The way businesses operate and the way we manage our workspaces are changing. The pandemic has been an impetus for many changes in the workplace, including the introduction of more hybrid work models, with 66% of business leaders considering redesigning their office space to suit hybrid work.
Another fundamental change we have seen in the workplace is the fast-paced modernization of security technology, like integrated visitor management and scheduling software. Want to know more? Keep reading to learn more about these features and how you can benefit from using them in your office.
What Is Visitor Management?
Visitor management is a tool businesses can use to manage and view logs of who has accessed their buildings. This tool is handy for companies that handle sensitive information, like school offices and law firms.
For some institutions, their visitor management system needs only to collect a name. Still, your visitors could be required to provide more information like certificates and identification for others like schools. To make this easier, visitor management solutions can grant people mobile access to registration forms that give them temporary access to the building.
What Is Scheduling Software?
Scheduling software is an online or web-based appointment booking tool that allows guests and visitors to book, schedule, or cancel appointments digitally. Your visitors will receive reminders for their meetings that your software sends automatically.
This appointments booking software can be integrated with your visitor management access control system so that all of your visitor information is in one place and your access authorization is always up to date.
How Your Company Can Benefit From Integrated Visitor Management And Scheduling Software
Now you know what both visitor management and scheduling software are, we can move on to discussing the main benefits you should consider when deciding whether this would make a good investment for your business.
Automating Visitor Management
Visitor management solutions will save your staff time. If you have a receptionist or assistant who usually handles the visitor management within your business, you can free up their time to focus on more critical tasks. Lots of visitors means taking an exorbitant amount of calls to schedule and rearrange appointments, but with a scheduling or visitor management software, all of this will be dealt with by self-service scheduling.
Automatic Reminders
When visitors don’t show up, this can waste a lot of time for you and your employees. If you use a hybrid work model, you could drive to work for your meeting, only for nobody to show up. With automatic reminders enabled by scheduling software, your visitors will receive a notification via email or text reminding them of their appointment with you, which will prompt them to either show up or reschedule for a more convenient time.
Simple Rescheduling
If your visitors need to reschedule, they won’t need to set aside time to call you, and your lines won’t be busy with unnecessary calls. Your visitors will be able to reschedule themselves, with a complete list of the dates and times available to them, so they can look over the options and figure out when works best for them, rather than making a snap decision about that over the phone.
Waitlist Functions
If your company receives an endless flow of visitors, it can be hard to come by appointments. You can ensure that visitors will not be discouraged from getting a meeting with the waitlist function provided on your scheduling software. They will be notified when an appointment becomes available, so they don’t have to keep checking. This will allow you to fill any spots left by cancellations or rescheduling to maximize efficiency.
User-Friendly
Visitor management and scheduling software create a more user-friendly experience for your staff. Your staff can view visitor logs remotely and view booked appointments for that day on the same interface. This means that your visitor booking and management will feel like one streamlined and more organized system.
Track And Trace
Since the pandemic, businesses have needed to register who has entered their building that day or week and record their contact information. In the event of a coronavirus outbreak, your business has an ethical duty to reach out to visitors and let them know that they could have been exposed to coronavirus so that they can take a test and self-isolate if necessary to prevent further spreading.
Better Security
If you don’t know which visitors gained access to your building on each specific day, you will not be equipped to deal with security breaches. Suppose you have visitor information alongside the date and times in the building. In that case, this should help you identify the root cause of your breach quickly and effectively to take definitive action.
Summary
If you want to keep up with the changing and evolving workplace practices, you might consider streamlining how your company deals with visitor management. Install a visitor management system integrated with scheduling software. This will significantly reduce how busy your phone lines will be, and will help to free up staff to complete more important tasks.