Use Cases

Visitor and Invitation Management in Office Buildings

March 13, 2018 By Gina Wurms office |Bluetooth Low Energy|, |client based| 0

Visitor and invitation management in office buildings can be complemented by beacon technology and the integration of building maps into a touch terminal.

At a glance

2D/3D building maps
seamless indoor/outdoor navigation
geo- and time-based push notifications
terminal solution with building overview and search function

Problem Definition

Every workplace wants to provide an optimal experience for each of its guests. However, when people visit a company for the first time, there are often confronted with a rush questions. Where do I find a suitable parking lot? Is this the right building? How do I get inside? Will I arrive in time for my meeting and what is the quickest way to get there?

Many companies don't even have the luxury of having a staffed front desk that could assist visitors when they enter the building. If companies do have a reception desk, visitors have to sign in there which can cause delay if there are many visitors at one time. The end-to-end process is generally time consuming and inefficient for both visitors and administration staff, particularly at large, complex sites which have many visitors.

Solution

A mobile app provides a company’s visitors with all the information they need for a stress-free visit. The app can be used to receive and manage meeting invitations. Messages can include meeting reminders and updates and information such as how to get to the company’s location and where to park based on occupancy information.

Upon arrival, visitors can use a seamless indoor/outdoor navigation – from parking lot directly to the location of their contact person.

In addition, as visitors enter the building, a free standing, interactive touch screen kiosk can help facilitate orientation and provide visitors with directions. They can enter a name in the kiosk or mobile app and see where the office of the person they are looking for is located.

Technical Implementation

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons are installed throughout the entire area – including car park, office building and surroundings. For navigation purposes, a mobile device (smartphone) receives Bluetooth signals from the beacons and uses the signal strength measurement for localization. This requires an app. A back channel is used for sending geo- and time-based push notifications to the user’s smartphone. These can include meeting reminders, information on the parking occupancy, welcome messages when entering the building, and even a photo of the employee the app user is visiting. An interface to third party systems enables GPS-based route planning to the company's location from any starting point. Using the app, visitors can follow turn-by-turn directions that navigate them directly to their desired destination. There is also a filter option for displaying barrier-free routes.

In addition, the digital building map can be integrated in a digital signage system (multi-touch kiosk/interactive terminal).

Optionally, the gathered data can also be sent to the infsoft LocAware platform^®, where it is intelligently processed.