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With offices reopening their doors after a lengthy hiatus, 2021 is positively going to be a year full of opportunities and actions. And all those desperate measures that you had designed (or redesigned) and tested throughout 2020 are about to have a true-blue execution. Before going any further, you may consider having a quick look at “Back-To-Work In 2021” to know the expectations and trends of a hybrid workplace if you are yet to reopen your doors.

Among all the digital innovations that ruled 2020, No-Touch Visitor Management System deserves a special mention. Not only did it strengthen workplace security, but ensured safeguarding human health by omitting the touch from every office reception. Even Forbes had identified touchless visitor management as the pivot on which this entire back-to-work phenomenon depends.

It would be outright wrong to consider Touchless VMS as just another fancy alternative. Today it is a compulsion for all businesses because the new normal requirements are –

• Pre-scheduled Meetings
• Fully Mobile-Oriented Check-ins
• Verified Visitor KYC
• Contactless & Streamlined Processes

So, it is time for you to evaluate your visitor management system thoroughly and indicate what you need and what you lack. And this brings us to present a ‘one-stop free-forever contactless reception desk’ to you, NexAEI VisMate.

VisMate has been particularly designed to offer a unique touchless experience to both employees and visitors. Its unique visitor self-registration flow makes your reception areas completely touchless and hence, safe. Upgrading and revolutionizing your reception with VisMate will bring a massive change to your operations as a whole. It is not your regular VMS rather it is a future-focused, scalable solution that helps you manage all your visitors from one centralized location.

P.S. With the global VMS market predicted to grow at a CAGR of 14.1% by 2025, we recommend that by the time you call your entire workforce back to work, have a comprehensive VMS in place to protect them as well as give your workplace a digital transformation!

After a nightmarish 2020, working professionals throughout the nation are finally getting back to their familiar normal amid this new normal. With the vaccines getting ready to be distributed, the second dry run executed, and the number of recoveries crossing the 1cr.-mark, employers are all set to welcome their employees back.

Even though people are supposed to land up in a new and hybrid 2021 workplace, the excitement knows no bounds. But employees will not settle for an unsecured workplace, especially this year. Every employer will have to pay special attention and abide by all the healthcare and safety protocols.

None of us indeed possess certificates in reopening and managing workplaces amid a global pandemic, and these undoubtedly are some uncharted waters. But with all the knowledge and experience gained throughout the last year, organizations will give their best and make this country-wide ‘workplace reopening event’ a massive success.

Forbes says that having no comprehensive policies for COVID-19 safety, lacking flexibility, and being ungrateful and unsupportive of your employees will be some of the biggest mistakes this year and hence should be avoided. Doing so will ensure employee safety, good health, undisturbed productivity, and of course, sanity.

Not having a stringent policy for COVID-19 safety at work will only worsen the situation.
We have calmed our nerves to some extent with the arrival of functional vaccines but this is not a permanent solution yet. So, now when the offices reopen, employers will have to ensure that –

• Employees are educated about and entitled to all the government healthcare guidelines and policies
• Potentially sick employees are proactively taken care of

This way, every organization will be able to protect its employees in this critical phase.

Flexibility in work will be an uncompromising requisite henceforth.

77% of employees have admitted to being more productive in the flexible WFH structure. Be it the work schedule or the safety aspect, following the letter-of-the-law will no more yield the desired results. With a reshuffle in the organizational attitude, an inclusive and understanding approach will trend in 2021.

When the employees return to work, they will look for support and gratitude from their employers.

It is no secret that the pandemic had an undeniable negative impact on mental health. When appreciated suitably, 69% of employees have confessed to being more motivated and working harder. To be a supportive mentor to your employees, you may consider –

• Communicating transparently with them
• Offering them a comprehensive mental health insurance policy and required screening tools
• Sponsoring seminars and retreat sessions

This back-to-work seems like a homecoming to the majority, and hence it will take some time. And as managers or supervisors, before you call your teams back to their bays, you need to ask yourself whether the return is essential or not and whether you can ensure complete staff safety or not. The way to a safe and healthy workplace 2021 passes through your answers!

So, how much would you rate yourself for your workplace 2021 readiness?

The sudden appearance of a pandemic has forced every organization in this world to go offsite with their entire operations and workforces.

Do you think it would have been even remotely successful without digital technology?

2020 has made digital transformation vital for the survival of organizations apart from upgrading them. It has been the backbone in making the complete shift from onsite to remote locations, equipping the employees well enough to work from home and maintain productivity, and moving to cloud-based services. So, there is no way that we can call ‘digital transformation’ an aspiration anymore; it is the most basic!

There is a strange similarity between language fluency and digital fluency. Fluency, in general, works like a key to unlock the innovation and creativity which can ever be done by literacy alone.

Digital fluency does the same to the techies. It enables them to build further on their technological fundamentals, unleash their creative sides, and is the cornerstone of unlocking agility too. It is the real ingredient that makes every digital effort turn into reality.

Straight Facts

Studies reveal that the digitally fluent companies,

• Have experienced 2.7 times more revenue growth over the last three years
• Are projecting 5.4 times more revenue growth for the following three years
• Are looked upon as great workplaces by employees (69%)
• Are considered as peer leaders in customer satisfaction (68%)
• Are the peer leaders in creativity and innovation (62%)
• Are the peer leaders in operational proficiency too (61%)

Types of Digital Workers You Should Look For

Extensive data mining has popped up some working patterns that increase digital fluency. Based on that data, there appear four distinct roles that contribute to making organizations digitally fluent as it does not function as per the one-size-fits-all formula. So, according to the same report by Accenture, the digital workers you need to look for are –

• Relentless Innovator
• Adaptive Team Player
• Disciplined Achiever
• Remote Collaborator

Each one of these personas has its readiness that makes an organization digitally fluent. Once you identify them, you help in filling up your digital gaps, and thereby you gain agility.

It’s time to polish and enhance the already-in-motion digital move by promoting and adopting digital skills. It’s time to equip the techies with the digital infrastructure, opportunities, and leadership that they need to flourish. The path forward needs this smart framework of digital fluency.

There existed a gap between high and low-performing tech companies for a long time that was brought right into the limelight by COVID-19. As organizations had to go offsite, they started realizing how a digital transformation can accentuate them with more efficiency, better readiness, and also how it can hinge any business right amid massive and sudden changes. So, wait no more and start your journey in honing your digital edge!

The new-normal workplace is all about change; change in approach, change in technologies, change in the working environment, change in work location, and whatnots. Each one of us is witnessing these changes since the onset of the pandemic.

Our employers are leaving no stones unturned in adopting the best resources for us to ease our work amid this pandemic, but do we know and understand why these transformations became necessary and what are the new-normal resources bringing to the table?

Let us look at one of the most vital workplace transformations this year – the Touchless Visitor Management System.

With no-touch being the tagline to this year, a touchless VMS has been a boon to the organizations that have it. Gone are the days of logbooks for keeping a record of visitor details. So, check out why did the organizations consider trashing their age-old visitor logbooks and welcoming the brand-new touchless VMS –

1. Security

A touchless Visitor Management System (VMS) makes way only for genuine visitors with prior invites or visit approvals, documents their details and purpose of visit fed through the visitors’ mobile devices, and finally provides them with digital visitor cards or badges. With the QR code contactless check-in via visitor smartphone, a touchless VMS gives a completely futuristic and agile experience.

A manual Visitor Logbook/Registers makes the visitors fill in their details, which might give way to spread of infection, or be outrightlyincorrect. Moreover, every visitor gets to check out the details filled by previous visitors leading to privacy invasion.

2. Accuracy & Reliability

Digital Touchless VMS records visitor details and manages them with utmost accuracy. Here time is not wasted by filling every detail in the logbook, and hence it cuts down on the waiting time of the visitors and the subsequent crowd at the reception areas too. This makes the touchless VMS way more reliable as the very essence of a no-touch VMS is to cut down the crowd and manage visitors digitally.

The accuracy of the visitor logbook data can never be guaranteed as visitors generally are reluctant about filling in genuine data in the logbooks as they can be accessed by any other visitor. Hence, the reliability factor is missing herein.

3. Visitor Record Monitoring

Backed by a cloud-based system, all the data fed into a touchless VMS gets stored in the cloud, and hence no data can be lost, misplaced, or tampered with.

Either the visitor or the receptionist needs to fill in the relevant data in the manual visitor logbooks/registers. Manual data storage is prone to errors and may easily be lost or damaged. Data filled up in the visitor logbooks can even be misplaced by the receptionist or tampered with by another visitor

4. Cost Inefficiency

A touchless VMS helps a visitor in making an appointment, checking in, and out via his or her smartphone, thereby cutting down the pen and paper utilization, their cost as well as storage. Besides this, for a no-touch VMS to operate, a receptionist is not needed too. A stable internet connection, a tablet or smartphone, and a printer for cards are the only requirements.

For maintaining visitor logbooks, companies need to allot expenses for all the stationery items as well as their maintenance and storage. A salaried receptionist needs to be at the reception desk as well. Hence, it is not at all cost-efficient.

Taking up this new way of visitor check-in is doing wonders for organizations and is making administration a lot easier and smoother. Even the visitors are getting endowed with a futuristic touchless experience with this new digital reception. So now that you what works the best for your organization, do not hesitate to make the most and the best utilization of the Touchless Visitor Management System(s) available to you.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made most of the companies worldwide struggle real hard to keep up with their productivity. There has been a severe drop in product demand since the onset of lockdown. Hence organizations could not capitalize on their talent acquiring opportunities.

As a result, the existing employees had to face tremendous pressure while working from their homes. Balancing both family and work at a time had proved to be exceedingly difficult for them.

So, organizations had to bid both final goodbyes and some temporary ones to some of their efficient star performers, and this had hit their productivity huge.

In short, COVID-19 had impacted the employee attraction, management, and retention of many organizations outright negatively, leading to deteriorating productivities.

In contrast, organizations that have excelled in keeping employees engaged and inspiring them to keep up with their productivity have made the best use of three factors; namely, time, talent, and energy. They have –

• Cut down on the wasted time and have successfully kept their employees motivated and concentrated in their work, unlike the others
• Capitalized on the fluctuating new-normal work pattern and thereby gained access to the right talent who could make a difference
• Found ways in which employees can be kept engaged

Upon taking cues from the best companies, the rest are finally acknowledging their shortcomings and thereby reconsidering their market reentry strategies now that lives are getting back to normalcy. In doing so, understanding the difference between the past and existing work and working conditions of the employees is vital.

An article published by Deloitte says that in the past workplace was all about camaraderie, comfort, control, and commute. But today, it means grabbing the relevant gadgets and technologies, building necessary habits, and making the much-needed shifts in closeness with co-workers.

Going by a Korn Ferry survey, even though a majority of 75% of employees believe that their employers would create a safe workspace for them, 50% of them are still scared of heading back to offices. So, all an employer needs to do right now is building the reentry strategies based on trust. The existing, as well as the aspiring employees, should be able to depend on their organizations for the following reasons –

• Highlight the competencies in a well-thought manner
• Prove their care for their employees
• Calibrate on the promises they make and deliver
• Keep the communications clear and unambiguous
• Make way for collaboration between leaders and subordinates

Every working professional today, either he or she is making a way back to the workplace or is working from home, will be placing their faith on their respective employers for making working in the new normal balanced and comfortable.

Be it a leader or a subordinate, both will have to be considerate and work in close and transparent association with one another, rely on one another, and work towards closing the present productivity gap. If this cannot help in rebuilding the new-normal work environment, then probably nothing will!

With the onset of winter, experts are fearful of the second wave of COVID-19 and more severe this time. The festive season has somewhat spiked up the number of COVID cases in India already. Dr. Jagat Ram, Director, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, had issued a note earlier this month saying –

“Basis the studies on other respiratory viruses like SARS, influenza, etc. which show seasonal variance with cases spiking in winters, there is a possibility that the coronavirus infections might also rise in the coming months.”

So, even if personal and professional lives have gotten back to normalcy, people need to be extra cautious, take precautions, keep wearing their masks, and practice social distancing. Even a slight lack of vigilance will lead to a catastrophe.

Workplace safety had been a matter of concern since the onset of COVID-19, and the seriousness continues to prevail even today as most of the organizations have started allowing employees back into offices. Hence, it is pretty clear that the gravity of a touchless visitor management solution cannot be ignored, not even the slightest bit.

Amid this crisis, NexAEI VisMate had continued holding its grounds firmly as India’s very own and the world’s first-ever free-forever contactless reception desk for the new normal to date. This no-touch visitor management system had been distinctively designed for you so that you can get back to your office without fearing the coronavirus. VisMate ensures a completely touchless and safe reception and also empowers you with a unique visitor self-registration flow.

Taking you through the salient features that NexAEIVisMate has in store for you, once again –

• Self-registration from visitor mobile – to do away with touching any device at the reception or filling up a guest logbook
• Verified visitor KYC – to know who your guest is and thereby add a layer of security for your organization
• Pre-scheduled meetings – to send out a personalized meeting or event invitation
• Digital Visitor Card (with a unique Guest Identification Number) – to save paper, have an eco-friendly reception, avoid touching and ensure security

A Visitor Management System (VMS) has always been an intriguing matter but has never been a necessity until COVID-19 appeared. The new normal has transformed this non-essential visitor management system into the most sought after front desk software.

According to the reports of Markets and Markets, the size of the global market for the visitor management system is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 14.1%, from 2020 to 2025. And according to us, the major contributing factors are that –

• Every organization is keen on converging their visitor management system to meet the health and safety protocols of this new normal
• A futuristic, touchless experience is highly significant in today’s modern workspaces
• As every entrant is a visitor today, a visitor must be reported, and most importantly, protected

So, it is about time that we jump on the bandwagon, take touchless reception seriously, and ponder over the key features of that one touchless office visitor management system that is a perfect fit for your organization. Let this zoonotic virus lose the battle to an efficient and comprehensive online visitor management system this time!

Let’s say you’re buying a new car or picking a new house. You’re investing in something that will be yours for a long time, so when making your selection, you don’t want to settle for a choice that will simply get you from one point to another. You’re looking for that perfect car that will take you places and give you the best value for your budget. You want a house that will be close to your office and suit other specific needs, such as fitting your family of four.

The same goes for selecting a visitor management system. Read about visitor management software research and analysis to find out more. When you’re seeking software that improves your business, you need a solution that offers not only top-notch quality but also maximum efficiency.

The interior of your new vehicle is as integral as what’s outside, and the furniture and design of your new house are just as vital as what it looks like on the street. In the case of a visitor management system, the features are on the same plane, and it’s important to know how your VMS functions as a solution.

Here are some key features to look for when selecting a visitor management software for your organization during the New Normal.

No-touch visitor registration

As the world continues to deal with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, companies are still urged to help slow the spread of the virus by following tight restrictions, social distancing, and adopting remote work strategies.

Thus, the demand for contactless solutions at every stage of the user experience has become more critical, especially for organizations that want to bounce back and adapt to the new normal.

We Forum has listed contactless tech as one of the technology trends to watch out for during the pandemic. While it’s more common for payments and delivery services, this vital innovation can also expand in workspaces through a visitor badge system with contactless capabilities.

With its relevance in today’s crisis, the most integral capability that determines the best visitor management system is eliminating the need for physical contact throughout the registration workflow.

It minimizes the risk for virus transmission and covers all touchpoints in your visitor management operations, beginning from the moment your guest walks into your reception to the time he or she presents their access card for the scheduled meeting.

Contactless functionalities that can be harnessed from these visitor management system benefits include visitor self-registration via mobile phones, pre-scheduling for meeting hosts, instant alerts for both hosts and visitors, and digital guest cards for meetings.

Today, a visitor badge system does not only need to boost efficiency. It must also be able to promise safety as the world slowly adjusts to the new normal.

Virtual visitor card

Security is always a primary concern when conducting any operations within your business, mostly when you’re relying on a visitor badge system to cover it for you.

Now that we’ve highlighted the importance of VMS contactless capabilities, you need to acquire a virtual management system that supplies your visitors with their guest identification numbers to authorize their entry during a scheduled meeting.

Apart from eliminating unwarranted access to your affairs, this also eliminates the need for any physical contact and effectively delivers a solution to the suggested operational measures for businesses implemented during the pandemic. Health and safety come first when you need to keep up with ‘new normal’ visitor management.

Addressing another pressing global issue, this functionality also doubles as a more sustainable way to handle your establishment’s visitors.

Did you know that 45% of the paper generated in workplaces ultimately ends up in the bin by the end of the day? That’s a lot of waste, according to data from Record Nations. You can help reduce this by issuing digital visitor cards instead of printed documents.

Although it’s only one aspect of your business, this particular feature will help your enterprise be more eco-friendly, especially when all your environmental efforts are pooled together.

Employee directory

An employee directory functions like the good old Yellow Pages; only it’s for your business. Not every establishment has an employee directory, but those who do enjoy an efficiency boost since it’s designed to make collaboration across your business less complicated. It’s an excellent tool for empowering employees and transforming HR for good.

All the basics about your employees are stored in your directory—name, job title, contact information, location, photograph. You can even establish a stronger network by including other personal details such as interests, educational background, affiliations, and achievements.

Although this can be considered a more advanced feature for a visitor badge system, you can attain more organized operations by relying on an employee directory to keep your VMS and employees on the same page.

Why do we think that NexAEIVisMate is the best visitor management system for you?

We’ve only listed three important features, but keep in mind that there’s an awfully lot of things to consider when choosing your visitor badge system.

If you’re already on board the idea of getting a visitor management system for your company, then we recommend you check out our product, VisMate. Not only will you reap the rewards of contactless features, which are extremely beneficial during the pandemic. You will also acquire the most robust capabilities in the market, and you’ll always be the first in the industry to obtain new functions and integrations.

Best of all, it’s free. We know everyone is struggling during the coronavirus crisis, so we’re doing our best to make our visitor management system as accessible as possible.

Our unique visitor check-in system will make your business safer, more productive, and highly organized. Trust us, and we’re sure to give you the best quality for the best value.

Resetting Tech Culture, a joint research report put forward by Accenture and Girls Who Code claims that half (exactly 50%) of the female techies leave their jobs by the age of 35. Even though numerous efforts have been made to spike up the interest of women in technology careers, a striking gender imbalance is still prevalent. Hence, it was necessary to dig out the reasons behind this troubling imbalance.

According to the same research, an ‘inclusive culture’ is that master key that unlocks opportunities for tech women. In a less-inclusive workplace, the probability of a woman becoming a manager is only 28%, whereas, for a man, it is 40%. There is no room for such gender differences in more-inclusive workplaces.

Which is an ‘inclusive’ workplace?

Over the years, Accenture has been surveying thousands of people for its ‘Getting To Equal’ research series. It has been successful too in picking up factors that are impactful on a woman’s ability to do well in her workplace. These factors make a workplace inclusive and encourage its women to flourish in today’s tech realm.

• Bold Leadership
• Comprehensive Action
• Empowering Environment

In comparison to the non-inclusive workplaces, women from inclusive tech firms are happier and more contented with their jobs, are rewarded with more promotions, and gain more chances of grabbing manager posts. So, when such efficient and proven solutions are already out in the open, why the delay?

Tech needs to reset for its women.

And the reset will be brought in by –

• Encouraging both the mother and the father to take part in parenting and utilize parental leave policies equally.
• Making the leadership teams the benchmarks of publishing diverse targets and be accountable.
• Boosting the support systems for the women, such as mentors and sponsors, and help them play in uneven fields.
• Appealing women by becoming the workplace that acknowledges and rewards creativity.
• Arranging for events for networking and other events at inclusive timings so that women with after-work commitments can take part in such events too.

This reset will help in retaining 1.4 million female techies by 2030. Additionally, it will help in doing away with issues like bias in product designs as well as lessening the striking gender imbalance. This will prove to be a masterstroke for the tech companies!

So, get set for one of the biggest tech resets and make way for the female techies to thrive and rule!

Employees Vote for Flexibility And Hygiene

For every organization, both the management and the employees are equally precious. Without one, the other is almost non-existent. Similar to our last blog that hovered over the management perspective, this blog will revolve around the workplace environment that the employees seek in the post-COVID era.

The world has been working from home for many months now. Slowly and steadily, they have adapted to this new way of working. But getting used to the new normal has not been easy, and some are still struggling.

A study (conducted among 1700 respondents) named “A Changed World: What Happens When We Return to the Office?” released by global architecture and design firm, Interior Architects (IA), revealed what the organizations should be doing in this new normal to make their employees feel safe heading back to the offices, and they are –

1. Phased re-entry into the workplace – 63% votes
2. Enhanced and increased cleaning frequency – 54% votes
3. Flexibility to work from home regularly – 51% votes
4. Short-term social distancing protocols – 43% votes
5. Grace period for returning to office – 40% votes

This crucial time is all about putting every ounce of humanity into action before thinking about making huge profits. Employees need to feel safe in an environment where they would be returning. And, none of their demands seem unreasonable. Flexibility, hygiene, and time should be awarded to them.

People had just started settling in the comfort of the flexible remote working culture. Hence, companies need to make the transition from home to the office very smoothly and efficiently. It is still too early to bring a 100% workforce back all at once, so phased re-entry seems to work the best here.

Again, keeping in mind the seriousness of the current situation, some employees should also have the flexibility of remote working regularly. Additionally, safety should never be a question if the cleaning frequency is increased and the social distancing protocols are defined as demanded.

No matter how disruptive the COVID-19 crisis had been for businesses worldwide, the post-COVID era will only be better. We need to grab smart approaches towards work and work proactively too. Today, organizations are heavily indulged in analyzing the post-COVID workplace for us to come together and thereby work again.

The new-normal masked workplace will be all about employee safety. Similarly, employees will also have to be more efficient and focused after this prolonged working from the home phase. Good days are ahead, so let us fasten our seat belts and drive forward in sync!

Part 2: Utilizing Lockdown Solitude for Upskilling

In our previous blog, we have tried to shed some light on what remote working feels like and question if it is promoting loneliness amongst the workers or not. Debatable as it is, but being alone does not necessarily mean that you are lonely.

It is not okay to blend the ideas of loneliness and solitude. When asked to pick from the two, irrespective of whatever you chose, the present scenario will not permit you to go out in the open, so remote working is the only recourse.

So, why not make this work from home all about solitude and start picking up skills that a post-COVID business world will demand?

Like every new venture needs extensive research and study before its commencement, this upskilling that we are talking about is no different. So, knowing which skills are burgeoning their demands and which are shrinking in the present market are indeed important.

5 skills that are gaining momentum –

• Managing Strategy and Innovation
• Managing Tools and Technology
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning/Motivation/Leadership
• Knowledge of Tech/Product Design/Production

5 skills that are losing vitality –

• Managing Administrative Activities
• Managing the Task Environment
• Operations Skills
• Knowledge of Media Communications/Delivery
• Knowledge of Human Behavior/Society

Upskilling is a pressing priority.

Upskilling alone holds the ability to push you ahead in your game. The fast-approaching business world will demand entrepreneurial skills from every professional, so that lay-offs are avoided, and they become more reliable and competitive.

Technologies, namely Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Science, Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Virtual Reality (VR) and, Edge Computing, are in high demand today. And this demand is only about to increase in the post-COVID world. Upskilling will be a great help to professionals then. It will accentuate them with resilience and agility, the two most important needs of a fiercely competitive tomorrow.

Instead of perceiving the coronavirus-induced work from home as loneliness, the solitude of remote working should be utilized to polish your proficiencies further, and what better than online learning in this regard? The inability to do so will prove to be seriously detrimental to your career.

One advantage here is that the providers of online learning are well-equipped with various capabilities and resources to predict business demands and mold their programs accordingly.

So, in preparing yourself for the post-COVID era working, upskilling is the first requirement. Now, which new skill should you take up will rely on your job requirements and your self-awareness and research too.

Wait no more and take up a new professional skill ASAP, in case you still have not. And if you have already taken up one or more, then utilize this lockdown and hone yourself to be the winner in your genre(s)!