Imagine a potential candidate arrives for an interview at your organization. Her interview slot was 2 PM. Another candidate whose slot was 10 AM did not show up. The organizer brought forward her interview to 10 AM. She proceeds to the visitor center where the security guard asks her to register her details. She scanned her ID. The system informed her that she is not registered. Puzzled, she attempts a few more times before heading back to the desk. The security officer finds out that she was scheduled for 2 PM. So, he doesn’t let her in. A series of frantic calls take place. She tries to get hold of the organizer to reschedule. This is not an uncommon scenario. Many organizations are linking their visitor management system with the room booking system.
TThe staff reserves the room in the calendar and then enters the candidate’s details in the visitor management system. If a change is required, the staff will go to the visitor management system once again and make the changes.
However, this method is time-consuming. When you change the schedule and enter new information, errors can creep in. When the visitor arrives as per the new schedule, her details will not match. This will create problems. This certainly does not reflect well on the organizing capacity of the company. What if you cancelled a meeting but did not remove the visitor’s details from the system? This can pose a security risk.
Link the visitor management system to the room booking system. This will allow you to book the meeting room and invite the visitor at the same time. When the candidate enters critical fields, the system captures all visitor information. Any changes to the schedule will automatically trigger an email to the visitor to notify him about the changes.
There are several benefits to this technique:
Time Saving
One of the key benefits of having an integrated visitor management system and room booking system is savings in terms of time and effort needed to manage both the meeting as well as the visitors. With an integrated system, the visitors are tied to the schedule set up for the meeting. Any change to the meeting schedule will trigger an email to the visitor notifying him/her about the change. Also, the chance of making a mistake while entering visitor details in both systems is minimized. The staff is also confident that there will be no problems.
Better Security
In today’s world security is of utmost concern. Knowing about the visitor and when he/she is visiting is important for security reasons. If you forget to update visitor details in case of a cancellation, it won’t cause any problems since the systems are integrated. Otherwise, the office will remain accessible to the visitor. This can potentially be a serious breach in terms of access violation.
Better Space Planning
With an integrated system, you can map room reservation trends. This provides valuable information on how the meeting rooms are structured and planned so that there are sufficient meeting rooms with the increase in visitorship. This visibility is hard to achieve when two separate systems are providing their reports. Better insights can result in better use of space, increased collaboration, and also reduced expenditures from poor planning.
Better Impression
When you invite visitors to your premise, a smooth registration and onboarding make a good first impression. The scenario highlighted in the first paragraph could have gone much smoother with an integrated system. You can automatically communicate changes to the schedule to the receptionist and notify the visitor. When the visitor arrives, the system alerts the host. This provides for a great visitor experience.
Concluding
It will benefit organizations if they can link their room booking system with the Visitor Management System. This will provide complete end-to-end visibility. There will be less pressure on the staff. Also, there will be greater security.
