Is Your Visitor Management Software GDPR Compliant?

The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) we brought in during 2018 in order to help protect the data of private individuals when it is held by businesses and other organisations. Ensuring that you abide by these data privacy rules is vital, and so any new systems or equipment that you bring into your business must also be compliant or you could face some severe penalties.

There is now a growing trend for many businesses to introduce visitor management software. This is because it can make the checking in and out of visitors much easier and more professional, but you need to ensure that the system you use falls inside the GDPR rules.

That is why we thought we would take a look at what visitor management software does, how it is affected by GDPR and how you can ensure that your business stays compliant.

In this article VMFree explain the importance of GDPR when using visitor management systems.

What is visitor management software?

The days of relying on a receptionist to check in every visitor that walks through your doors are now long gone. Whilst there is still a place for a friendly face and human interaction, visitor management software has now started to take over as a more efficient and comprehensive process.

Any visitor can now check in using the software displayed on a tablet at the entrance to a business. They will be asked to fill out a form that the business will have personalised with their own branding and all of the information that they need.

In some instances, it may also be possible for the visitor to take a selfie through the software and all of the relevant information, including the picture, can be printed onto a bespoke visitor’s badge. This means that everyone knows that they are who they say they are, the person they have come to see can be automatically alerted, and real-time logs of who is in the building can be generated in the event of an emergency.

GDPR compliance

GDPR ensures that you have consent to gather and hold data about an individual as long as you are clear about why you need it, and this should be the only purpose for which it is used. Any visitor has the right to ask what data you hold on file about them and for it to be deleted if they so wish.

In addition to this, it is of paramount importance that you keep the data that you hold safe. You must ensure that there are thorough and robust safety protocols in place in order to protect against any external threats.

If your business is found not to be compliant, then there can be some severe financial penalties put in place.

GDPR for visitor management software

Visitor management software is very flexible, and so businesses can set up forms to ask all of the information that they need about a visitor, and it can even be emailed to them in advance with some systems in order to save time on the day.

Your visitor must consent to their data being collected, otherwise you will find that you fall at the first hurdle. This means that your visitor management software should allow visitors to opt in or out of data collection.

You also need to ensure that you have a legal reason to gather the information that you have asked for. You might need it for data security protocols such as non-disclosure agreements, or for health and safety concerns, such as in the event of an emergency evacuation. You may also need it for physical security procedures in order to avoid the spread of contagious diseases.

Just because the system allows you to ask for their mother’s maiden name and the date of birth of the next-door neighbour’s aunties dog, it doesn’t mean that you can. You must have a mandate for the questions that you ask.

It is also important that when you gather this information, it is only used for the specified purpose. That means that you cannot suddenly add someone to a mailing list that they did not consent to just because you now have their email address, nor can you share the data with anyone that the individual did not give you permission to share it with.

Much of this can be dealt with by ensuring that there is a visitor agreement that the visitor is able to read and sign. This should outline how the information should be used, and they should be sent a digital copy of the agreement for their records.

Once the data has been collected, you need to make sure that it will be well looked after, as data breaches can be extremely costly for a business, both financially and reputationally. You need to ensure that the data is only stored for as long as it is needed and that it is then deleted. Data should only be accessible to those who need it, and so visitor management software can be more compliant than an old-fashioned visitors’ book where it was possible for anyone to see who else had signed in that day.

If you take on a visitor management system, you need to look at how it stores the data, where it stores it and what security protocols are in place to protect it. It is vital that you know it is completely secure, with only limited access and high levels of encryption to prevent it from falling into the hands of hackers and cyber criminals who can then put all of your visitors, and your business, at risk.

Visitor management software can make life much easier, as it allows you to gather more information about your visitors, streamline your check-in process and appear to be more innovative and professional. However, this only works if the system you have chosen is GDPR compliant and if you understand the ways in which you are permitted to use it. Therefore, it is important that you do your homework before investing in a system and make sure your staff are fully educated in how they can and cannot use it.