As business premises began to open their doors to welcome employees and clients, Microsoft launched the Power Platform in July to help ease people into their workplace.
Over 45 countries are relying on these solutions to meet their needs as they return during the Pandemic with health and safety concerns in place. Microsoft continues to monitor the entire situation and work with its customers to enhance their experience.
With many businesses still hesitant to operate from the office, Microsoft can help them overcome their fears with their new features.
Safe return to the workplace is one of the topmost priorities in workplace solutions. While the Power Platform has applications for employees to work in buildings, the solutions should be more inclusive, considering guests, students, guardians, vendors, and others who may visit a business. The offices need to be equipped with catering to those who are not in the primary identity system but need access to the building.
To meet this end, Microsoft has come up with a new Power Apps Workplace Portal for safe access to an outsider by the location manager. This allows third parties to choose an organization, prove to be symptom-free, and enter through a customized day pass. The application also provides guidelines, FAQs, and restrictions to educate them about rules and regulations being followed there.
With the inclusion of responsible third parties in occupancy dashboards, they can use portals to register more people from their facility.
Microsoft values the need for a safe workplace for businesses to function, and they have established a human contact tracing team. Manual tracing allows these teams to identify contacts through suggestions, conduct an interview to evaluate them, and conduct a case if required.
Health officials can use dashboards to inspect case clusters and related metrics to gauge if there is a possibility of an outbreak and tackle it immediately. Furthermore, case managers can use a new view option to prioritize these cases.
Business continuity plans ensure employee health and safety by creating a responsible environment. This includes managing facility access, preparing employees for periodic testing, and facility shutdown to lower the chances of an outbreak.
The app also lets managers guide their employees through emails, texts, or notifications.
As the Pandemic still threatens businesses globally, it helps to be aware of the Covid-19 activity at the most minute level. Microsoft 365 provides county-level data with confirmed and fatal cases for the population.
Surface Go is all set to help schools and businesses resume activity when the time is right to improve student and employee safety. This includes extra screening before entrance in a building with Surface's non-touch, self-service, gating kiosk. It comes as a result of the partnership between Microsoft and Teknikos that helps incorporate these features.
Furthermore, Communify Greet enables a centrally controlled software platform that allows entrance scanning and customizable signage to ensure safety. Microsoft solution generates QR codes that people can use as a day pass for identification at the kiosk. To keep a record of occupancy, it takes temperature reading and records the visit in the solution.
Microsoft has partnered with BuildingMinds to help real estate portfolio managers manage the facility data during the Pandemic. They use connectors to make a 3D digital replica of a facility and combine data systems like Microsoft solution's occupancy data and IoT-sensors' data for KPI tracking, building management, and advanced building analytics.
As the Pandemic continues and businesses struggle to keep their organizations running, Microsoft solution strives to help them with their business continuity plans. Power Platform enables its customers to adapt to the new normal in these unprecedented times as they return to their workplace.
Head over to Definity First to find out if Power Platform is right for your business.