Even in today’s digital age, most work processes, especially, in the areas of admin and security, are done manually. And we have observed that this applies to all types of organizations and companies - small, medium, and large.
Standard business processes in areas such as finance and accounting or sales and marketing have been digitized and automated - i.e. the processes have been converted into software and applications for use. But many organizational processes are still done manually. And this is true for processes that differ from company to company and cannot quite be standardized. These are also processes that are mostly under administration and security.
In this blog, we discuss 10 ways in which the admin and security team can save time by digitizing and automating their day-to-day processes. This is applicable to all sizes of organizations.
Admin & Security: Is your team still doing these?
- Using pen & paper
- Making manual entries
- Making repeated calls
- Micro-managing manpower
- Struggling to coordinate
- Trying to retrieve data
- Trying to create reports
- Struggling to comply
- Manually verifying people, materials
- Making errors in entries & updates
In a digitized organization, all of the above are eliminated.
Manual Activities - Bugs That Eat Your Company's Time
1
Paperwork - A Time Bug
Paperwork is the worst kind of bug in work environments. It eats up time like nothing else does. In most company’s processes, paperwork is a formality with no real significance.
Even in today’s age of digitization, many organizations small and large use paper registers for a whole host of reasons, under many categories. They have paper registers for visitors, vehicles, materials, laborers, and whatnot. Use of paper in gate passes and tickets are still widespread.
Paper is totally unnecessary in work processes because there are digital applications for each of these processes. And also that suits every budget size.
VersionX Products: Solutions that automate processes for small to large companies.
Small to large organizations can and should make use of the digitization wave that is taking over the world today.
2
Micro-Inspecting & Managing Manpower
Overseeing manpower across teams is a time-consuming process. It is not easy to manage people and at the same time ensure that they are accountable to their work. Admin and security team workers such as housekeeping, security guards, and so on need to be closely monitored.
Digitization of work processes related to these teams have brought the time and effort needed to do so down to a minimal level - zero even.
Digitization of processes also increases work accountability. No one can lie or shirk their responsibilities or blame it on others. All details are recorded and accessible in a dashboard.
3
Visitor & Vehicle Entries - Waste of Time & Resources
While there are biometric systems and several other ways of handling staff, most companies and organizations do not have a proper process with respect to handling different categories of visitors. Most use paper registers to deal with guests and visitors. These registers are time-consuming and have no use whatsoever.
They also cannot handle different categories of visitors such as short-time visitors, day laborers, groups of visitors, and frequent visitors. In a paper-based process, much time is wasted as all categories of visitors and guests are treated more-or-less in the same manner.
Manual security processes such as visitor verification are time-consuming and have several loopholes. Premises security is at risk if there is no proper visitor verification and recording process.
A visitor and a parking management system takes care of the entire visitor and vehicle process. Whenever a visitor or a vehicle arrives, the security or admin team is not dependent on manual security, verification via call, or paper-based processes.
Data is captured automatically. This is impossible with pen and paper.
4
Verifying People & Materials - A Tedious Process
Assets and materials make entries and exits daily. It is nearly impossible for a security guard or an admin person to check if the approval on a piece of paper is authentic or not.
Manual verifications of people and materials take time. And even then you cannot be sure if the information provided or gathered is authentic or not.
How to verify a material or a visitor’s phone number? How do you differentiate categories of materials or a regular visitor from a first-time one? Is there a way to allow quick entry to - a visitor who is hosted by a staff member in your company or premises? Or a material pre-approved?
This is not the case in a process that has been digitized. You can save much time if the entire process is digitized. No separate calls are needed to verify a guest or an approval of a material’s entry or exit.
All verifications are automated in automated processes.
5
Repeated Manual Calls & Checks
Manual calls and checks as part of a process is tedious and time-consuming. In manual admin and security processes, calls are unavoidable. For example, a security guard or a receptionist makes a call to check if a visitor has an appointment with a staff or who he or she wants to meet. In a digitized process, this is unnecessary.
In a digital processes, calls are unnecessary. Why make a call when pre-set alerts and notifications do a better job of quickening the process? Nowadays many process-based calls, such as reminders, are automated.
This approach is most helpful for important admin and security processes. For example, automated approvals, reminders, automated warnings, and so on.
6
Retrieving Critical Information & Records
In critical times, admin and security is dependent on availability and accessibility of information. And in most companies, these data are scattered in paper registers or folders and excel sheets. Much time is wasted in trying to retrieve small but important details, which otherwise should have been accessible at a touch.
For example, how many visitors did a staff have in the premises? How many visitors and who spent more time in the company premises than was necessary? How many vehicles were parked overnight?
Despite the stacks of paper registers that get filled daily at the entry point, it is humanly impossible to determine the answers to these cases or retrieve accurate data.
In another example, if a critical asset needed servicing, thrice in a year, it is quite likely that there won’t be a timely follow up and a few of the schedules would be missed. Reason - no handy data or alerts. If the process was digitized - such as in a preventive maintenance system - the concerned persons would get notifications and alerts on time and schedule the servicing on time.
7
Creating Reports - Based on Incomplete & Wrong Data?
Reports and analytics are necessary for decision making. Be it security or admin, creating reports from time to time is a part of the regular work. However, team members waste much time in creating these reports since they do not have handy data. In addition, the data that might be available is highly likely to be inaccurate or inauthentic - due to manual data collection process.
All this is unnecessary work. In a digitized environment, the most important data - with analytics - is readily accessible.
8
Team Coordination - Haphazard Or Smooth?
Admin and security processes involve high-level coordination among stakeholders and team members. Such activities, if manual, involve time and effort. Most security failures are a result of a lack of proper and timely coordination. This is the reason, manual processes don’t always function in a smooth and efficient manner and even result in accidents.
Problems related to coordination problem is glaring in the area of security since the risks are higher and more stakeholders are involved. For example, safety and security processes ought to be quick and smooth for the safety of the residents during an eventuality.
In the case of fire or an external threat, a high level of coordination is required between teams such as admin, security, facilities, and so on. Most responses to eventualities are delayed due to lack of coordination and preparedness for the same.
A shift from manual to digital processes eliminates the need for coordination and saves much time, effort and, in some instances, even lives. When responses to emergencies are automated, immediate action can be taken. For example, whenever there is an emergency such as fire or a security threat, in a digitized process, concerned stakeholders are immediately notified and prompted to take the best course of action.
9
Staying Compliant - A Formality Or...
Compliance is crucial for all organizations. Staying compliant in a wide range of areas is important to lower and mitigate the various types of risks that an organization might be exposed to.
As a process, however, compliance is time consuming. It involves much paperwork. At worst, it becomes a mere formality. For example, installing fire extinguishers in the buildings and premises and their maintenance is part of fire safety compliance. But it becomes a mere formality if the fire extinguisher is faulty or not serviced on time.
In such cases, digitized processes are the best solutions. In an automated process, checks and services take place on time. If a fire extinguisher or alarm is not functioning properly, the relevant stakeholders will be automatically alerted.
10
Error - Another Bug in Manual Processes
Last but not the least - errors are a part and parcel of manual data entries and storage. And if someone needs to use this data, much time and effort is wasted due to incorrect or inaccurate data. In several instances, the team wastes time in rectifying the errors and, at other times, in creating reports based on inaccurate data.
In a digital process, there is no room for errors. It is miniscule if compared with manual processes. For example, when a visitor or staff uses a QR code or a face scanning devive to make an entry, his or her record is automatically updated. When a material is digitally approved for exit, it shows up in the list of outbound materials.
Data is captured automatically. It is up to you how much data you want to be recorded or made available.
Most processes in organizations are still operated manually. Needless to say, they are time-consuming, inefficient, filled with errors and, in short, not yet digitized.
Even large organizations with deep pockets that have enterprise solutions do not have all of their premises security processes digitized. Because foolproof security solutions for complicated processes need an intelligent interaction of hardware and software. Most such solutions are not yet available in the market today.
VersionX Innovations, however, with its technological prowess, is moving in that direction. We have developed intelligent solutions for complex scenarios, with our in-house software and hardware.
