About the business
I run a small coworking space. Around forty members, a few meeting rooms, and a front desk that's staffed for part of the day. Members come in early and leave late, so for a lot of hours nobody is at that desk. Guests come and go all day to meet members.
The problem: a clipboard, lost cards, and no record
Visitors signed a paper sheet at the front. Plenty didn't bother, and the ones who did tended to scrawl something in a hurry that nobody, including them, could read a week later. And if a member was running late, their guest just walked in, because there was no one there to stop them.
Keycards were the second headache. Every month a member or two lost one. We had no way to switch a lost card off, so we either paid to change the lock or quietly hoped the card was in a drawer somewhere.
Then one evening a member asked me a simple question. "Was anyone here after nine last night?"
I couldn't answer. I had a sheet with a few names, some cards that may or may not have been used, and nothing I'd call a record. I was running a building without knowing who was in it.
What we changed: NFC for members, QR for guests
We set it up in two parts.
Members tap a card or their phone (NFC) at the door. Every tap is recorded with the member's name and the time. When someone loses a card, we switch it off in the software and hand them a new one the same day. No locksmith, no new keys cut for forty people, and no awkward email asking everyone to come collect one.
Guests are registered by the member who's expecting them, before they arrive. The guest gets a QR code on their phone, scans it at the door, and the visit is logged with the host's name next to it. Nobody writes on paper anymore.
One thing we deliberately didn't do was add a biometric scanner. For a coworking space, a card or a phone tap is enough, and it skips the consent paperwork that biometric data brings with it. Not every space needs the strongest option, and choosing the right method for each door matters more than buying the most advanced one.
The result: I can answer the simple question
When a member asks who was in last night, I can look it up in about a minute. A lost card is a two-minute task instead of a lock change. The front desk stopped chasing guests to sign a sheet, and members notice that visitors are properly recorded. It makes the place feel looked after. People notice.
None of this is complicated.
Every entry now leaves a record, and I no longer depend on someone remembering to write a name down.
If you can't say who is inside your space right now, tell us how sign-in and cards work today. We'll tell you what a small setup would look like, and whether you need anything more than a card.
Free door-by-door access review
Send us your door list, or just tell us what's behind each door. We'll reply with the weak spots and what to fix first, cheapest first.
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- Reply within 24 hours
- No obligation