Why its time to throw away your Visitor Book!
Here we are starting a new year, and we welcome 2016 with much excitement!
Last month I was speaking to an Office Manager at a company with a number of offices throughout Australia. Whilst looking at putting in a stationary order ready for the new year they were going to order 20 Visitor Books.
I asked the customer what benefits they believed they received from a Sign In Book or Visitor Book and the reason I was given was that they had always used them.
There are 3 main issues with the traditional sign in/visitor book
- Most of the entries are ineligible
- They are not helpful/compliant in an evacuation
- They do not help alleviate the workload of your Receptionist (if you have one)
Today an electronic Visitor Management System like The iPad Receptionist will allow you to collect all information you require without taking up a moment of your reception time. This was important for the Office Manager because some of her company’s locations had very busy lobbies where their Receptionist had multiple duties which often kept Visitors waiting to sign in. Additionally, some smaller offices did not warrant a full-time receptionist.
Rather than keep a Visitor waiting, The iPad Receptionist streamlines their experience. Through self-service check-in, employees can be alerted to a Visitor in the lobby by SMS or email and indeed engage in two-way communication eg “I’ll be down in 5mins, pls take a seat”.
This communication process is critical in saving on the Receptionist’s time. It saves on the ‘ring-around’ trying to locate their colleague. Further, The iPad Receptionist can be set up so that a second (or third) person can be alerted of the Visitor’s presence if the primary person does not respond to the alert in a set time.With self-service check in/out, you also have an electronic log capturing:-
- Visitor’s name
- Visitor’s company
- Visitor Contact information
- Who is being visited
- Time of entry/exit
With this data you have insights to meet and action on compliance needs for example during an evacuation. This data is easily accessible online, so can be viewed on a smartphone or tablet at the muster point.
However, as the Office Manager said to me, they use visitor books because they are simple. Can’t argue with that! There is no need to over complicate what should be a simple process of connecting a Visitor with their Host. That is why The iPad Receptionist is a perfect alternative. It is an intuitive way of welcoming a visitor to your office, communicating with the Host and keeping an accurate log of all visits. Simples!
For a demo or free trial, visit www.ipadreceptionist.com.au