Just as the tragedy of 9/11 changed our lives forever, most of us agree the Corona Virus pandemic will be just as impactful. Not only will businesses and governments slowly and carefully reopen offices and public gathering spaces, and but will be tasked ongoing to provide a “safe place” for employees and customers. In other words, it won’t just end with this pandemic but rather place a duty of care liability on employers and government well into the distant future.
The practices and methods to best create a safe workplace or public gathering are being explored and implemented. Almo Corporation endeavors to provide solutions for not only our own operations and employees but for our reseller customers as well. We have created a basket of Health & Safety products & tools such as PPE, decontaminating “Fogger” Kits, Digital Signage Hand Sanitizer Kiosks, etc.
One set of solutions we offer are single-entry, level 1 triage Temperature Scanning Systems to facilitate a safe entry into a business or public space. In short, single-entry solutions must provide technology that efficiently supports a safe assessment of a person desiring entry. In the beginning, we interviewed a number of potential end-users regarding perceived needs in search of a solution. Two points consistently surfaced. First, all agreed that they need a solution; and secondly, none of them knew exactly what they needed.
The first point is obvious. Employers and businesses agree that a safe work or gathering environment is paramount to moving forward in the post COVID-19 world. This won’t be the last battle we’ll face as a society so having technology that supports a reasonable solution for the present and future is needed. In response this summer, a “bull rush” of products flooded the market with a myriad of products. Most of these products performed as designed but are not flexible beyond a “Pass-Fail” assessment. Some may be able to pass signals to open doors and measure faces with masks on but can’t adapt to new processes or reporting needs. They are what they are.
Fortunately, the full opening of offices and business have been somewhat delayed giving time to develop and evolve safe entry practices. The market is anxious to buy yet hesitant to invest in one-trick ponies that won’t provide flexibility down the road as needs change. Our search focused on finding solutions that not only serve the immediate needs of today but those in the future as well. Our search has found solutions that not only provide reliable single-entry Level 1 triage body temperature scanning but support processes and reporting as well. Processes such as matching employee pre-questionnaires with temp scanning and in-out tracking are accommodated. And back-end reporting for administrative purposes is provided as well.
Our search settled on software platforms functioning on small format touch displays and tablets coupled with a temperature scan facial camera or wrist-sensing arrays. One such solution uses tablets from Mimo, a manufacturing partner known for high quality displays and tablets with PCAP touch. They partnered with a software platform from Revel Digital. These tablets attach the temp scanning arrays via pogo pins. The pogo pin connection scheme provide USB connectivity and power for the temp scanning arrays. Revel Digital, in turn, provided the Android-based programming and CMS to not only control the temp scanning process but provide reporting and digital signage capabilities as well.
We have other hardware platforms and hardware solutions to offer our dealers and their end-users. The key to our solutions is the ability to customize to end-user requirements now and in the future. We have a team of specialists that can assist dealers in the end-user interviews to determine requirements and solutions. These are not short sell-cycle hardware solutions. It includes SaaS (Software as a Service) license fees in addition to hardware purchase. These solutions can adapt as end-user needs evolve. Our Almo Sales Reps and Specialists stand ready to start putting solutions together.
What other products can you see businesses needing to implement in order to provide a sense of security to returning workers and customers?
