We’re headquartered in the booming metropolis of Denver, which has experienced tremendous growth over the last five or so years. It seems like there’s a new apartment complex popping up on every other corner to accommodate the influx of residents. In fact, Central Denver is adding new apartments at the seventh fastest rate in the country. These apartment complexes are massive, many of which boosting over 500 units. As these complexes get bigger and bigger, they must keep in mind how they’re going to handle visitors long before they open their doors.
Don’t ignore visitor management
Even with the emergence of new technology including smart locks, digital passes, and telephone entry systems, it’s surprising how many of these megacomplexes are all together ignoring visitor management and leaving this job up to their residents. Residents are required to let each and every one of their visitors in manually, which quite frankly, is a huge pain. For the 500-unit complex, it could easily take a resident who lives on the top floor five minutes to let someone in. Sure, that might be fine on a warm day, but what about during storms, a horrible cold snap, or when they’re hosting a party? That’s a major inconvenience for both residents and their guests.
Not to mention that a lack of visitor management system puts your residents at risk. With that many people living in the community, you need a record of who’s going in and out. This is important in case of an incident, and also to reassure residents that it’s safe to walk the halls day or night because management is aware of who’s in the building at all times.
Telephone entry systems
Telephone entry systems are an excellent option to simplify the process of letting visitors into your community. These systems can be placed at the main entrance and allow for visitors to call the resident they’re visiting. Those residents then have the option to either let approved visitor in by simply pressing a button on their smartphone’s keypad. That means that residents will never again have to go down several flights of stairs or make trips down their elevator just to let their friends into the building.
Scannable passes
For added security, utilize a combination of visitor management software and pass scanners. This option puts the task of creating visitor passes into the hands of residents, ensuring it doesn’t add extra work for your staff. Residents will login into the system and can either setup passes for one-time visitors, recurring visitors, parties, and even vendors like cleaning services. Upon creating the pass, residents can choose to have it emailed or sent to their visitor via text message. When the visitor arrives, they simply scan the pass on their smartphone at the front entrance and are on their way to the unit.
The best part about this option is your team has record of each and every person who is in the complex at any given point in time. This provides extremely important forensic data in case of an emergency or incident.
Also, this option can help limit the number of unwanted or unapproved guests. If residents know that approved guests should be able to get in by scanning their phone, they’ll be less likely to hold the door open for someone who doesn’t have a pass.
Interested in learning more about how technology can keep your complexes safe? Download our free whitepaper.
