The Ultimate Guest Journey with a Self-Service Visitor Management System

Investing in a self-service visitor management system pays off.
It can be useful in all phases of the Guest Journey.
Today’s generation of systems is efficient, comfortable, welcoming, and can take your security to the next level.
The system can be well tailored to your risks and processes and often links to other (security) systems are also possible. In this article, we’ll explain what a visitor management system can do for you.
We do this on the basis of a number of possible statuses that the visitor can get in the system.
In addition to the obvious ‘visitor present’ or ‘visitor signed out’, many more statuses are possible.
Depending on your wishes and processes, these can be defined and access rights or actions can be linked to them.
In these examples, we assume that the visitor management system is in any case integrated into the access control system.

Scheduled

An appointment has been scheduled.
Fully automated, the visitor receives an appointment confirmation.
Depending on the type of visitor and the associated risks or compliance regulations, the appointment confirmation is accompanied by directions, guest Wi-Fi code, house rules or safety regulations and a QR code that gives the visitor access to, for example, the parking facility and the building.

Expected

It is the day of the appointment, the visitor is expected within a certain time. This status information is important for the host, the person who receives the visitor in the central reception area or the person who has to prepare the booked meeting room.
Depending on the procedure in your organization, these people will receive a notification of the expected visit.

In the car park

The visitor arrives at the car park; his license plate or the QR code received will be scanned. If the registration number of the visitor’s car is also entered during visitor registration, the visitor can be welcomed with open arms, i.e. open barriers, at the car park.
If no license plate has been registered or something goes wrong when reading the license plate, the visitor can scan the QR code he has received.
As soon as the license plate or QR code is scanned at the car park, the visitor’s status (automatically) changes to ‘in the car park’.
The status ‘in the parking lot’ indicates that your visitor has arrived.
This way, you will also know whether the visitor is on time or late.
If the visitor is late, the host can receive a notification and take action if desired.

In building

Visitor has arrived in the reception area of the building and has scanned the QR code at the reception kiosk. When confirming the appointment, the visitor was asked to scan the QR code received at the reception kiosk when he arrives in the building.
Once this action has taken place, the status will change to ‘in building’ and the host will receive a notification that their visitors have arrived.
If that’s part of your procedures, the guest can now watch an instructional video and sign the house rules.
If you still work with temporary access passes for guests in your building, this pass can be printed at the same time with limited access rights.
This pass can also be used to get (free) coffee from a coffee machine.
A QR code can also be used for this purpose.
If you set up the process of visitor reception in this way, you do not have to set up an extensive staffed reception.
A foyer with a digital reception column, seating, toilet group and coffee machine is sufficient.
By adding the status ‘in building’, security or facility managers have insight into the number of visitors in the open, publicly accessible area of your building.
This can also be very relevant information from a safety point of view.

Present in a secure area

Visitor enters the secure zone. Exactly how visitors gain access to the secure area depends on the procedures in your organization.
It is logical that the visitor can only enter this zone together with the host.
For example, after a two-factor authentication at the access control point to the secure area.
There, the guest first offers their QR code (or temporary pass), then the host offers their access pass or tag.
In high-secure environments, you can also choose to add a time limit to the visitor’s access rights.
In that case, the visitor will be granted access rights during the time of the appointment.
Once that time (plus a delay period of, for example, 1 hour) has elapsed, all access rights expire.
If the visitor is not out of the secure area or out of the building within that time, the host can be contacted.
The visitor status ‘present in a secure zone’ contributes to safety within organisations in various ways.
In the event of a necessary evacuation, for example, it provides insight into the number of people inside.

Logged-out Secure Area

Visitor has finished his appointment and leaves the secure area. After his appointment, the visitor leaves the secure area.
He offers his QR code or card again at the access control point.
Again, you can opt for two-factor authentication, where visitors and hosts must both offer their means of access.
This prevents visitors from roaming around independently within the secure area of the building and it lowers the risk of theft at organizations that have defined that as a risk.
After the passport control, the visitor will be given the new status of ‘deregistered secure area’ and will lose all temporary access rights, except for those for the main exit and the car park.

Leaving the building

Visitor leaves the public reception area and goes outside.
This new status is linked to leaving the property.
Here you have to offer the received QR code again.
Your visitor will now go to the car park to leave with his car.

Round

Visitors leave the car park through the barriers. For the last time, the visitor uses the QR code that is sent to them.
This time to open the barriers at the exit.
If license plate cameras are used, the QR code does not need to be used.
The barriers will then open automatically after the license plate has been scanned.
From this moment on, the status will change to ‘completed’.
If you set a time limit between the previous and this status, you still have the opportunity to identify unwanted roaming on your organization’s premises and to take action on it.