As businesses and organizations continue to look for ways to improve their security, one area that is getting more attention is visitor management. By keeping a close eye on who comes in and out of your premises, you can better ensure that your employees, property and information are safe and secure.

In the past, it has been fairly easy for any individual to circumvent a visitor management system. Corporate lobbies, which tend to be the least secure areas of a building, often had only a simple sign-in sheet for visitors. The problem with sign-in sheets is that people can easily use fake names to get around them.

The importance of an effective visitor management system cannot be understated. Not only are businesses responsible for keeping their employees safe in the workplace, but they must also keep their intellectual property safe and secure from intruders.

Visitor ID Badges

One of the best way to track and manage visitors is through the use of visitor I.D. badges. Visitor badges are most often used in corporate and education settings to track many visitors at once. These badges indicate to your employees that the individual is a visitor, which allows everyone to help keep track of said visitor.

No matter what you decide to include in your visitor badges (visitor’s name, purpose, etc.), all visitor badges should include an expiration time. Some newer visitor badges are actually designed to release an ink that will cover the front of the visitor badge when the visiting time has expired, instead of just printing the time the badge is to expire, allowing people to easily figure out if a visitor has been on the premises longer than they’re supposed to be.

Checking Visitors In and Out
These new visitor management systems get rid of the need for a member of staff to check visitors in and out. A kiosk can be set up with a visitor management system that takes care of the entire registration process.

When a person enters the building, the system will send an automatic email notifying you or security of the visit. When the person leaves, the software scans a barcode on the paper badge, which then checks them out.

Through this system, the software maintains a complete database of who is inside a building at all times. If there is an incident at the site, it allows you to account for everyone who is inside the building. It is also available in a mobile application.

Access Control System Overlap
In addition, a visitor management system can overlap with an access control system, which provides different permission levels to individuals. In fact, your visitor management can be completely integrated with access control, or set up as a separate application altogether.

Visitor management paired with access control is currently one of the best ways to monitor who is within your premises at all times. It is what many of the world's largest companies are using to maintain security for their employees and customers. Check out Evergreen ID for more information on the most secure visitor management practices. Or call one of our ID system experts today! 1-800-990-0777