CASE STUDY: Discover why a top pharmaceutical company is Utilizing ivisitor from Veristream for their visitor management solution

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1 CASE STUDY: Discover why a top pharmaceutical company is Utilizing ivisitor from Veristream for their visitor management solution

2 Integrating Systems Pharmaceutical Stays On Top of Tech Innovations with Integrated Visitor Management Platform First impressions are the most important, and when you re consistently listed as one of the top five innovative companies in the world, it simply won t do to ask your visitors to sign in to a paper visitor log. Sitting at Number Two on Forbes Magazine s Top 25 Most Innovative Companies in the World for two years running, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical firm that specializes in treatments for rare diseases, makes it a company practice to use innovative technology whenever and whereverpossible. Only Alexion s U.S. Head quarters in Cheshire, Connecticut, had an automated process for visitor management, and that was proving inadequate With visitor management we needed to get away from having that paper book, which is next to useless, Phillips says. Our company as a whole is very innovative and we are always challenged to think of creative ways to handle our problems. In his previous work in the pharmaceutical industry, Phillips had become familiar with ivisitor by Veristream, an online Software as a Service (SaaS) visitor management system. Phillips soon suggested that Alexion switch over. When I thought about needing to know who was on site, this was the most innovative solution I knew of for such a task, he says. The ivisitor platform provides web-based software that increases security, simplifies badging, and frees up IT staff time. For Alexion, one of the key attractions of ivisitor was the reduced demand on the company s own staff. Our global security team is the security support for most of our sites, Phillips says. Most are very small in head count, so they don t have a dedicated person to help. Having a secure online system where I can say, Hey, just hit this URL and you are up and running, was important to me. Anywhere we can rely less on support from IT, we are trying to go that route. If I can support it from my end by having that secure online system, it works better for me and for IT as well.

3 Smart Integration With 35 sites all over the world, the fast-growing Alexion needed more than just basic visitor management, Phillips says. In addition to the Cheshire headquarters, various other sites were in particular need of a visitor management system that could integrate with their access control system. These included a plant in Smithfield, Rhode Island; an office in Cambridge, Massachusetts; an international headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland; a new plant in Ireland; plus two more locations in the planning stages in Tokyo and Mumbai, India. Since the majority of the existing sites used access control from S2 Security, a system that could play well with that technology was imperative. Phillips had tried working with the existing automated visitor management system in Cheshire when that location upgraded to S2 access control, but it did not go well. Our biggest reason for moving to ivisitor was this integration with S2, he says. The existing [visitor management system] was a nightmare to set up. We could never get it there. I had worked with ivisitor previously and knew it had worked with S2. The other system required a SQL server and client to connect, more rack space, and more people to support that server and deal with it. Ultimately it was much easier to change the visitor management system than the access control system. In addition to integrating with access control, ivisitor also ties in with other important HR and IT programs, as well as with emergency management. We have integration with SAP, an HR data set, as well as OKTA, a single sign-on IT platform, Phillips says. Alexion relied on their integration partner Braxos Security Software s Steward Software solution to synchronize the changes with ivisitor. Every time an employee gets hired or terminated, it provides, through ivisitor, our list of employees, so the adding and deleting of host accounts is done automatically, Phillips says. Whenever there is a high risk termination, that employee is automatically added to the barred visitor list worldwide.

4 Leading Edge not Bleeding Edge The check-in process itself is one of the more high-tech aspects of the new ivisitor management system. Visitors are pre-registered online, and the Alexion host is notified via or text when their guest arrives. Upon arrival, visitors are directed to an ipad to receive instructions and to complete the registration process for instance, signing disclosures regarding photographs and weapons, and signing an agreement to be escorted on the premises at all times. From our leadership we are challenged to have the best in class innovative but tried, Phillips says, and this fit the bill nicely. We also leverage driver s license scanners in the U.S. and use the ipads at the reception desks. We use these as ivisitor kiosks for registration when they enter the lobby. My boss likes toys and the visitor management system with the cool ipads in the lobby were definitely a seller. We have a stock of access badges in sleeves, so when a visitor s identity is validated, we simply put a paper visitor badge in front of that proximity card, Phillips explains. The access control system and the data from ivisitor are integrated, and the badge and the card get linked. When they check in, that integration with S2 assigns the visitor s name to that badge before their host picks them up. This integration allows the access control system to automatically know who is in the building at all times. It only works on the main entrance doors, and they scan the badge when they come in. This is important because there are some company restrictions that dictate access to certain areas, Phillips explains. One reason why the integration with S2 was so important was we do have lab space and we need accountability when personnel enter and exit the building.

5 Future Innovations Alexion is gearing up for an imminent move to a new headquarters building later this year or early next, which will necessitate some changes to the visitor management system and the integrations. The headquarters is relocating to New Haven, Connecticut, a more densely populated city, which brings certain challenges. One major change that will occur is how emergency evacuations are handled. While the current headquarters building has a large open parking lot ideal for mustering during emergencies, the new headquarters is located on one of the busiest streets in the city. When we evacuate they will have nowhere to muster and will go wherever they want to go, Phillips says. Alexion uses the Everbridge Unified Critical Communications suite for mustering and mass notification in the event of an emergency. Here was another integration with ivisitor that Phillips was keen to implement. ivisitor takes the visitor s mobile phone information and populates that data into Everbridge, which will allow for virtual mustering at the new location. We are building an integration between S2, ivisitor, and Everbridge, he says, so when a fire alarm happens and the building is evacuated, we can pull up that list and send them a text message asking, Are you safe? Have you evacuated? Another plan for the new location is to use ivisitor s mail component, which facilitates the scheduling, identification, and delivery of packages and mail. With our move to a big metropolitan area, we will be doing mail screening, Phillips says. We plan to leverage ivisitor to register deliveries. Versatility and Ease Phillips is thrilled with the versatility and ease of use of ivisitor and with its integration with other Alexion security platforms. Other visitor management systems require training; we almost don t have to train anyone on ivisitor, he says. My reasons for moving to ivisitor were the quick and reliable integration with S2, the low IT overhead, and the ability to deploy all over the world without leaving my desk. And ivisitor has delivered that for Alexion, he says. The integration has been absolutely great. It has worked above and beyond expectation. After the headache of trying to get it started with the other system, it has actually gone a lot smoother that I thought it would.

6 Ready for a Demo? Want to learn more about how ivisitor can work for your business? Connect with a Veristream Professional today CALL OR V I S I T U S O N L I N E AT V E R I S T R E A M. C O M