Improving Your Visitor Security Policy
Are you aware of who is entering and exiting the building? Who are they meeting with? Are they a possible security threat? With consensus among security experts being that physical security is of greater strategic importance now than it was before, Organizations around the world are questioning how they can best increase workplace security and develop a comprehensive operations strategy. Thankfully, technology is rapidly evolving to bridge the gap between risk and reality. And if research is anything to go by, the future of workplace security looks promising with the development of enterprise visitor management solutions.
Going forward, any company’s success will depend heavily on its on-site security. No matter what business you’re in, there are specific security concerns you need to take into account with regard to visitors. The following are tips to enhance your visitor security policy, and how visitor management systems can help.
Improve your emergency response plan
Even though businesses, such as yours, make a concentrated effort to guarantee the safety and security of the premises, accidents still happen. In these situations, making sure all your employees and visitors are unharmed is of the utmost importance. The goal of visitor management is not only to get visitors into your facility securely and efficiently but also to get them out safely in the event of an emergency. You should design an emergency mustering plan that includes provisions for evacuating all types of visitors in your facility.
Efficient screening of visitors
The security needs and protocols of a company should be analyzed regularly for any potential limitations or weaknesses. The company’s watchlist should be reviewed frequently and with great care. Updating the data regularly within the visitor management software helps make the visitor experience more efficient while also ensuring the company’s safety.
A visitor management system can be implemented across multiple facilities, with a central hub for information. This means that anyone placed on your watchlist in one location will automatically be placed on the watchlists of all other locations. This enhances workplace security across your entire enterprise business and minimizes risk to other parts of your business.
Make use of the host notification module
In the paper log book era of visitor management, guests could check in and wait around the front desk while a front desk employee fetched the person they needed. Most companies today don’t have the time or staffing to hand-deliver visitors to the appropriate office spaces. Even more importantly, unattended front desks leave room for security breaches.
Effective visitor management systems allow guests to check in while notifying the responsible host that their visitor has arrived. The notification feature allows you to receive alerts about visitors via email or SMS. This way, whether you are on-site or away from the office, you will be notified when someone arrives, so that you can take the appropriate action.
Educate employees about visitor protocols
Employees should always be the first to know about changes to security protocols. By educating them about updated visitor protocols, security teams foster a culture of safety where everyone is responsible for their own safety. Teaching security essentials to everyone also makes it easier for security personnel to do their job. For example, if employees know that visitors must register, they are more likely to follow those procedures. This prevents potential issues for both security personnel and visitors.
Regulate access to sensitive areas in your organization
A well-rounded visitor policy should consider which areas of the facility are open to visitors and which are not. This can differ according to the type of guests. For example, a repairperson would have access to different parts of the building than a sales rep coming to try to sell a new server to the I.T. department. Conference rooms may be open to all types of visitors, but the manufacturing floor may be off-limits to all but a small number of people because of the sensitivity involved. While the lobby should be open to all types of visitors, it is not uncommon for restrictions to be placed on specific areas of the building.
Integrate with existing security systems
Although visitor management systems are already effective, they are even more beneficial when integrated with the rest of your organization’s security systems. For example, if you integrate visitor management with your access control system, you can authenticate visitors at key checkpoints, so they can move around your facility unsupervised but securely.
Another possibility is to integrate a visitor management system with your emergency mustering system. Then, your emergency managers will be able to use the system to monitor in real-time which visitors are still in the building, who is evacuating with staff, and who might be stranded or lost during an evacuation.
Conclusion
Ensuring the safety of your business premises, employees, and guests should always be a top priority for any organization and taking the right measures could be your first step in the right direction. At SecuViz, we take your business’ security seriously-our highly customizable visitor management system can help you increase security, improve operational efficiency, and capture and leverage more data. For more information, get in touch with us today.