How do you register visitors in an efficient way without compromising building and data security? Do you use a visitor registry book, or digitally register visitors on a visitor registration kiosk or software?
Recording and updating visitor details take up a lot of time, and without a proper visitor registration system in place, the process can lead to productivity loss, poor visitor experience, and security and compliance risks. The last thing you want when handling a large volume of personal data is any kind of security or data breach risk! So, what is the best way to set up your visitor registration log?
In this post, you will learn
- the top 5 tips to achieve a simple and safe system for registering and monitoring visitors
- how you can implement all 5 tips at your reception in one single step
What is Visitor Registration?
Visitor registration is a record of the people present at your facility at all times and is thus used to sign in and keep track of visitors. Guests will typically be asked to provide personal information such as their name, contact details and the purpose of their visit.
Traditionally, guests and employees would check in by writing down their details in a physical visitor sign-in book at the reception desk. However, today, most modern workplaces have instead chosen to upgrade to digital reception with a digital visitor register or visitor registration software.
Why do you Need Visitor Registration?
Maintain building security
An up-to-date visitor registration log is central to good visitor management and facility security. Your building shouldn’t be open to just anybody. Having people check in upon arrival allows you to ensure that the people who have access to your workplace are actually supposed to be there. Additionally, with a digital visitor log, you know exactly how many people are in your building, who they are, and where they are at all times.
In case of an emergency
In case the building needs to be evacuated, you can easily alert and account for all guests and employees with the information available in the registration log. This is not just practical; it is essential to keeping everyone safe.
Top 5 Tips for Safe, Simple and Savvy Visitor Registration
Logging and registering visitors are not just a formality, it’s a requirement. So how do you make sure that your visitor registration process is safe, simple and savvy?
Here are our top 5 tips to make sure your visitor registration process is as effective as possible!
1. Be Time and Cost Efficient
The amount of time and effort spent manually registering visitors can cost you a lot of money and often results in low efficiency at reception. Rather than having visitors wait in long lines for a receptionist to key in their details and check them in, you can save both time and money by automating the process.
Modernise your workspace with a digital reception where self-service reception kiosks take care of your visitor registration log. This way, your reception staff will be able to focus on more customer service-focused tasks while your visitor registration log is kept secure and up to date.
2. Always Prioritise Data Security!
Are you aware of the GPDR compliance risks? Data security should be a top priority for any industry to avoid fines when it comes to capturing visitor data. No matter what your visitor registration log looks like, make sure you have a process in place that ensures compliance. This means having a system that ensures all data is collected with consent, filed securely and deleted again once the time period has lapsed. Don’t take risks on your visitors’ behalf, and don’t run the risk of being fined millions of euros for non-compliance!
3. Send Informative Email Invitations
Make sure your visitors are well-informed even before they set foot at your reception by sending them a personalised email with all the information they might need throughout their visit. A good visitor registration process is not just about keeping reception informed, but also the visitors.
By sending guests a custom email invite with details such as a greeting from the host, a schedule for their visit, and a map of the building, directions to meeting rooms, bathrooms and emergency exits, you ensure that your visitors are well-prepared. This way, you can avoid lost and confused guests at the reception, and the visitor registration process will be much smoother and quicker.
4. Allow Visitor Pre-Registration
Send out pre-registration links where visitors can key in the relevant details, sign required documents and NDAs, answer custom questionnaires (for health and/or security) and more prior to their arrival. You can do this via email, your CRM system, or by using software that automates this process.
This way, visitors only have to announce their arrival when they come to your reception and can move on in minutes.
An email invite was sent from the visitor registration software
5. Keep all Departments Up to Date
In order for your visitor registration log to fulfil its function of supporting security, you need to make sure that it is available and visible for everyone who needs to see it; this includes FOH staff, security staff, facility managers and the visitors’ hosts.
Instead of having to call around after every check-in, you might want to use a portal, like a website or a dashboard, where this information can be shared appropriately. Furthermore, if you send instant host notifications, your hosts will always know whom to take care of.
If you want to achieve the best possible visitor registration process that supports safety and compliance, all you have to do is follow these 5 steps. So, what if we told you that there is a way to implement all 5 in one simple solution?
What is Visitor Registration Software?
The Vgreet virtual reception kiosk is an easy one-step solution to implement visitor registration software at your reception, automating the process of registering visitors and manual check-ins while providing extra value, such as better user experience, cost reduction, and an increase in productivity and efficiency.
Furthermore, research showed that businesses saw an increase in both efficiency and security compared to before they implemented visitor registration software.
How can the visitor registration system streamline the check-in process?
1. Enabling Self-Service
The self-check-in kiosk lets visitors and employees sign in themselves; instead of doing the same repetitive jobs every day, your FOH staff can now focus on making a great impression on anyone who steps through your doors by providing true concierge-style customer service.
2. Security & Data Compliance
The visitor registration system ensures that your digital visitor register process is both secure and compliant: information is stored on cloud-based servers and all personal data is automatically erased within the legal timeframe. Additionally, with its end-to-end encryption, only authorised people have access to visitor data.
Say someone was foolhardy enough to try and steal the Vgreet kiosk itself (and good luck, it’s pretty heavy): even then, they wouldn’t have access to any vital information because no personal data is stored on the machine.
3. Easy Customisation & Sharing of Information
Send automatic and personalised email invites to your visitors to support a smooth and comfortable visitor registration process.
You can include anything from wayfinding instructions, documents, catering details, personal information about the host – anything that makes the visitor journey more convenient. Add a personal touch with your brand’s colours and logo as the cherry on top to really make a good first impression.
4. Express Touchless Check-In
When visitors pre-register, they will receive a personal QR code that they can access from their smartphone. Upon arrival, the visitor registration process will now have two steps: scan the code and take the visitor pass. With integrated access control, your visitors will be on their merry way in no time – no queues, no waiting and no more being late.
5. Instant Host Notifications
Vgreet can integrate with any systems you already use, functioning as one centralised solution where all information can be accessed and shared. With everything linked to one system, your pre-registered visitors won’t have to worry about how to inform their hosts upon arrival: the host receives a notification the moment their visitor checks in.
This way, the host can go straight to reception to meet the visitor or send them a message in case they’re delayed. This ensures clear communication and minimal confusion for visitors.
6. Analytics overview
With visitor registration software, you gain a deeper insight into your workplace through electronic visitor logs that provides workplace analytics. You can easily recall and review visitor information: who visits your building the most, what their purpose is and when your reception experiences peak times of traffic.
Analytics overview of your visitors
Beyond data security, email invites, pre-registration, QR code check-in and host notifications, the Vgreet visitor registration kiosk also has features such as:
- Live travel information
- Live weather updates
- Video call live virtual receptionists
- Wayfinding
- More…
Where is Visitor Registration Software used?
Visitor registration software is one step towards introducing a truly paperless office. Corporates like Mitie, CBRE, and Vodafone use visitor registration software in their offices, but the VMS market is estimated to continuously grow and expand in the coming years, as a variety of different industries can benefit from the increased security and productivity:
Vgreet at Javits Centre, NYC
- Schools: many schools and kindergartens have a system where parents and guardians sign in and out when they drop off or pick up their kids. These systems include information such as emergency contacts, planned pick-up times, and who is expected to pick up the kids.
- Hospitals: To keep patients and staff safe and ensure that visitors don’t wander off, visitors have to check in and provide information about whom they’re visiting. Storing this information in a digital visitor registration log means that security knows who is in the hospital, and the nurses know when to expect visitors, and whom to expect.
- Hotels: guests need to go through check-in to access their rooms. With visitor registration software, guests receive a pre-registration email with a digital key that can be activated upon check-in and then used from their smartphone. This way, hotels save money on lost keys
- Convention centres: firstly, event organisers need deeper insights into the number of visitors and their profiles for evaluating the success of the event. Secondly, large venues will often have several contractors coming and going throughout the day both before, during and after big events. Having to manually register and print visitor badges for all of these vendors is tedious, so a self-service kiosk where they can check in and look for building information saves time and effort.
Summary
Guest registration is an important part of the visitor management process that helps you ensure compliance, security and efficiency at the workplace. If you want a simple and safe visitor registration log, you can follow these 5 tips:
- Be Time and Cost Effective
- Always Prioritise Data Security!
- Send Informative Email Invitations
- Allow Visitor Pre-Registration
- Keep all Departments Up to Date
If you don’t want to look for several different systems that can help improve your visitor registration process, we suggest taking a look at visitor registration software such as the Vgreet virtual reception kiosk.
Whether you are looking for a solution to register visitors at a school, hospital, hotel, convention centre, or office, visitor registration software can help optimise your visitor registration process and enhance the visitor experience.
Interested in our solution? Download the brochure here.
