Visitor Management and Modern Office Blog

What Makes Great Virtual Receptionist Software

Written by Annabelle | Oct 19, 2021 12:00:00 PM

In today's modern workplace, virtual receptionist software is more important than ever. With hybrid and remote work shifts, you have fewer employees on site. You now need to consider how to keep COVID out of your workplace.

Yet, many work environments still have a stream of visitors - vendors, customers, food and package deliveries, interview candidates, family, and friends. Without a dedicated receptionist or other admin staff on hand, you need to quickly connect guests with their hosts. 

Luckily, there is a solution - virtual receptionist software. Not only will it quickly handle your guests keeping your employees productive, but it will also keep COVID-19 and other illnesses out, create a visitor log for contract tracing purposes, and protect your assets and intellectual property.

This post covers the features of the best virtual receptionist software:

    1. Unlimited Usage
    2. Easy to Use
    3. Touchless Visitor Sign In
    4. Showcases Your Brand
    5. Integrates With Your Existing Systems
    6. Generates Visitor Logs and Reports
    7. Advanced Safety Features
    8. Secure Data Storage
    9. 24/7/365 Live Support

Before we explore these features, it's important to understand...

Why Virtual Receptionist Software Is Important

There are several reasons to supplement your staff with virtual receptionist software. Here are a few.

  • It handles receptionist all day, every day: No meetings. No cleaning the conference room. No going home. Whenever your visitors arrive your visitor management system is ready to assist.
  • Reduces the risk of COVID-19 infection and other illnesses: Virtual receptionist software means you don’t need to have a reception area full of people. That’s great for reducing human interaction and the spread of infectious diseases.
  • Handles basic and repetitive tasks: You won’t waste valuable man-hours on mundane and repetitive tasks, such as calling employees about lunch orders or chasing down hosts. Or transferring data from a paper logbook to something digital. Or gathering information to run reception reports. Instead, your staff will have the wiggle room to tackle complex tasks.
  • Reduces response time: Very few customers like to wait. A virtual receptionist software ensures all visitors are handled quickly and efficiently.
  • Keeps your workplace safe. Really, what would your organization be without your people and your intellectual property? Virtual receptionist software keeps these safe from intruders. Which means peace of mind and a focus on what's important.
  • Inexpensive: Dedicating admin staff to the reception area is costly in terms of dollars and productivity opportunity cost. Plus, they can be costly to hire and train. With reception software, you can get all of the advantages above for as little as $2 per day.

Features of Great Virtual Receptionist Software

1. Unlimited usage

An excellent digital receptionist software will have unlimited usage capabilities. That way, you don’t need to worry about surprise bills pegged on how many users, hosts, or employees are in your workplace. Nor do costs fluctuate based on the number of visitors you receive, or how many voice calls, text messages, or other reception notifications they trigger.

Moreover, you don’t have to contend with service cuts once you surpass prepaid limits.

2. Easy to Use

The software should be intuitive for first-time users such as visitors. Its back office admin should be simple enough for trouble-free navigation by employees and administrators.

In addition, it should have reception notifications like voice calls, email, Chat, Teams, and text messages that your team finds convenient and suitable.

3. Touchless Visitor Sign In

Digital receptionist software should not require the use of shared devices to make it work. That way, human operators and visitors can interact with it without spreading diseases such as COVID-19.

Instead, with touchless virtual reception software, visitors can register themselves on their own smartphones. Repeat visitors can simply scan a QR code to bypass the process entirely.

 

4. Showcases Your Brand

Marketing is challenging, what with a crowded field that’s battling for customers’ attention. Your marketing department insists that every touchpoint helps build your brand.

The best virtual receptionist software will do exactly that. Visual customizations allow guests to see your marketing material to ensure you have an unchallenged space to show your corporate colors and images.

5. Integrates With Your Existing Systems

To automate further, your digital receptionist should integrate with the software systems your organization already uses. For example:

These integrations reduce system administrative tasks and increase data security. As an example, your visitor management system can tap into the employee directory system (Azure, Google) to synch the employee list and for a single sign on option for them to manage their user profiles.

7. Generates Visitor Logs and Reports

Since human operators won’t handle all the visitors, the software must have a visitors log and support the production of reports. This is essential for contact tracing and to comply with audits.

8. Advanced Safety Features

Apart from touchless visitor sign in, our great virtual receptionist software provides other real-time safety features:

  • Watchlists to ensure unwanted guests do not enter the premises.
  • Emergency evacuation notifications that will trigger alerts to all employees and visitors. It will also generate an evacuation log that you can use to track who is safe and who still needs to be accounted for.

9. Secure Data Storage

The news is awash with reports of hacking. Since the software will be recording confidential customer data, you must go to great lengths to secure the data. You must collaborate with a company you can trust with your employee and visitor data. Be sure to consider:

  • SOC1 and SOC2 compliance.
  • Whether your data is encrypted both in transit and at rest.
  • Where (what countries, what cloud storage services) will house your data.
  • PCI compliance.
  • The provider's privacy policy.

10. 24/7/365 Live Support

One of the benefits of virtual receptionist software is it's always working. Even when there is no admin personnel on the premises. So your software provider should be there to assist you 24/7/365 too. The best vendors offer live phone and chat support when you need it most.

How Does Virtual Receptionist Software Work?

A digital receptionist software receives all phone calls, ensuring no call goes unanswered. The virtual receptionist will field or filter calls and solve the minor issues, only patching through complex tasks to the human operators.

The most advanced systems integrate into your systems to retrieve customer information. They can even simulate conversations to resolve an issue.  

Conclusion – Virtual Receptionist Software Is Essential for Any Workplace

Digital receptionist software is a smart move for any business. It's especially crucial in a hybrid work environment. For a very low cost your organization can maximize revenue, your brand impressions, and worker productivity. An excellent virtual receptionist software system operates 24/7, handles basic and repetitive tasks, and minimizes the cost of hiring and training human staff.

The best virtual receptionist software features include secure data storage, touchless operation to prevent interaction between humans that leads to infections, and itemized visitor logs and report production.