Returning employees to the workplace and resuming operations is the goal for the hundreds of thousands of businesses around the globe.  As companies open back up—and for those essential ones that never shut down—the challenge is threefold:

1.        Ensure workers are safe and are confident about their safety.
2.        Ensure precautions don’t unnecessarily hamper productivity.
3.        Find the right technology to support employees and business processes.

However, finding a way to rapidly implement new operational policies and procedures that address current challenges, enable a higher level of worker safety, and ensure business continuity can seem daunting. Companies need the insights to implement specific actions in regard to their operational models.

IBM + Samsung to get back to work

That’s why IBM and Samsung are putting their individual strengths together to team up and bring innovative solutions to companies and help them get back to work and then work smarter so they can address business risk and minimize future disruptions.

IBM Maximo Safety — part of Watson Works — and Samsung wearables (Galaxy watch & the Galaxy Watch Active 2) allow companies to give their employees confidence about their safety as they come to or return to the office and to help manage further workplace disruptions.

A key part of the solution is a Samsung Galaxy Watch. The Samsung Galaxy Watch is ruggedized for use in harsh environments, while also looking sleek for office workers.  With both WiFi and LTE communications built-in, employees can stay safe regardless if they are in the field or in the conference room.

The device is secured by Knox so IT administrators can configure the wearables to a company’s specific needs and adapt them to changing demands and requirements. For example, the Samsung Galaxy Watch can notify an employee through the watch if they fail to notice another colleague is standing too close.  In today’s COVID-19 work environment, this helps protect employees’ health by re-enforcing social distancing policies.

This not only keeps workers and those they come in contact with safe, but also, can help with keeping companies running smoothly without disruptions or shutdowns due to COVID-19.

“IBM’s competitiveness in AI solutions combined with Samsung’s expertise in creating innovative solutions specifically designed to meet the strict demands of the enterprise will enable companies to help their employees to return to a healthy and safe working environment and offer new tools to increase productivity.”– David Kim, Corporate VP, Strategic Alliances, Samsung Electronics.

Addressing employee safety and easing worries

For employees such as first responders, as well as those in high-risk industries such as manufacturing, which have a major emphasis around Environmental Health and Safety (EHS), there isn’t time to test-drive solutions only to find they don’t give the right insights or aren’t secure. Clients need mature solutions they can deploy with confidence.

In addition, businesses often don’t have time or budgets to set up new IT infrastructure to manage worker safety solutions. IBM Maximo Safety is a SaaS offering making deployments easy, as it requires minimal changes to your current infrastructure.

Gain near real-time insights

With edge-enabled applications, analytics and services, companies can gain near real-time insights of work sites and employees. These insights can be used to:

• Assess general health and well-being
• Manage occupancy and no-go zones
• Facilitate employee social distancing and contact tracing — all while addressing  employee privacy
• Understand historical trends and analytics for predictive operational changes that minimize workplace incidents
• Send emergency alerts with use of a panic button

Keep the business running without affecting productivity

The pandemic situation has proven that we all want healthy human interactions and need a sustainable workplace environment. IBM and Samsung understand that in order to achieve these objectives it will require businesses to take multiple steps to safeguard the health, safety, and productivity of their employees. Adapting to the new normal and succeeding will require everybody, from employees to management, to put their trust into technology and IT partners.

IBM and Samsung are committed to providing the technology businesses need to support a safe and timely return to work.

Learn more about IBM Maximo Safety.