To avoid going out of business, many companies are being forced back into the office. Most will try to keep as many workers home as possible and limit the number of people in the office as well as where they’re located. For them, finding a gradual, safe, and, above all, organized methodology is critical. Zoho is directly targeting such businesses with its BackToWork service, a software solution built to help employees return to work that will eventually cost $2 per employee, but is currently available for free through December 31, 2020.
Zoho says the goal behind BackToWork is to help managers and IT administrators ensure safe entry, employee wellness, and reliable communications throughout the transition process. Since it’s free of charge for the rest of the year, it’s certainly worth investigating for businesses whose return to work is imminent. Composed of six modules, Zoho BackToWork includes an Admin module, a Wellness module, Safe entry module, Employee self service module, Communications module, and Volunteer module.
“Zoho BackToWork is a cloud-based application that can run on all Android mobile phones and tablets and iOS devices such as iPhones and iPads and these can be used as a kiosk to check-in employees and visitors,” said Pratik Rohra, Product Marketer for Zoho.
A Limited Time Offer
Zoho’s free-for-a-time approach isn’t new for COVID-oriented software. We’ve seen various companies make their solutions available for free during the pandemic, albeit for a limited time. Some video conferencing providers responded to high initial demand from businesses and schools by making their products available for free. However, Zoho is the first that’s come to market with a solution distinctly for businesses returning to work.
“With the increase of COVID-19 cases, it is understandable that most businesses find it difficult to bring their employees back to office safely,” said Rohra. “It is very important that we take every precaution so that the virus does not spread during the transition from remote work to the traditional work from office setup.”
Solving Back To Work Challenges
While there are undoubtedly several possible approaches to a back to work transition, Zoho BackToWork tries to cover as many bases as software can. Beginning with contactless safe entry, employees can check in and out using QR codes in a kiosk that’s managed by your front desk staff. This can also be the point of contact for a temperature check, which is done at the point of entry.
“The Wellness module enables employees to fill self-assessment forms daily and provide details on travel history,” Rohra said. “When there is a meeting with visitors, the email ID of the attendees needs to be provided. When there is a meeting with employees, the employees can be selected. For example, if Bob met with Sally, Peter, and Betty, this information can be recorded in the form. The report will show that Bob met with Sally, Bob met with Peter, and Bob met with Betty. Three records will be entered. These records will automatically be added to Sally’s, Peter’s, and Betty’s reports as well.” This system will help facilitate contact tracing in the event that employees are infected by the virus.
A Customizable Solution
Developed using Zoho Creator, a well-known low-code development platform with which the company has built a number of its software products, Zoho BackToWork is scalable, available in 62 languages, and modular and, potentially best of all, can be further modified by customers via Creator. That means it can quickly integrate with other software customers might be using to enable a back-to-work transition, which may be its most valuable trait given the difficulty of building custom solutions on such short notice.
Even in its own, however, Zoho has worked to make sure BackToWork can cover various workplace scenarios including various branches, buildings, and the check-in and check out process for each property centrally managed in the app. Administrators can fill in the company name, building name, security information, number of employees, visitors allowed, and building status. Managing the building status comes in handy when it is required to shut down a building’s operation completely. This is done by selecting ‘closed’ as the building’s status in the tool.
“The main advantage of using a framework like Zoho BackToWork is that it allows an organization to address various concerns involved in the process of safely transitioning back into the workplace through a single, secure solution,” said Oleg Donets, founder of Real Estate Bees, a real estate technology and marketing platform. “Zoho’s application can help companies navigate the process of returning to the office without compromising the compliance and safety aspects, which is a huge benefit from an efficiency and liability point of view.”
However, while Zoho BackToWork offers a number of useful features, the company is careful to remind customers that it isn’t an end-to-end solution. Businesses will likely face a series of local and state COVID-19 mandates when they start returning employees to the office, and Zoho reminds buyers that this software isn’t an end-to-end solution to those requirements, especially since it doesn’t yet provide space management or a safe check-in solution.
The free plan of Zoho BackToWork gives businesses unlimited access to all features of the service until the 31st of December, 2020. The user limit for the free plan is 100, which can be increased on request.
