How to Speed Up the Visitor Sign-In Process with a VMS

On touch down, no passenger comes bounding off the plane full of excitement about experiencing the miracle of flight or the convenience of cutting down travel time to mere hours. Everyone seems to land ready with horror stories of their experience. The whole ordeal begins with long lines, invasive processes, and waiting, waiting, waiting. With such a rough start, it’s impossible to appreciate the benefits of flying. 

First impressions set the tone for the entire visitor experience. If you want your guests to appreciate your benefits, they need a positive start. In workplace management, that first touchpoint is your visitor sign-in process.  

The best visitor management software streamlines the check-in process, eliminating pain points and wait times. As a result, the sign-in is barely noticeable, allowing visitors to focus on what your organization offers. To provide this experience, you need to upgrade to a digital visitor sign-in process. 

The Problem with Pen & Paper Sign-In Sheets

Paper logbooks are the old standby for visitor management. The initial cost is low – just pen and paper. But with a more holistic view, paper visitor sign-in sheets come at a substantial cost. They use valuable resources, with receptionists having to monitor or input information. They are sloppy, difficult to organize, and offer poor recall – a nightmare when dealing with an emergency or audit. And most importantly, they are S-L-O-W.  

Pen and paper sign-ins create a bottleneck in your reception area. Having to wait to fill out forms or verify ID increases lobby traffic and hurts the visitor experience. A high volume of facility deliveries and couriers slows this traffic to a crawl. As a result, visitor management suffers, leading to late or missed meetings. 

The solution: streamline building sign-ins with electronic visitor management systems (VMS). 

How Digital Sign-In Sheets Speed Up Entries

Digitizing visitor management is the most effective way to speed up visitor sign-ins. Shredding your reliance on paper maximizes organization and improves lobby visitor flow. Here are a few immediate ways that digital sign-in sheets expedite visitor intake. 

Self-Guided

Paper sign-in sheets often require someone from your building to guide the visitor through the check-in. Having receptionists walk guests through form fills and ID verification is slow. And if multiple people are signing in, they have to wait until your staff can guide every individual through the process. 

Visitor check-in kiosks are self-guided and intuitive. That makes the sign-in process fast and easy, allowing visitors to move at their own pace. Best of all, there is no more waiting around for assistance. 

Kiosks are fast and convenient for guests and free up your staff so they can focus on other important tasks. 

Pre-Registration

Pre-registration software is the quickest, most hassle-free method of visitor registration. Hosts send one-click invitations right from their email to quickly process pre-registered visitors. The visitor receives a map and QR code to simplify their entry and sign-in process. Guests can fill out any necessary information or documentation in advance from the invitation link. So, all they need to do upon entry is scan their QR code at the check-in kiosk.  

Pre-registration also reduces paperwork. Visitors can sign NDAs, accept policies, and key in logbook information from their smartphones in advance. This is faster for the guest and increases the organization and recall of data for your workplace. Smartphone visitor registration software seamlessly enforces compliance and de-risks your workplace. 

Visitor Pre-Registration Video

Touchless

Contactless sign-ins are a must-have tool as we return to the workplace in the new normal. It is important to screen employees and visitors for health and safety, but it bogs down movement through your entrances. Checking temperatures and going through COVID questionnaires keeps workplaces safe, but it takes too long to do manually.  

Using touchless sign-in solutions improves the visitor experience by streamlining entries. Your visitor sign-in kiosk can be equipped with tools, like iLobby's FeverCheck thermal temperature scanner camera, to automatically screen guests and staff for fever. This keeps your sign-in flow moving smoothly.  

Including COVID and exposure questionnaires in pre-registration speeds up processing further. The kiosk QR code scanner provides instant vaccine passport validation. Guests without a valid passport are prompted with additional screening questions. 

Onsite Badge Printing Software

Visitor badges help security and staff quickly identify visitors. That means they know at-a-glance where the visitor has access to, where they need to go, and whom they are meeting. In addition to speeding things up for visitors, it also helps improve security in your facility.  

Printing color-coded name badges further promotes security. Badge color codes are a straightforward way to separate staff from visitors and distinguish access levels. This is especially important in high-security workplaces like airports and government buildings.  

Connect a badge printer to the self-check-in kiosk, so visitors can get their id badges without waiting for staff. Recurring visitors can even be issued extended validity periods with set badge expiration dates. The visitor management system remembers returning visitor sign-in details to expedite sign-ins while allowing custom expiry dates to ensure security. 

ID Verification 

It’s impossible to automate visitor and employee ID verification with a pen and paper logbook. That’s one more manual process where you need to use valuable time from security or reception.  

Digital sign-in platforms use a visitor management iPad kiosk, equipped with a camera. The iPad check-in kiosk’s camera scans driver’s licenses, QR codes, and visitor badges for instant ID verification. As a result, you can keep visitors moving through your lobby without sacrificing the safety and security of your workplace. 

Who Benefits

Faster visitor sign-in processes benefit everyone in your building. Digital visitor management makes your building safe, secure, and efficient. 

• Visitors 
• Contractors 
• Temp staff 
• Employees 
• Security  

How to Get Started

Expedite the process of expediting visitor sign-ins with a turnkey facilities management platform. iLobby’s workplace management solution comes ready for use right out of the box. We customize compliance, integrations, and features to the iPad sign-in kiosk, sending out the device with the software downloaded and ready to use.  

When your visitor management system arrives, simply place the visitor sign-in kiosk wherever you choose and turn it on. Then you can manage the remote dashboard for real-time data anywhere you go.  

Book your demo today and improve your workplace management, efficiency, and visitor experience.