Introduction
Today we are very used to our data being stored on servers outside out control. It is often nowhere near us and regularly not even in the country in which we live. We use tools like iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive and so on to store personal data and our business data. We use a wide range of SaaS tools in both our personal lives and business lives too. In these, again, all the data is stored on servers either belonging to or rented by the SaaS provider.
Most of us are happy to do this. We trust that these companies we rely on have taken the necessary precautions to keep our data safe. Our trust is generally justified. In fact our data is more often than not much safer stored in the highly secure data centres our storage and SaaS providers use than it would be stored locally on our laptops and PCs.
Visitor Management Systems & Data Storage
Most visitor management systems, including Welcm, store customers’ data securely in the cloud. The data stored is very much personal data. It can include names, email addresses, phone numbers, company names and even photos. This means it is hugely important the data is stored securely. At Welcm, data captured by our visitor management system is encrypted and stored in a highly secure data centre. We follow all the requirements of GDPR and more besides.
However, in some industries / organisations / countries there are additional requirements. This can mean that, no matter how securely we store data, these requirements are not met. This is simply because the data is stored in the “wrong” place, not because it is stored in the wrong way. Generally such requirements are very specific over where data must be held.
There are two main rules on this front. Either data must be stored on site with the organisation collecting the data or it must be stored in a data centre in the country in which the organisation is based. The first of those options is generally a rule that is self-imposed. That is to say the organisation in question has its own policy whereby they must hold all data they collect on their own servers. The second is generally country / industry specific. That is to say they are rules imposed on an organisation by their government or regulatory bodies.
Whichever is the case it can make it difficult for an organisation to use some SaaS products and find a visitor management system provider that can meet their data storage requirements.
How Welcm Can Help
Alongside our free visitor management system which suits the vast majority of small businesses we have our premium offering which suits larger businesses. For businesses with the specific data requirements we’re talking about here (or any other non-standard requirement not met by other visitor management systems), Welcm Custom is available.
Our custom plans allow us to mould Welcm into exactly what our customers need it to be. This includes storing data outside of where we would normally do. We generally do this in one of two ways. First, we can create and deploy a version of Welcm to the server the customer has stipulated. Second, we can run the software from our servers but hold the database on servers stipulated by the customer.
The flexibility of Welcm Custom means customers with non-standard requirements can have a visitor management system created for them. This can be done at a fraction of the price of having one built from scratch. It is built off code that is tried and tested by hundreds of other organisations worldwide. It is the solution to the problem of finding a visitor management system that truly meets their requirements.
TL;DR
Storing visitor and staff data securely is extremely important. Storing data in the cloud or in a different country is not an option for some organisations. Welcm can store your data wherever you need it to be stored. Get in touch to find out more.
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