The ‘New Normal’ Seems To Be The Only Practical Solution To The Problem Humanity Is Facing: CEO, Ramco

What is the biggest worry when employees and employers are getting back to their workplaces?

The primary concern would be safety and fear of virus spread among the employees. However, at Ramco, we are utilizing our core competency and strength in our favor, and are leveraging technology to tackle the crisis in hand. Our recently launched advanced Facial Attendance System embedded with Temperature Screening, Voice Recognition, real-time location sensing, and safe distancing – RamcoGEEK, will aid in Ramco’s vision of keeping employees and other visitors safe at the workplace. Ramco’s comprehensive Pandemic Control System offers a fool-proof safety plan to employers, to ensure its employees are back to work, backed by safety.

How will this solution help HR managers of different companies?

HR Managers function with the fundamental purpose of keeping the Human Resource within their organization safe and efficient. Their responsibility for safeguarding their employees has drastically increased since the outbreak of this pandemic. Once, all offices commence operations, the primary concern for HR Managers globally will be to prevent the spread of the infection within the office premises. RamcoGEEK comes with undeniable benefits to aid in curbing the spread of the virus among the employees of any organization. For instance, when an employee walks in at the entry point, his/her temperature is scanned, and the automated door with an IoT sensor will open only when the temperature is within the acceptable limit. The system will also alert the employee to wear a mask during entry. Once at the floor, the phone beeps when someone comes closer than 4m distance, thus ensuring safe distancing is followed at all times. When the employee enters the cafeteria, the system sends out real-time alerts of crowding, that are tracked by the admin, and employees are further alerted to maintain social distancing. All these features are targeted to help businesses to resume quicker and employees to feel safe.

Do you think it will be a permanent 'New-Normal'?

Recent reports have claimed that the virus is here to stay, and a vaccine seems to be far from becoming a reality. Most Governments have declared that we are going to have to live with the virus. The ‘New Normal’ seems to be the only practical solution to the problem humanity is facing. The ‘New Normal’ will encompass measures like Social Distancing, touchless workplace access, reworked seating plans, controlling crowds at the workplace, all of which is best addressed with the help of technology tools. The first of Ramco’s many steps into adapting to the ‘New Normal’ was the launch of RamcoGEEK.

With regards to the current situation worldwide, kindly explain how will this be a one-stop solution to track the time and attendance of employees?

Ans: In times where Safe Social Distancing and Hygiene is a focal point, a Facial recognition system as opposed to the traditional biometric system and ID card-based swipe system which is a breeding ground for dangerous viruses, is the need of the hour. In fact, once the pandemic broke out, many organizations changed their attendance recording system. The inclusion of Thermal scanning and other associated features around Safe Distancing, Realtime Location Sensing, and Contact Tracing are an added advantage. Manual Thermal Scanning of employees and visitors is neither dependable not traceable as the data is not centrally stored. RamcoGEEK restricts the movement of employees who may be unwell and also can alert those who may have interacted with a positive member to help them self-quarantine and take precautionary steps. In case the temperature of a person is above normal a mail is sent to the HR along with a leave application, real-time.

With organizations looking at implementing safety practices, how will this solution help them adhere to the guidelines laid by The Centre for Disease Control & Prevention

The Centre for Disease Control has rolled out a set of guidelines for office buildings to ensure a safe working space amidst the pandemic. Among many guidelines, the CDC has recommended that organizations recognize how and where the employees may be exposed to COVID-19. Ramco as a part of its Pandemic Control System has come up with the following features that will help organizations take the necessary measures –

· Real-time Safe Distancing Alert – The embedded Social Distancing Mobile App will vibrate in real-time if any of the employees are within 6 ft distance of their colleagues

· Real-time Location Tracking System (RTLS) – With the in-built RTLS Infrastructure across workplace, organizations will be able to track employee movements, assets and workspaces in real-time. Right from entry points, cafeteria, meeting rooms to shop floor, and warehouses

· Employee Movement Tracking for Contact Tracing within Organization – With the integrated smartphone app & IoT Gateways, the system will track movements across workspaces to quarantine/ disinfect them based on the proximity history within the premises

The system will also take the initiative of alerting employees residing at red zones and provide necessary guidelines for them like mandatory testing and following up with them with the expiry dates of their test results. Ramco is determined to follow the CDC guidelines and ensure the safety of employees is its top priority.

What are the steps that Ramco is taking to ensure an organization COVID proofs its employees?

Ans: Ramco is adapting a 360-degree Pandemic Control measure that entails 4 major steps

· Testing and COVID-19 Proofing – This enables employees to upload their test results, sends alerts to employees in matters of contact tracing, location, etc.

· Workforce Planning and Scheduling – Dealing with occupancy and seating planning, self-declaration by employees and acquiring employee work passes

· Safe Entry and Pre-Screening – This entails touchless attendance with facial recognition and thermal screening, mask detection and safe entry based on data

· Safe Distance and Contact Tracing – This will facilitate real-time safe distancing, real-time location tracking, anonymized tracking of proximity history etc.

Apart from this, the comprehensive Pandemic Control System will ensure that all employees are safe and healthy.

What is that one piece of advice in this regard; you would like to give to everyone?

The world is learning to live with the virus. Our lives can be distinguished into Before COVID-19 and After COVID-19. The pandemic has altered the way we live entirely. Social Distancing should become a way of life, masks should become a part of our attire, and sanitizing or washing our hands at regular intervals should become a part of our daily routine. A healthy immunity-boosting diet should also be weaved in. All this may seem intimidating at first, but in no time, we will adapt to this also. As humans, we are subject to changes and these changes must be incorporated by all of us to beat COVID-19.

It is believed that contact tracing will break the chains of transmission of the infection and is thus an essential public health tool. How does Ramco cater to this guideline as a part of its solution?

In the event of any employee developing COVID-19 symptoms/ diagnosis, the system sends notifications/alerts to all those employees, customers, vendors, and others interacted with in-person. This helps the HR set up its own procedures to seek recent movements of the affected person, based on the information provided by the attendance system. The Track and Trace system is capable of reading Outlook calendar, Credit card spends data, trip details from Uber Lyft and Grab (subject to permission) to identify people met, hotels stayed, flights are taken, taxi drivers used, and use this information to help identify employees at risk.

The system is also capable of reverse tracing based on data around positive COVID-19 cases from the external environment – for instance, a positive case of COVID-19 at a restaurant can alert all employees who have dined at the restaurant to be quarantined (based on bills raised).