of whether your company has an office in the EU or not.

Your visitor also has the right to anonymize their data, at which point you are able to go into the system and anonymize their data immediately. At regular intervals over the year, dependent on your own policy and regional legislation, you can bulk anonymize data in the web dashboard of the visitor management system.

#3 Data theft

Privacy isn’t just about keeping your computers and electronic devices containing sensitive business data behind a firewall or a password. It’s also about physically protecting personal details and making sure personal data isn’t out there for all incoming guests to see. Data theft can be as simple as an interviewee noting the name of an interviewee who may have visited the premises prior to them.

With a paper visitor book, the only way to really achieve a high level of privacy is to shred the pages daily - not forgetting that clients and interviewees have access to highly confidential information of those who may have entered prior to them.

Using a visitor management software that uses tablet-based sign in processes, you can easily conceal data after each person logs in, even if the system is displayed in the reception area.

#4 Visitor ID badges

Requiring appropriate ID before entering your business premises should be mandatory. Unfortunately, companies are still using manual processes that are time-consuming, tedious, and prone to error. This could ultimately compromise your company’s security and your employee’s safety.

Automating the process via a visitor management platform, by issuing visitor ID badges, ensures everyone in your premises is properly identified and helps control which areas they are allowed entry to. Additionally, it lets you collect key information from guests and quickly identify them if needed while they walk on your premises.

#5 Non Disclosure Agreements

Offices rely on their front-of-house processes to ensure that guests review, sign, and comply with their site rules and regulations. Delivering these documents via a centralized digital platform speeds up the process and ensures better compliance.

If you require visitors to sign any type of form or agreement before entering your premises, you’ll love the ease of being able to digitize these non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) by using a visitor management system and ask your guests to read and sign this digitally using the touch screen on the iPad as part of the sign-in flow.

The best visitor management systems allow you to present visitors with digital non-disclosure agreements, while storing the information in a safe and secure platform. From a safety and security perspective, digital agreements provide another point of contact with each visitor. Furthermore, if you ask for personal information - such as name, phone number, and employer - it can help deter a safety or security breach.

Keeping your business secure: the next steps

If you can identify with the need for your organisation to implement any - or all - of the above then you’ll need to take the next steps; shred the paper visitor book and install a digital visitor management system. This will help ensure security within your premise and data privacy compliance which will help you avoid any hefty fines from the authorities dependent upon the laws in your region. SwipedOn promises to take you from a paper visitor book to a secure digital solution in under ten minutes, so take them on a spin today with a 14-day free trial and see how easy it is for yourself.