These days, it's not uncommon for businesses to place a heavy emphasis on cybersecurity while overlooking physical security. In the event that your business is exposed to someone who wants to gain access to your assets, ignoring physical security threats means you could be leaving your business open to unauthorized access to IT facilities and security breaches with potentially damaging consequences.
In 2020, the number of desk receptionists in the US reached 958,418, these statistics indicate that a huge percentage of companies still rely on front desk receptionists and possibly pen-and-paper logbooks as their first line of defense in their workplace security strategy.Using these more traditional methods of visitor management can pose a serious security threat to your organization.
So, what can you do to ensure your workplace sign in system is perfectly integrated into your security strategy and applied across all your sites? Read on to find out 👇
- Make a list of your security weak points
- Consider how tasks can be automated
- Create clear employee and visitor policies
- Develop a risk and contingency plan
- Think about compliance
- Train employees on how to use the technology
- Communicate the processes to visitors
Make a list of your security weak points
When planning your security strategy, it's critical to start with a clear understanding of where your potential weak points are. Make careful observations and monitor the movements of people within your offices.
Some things to look out for:
- Are all visitors signed in?
- What are the typical movements of visitors within the premises?
- Are secure areas accessible to authorized personnel only?
- Is there someone monitoring the CCTV system?
- Are there sign in kiosks at the entrance of your workplace?
- Does your office have multiple access points?
Knowing these details can help you find the gaps and come up with solutions.
Consider how tasks can be automated
Your sign in system can be a powerful tool in helping you automate existing processes within your organization, from checking in visitors to managing employee in out and even desk booking. Make it work for your operations by identifying functions that can be automated, including:
- Visitor logbooks
- Visitor badge printing
- Signature capture
- Employee meeting schedule
- Message forwarding for out-of-office employees
When these processes are automated, you can reduce overheads while improving workplace security and overall synergy. This way, your staff can focus on more important tasks within your organization.
Create clear visitor and employee policies
Setting up an employee and visitor policy can help you gauge whether everyone in the organization has the same understanding of workplace security. Your visitor policy should clearly indicate what is expected of everyone once they step into your office.
Some points to consider for the visitor policy include:
- Check in process: Visitors must be prompted to sign in and provide their name, contact information, employee they are visiting, the reason for the visit, and check-in time. If required, it should also indicate that every visitor must wear the guest badge while on the premises and what to do in the event of an emergency.
- Privacy policy: Privacy concerns should also be addressed by establishing privacy guidelines, including signing a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) before entering the office. As part of tightening your security procedures, you should also state whether visitors must be accompanied by a company representative while moving through your office. It may also include details about taking photographs and video recordings of your office.
- Network access: Your visitor policy should define the level of access the visitors will have to your company’s network systems. Setting up guest Wi-Fi access is advisable.
- Access restrictions: Ideally, visitors should not have access to your server rooms and data centers.
Once you’ve created a detailed workplace visitor policy, ensure that all employees understand and adhere to it. Require supervisors to discuss the policy at least once a year. This practice will help you mitigate potential workplace security issues while providing a positive visitor experience.
Develop a risk and contingency plan
No security strategy will be 100% secure, especially if you're only just starting to implement one. Therefore, having a risk and contingency plan allows you to remain agile and proactive in addressing potential issues before they cause irreparable damage to your company.
For example, In the unfortunate event that an incident does occur, companies that are using a workplace sign in system with photo capture to manage visitors, as well as security cameras would be able to easily identify the perpetrator of the breach by cross-referencing the data from their visit with the CCTV footage and timestamps.
These plans should include actions for your employees in case of a security breach. Essential details include informing relevant departments (i.e., IT department, security officials) and activating lockdowns and restricted access (if applicable)
Interestingly, according to a study conducted by IBM, 77% of security and IT experts have reported that they do not have any risk and incident response plan applied within their enterprises.
Think about compliance
When setting up your workplace security measures using your VMS, don’t forget to consider compliance. Some organizations must report to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to check if guests are U.S. citizens. Others may require NDAs. An effective VMS should have a feature to ensure compliance with these requirements. When visitors fail to comply with the required legalities, the software should notify relevant authorities.
Train employees on how to use the technology
One effective way to ensure that sign in system benefits are maximized is to require all employees across departments to have proper training on how to use the system.
This helps ensure office-wide compliance and strengthened workplace security management.
Communicate the process to visitors
A workplace sign in system is no longer a new technology. However, a lot of people are still not aware of how to get the most out of them, which can cause some confusion for visitors. If visitors get confused or misunderstand the process, it can have a significant impact on your business perception.
If it’s the first time you’re implementing a sign in system into your company operations, take the time to educate your visitors on how the process works. Doing so can help increase compliance and give your visitors a positive experience when visiting your office and ensuring your assets are protected.
Setting up sign in technology to improve workplace security management should be part of your organization’s business planning. Business leaders need to be proactive in identifying security issues within their workplace to protect their employees and visitors in the best way possible.
Ultimately, this will help improve work efficiency, enhance employee productivity, and promote a positive visitor experience. As a business strategy, integrating a VMS into your operations can help scale your business and future-proof your company.
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