Difference Between a Paper and Digital Visitor Log Book in IT Companies

You’re not foreign to the fact that a log book records visitor data. Quintessentially, you’d have the log book record a visitor’s name, time of entry, purpose of visit, and checkout time. There are two ways to maintain your visitor logs: paper and digital. We’re here to tell you why you must switch to a digital visitor log book.

Before we dive right in, let’s take a brief moment to get acquainted with what exactly a digital visitor log book is.

What Is a Digital Visitor Log Book?

In a nutshell, a digital visitor log book is a tool or software built to record visitor data. Designed with a cloud infrastructure, the access to data is so easy that it feels like a steal.

You can build processes your organization must follow for recording visitor data. There are generally two sides to a digital log book: the admin and the client. The interface may look similar for both; however, the access determines who sees which interface.

The admin is more of a control interface that lets you manage users, their roles, the configuration of the visitor data, blocklists, configure reports, notifications, and other settings. The client-facing side is the actual working interface of the digital log books, mainly used to input, store, and retrieve visitor records, view automated reports, and receive notifications.

Now that we know what digital log books are, it’s time to compare them to their traditional counterparts, paper log books.

Differences Between a Paper and Digital Visitor Log Book

1. Easy Access to Visitor Information

A paper logbook has the following drawbacks:

• First, the information entered by a visitor is prone to clerical errors.
• Second, you cannot search for information easily.
• Third, some visitors may choose not to provide the correct information because of data security issues.
• Finally, it costs extra money to hire supervisory staff and the visitor information not being up-to-date is not helpful for security audits.
  

Now let’s look at the advantages of using a digital visitor log book for visitor management:

• A digital log book pre-registers users, thus confirming the identity of the visitors.
• Searching for information is just a click away, making information search during audits a breeze.
• Tracking visitor movement is easy because the system records the timestamps of a visit.
  

2. Robust Security

The risk of sensitive personal data such as names, signatures, IDs, and phone numbers lying out in the open is real with any paper log book.

Digital logbooks advocate offers the following advantages:

• Reduces wait times, so there is no crowding at the reception desk.
• Pre-registration of visitors ensures that the security and front desk know about visits beforehand.
• Using the touchless kiosks for check-in, you can minimise the risk of infection.
• Easy security audits and compliance with data protection laws.
• Alerts when visitors overstay.
• Fire security or any other emergencies can be managed better because the information is readily available to the safety and security staff.
  

3. Blocklists

Paper log books can’t flag undesired visitors. That said, there’s hardly any way to automatically sound an alarm if a black-listed visitor is on the premises. Digital log books remedy this problem with a built-in feature for identifying and blocking troublemakers. Digital logbooks are also capable of monitoring and notifying security when guests overstay their welcome.

5. Resources

The need to manage visitor access increases as businesses grow. It can take a lot of time and money to maintain a manual visitor management system.

Without the ability to track visitors efficiently, a business can lose time and resources, as well as risk unauthorized access to restricted areas.

The use of a digital visitor log book provides an efficient and secure method of managing visitors. A business can track and manage who enters its facilities and control access to restricted areas by automating the check-in process.

6. Safety

Touchless is now the new norm, no thanks to COVID. To maintain a clean and hygienic space, the check-in process to a company should be as touchless as possible (something unfathomable with physical log books). Occurrences of exposure to vulnerabilities can be fed and tracked through the digital log book, which would help contain further spread.

7. Environment

We’re slowly evolving into eco-conscious beings that strive for longevity and better sustainability of our environment. Digital visitor log books are a forerunner in achieving an environment-friendly space and reducing the carbon footprint caused by their paper counterparts.

Why Should You Opt For a Digital Visitor Log Book?

A digital visitor log book is the main piece of the visitor management puzzle. With them in place, you can expand your workplace management by integrating other components of a visitor management solution.

Vizmo’s touchless visitor management solution can help your organization keep an accurate track of visitor check-ins and check-outs and extract visitor log reports to better manage visitor flow. Check out our website, and learn how Vizmo can optimize your workplace experience today.