The software company Vantiq is releasing an extensible platform designed to help organizations safely return to work after the coronavirus lockdown.
Private companies and governments around the globe are harnessing a vast spectrum of technologies to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. Software company Vantiq is one of the companies at the forefront of this effort, allowing organizations and agencies to leverage artificial intelligence, thermal imaging, facial recognition, and more. These components are used in tandem in a host of environments for everything from pinpointing elevated body temperatures to contact tracing. In March, we spoke with Vantiq CEO Marty Sprinzen about a series of real-time monitoring solutions the company had deployed in a wide array of environments ranging from sports venues to airports. Today, Vantiq announced its “Back to Work Accelerator” to empower organizations with these tools during the pandemic.
“Our strength is real-time space and time monitoring and we believe firmly that this is the hot spot, the sweet spot as businesses start up again. That’s what they’re going to need to do is make sure that spatially, things are maintained so the virus doesn’t spread, that their offices are safe,” said Sprinzen.
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Transitioning back to the workplace
This system is designed to bring real-time monitoring to organizations now transitioning back to the in-house operations. One of the most critical components of bringing employees on-site amid an ongoing modern plague is pinpointing COVID-19 related symptoms early and adherence to virus-related safety protocols.
“You want to have symptom checking before you let people back in the office. You want to make sure that they maintain a distance in various locations in the office, maybe conference rooms or common areas,” said Sprinzen. “If somebody is determined to have some symptoms, you want to see who they’ve been in contact with [and] obviously get to them pretty quickly. If they’re supposed to be wearing masks, you want to check that.”
Vantiq’s Back to Work Accelerator (desktop and mobile user interfaces)
IMAGE: Vantiq
Controlling space and relationships within a given place
Seeing as the virus can linger in the air indoors for extended periods of time, it’s also critical to control the logistics and overall use of space in the workplace. The Vantiq system also allows employers to monitor social distancing protocols and other guidance such as wearing a mask or limiting the number of employees in an area at a given time.
“We’re trying to make one framework for understanding what your employee base is doing so that you can get a better insight and visualization into the current status and then help direct them to being either more compliant, or just creating a safer environment,” said Director of Product Marketing David Sprinzen, son of Marty Sprinzen.
Within this framework, organizations can create a “digital twin” of their workplace using their specific floor plans and overall structure. This virtual overview of a given floor or room empowers organizations to more aptly track and monitor assets, people, and behavior in that area. This could help ensure hand sanitizer stations are appropriately stocked or verify social distancing guidelines are being followed. In general, if employees are not following the rules assigned to a given space, the system can then dispatch an alert or notify a security official.
“Let’s say it’s a waiting room for a medical,