5 minute read
Why Visitor Management in Franchises is more Important than Ever
why Visitor ManageMent
in franChises is More iMportant than eVer
the past 18 months have been challenging for people and businesses across australia and new zealand, and globally, as everyone adapts to the ongoing effects of the pandemic.
However, as the world continues to settle into a pandemic-changed life, organisations must continue to adopt processes that facilitate business continuity despite the constantly evolving market landscape. This is particularly true for franchisees as ongoing lockdowns, changing restrictions, and social distancing guidelines continue to create significant challenges for franchise businesses to overcome, particularly in terms of the number of visitors permitted in different establishments.
COVID-19 has heightened the need for a simple yet secure way of managing visitors and contractors in franchise businesses, especially when these visitors and contractors are over and above their regular customer foot traffic. Tracking these visitors is critical for franchise businesses to comply with government pandemic regulations, and visitor and contractor management will continue to be high on the agenda into the future. It’s essential that franchisees invest in modern technology solutions, including digital visitor management systems, that let them more efficiently track visitors to their sites without increasing costs exponentially. Digital visitor management systems let franchisees elevate safety and compliance across their sites while simultaneously reducing their overheads and administrative costs. “While the pandemic continues, it remains essential for all business owners to ensure the health and safety of their staff and visitors and help reduce the potential spread of coronavirus.”
stephen darracott | country manager PitNeY BOWes JAPAN AustrAliA ANd NeW ZeAlANd
Keeping franchises safe and secure
New Zealand’s changing alert levels in response to COVID-19 significantly affected traffic to franchise businesses, such as cafes and restaurants, creating challenges for franchisees in terms of monitoring the fluctuating number of visitors and workers onsite. Similarly, Australian businesses were required to use state-based COVID-tracking apps, in addition to the country’s COVIDSafe app, to support the government’s contact tracing efforts, helping to register all visitors to local businesses and franchises.
While it’s essential that franchise businesses continue to support the government’s efforts with these tools and remain compliant with regulations, investing in digital visitor management systems gives franchisees an added layer of support in keeping their visitors and staff safe on-site. Modern visitor management systems also incorporate additional features, such as QR code functionality, to help ensure the ongoing safety and security of workers and visitors to businesses.
While digital visitor management systems can provide a rapid overview of who is onsite at any given time, which is essential for COVID-19 contact tracing, they can also be leveraged into the future to help improve the ongoing security of franchise businesses. The latest digital management systems capture and record relevant information on visitors, storing it in a secure database in real time. This guarantees that businesses have access to the most up-to-date information possible about people on-site at any given time. Additionally, it’s also possible for some digital systems to incorporate information on safety and security procedures to help protect on-site visitors. For service franchises like hotels, for example, using digital visitor management systems during the check-in process can help ensure all guests undertake safety and security inductions when they arrive. This helps to better ensure guest safety and security in the event of an emergency by guaranteeing all guests are given this information upon checkin.
growing healthier franchises
While the pandemic continues, it remains essential for all business owners to ensure the health and safety of their staff and visitors and help reduce the potential spread of coronavirus. Some of the latest digital visitor management systems use infrared temperature scanning features to check visitors’ temperatures. These systems can notify staff on-site if they detect a person with an elevated temperature so effective measures can be taken.
By monitoring the health and safety of on-site visitors, and keeping a close eye on potentially infectious people, franchisees can help to minimise the spread of contagions throughout their business. This won’t only benefit businesses during the pandemic, either. As the southern hemisphere heads into its 2021 flu season, and in the case of future health events, franchisees will be able to leverage this feature to better protect the health of their workers and visitors. By investing in these solutions, franchisees can deploy tools into their businesses now that will better protect them in the future.
Keeping health and safety high, but costs low
Incorporating digital visitor management systems into franchises is more than an upfront expense; it’s a long-term investment into the health and safety of a business and its staff, visitors, and contractors. Depending on the franchise’s business, digitising visitor management processes lets franchisees keep their administrative costs low by removing the need for dedicated staff to spend time monitoring visitors or checking temperatures. Additionally, franchisees can set up digital visitor management systems close to office or reception staff to ensure that all visitors sign in on entry using the system without needing to dedicate time to manually signing them in. This can also be helpful and more cost-effective for service franchises in terms of reducing the need for additional staff to work outside of standard hours. With digital solutions, franchise businesses may be able to expedite sign-in procedures without needing specialist staff members to manage these processes. While the pandemic has highlighted the need for visitor management systems to support contact tracing efforts especially, it has also helped franchisees to identify the other benefits that digital solutions can afford their businesses. By using digital visitor management systems, franchisees can keep their costs low without sacrificing the health, safety, or security of their staff, visitors, or businesses. This is especially beneficial in terms of adapting to changing business environments—such as the pandemic-affected business landscape—or for the uncertain future that businesses currently face. Making the effort to invest in these solutions now is essential for franchise businesses looking to secure business continuity in the future, by helping to streamline visitor management procedures without increasing their costs.
