Bringing back some semblance of the traditional workplace is going to require a lot of technology, and some of that technology may not look anything like what’s already on the market.
But with a little bit of inventive thinking and the right technology partner, there’s potential to fully embrace — and even excel in — the new normal.
In an afternoon session during the CDW Tech Talk “Optimizing the New Workforce Dynamic,” Hewlett Packard Enterprise ProLiant Server Category Manager Rony Adaimy highlighted a variety of strategies from the company to help businesses continue to operate in a time of change.
Adaimy emphasized that HPE expects to see a hybrid approach to the workplace in the near future.
“The office is not going to be like the same old day-to-day office. It will be more for collaboration,” he said, adding that workplaces will continue to rely on “a lot of remote worker activity.”
MORE FROM THE CDW TECH TALK: How IT teams have adapted to shifting workplace dynamics.
Consider Touchless Solutions for Reopening the Office
When it comes to returning to the workplace, there are a number of small details to consider. Even things like elevator buttons suddenly present risks.
HPE has been working on touchless solutions that aim to balance security and safety, Adaimy said. “Whether it’s from mobile phone identification or world-leading facial recognition,” he said, these solutions can identify authorized employees while weeding out those attempting to trespass.
Touchless approaches can extend to COVID-19-specific solutions, such as tech that can detect high body temperatures in employees, a potential indicator of COVID-19 infection.
“Contactless identification of individuals with elevated body temperatures will give us the ability to proactively send alerts to those individuals and staff in order to keep workers safe and facilities virus-free,” Adaimy said.
Such use cases can apply to situations outside the office as well. Tim Ingersoll, a principal field solution architect for CDW, said during a Q&A session that HPE has implemented a solution at Los Angeles International Airport using high-speed thermal scanners, which are designed to make it easier to pinpoint potential symptoms in travelers while minimizing the need for handheld scanners to reduce exposure.
“They’re using cameras to identify elevated temperatures, and it’ll help ensure people are quickly identified,” Ingersoll said.