Role of technology in the times of COVID-19

Urban Office lifestyle has seen a revolution over the past two decades with biometric attendance, open work culture, in-office gyms, saloons, and community cafeterias. This has magnified the overall productivity of companies bringing along a great sense of collaboration and innovation. This “Office of the Future” did help companies to attract top talents surging in an overall win for both companies and employees, but the COVID-19 pandemic will make this “office of the future” as the “office of the past”.

So, the obvious question to ask is, whether the concept of “office of the future” is on the verge of collapse? And whether the way we live in our office will never be the same again? Another question that pops up is how the offices will modernize the workplace to fit into the COVID-19 era of “urban office lifestyle”. Let us all accept that human beings irrespective of their gender are “able” enough to imagine the unimaginable, think the unthinkable and achieve the most unachievable. Obviously, now the definition of “office of the future” will change forever.

The NEW “Office of the Future”

Mankind can never lose to a virus. History has shown us that we survived and thrived over many epidemics and pandemics. We won over the Spanish flu and we will wind up as the victor against the Coronavirus as well.

The economy has to be reopened to ensure enough cash and liquidity flows into the system that could keep mother earth a sustainable planet to live. Yet, we can’t ignore the threat posed by the COVID-19 infection and hence humanity has to survive along with thriving the economy. So, you have to ensure the workplace follows a “non-human touch” office approach and that would only be possible with the right tools and technologies that could transform your workspace.

Indian Innovation in the Post COVID-19 Global Workplace

The best approach to a safer work environment is to minimize the human touchpoints if they can't be eliminated. Human touch can only be minimized by maximizing technology at the workplace. Your employee interacts with the attendance machine daily every time she checks in or checks out the office premise. This routine interaction with a finger biometric system makes it the most vulnerable virus hotspots that can infect your entire office space in a matter of a few hours without even you realizing it. Thus a non-human touch attendance system could potentially reduce the risk of infection among your employees. Do remember that we have to achieve our ambition of atmnirbhar Bharat and that’s possible if one looks for contactless made in India attendance systems. Avoid Facial Biometric systems as they violate your fundamental right to privacy and you do not have a law pertaining to the breach of facial data.

For collaboration and innovation at the workplace to exist in an open environment without prejudice has to grow more. Now, in-office gyms, saloons and community cafeterias have to become a more integral part of our work culture more than ever before, however, we have to ensure that non-human touch access control systems and non-human touch payment systems are integrated into all these community spaces so human touch interaction is reduced to “net-zero”. We all have lived in-door for more than 75 days, and some of us continue to do so without any personalized interaction with colleagues and hence as the offices gradually reopen, considering employee safety the non-human touch experience is crucial.

Raise your hands if you happen to drink Chai or Coffee every hour, and this causes a regular touch of hands on the coffee machines, making coffee machines another virus hotspot. Adopt contactless coffee machines as part of your employee hospitality.

Here is the secret to conquering the fear of COVID-19 at the workplace. A technology-driven atmnirbhar office campus having a designed and made in India contactless attendance system, contactless access control system, contactless coffee machines could help you manage workplace safety.

Remember, we all in India are fighting two battles one is the COVID-19 and the other is the economic crisis. We not only have to fight this battle but also have to win this battle. Let’s unite as team Bharat and fight as one. So let us stand against the virus and against the economic shock.

By Diksha Deo, Founder and CEO, INCUBSENCE