Product
Visitor management software, hosted in the EU or on your premises
SmartCraft Building is visitor management software for workplace front desks that you run either as SaaS hosted in France or another EU country, or on an appliance installed in your own building. It covers invitations, pre-registration, QR codes, a self-service kiosk and GDPR retention, alongside parcels, loans and the desk logbook.
The product is in its pre-launch phase. What follows describes how it is designed; figures given below are design targets, to be measured with the first pilot sites.
What does a visitor management system do?
A visitor management system replaces the paper sign-in book. It knows who is expected, records who has arrived and who has left, tells the host that their guest is waiting, and keeps a history that can be searched, reported on and, when the time comes, deleted.
In SmartCraft Building, the receptionist’s day view shows expected, arrived, departed, absent and late visitors. An expected visitor is checked in with a single action; an unexpected one goes through quick data entry by the agent and approval from the host. Check-out happens at the desk, at the kiosk, through a link sent by SMS, or automatically at the end of the day. Visitor badges are assigned and tracked, so a badge that was never returned shows up.
Appointments can be created by the front desk, by the host, or by the visitor through a self-registration link, and they can come straight from the calendar via Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. The host is notified by email, SMS, Teams or Slack. The design target is under 30 seconds between an expected visitor’s arrival and their host being notified.
Pre-registration, QR codes and kiosk: how does the visitor journey work?
The invitation email carries directions, transport and parking information, the site’s safety rules and guest Wi-Fi details. Before the visit, the visitor fills in their own details and receives an entry QR code, valid for that time slot only.
On the day, the visitor shows the QR code at the desk or at the self-service kiosk. Their host is told at once, and if the site’s access control is connected (Salto, Nedap, Gallagher, Paxton, Hikvision), a temporary badge or access right can be issued without replacing your readers. Safety rules can be signed on screen before entry, with the signed version dated and kept. Outside opening hours, the kiosk handles registration and notification on its own.
The kiosk is an off-the-shelf tablet; SmartCraft Building provides the configuration and support. It is specified to be usable by a seated person or a wheelchair user, and the visitor interface targets WCAG 2.1 AA and several languages.
Pre-registration, the QR code and the kiosk are part of the Premium tier, not Essential. See the pricing tiers.
Why EU hosting or an on-premises appliance?
Visitor records are personal data: names, employers, hosts, times, sometimes a photo. Where that data lives is the first question your DPO and security manager will ask.
SmartCraft Building answers it in two ways, with the same application either way: same screens, same features, same connectors.
| SaaS | On-premises appliance | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Hosted in France, or in another European Union country | A server delivered ready to plug into your network, in your building |
| Where the data goes | Stays in the EU, encrypted, purged according to your retention periods | Never leaves your building |
| What you install | Nothing: a web browser at the desk | The appliance; installation is handled by us |
| Updates and maintenance | Continuous, with nothing to do on your side | Same updates as the SaaS, maintenance handled by us |
| Typical sites | Head offices, multi-tenant buildings, most workplaces | Sensitive sites, critical operators, defence, healthcare |
| Commercial terms | Licence per building | Option instead of SaaS |
The mode is chosen per site: a head office can run on SaaS while a sensitive site runs on an appliance. For the SaaS, the specification calls for a hosting provider not subject to extraterritorial laws, with subprocessors listed, a data processing agreement under Article 28 of the GDPR, and no transfer outside the EU. More on deployment options.
GDPR: how are retention, purge and the audit trail handled?
Compliance is built into the register rather than added afterwards.
- Retention per data type. Each category of data has its own retention period, set with your DPO. Proposed starting points include three months to a year for visits, the duration of the visit for a visitor photo, and no retention at all for ID document images.
- Automatic, logged purge. When a period expires, records are purged automatically and the purge itself is recorded.
- Pseudonymisation. Past visits can be pseudonymised so that your statistics survive the purge.
- Tamper-proof audit trail. Every view, change and export is recorded: who, what and when.
- Data subject rights. Find a person, then export or erase their data in a few clicks.
- Information and consent. Visitors are informed at invitation and on arrival; consent for photos and SMS is managed separately.
Data is encrypted in transit and at rest, whether it sits in an EU data centre or on your appliance.
Beyond visitors: parcels, loans and the desk logbook
A front desk does far more than greet guests. SmartCraft Building keeps those jobs in one register.
- Mail and parcels. Incoming and outgoing items logged with carrier, recipient and tracking number; the recipient is notified, and hand-over is signed on screen or confirmed with a collection code.
- Loans. Keys, badges and equipment lent to a named person, with a due time and automatic reminders when they are late.
- Calls. Calls handled, messages taken and callbacks followed up.
- Logbook and handover. Time-stamped entries signed by the agent, and a shift-start screen summing up open instructions, parcels waiting and expected visitors.
- Safety. A real-time list of people on site, and a one-tap evacuation mode with roll call at the assembly point. The design target is 10 seconds to print that list when the alarm sounds.
What the desk logs also becomes the service KPIs a hospitality provider owes its client: daily report, monthly dashboard, exports. See the full platform.
How is it priced?
One licence per building (per postal address), annual commitment, no fees per visitor or per agent. Essential and Premium prices will be public at launch; Security and enterprise is on quotation. The appliance is an option.
See it on your own front desk
The quickest way to judge visitor management software is on your real flows: how many visitors, how many parcels, who runs the desk, and where your data has to stay. Book a 30-minute demo and we will walk through SaaS and the appliance with your constraints in mind.