In the third of the three articles on Visitor Management kiosks this week we talk about items you can add to a kiosk for Visitor, Contractor or Induction Management. All the accessories talked about in this article are USB plug and play devices making it as easy as possible to connect the accessories that you need for your location to a Visitor Management kiosk. All of these accessories can be connected via USB to a kiosk or directly to your reception or admin PC.
You can have as many kiosks throughout your location as you need, the number is unlimited.
Kiosks can be keyboard and mouse, the traditional PC. More popular since the release of the iPad on April 3rd 2010 is touch screen visitor management kiosks.You can download our Visitor Management kiosk app for the iPad from the app store and design the look and feel of the app for your business.
Design your visitor management kiosk look and feel for each location
You can google all in one touch screens and at the time of writing I can see an Asus for $695 and pricing going up to $2,000 and more. For the purpose of Visitor Management and Contractor Management we only need a PC that can run a web browser, nothing special. The Asus for $695 is more than capable.
iPads are great and easy to use, we even have an iPad app as detailed above that makes setting up the kiosk even easier. The problem with an iPad for Visitor Management is an iPad has no USB slots so it is difficult to add some of the items below that may be require on your kiosk, the Asus all in one touch screen includes USB ports allowing you to easily add USB label printers, USB bar code readers, USB RFID readers and more. You can turn any PC into a Visitor Management kiosk.
Label Printer – label printers when connected to a kiosk give you the opportunity to produce visitor and contractor passes. Typically these are provided to temporary visitors and contractors. You can use a template or you can design your own visitor or contractor pass, including photo ID company logos and more.
Our preferred label printers are two of the world’s most popular DYMO Label Printers and Brother Label Printers available at every local office supply store.
RFID reader – RFID readers has several purposes when connected to a reception PC or a kiosk. RFID readers are perfect on your kiosk when your company has existing access control cards that may be used for building access. These ID cards that are used for access control can also be used to check in and check out employees and regular contractors.
– Employees can check-in and checkout for evacuation purposes. Having employees check-in and checkout of the visitor management software gives you the opportunity for the data collected to be shared with time and attendance, rostering and HR systems. Open API’s make this process even easier today than ever before especially with cloud-based solutions.
– Contractors who are regular to your business and have typically been pre-approved and completed any required inductions can also be given an RFID card for fast check-in and checkout each day. Contractors who have had inductions, workers compensation policies, public liability insurances etc expire will automatically receive a denial of access that will trigger an on-screen message and also send an e-mail and/or SMS to the appropriate internal person alerting them that a contractor has triggered a denial of access and advising which kiosk or entrance point they have used.
RFID readers are excellent for fast check-in and checkout of regular visitors employees and contractors. Once an RFId reader is in place you simply swipte your card on the way in and out for accurate who’s on location reporting.
Photo ID camera – companies add a photo ID camera to take an image of the person checking in for a higher level of security, required in many high security locations. Photo ID cameras are also used for taking pictures of contractors approved to your locations, any search in the system for the contractor will allow you to see a photo of the person standing in front of you for verification purposes.
Bar Code Scanner – Bar code scanners are used in a number of ways. Visitors can use a bar code scanners to sign out using the bar code on the visitor pass. Another popular use for bar code is for asset tracking keys, cards and any equipment handed out to people. Assigning an asset to a person makes it really easy to see who has what asset and who was the last person to have the asset.
Drivers Licence Scanner – coming in 2014, more and more customers are asking for drivers licence readers to have visitors check in with their drivers licence. We will be introducing this technology in 2014 but through customer workshops have come across some issues with drivers licence sign in. Some of the issues included the visitor did not have their drivers licence with them and some visitors did not want to scan their drivers licence. While it is acceptable to provide a drivers licence on entry to a club or hotel it is not commonly asked for the purpose of visitor management. This style of technology when introduced needs to be explained well to the visitor why you need to use this type of technology for sign in.