The global visitor management market topped $1.7 billion in 2024 and keeps growing at 13.3% every year. Corporate real estate teams have a clear mission. Keep workplaces secure and use smart space data to get real returns. Automated visitor management isn't just hype. Companies see up to 2:1 ROI on cafeterias and slash custodial costs by 20-30%.

Let's break down how to measure visitors, protect privacy, and use occupancy data to work smarter. You'll learn the key metrics, what today's sensors can do, and how to turn traffic counts into decisions that matter.

Why Visitor Management Matters in CRE

Visitor Management in corporate offices has two jobs. Control who gets in. Measure how people move through your spaces. Security and compliance come first. Then, you find out which areas earn their keep - and which don't see much action.

Modern systems use three data sources:

• Wi-Fi presence analytics from Cisco Spaces, Meraki, and Aruba Central show campus-wide visitor counts and dwell time.
• Doorway people counters with accurate time-of-flight or 3D stereo sensors track entry points.
• Room-level occupancy detectors use mmWave radar, thermal, or passive infrared to sense presence. No cameras needed.

What you measure is what you can improve. Here are the basics:

• Passersby: Devices near your site but gone quickly.
• Visitors: Devices that stick around longer (often five minutes or more).
• Visits: Total times someone enters.
• Dwell time: How long a person stays.
• Draw rate: Percentage of passersby who become visitors.
• Loyal/returning visitors: Devices seen more than once over time.

These terms are straight from Cisco Meraki's analytics docs and baked into most enterprise Wi-Fi tools. Standardize them, and you can compare buildings, catch trends, and spot weird patterns fast.

How to Measure Foot Traffic and Occupancy

Occupancy sensors drive today’s visitor analytics. They tally people, track dwell time, and feed dashboards. They do it all without pulling in personal data.

Wi-Fi presence analytics scale easily. Cisco Spaces and Aruba Central show you who’s passing by, who’s visiting, and for how long. Cisco Spaces Location Analytics lets you see a year of visitor trends and pull custom reports. Aruba Central gives you CSV exports and APIs for tracking long-term trends.

Accuracy starts at your doorways. Overhead sensors - time-of-flight and 3D stereo - deliver solid entry and exit counts, nothing personal. Compare Wi-Fi visitor estimates against these real counts to tune your system. If Wi-Fi shows 200 visitors, but your counter shows 180? Adjust your settings, and you’ll dial in accuracy.

Room-level sensors fill in the details. mmWave radar sensors spot micro-movements without taking pics. Thermal and PIR sensors handle phone booths and private rooms. No cameras. Real-time data. Full privacy.

Occuspace Macro sensors plug in and start delivering live numbers by picking up Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Their Micro sensors cover small rooms, spot groups up to 3+, and get it right over 95% of the time. Setup? Takes about 15 seconds. No data you don’t want.

Use Macro sensors for trends across your buildings. Doorway counters to check your entry numbers. Micro sensors for every room that matters. Together, you see both the big picture and the details.

How to Keep Visitor Data Private

Privacy’s a must. People trust you with their data. Privacy-first occupancy sensors only collect anonymous, aggregate data. No cameras. No IDs. Just clean, simple counts and dwell time.

Occuspace designs privacy into everything. They’re fully GDPR-compliant since they never collect names or device IDs.

Collecting anonymous data keeps you compliant. GDPR doesn’t apply to data that can't identify people. Group counts by space and time. That’s how you stay compliant and earn users’ trust.

Modern workplace tech leans into privacy. Wi-Fi fingerprint-based systems count people using anonymous probe requests. Machine learning sharpens the numbers and keeps data truly private.

The key? Measure spaces - not people. Report usage by room, floor, and building - not by person. Never link any data to names. This is how you respect privacy, meet every rule, and still get the insights you need to run your space better.

Turning Data into Action

Occupancy data alone does nothing unless you act on it. The strongest visitor analytics programs tie data directly to processes and automate what you can.

• Security teams get instant alerts about tailgating or after-hours presence by comparing badge data to door and Wi-Fi counts. If the counter says two people entered but only one badge swiped, check it out. If Wi-Fi picks up a device in a closed building at midnight, time for a security check.
• Demand-based cleaning sends custodial crews where traffic is up since the last clean. No more fixed schedules - just clean where it’s needed. Saves 20-30% of cleaning costs. Improves satisfaction. One Fortune 100 cafeteria even doubled ROI by adjusting food orders based on live counts.
• Facilities teams adjust hours with weekly traffic and dwell patterns. If your library fills up from 10 to 3 on Tuesdays, you staff then. Fitness center slow on Friday afternoons? Try closing early or moving staff elsewhere.
• Energy teams tie occupancy to systems like HVAC and lighting. Demand-controlled ventilation cuts energy use - about $0.50 per square foot per year. Lights turn off where no one’s around. These savings compound quickly.

See the trend? Measure, automate, optimize. Start with one task. Show the ROI. Then scale up.

Track the Right Trends - Week by Week, Live

Week-over-week trends spotlight what daily snapshots miss. Watch seasonal shifts, events, and the real impact of policy changes.

• Pull weekly numbers for visitors, visits, dwell time, and draw rate by building. Always use the same weekday ranges.
• Aruba’s baseline delta endpoints and Cisco exports help you compare data easily.
• Build 12-month charts with Cisco Spaces or export your data from Aruba. Track each building’s journey. Stitch together monthly snapshots for long-term insights.
• Real-time campus-wide data—no cameras needed. mmWave radar occupancy for rooms, overhead door sensors at entries, and Wi-Fi presence data work together. You get live, privacy-safe counts fast.

Need accuracy? Set your RSSI and dwell thresholds to fit your space. Match Wi-Fi estimates to door counts. Call out MAC randomization in loyalty reports. Organize your platform - from campus to building to floor to zone - so your analytics always match reality.

With this setup, you can answer questions like:

• Which building lost the most visitors last month?
• How does Tuesday’s traffic compare with last quarter?

These answers drive smart decisions and back up every square foot your portfolio claims.

What's Next for Visitor Management?

Visitor Management's outgrown clipboards and badges. Now, it’s about seeing how people use buildings, protecting privacy, and making decisions with clear proof.

The industry’s shifting to contactless, biometric, and AI-driven systems. North America leads with 35% market share. That’s thanks to smart rules and strong tech. But the rule stays the same: measure spaces, not people.

Privacy-first providers like Occuspace give you real-time analytics. Zero personal data. You get accurate counts, dwell times, movement patterns. Full compliance, total trust. Their sensors use wireless signals - no cameras, no IDs - just anonymous, useful data on how people use spaces.

Start with one building. Measure visitors, dwell, draw rate. Match Wi-Fi estimates with door counters. Turn the numbers into smarter cleaning schedules or stronger security. Prove the ROI, then grow portfolio-wide.

What you get with Occuspace:

• About 32% smaller footprints and 14,000 ft² freed in corporate portfolios
• $0.50/ft²/year HVAC savings - thanks to smart ventilation
• 20-30% lower custodial costs with demand-based cleaning

Winning organizations treat occupancy data as a strategic asset. They use it to right-size space, cut waste, and boost experience. They build trust by protecting privacy, automate what works, and make decisions backed by good data.

Ready to use anonymous data for better decisions and big savings? Book a free Occuspace demo and see live dashboards in minutes.