Today, a cloud-based SaaS Visitor Management System is indispensable to companies in all industrial sectors. It keeps a track on who enters your office location, a great tool for compliance, and secures your office premises.
The advancements in technology are carried out to make a difference in efficiency for organizations all over the globe. For any business to put its best foot forward has to be in synchronization with the technology.
A visitor management software is a solution for health and safety concerns related to the COVID19 pandemic in your office and that conscientiously enhances efficiency. Given its potential, more and more companies are adapting these visitation systems. Now, here comes the important question that companies often face and that is whether to develop their own on-premise VMS or go for cloud-based SaaS solutions. It is one of the most prominent discussions on the world wide web.
We will discuss the comparison between SaaS-based VMS and on-premise VMS under the below-mentioned heads.
- Hosting and Portal access
- Levels of customization
- Security techniques
- Innovation and evolution of the product
- Cost
#1 Hosting and Portal access
Cloud-based
A cloud-based SaaS visitor management system is developed on the internet, hosted online by the service providers, and can be accessed by the users using the internet anywhere. This allows seamless synchronization firmwide and storage of data of all locations. Moreover, it gives you the ability to take action on the go.
On-premise
The on-premise software is installed directly on the office computer and is built to meet the specific needs of the office. It can be accessed using the systems in the office.
#2 Levels of Customization
To come to think of it, having an on-premise VMS, it is easier to add more features and update it quite often. On-premise may offer you a visitation system that is not far from perfect and thus it seems like a more plausible option compared to cloud-based VMS.
On that note, allow us to elucidate some extraordinary benefits of a cloud-based VMS compared to an on-premise solution.
Cloud-based
A cloud-based SaaS solution indeed comes with impressive features encompassing the entire spectrum of visibility at the reception to the safety of your office. It is a solution that fits the business of all sizes.
- Employees/ Host can send Visitor invites in advance
- The Visitation system allows capturing visitor images and automatically prints the customized badges.
- Along with adding the NDA’s you can also add videos regarding health, safety, and company orientations.
- A VMS can automate the contactless check-in and check-out process
- Visitor data administration is in agreement with global data privacy policies such as GDPR and CCPA
- An exclusive feature like “Watchlist” to monitor disruptive visitors
- Real-time visitors and employees count throughout all your office locations.
Apart from the above advantageous features, a SaaS VMS is highly customizable from the client’s end. It also offers seamless third-party API integrations. These integrations make a SaaS VMS a prudent choice as businesses get the best of all functionalities. The customer care that a SaaS VMS offers is robust and their availability is round the clock. It is a complete value for money.
On-premise
Although an on-premise VMS is tailor-made and it encompasses all the needs of the organization. But, it requires a lot of deliberate planning and efforts to make a customizable on-premise VMS.
When it comes to building and installing the VMS, you will have to search for a trustworthy VMS provider who has the required skill set to deliver results accordingly to companies’ expectations.
This is arduous since it will require test trials, demonstrations, and several consultations. It ties the company with the VMS provider for months to achieve the desired outcome form the on-premise VMS.
#3 Security Method- Is Cloud-based SaaS Visitor Management System better than on-premise solutions?
The visitor management systems should be excellent at offering two security solutions, first by securing premises and other the company’s data. This may make on-premise visitation software appealing since it is developed and stored at the company’s system. One might think the sensitive data cannot be compromised with on-premise VMS compared to hosted services.
Can it be the opposite?
Cloud-based
With SaaS VMS the data privacy and security is the responsibility of the provider. Since it’s launch, cloud-based VMS has maintained a successful journey of keeping organizations happy when it comes to maintaining data privacy. This allows organizations to focus on other crucial business processes.
Good reviews can help you find many trustworthy and reputable SaaS vendors. In case the company is still not sure about a particular vendor, they can request a third-party security audit on the SaaS vendor they want to partner with. Even after you find the best cloud-based Saas Visitor Management system, make sure you password protect the access to the portal.
On-premise
The developers here are involved only to provide further updates or adjustments for the on-premise VMS. So, the responsibility of data security falls entirely on the company. They have to train their employees to stay up to date with good security measures for their VMS or they may fall prey to phishing and hackers.
The company’s IT department must be in sync with current practices. A survey reveals that around 69% of the organizations had outmoded security and these could have negative consequences.
In the end, if the company is willing to take the responsibility of the data security and bear the ramifications, then on-premise is the right choice for companies preferring the same.
#4 Innovation and product evolution- The benefit of Cloud-based SaaS Visitor Management System
With a cloud-based SaaS VMS, the benefit of the software upgrade is not the burden that companies have to worry about. Since SaaS draws upgrades based on global trends, it is easier to adapt to new technology.
For example, we at CoReceptionist, launched a Touchless Visitor Entry, given the COVID 19 pandemic. So there is no contact made between the visitors and the gadgets present in the office.
Organizations don’t have to dwell on maintaining their upgrades, along with IT infrastructure/hosting, data security, and maintenance. Hence, the continued modernization in cloud-based SaaS visitor management systems gives easy dominance over on-premise VMS.
#5 Cost
A cloud-based SaaS VMS offers a monthly and yearly pricing plan that suits the budget of companies operating in all capacities. On the other hand, although there is limited cost spent on the on-premise VMS, there are hidden costs that you should be aware of. These include getting a VMS provider on board to build and install the same, training of the employees, maintenance fees, and software updates will incur extra charges.
Overall,
The choice to go with a cloud-based SaaS visitor management software or on-premise VMS is based on the company’s management practices. Yet again a cloud-based SaaS Visitor Management System wins the comparison in the above parameters we discussed.
We at CoReceptionist offer a 14 days free trial period, inclusive of all our features. To know more about our features and customization contact us today.
