When it comes to the modern office, we’ve seen a massive push towards the implementation of smart technologies to provide a more touchless guest experience. According to ProxyClick, the benefits are clear: “When paired with artificial intelligence, biometric technology, the Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud connectivity, touchless tech can become an integrated solution that enhances employee and visitor experience. It not only streamlines attendance and entry by prioritizing vital health and safety precautions but also ensures seamless customer service and enhances the effectiveness of administrative tools.”
The need for touchless technology has only grown in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, where health and safety precautions everywhere have fallen under intense scrutiny. Only strategies and implementations as flexible as the commercial real estate (CRE) workforce are able to provide the safe and engaging experiences that tenants and building visitors seek — thus, landlords and property teams have turned to smart technology solutions to succeed. Below are just five building features that you can upgrade to make sure your building occupants — from tenants, to staff, to guests — can experience a truly touchless workplace.
Visitor Management
To really refine your building’s first impression, you’ll want to start with modernizing your visitor management system. No longer are the days of physical sign-in sheets and copies of identification; now, your visitor management solution should be able to greet guests with ease and automation. A tech-enabled visitor management system should be able to do the following, facilitated by a tenant app: maintain a cloud-based visitor log, take photos of visitors to help with identification needs, print custom visitor badges, capture signatures for legal agreements, accept deliveries from couriers, send notifications when visitors arrive, allow for two-way communication between employees and visitors, provide instructions, and much more.
Access Control
Likewise, access control capabilities have also gone touchless, playing an important role in your workplace experience directly upon entry. There are four main types of access control systems that may vary depending on a building’s technology stack and needs: mobile access (or smartphone-enabled building access), cloud-based security (which helps security systems scale through its synchronization with other IoT technologies), multi-factor authentication (requiring guests and employees to verify their access through at least two methods of credentials), and biometric technology (leveraging facial recognition software to identify building occupants).
Sanitation
“As markets begin to reopen and indoor capacity restrictions ease, the safe return to in-office work will require touchless amenities and experiences for employees and visitors. Touchland is proud to partner with HqO to offer a first-of-its-kind tenant experience solution by incorporating the Touchland Kub hand sanitizer dispenser on the HqO Marketplace. Hand sanitizing is top of mind for anyone entering the built environment, and the experience of the Touchland Kub pairs perfectly with the overall tenant experience HqO and their partners are creating in CRE.”
— Ed Krafcik, Head of Business Development at Touchland
Not only is sanitation a big topic in our post-COVID climate, but it’s also a big topic in new office innovations. Technology companies — such as Touchland and R-Zero — have been able to bring a revised focus on touchless sanitation practices. This includes everything from touchless hand sanitizer dispensers to UV-C disinfection lights and technologies, respectively.
Commute/Parking
Another well-known aspect of the workplace that only serves to benefit from touchless features is actually not part of the office at all: the tenant and visitor commute. To ease concerns around congestion in public areas and cleanliness, commutes can be facilitated through a tenant experience app for both those who take public transportation and those who drive into the office. For example, public transit commuters can leverage their building app’s safe transport service provider features — such as what is offered by WeDriveU — to get into work. They can also leverage certain technologies to identify the nearest micromobility options, allowing them to take a bike or scooter to work instead. For those driving into the office, technology partners can provide touchless garage entry and more.
Food Service
Food service for the office has also gone touchless, a trend that is only picking up speed as guests and tenants seek safer lunch and catering options. Tenant experience software — such as what can be found in the HqOS end-to-end operating system — can offer in-app order ahead capabilities to allow office attendees to avoid lines at popular dining spots. Additionally, some technologies even allow property teams to establish safe drop-off and pick-up locations for food orders — making sure everything is contact-free and efficient.
To achieve touchless results for your office, you’ll need to select well-suited technology partners to create an overall frictionless journey throughout your portfolio. By leveraging our HqOS Marketplace to procure new partners, you can shop for a variety of touchless technology solutions. You can even take advantage of technology partner profiles to access product demos and images — helping determine if certain pre-vetted partners are a good fit for your business and existing technology systems.
Access our growing ecosystem of office technology partners in HqOS™ to create seamless experiences for visitors and tenants alike. To learn more, you can sign up for a free demo today.
