COVID-19: Infosys unveils solutions to help clients offer safe workplaces to employees

New Delhi, Jun 11: IT major Infosys on Thursday unveiled a new suite of 'Return to Workplace' solutions to help clients ensure safety and wellness of their employees as staff returns to workplace amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The cloud and edge-based solutions offer a comprehensive framework that enables enterprises to put in place elevated body temperature (EBT) screening, check for mask compliance and undertake analytics around occupancy of workspaces, Infosys SVP and Head- Engineering Services Nitesh Bansal told PTI.

He added that these solutions do not collect any personally identifiable information (PII) and instead use the power of AI, Internet of Things, Vision Analytics, Edge Computing, 5G, RFID, biometrics and gesture controls to reduce the need for human intervention and enable data-driven decision making.

"The underlying platform ensures ease of maintenance and compliance reporting as required in various geographies," he said. These solutions adhere to data privacy standards and practices with FDA, FCC, ISO, and IEC compliance.

"The future of work will demand innovative solutions that enterprises can deploy rapidly, and at scale to ensure safety of their workforce while at the same time nurture collaboration and productivity. These solutions are aimed at helping clients as they re-open workspace," Bansal said.

Some of these solutions, starting with EBT checks, have been implemented across Bengaluru and Pune offices as it prepares for its employees to return to workplaces in a phased manner, he added. "We are confident that these solutions will reassure enterprises and employees that their workplaces are safe, collaborative, yet non-intrusive," he said.

While the solutions have use cases across sectors, these can be especially helpful for clients in sectors like retail, banking and financial services, and manufacturing, Bansal said. EBT screening leverages automation and AI on Edge to help enterprises screen their workforce or visitors in real-time for possible infection to isolate them and prevent them from entering the establishment, while contact tracing solution uses technologies like GPS and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) to provide voluntary and opt-in based traceability.

Similarly, the solutions also check for mask and social distancing compliance at workplace using video analytics algorithms to provide alerts when masks are not detected, or the distance between people walking together or gathering at a place is not sufficient. Infosys will also offer an AI-powered digital assistant solution to help answer employee queries related to return to work scenarios.

Occupancy and workspace analytics can help teams track metrics on floor occupancy, density and automate sanitation routines in common areas. In a separate statement, UST Global also announced its 'Return to Work Readiness Model' to help companies manage the essential steps for returning employees to the workplace.

The solutions will help companies assess worker risk, monitor the workplace and track issues, allowing visibility and rapid mitigation.

"With 'Return to Work’ digital solutions, UST Global is helping other companies to keep their employees healthy and workplaces safer. These solutions are engineered to make the employees feel safe as well as to encourage the staff to return to offices by ensuring infection-free workspaces," UST Global CEO Krishna Sudheendra said.