A Welcome Change

May 1, 2006 12:00 PM

VISITOR MANAGEMENT is a prime concern for Hector Castro, corporate security director for Young and Rubicam. Not only is Castro responsible for security at the advertising company's Madison Avenue headquarters, he is also charged with securing the worldwide umbrella companies of the world's largest advertising conglomerate called WPP. Young and Rubicam's clients include Colgate-Palmolive, Citibank, Virgin, Xerox, Lincoln Mercury, Cadbury Schwepps and Newscorp among others.

“The old visitor management system was antiquated, visitors would enter the building and be required to sign in, and this is not the image we wanted to portray,” Castro says. “Furthermore, it was difficult to keep track of who was in the offices at any one time, and I wanted to see more control over this aspect.”

Sabre Integrated Security Systems, New York, which initially provided Young and Rubicam with an alarm system for its cashiers department in 2000, was tapped for the visitor management project. Castro explained that he would need a system that would give him and his staff greater control and usable records of who was visiting any of the 2,000 employees at that location at any one time.

Sabre eventually proposed the Lobbyworks system from Honeywell. Young and Rubicam already used a Honeywell system for managing its employee access control.

The system can scan business cards, driver's licenses and passports, take a photograph of the visitor, perform security checks and notify the host of the arrival of the visitor, either by phone or by a message over the company intranet. Lobbyworks also allows groups to be pre-registered to make for smooth entry to the various seminars and conferences that occur regularly in the facility.

“The system gives more control of and to the front desk, making for a smoother, slicker entry routine, in keeping with the image of Young and Rubicam,” Castro says. “The visitor labels (nametags) can also carry various graphical backgrounds, which matters to a company known for visual innovation.”

Currently the system controls visitor traffic for the headquarters, where more than 180 visitors pass through the doors every day. Castro says he and his security team need to become acclimated to the new system before introducing it to the other access points at the headquarters and eventually to the other buildings in his care.

Once the freight entrances are brought on line, Lobbyworks' ability to track deliveries from couriers and the movement of company assets will be introduced in stages. Castro also intends to expand the system to track the numerous contractors who visit the buildings. “The number of contractors I have on the premises varies from week to week, but to be able to track all of these people and to see how long and how often they are on site will be a huge benefit from a management point of view,” Castro says.

When the implementation is complete, Young and Rubicam employees will be able to pre-register their visitors using Lotus Notes, and management will have a centralized visitor system that can recognize visitors between buildings and provide accurate records. Historical reports will list who has visited which facilities and staff members at any one of the numerous organizations under the WPP brand.

“Lobbyworks can start with a single entry point and easily add additional points of entry, including self-service visitor registration kiosks,” says Leonard Smith, Sabre's operations manager. “Lobbyworks uses standard Windows inkjet or laser printers to produce full color badges. The fact that Young and Rubicam already had employee records in its Honeywell access control system made for a simple implementation,” he adds. “The integration between visitor and access systems allows for the production of temporary access credentials for freelancers on part-time assignment at any of the Young and Rubicam facilities.”

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Honeywell	40
Sabre Integrated Security Systems	41

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