Why is it that when you go into any commercial building or modern estate you have to sign a book to get in? Not only that, you may also need to leave your identification document in some places; which by the way, is very easy to forget when leaving the premises. In this day and age of technology, one would expect that there would be a digital version of the aforementioned process. Incidentally, there is none being used in official capacity in majority of establishments.
The problem
Human contact
We are living in unique times and the current state of the world discourages human contact. Think about how many times the book being signed is passed around. Now think of how many people will touch the book and pen and the numbers quickly start adding up. It would be unrealistic to expect a pen to be sanitized every single time it is used and even worse, to assume that a book would be sanitized after every signature. By signing a physical book, you inherently risk compromising your own safety. By not signing in, security is potentially compromised. We need a middle ground. Human contact has become a risk and we are moving towards a paperless society.
Time wasted
A lot of time is wasted checking in and out, especially if you are in a vehicle. From stopping a vehicle to finding the book to getting the person to sign. This can lead to bizarre traffic in densely populated estates during peak hours; traffic that can be avoided.
Unusable data
The volumes upon volumes of books that we use to check in and out are very difficult to parse through, let alone analyze. We live in the age of data and check-in and check-out behavior can actually be a valuable resource for landlords and tenants alike.
Visitor hassle
Have you invited a visitor before only for them to be “probed” at the entrance? Unfortunate as it is, with the current way of doing things, that seems to be the most reasonable way to ensure the security of the premises. Or is it? Among the other problems, there is no reason why your visitors should have any kind of trouble coming to see you. They shouldn’t have to leave their identity documents at the gate if they have proven their identity and invitation.
The solution
If the problem is that obvious, then why has no one built it? For starters, we are so used to how things work that we may not see how they could be better.
If I asked the people what they wanted, they would ask for a faster horse.
Henry Ford – on inventing the car
Another crucial reason is because it is actually a technically more complicated problem to solve than it would seem on the surface. As soon as you start breaking down the moving parts that would need to exist to make it work, it is easy to be disheartened. The solution itself can be easy to use. It however; is complicated to build. Part of the reason is the number of moving parts that need to concurrently work together to ensure that the process is streamlined on each end.
The why
Paperless – The future
No more human contact, only the guards need to check you in. You invite your visitors on your phone. Everyone gets to stick to their own devices and we can further curb the spread of this pandemic while staying safe.
Faster check in/ check out
Faster check and check out greatly reduces the amount of time taken to get into a property/residence. Let’s say that with the traditional approach, the process from getting to a gate to checking in takes you about 15 seconds, which is a fairly conservative number. Now, let’s say by introducing the new approach it takes 5 seconds, that’s a whole 10 seconds saved. It may not seem like much at that scale, but once you multiply that across the number of check-ins and checkouts, it quickly adds up. Case and point, a densely populated estate with about 1000 check-ins and checkouts each day.
That ends up saving us an average of 10000 seconds which is 2.7 hours each day saved. No more traffic, no more hassles.
Better security, less hassle
By being able to invite your visitors, you can save them the hassle at the gate and reduce the amount of time it takes for them to get in. Even more so, if they have luggage with them, you can leave a special instruction that the guards have instant access to. No more arguments, no more hand notes.
Undiscovered analytics
Security companies can use the check in and check out data to identify patterns in behavior. This can be used to enhance security by better allocating time and resources. For commercial buildings, landlords can analyze the data to find out what patterns are there and provide valuable insights to their tenants and business owners.
Conclusion
We can be more efficient, faster and safer when we switch to paperless check in. Starting July 20th, residents and security officials alike will be able to make the switch. The future is digital and the future is now. I will be writing a more technical breakdown of how things work as the system is being built by our talented team.
