Six ways we can help your business to adapt and survive
‘It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change’ – Charles Darwin.
The challenge
Covid-19 has thrown down the gauntlet to businesses across the globe: ‘Adapt or face extinction.’ Where’s Free is no exception. Our solution – originally conceived as a way of addressing space shortages in office buildings and overcrowding – has had to change in order to be useful in a world transitioning from full to partial lockdown. We foresee people working from home more than before the pandemic, but still having to come into the office occasionally for essential meetings…or simply to escape from the kids!
Six ways we can help:
- Where’s Free now combines with a Real Time Location System (RTLS) as an alternative to the motion detection subsystem that we already utilise. The RTLS has the advantage of being able to advise how many people are within particular spaces – not simply that ‘presence/occupancy’ is detected within them. As a result, we are now able to report in real time (via a smartphone, tablet or pc) whether it is likely that social distancing guidelines are being contravened within a room or space e.g. ‘To observe social distancing rules, no more than 20 people should occupy the First Floor Open Plan area. However, 23 people are currently present there.’
- Where’s Free with an RTLS also reports safe distancing breaches over time, e.g. ‘Every Tuesday morning a meeting is held in the Boardroom (maximum safe capacity 8 occupants). During some parts of that meeting, up to 12 attendees are present.
- If a person is facing the loss, or partial loss, of their income (e.g. through redundancy) a common strategy is to rent out a spare room to help pay the bills. Businesses hit by the economic downturn can do the same. Where’s Free is able to support an ‘Office Airbnb model’ for organisations seeking additional revenue by renting out unused desks, offices or meeting rooms to third parties. The RTLS offers excellent fire and safety benefits because it is able to report in real time who (both employees and visitors) is where within a building e.g. during an evacuation. It also supports ‘geo-fencing’ i.e. designating secure zones that only specified personal should enter. These features benefit a number of shared office situations, in fact any scenario in which a building is occupied by a mix of internal and external people.
- Where’s Free is able to support the online ‘masking off’ of spaces to prevent people from booking them e.g. by making only every other hot desk in a row bookable because an organisation wants to ensure social distancing.
- If the area you are sitting in is overcrowded or gets too busy then click on the Where’s Free icon and it will show you any empty and/or unreserved rooms or desks that you can transfer to, improving your social distance.
- The ‘When’s Good?’ feature already provides a smart way of pulling together a meeting based on attendee and room availability. It now supports the scheduling of meetings that are not room-based (i.e. teleconferences and video-conferences) – all the user needs to do is uncheck the ‘Factor in room availability’ box on the ‘When’s Good?’ request pop-up.
To find out more about these and the other ways that Where’s Free can help your business please don’t hesitate to contact us: https://wheresfree.com/contact/
