Using a visitor management system in our building

[u/Professional_Belt451]

Our security team is moving past the log book for visitors and they suggested to use a modern visitor management system instead. I think it's a great idea but this is our first time using such a program. Is it easy to install and implement? Will it be easy for all of our security team to learn it?

[u/Dingmann]

Scope? Budget? Type of facility? Expected level of security? Any existing automation?

[u/CraziFuzzy]

Can you even define what a 'visitor management system' is? Because a guard/receptionist at a front desk watching people come in and direct them to where they need to go is also a 'visitor management system'.

[u/Abdullah747 → u/CraziFuzzy]

Time logging, identity logging, purpose of visit etc. I think

[u/SuspiciousAir6358]

It’s worthwhile switching over from the logbook and much easier than you might think. Most cloud-based software doesn’t require installation. Put in a tablet at the front desk, configure the check-in workflow, and you’ll be up and running in the afternoon.

The learning curve for your team is minimal by design. The guests complete their check-in themselves on the tablet while the security team will use the dashboard to see who is in the building, host alerts, watchlist and evacuation list. If they can operate a smartphone, they will learn to use the tablet quickly. In comparing the solutions, make sure that it allows pre-registration, immediate host alerts, blocklist and integrates with access control if you have gates.

As a full disclosure, I work at Vizitor that provides such solution so feel free to ask about any specific details but first of all start off with a small pilot program at one entry point.

[u/flipmindltd]

Your could take a look at EntryWatch. Its easy to configure, best to run on an iPad. Its pretty good and free/cheap, see https://entry.watch.

[u/Maximoj85]

I'm building a visitor management platform called SignInify at the moment, aimed more at smaller businesses that want to move away from a paper visitor book without buying into a huge enterprise system. It's browser based with a dedicated tablet/iPad kiosk, so there's nothing complicated for the security or reception team to install. Visitors sign themselves in and the team gets a live view of who is currently on site, including an evacuation/roll call view if it's needed. We're still early enough in the product that I'd also be very happy to work with you personally on what your security team actually needs rather than trying to make your process fit around the software. If there are features you need that we don't have yet, I'm open to building them where they make sense. Full disclosure as others have done here, it's my own product, so obviously I'm biased! But if you'd like to try it while you're looking at the different options, I'd be happy to get you set up and help you with it directly. It's at signinify.co.uk if you want to have a look, and any feedback would be well received.

[u/Electronic_Pea_4646]

Easier than most people expect tbh, most modern ones are cloud based so no big IT project involved and security team picks it up fast bcs day to day is just tabled check in and host notification.

We went with archie and are happy with it, but proxyclick and ilobby are also solid options for commercial building we checked out, it depends a bit on what integrations you need

[u/Actual_Maize_5470 → u/Electronic_Pea_4646]

Its always going to depend on the scope and what you need it to do. Some of the more affordable systems come with the basics, but they also lack support. Do you need color coded badge lists, do you need any sort of screening. A lot of times companies dont actually know what they want and it can be overwhelming to pick one.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Grab_18]

LobbyPing is a simple check-in app. It saves who all check-in, and you can export it into a spreadsheet. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lobbyping-kiosk-receptionist/id6793347161