All of this quarantine period had passed with lots of uncertainties, sudden stoppage in the global economy, months of isolation from others, and being locked down in our own house. Now things get much better, and the economy is rising and getting back to its normal condition slowly, but the risks have not been over yet. Though the workplaces are opening and getting back to its previous way of working, and the businesses are again spreading their wings, the pandemic is not over yet! We just have unlocked ourselves from our homes, not from this pandemic. And for this, the workplaces will have to maintain certain rules and regulations like physical distancing, keeping more hygienic habits, and mostly avoiding unnecessary gatherings and meetings, which let the employers ask their employees to work from home for some more months. But this is also concerning how the companies will be able to provide their services if most of the employees are working from their homes, on other hand, how can the employees be much confident to come and operate from their workplaces by avoiding gatherings and touching on the common objects? In this digital world, is it possible to solve all these problems with technologies? Let’s find out.

Technologies in Business support

We are living in a digital world and in this world, we are being so tech-dependent. Technologies have a very strong effect on the business operations both directly and indirectly, irrespective of the size and genre of the businesses. With the help of technology, the business is being more productive and earning more money by providing the best products on its customers’ demands. Having the technological infrastructure in the workplace, leaves a positive impact on productivity, efficiency, customer engagement, employee retention as well as in building the talent pool too. It improves human augmentation by providing them a wide range of opportunities, like take the example of IoT. This IoT or the internet of things is a growing technological trend that connects the devices over a network to communicate with each other and enables the workplaces and cities to improve their processing and productivity. It works on the internet friendly devices to be connected with each other over a network to share information, and automate certain tasks. There are other technological trends as well, viz Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, 5G networking, Edge Computing, etc. Speaking of automation, we got the name of Artificial Intelligence in our mind at the very first time. It is the core technology behind the automation, with the algorithms of one of its subset machine learning, it can make the machines to learn from the datasets, and make decisions based on the learning experience, which is as like as human brains, and it is now possible to communicate with the machines easily with the help of its another subset Natural Language Processing. Now imagine, a machine having the intelligence power with AI and has the ability to connect with other machines via the internet, will definitely make the businesses be able to provide safe and relevant services to their customers, as well as to keep their employees safe. This combination is called AIoT or AI of Things, now let’s see how this combination will help the businesses in this pandemic.

How AI and IoT are supporting Businesses in this Pandemic?

With the combination of Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things, the businesses can work in 3 ways to keep their productivity in line, as well as to keep all the employees safe in this hard situation. Like if the employees are working from their homes they can provide services more efficiently and reliably to their companies as well as if fewer employees are working directly in the workplace, the companies will be able to provide their service with their customers’ demands. The 3 ways are following,

Working From Home.

IoT can really help in telecommuting. It can connect any devices that have internet facilities over a network to share information and communicate with others. If an employee is working remotely or from home, then s/he can simply connect his/her machines to the network through the internet, so that the other team members can get to know about his/her work status as well as can communicate with him/her without physically checking in to his/her location. Businesses that already had implemented IoT in their services are relying reliably on them to achieve the transparency, real-time tracking, safety of the employees’ works, as well as to meet government regulations for this pandemic. While connecting with AI, the devices are able to automate certain works to reduce the workload of the human laborers. Like the employers can use automotive devices which can show them the real-time activity of the employees, and there are certain tools as well which use AI technology, and they can help the employers to stay updated with the working team. Thus, the productivity of the employees will not be hampered due to the inability to connect with others, as well as to send real-time updates regarding the work. And this practice may stick to our habits even after this pandemic.

Maintaining Physical Distance.

Is it really possible to be productive without physical communication in the workplace? The answer is yes! Like the previous way, it is possible for us to communicate with each other via online video conference, online messaging tool, online project management tool. But, there are some businesses that cannot be done without being present in the workplace, you can take the examples of construction, manufacturing factories, farms, retail stores, transportation services, etc. But as per government rules, a minimum of 2 meters of physical distance is mandatory in the workplaces to avoid the risk of this pandemic. In this case, smart wearable devices can help these businesses. Devices like smart watches, or smart helmets that have the ability to connect over a network with the internet and automatically update the information regarding the user’s location, working status to the supervisor with the AI technology, and it can also alert the user when they are not maintaining the physical distance from others by making a mild sound or vibration. This way the employers can keep their employees safe. The employees will feel valued this way, and it will eventually increase the employee retention rate of the companies and leave a good reputation on its brand and also a good position in the market competition. We can use this way even after the pandemic is over to track the employees’ works when they may work remotely, or telecommute.

Transaction without Contact.

It is at higher risk to get contacted with the surface of an object, say for example money. And money is the most important part of every business. But as we all know that this Covid-19 can live for days on the surfaces of things, and we cannot just wash the bundles of notes with sanitizers, so it is preferable to practice the touchless transactions and process it digitally. Now you may think that how IoT and AI can help on this matter? But the answer is actually these two can help. With the internet, you can be able to practice e-payment as you can simply pay for something digitally direct from your bank accounts, and with AI, the devices, as well as the payment apps, will remind you regarding your next payments. It is better for the business to trade online for now so that they can avoid direct contact in the transactions and the working team will be safe from the risk to get contaminated. As well as, for using common things like the switches of electronics, elevators, as well as biometrics, you have to touch them, and this is also risky. For this, the businesses can use smart workplaces with a smart door, smart light, smart temperature measurer, which will work automatically with the sensors and let the employees be able to work without any physical contact. These devices can be able to alert if there are more people in a place through the sensors. In this way, employees can work safely in the workplace.

These above passages show you the way AI and IoT are supporting the businesses in this pandemic. This Internet of Things is not anymore an upcoming future technology and it can support the businesses to get back to their previous normal working habits with the help of AI as well. This IoT and AI-enabled applications and devices are supporting businesses and the cities to automate their processing and track the employees with real-time information and let them be productive while telecommuting and it also help the employers to provide efficient and reliable services to their customers by keeping safe their employees who are working in the workplace with the help of smart devices by providing them a contactless user experience.

Thank you for reading the full article with patience. If you find this article helpful then please let us know with a comment. Share this article with your friends and colleagues if you really enjoyed it. Also if there is something on your end that you may want to add on this article, please let us know by commenting below. Also please contact us if you want to implement Ai or IoT in your business to get the advantages in this pandemic. We in the WinSquares will always be there to help you. Thank you again!