Contact Tracing & Opening Buildings

Fri, 14 May 2021 07:00:00 -0500

By now, we’ve gotten used to working remotely, avoiding crowds, and using face masks and hand sanitizer.

It might be a while before these habits start going away, but many of these changes might be here to stay. Remote work, for one, has shown companies and employees alike that it can be an ideal working method to keep.

Are you ready for the time when you start opening your doors again? This article will go through several considerations you might want to keep in mind.

What is contact tracing?

Contact tracing is one of the main strategies states will implement while lifting their quarantine. WebMD has a comprehensive article explaining the concept and how it works. Simplified, it’s a strategy to reduce the spread of COVID.

While many states have failed to implement this approach, the strategy has been around for decades—or even centuries. Now, thousands of contact tracers will be necessary to minimize future outbreaks.

Right now, contact tracers are starting to work, as businesses get back to functioning. Still, you need to play your part and implement this strategy into your company.

The procedure

Contact tracing is fairly self explanatory. You need to keep track of anyone you know who’s tested positive for the virus or might have it. Once you identify risky individuals, you’re supposed to help isolate them to keep the virus from spreading.

It’s very detectivesque. You need to work with them to identify who they might have had contact with. Then, you repeat the process with these people: isolate and work with them to find out more.

It sounds primitive, and that’s because it kinda is. Still, it’s a proven way to disrupt the transmission chain. Think of it like a spider web. Every individual you isolate is a node. Every contact they had is the connecting thread. You’re disarming the web one section at a time.

Privacy implications

You might have doubts regarding whether or not this means violating your staff’s privacy. However, that’s not necessary. In fact, public health teams only contact people identified as potential infected. There’s no need to reveal their personal details or even identity to anyone else.

You can communicate with your personnel via email and messaging apps. It’s actually straightforward to send the necessary messages without including delicate information. Preventive measures should be generalized, anyway.

Right now, public health experts prefer to assume someone is at risk, regardless of the type of exposure, as long as they’ve been exposed to an infected individual. Combine that with remote work, and ensuring privacy isn’t a problem.

Contract tracing might create jobs

The last highlight in the WebMD article is how contact tracing can provide work for currently unemployed people. There’s a huge need for contact tracers in the public sector. Similarly, companies should consider performing their own contact tracing, thus hiring more workers.

Contact tracing takes lots of time. You need to communicate with the people, trace their contacts and reach out to others, and even aid their isolation. Contact tracing offer involves helping with groceries, medical care access, and other supplies.

Luckily, the harder step is actually to plan the entire approach. Finding the necessary resources should be quite straightforward as long as you have the budget.

Opening buildings post-lockdown

On the other hand, we also need to consider reopening our doors after months spent in quarantine. You might think it’s only a matter of cleaning up and letting your teams stroll right in.

Well, it’s not as easy as many people believe. Case in point, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has an entire article on how to reopen after the quarantine. Long-term inactivity can breed several health hazards inside any building.

We all know how problematic mold can be, but there’s a couple of other factors you might not be considering. Let’s analyze what you need to assess before opening your building.

Mold

Mold comes from moisture, and anyone who’s lived in humid regions knows how problematic it can be. It can grow almost anywhere: wallpaper, drywall, tiles, fabric, and wallpaper. Thankfully, it’s far from life threatening.

That said, it can cause serious discomfort and significant complications for people with compromised respiratory systems. People with allergies and weak immunity should stay away from moldy buildings until they’re cleared.

Enterprise real estate firms have access to special consultancy. You should hire professionals to assess whether or not you have mold in your building.

Legionella

Legionella is a bacteria that can spread in stagnant water in plumbing systems. Stagnant water often offers the ideal temperature for Legionella to grow, especially considering how disinfectants tend to stop working.

Legionella is responsible for Legionnaires’ disease, a special risk for immune-compromised individuals. It’s particularly problematic because how it can spread via aerosol, which means flushing and cleaning certain areas can be dangerous.

Just like with mold, you should consult with a water management and purification specialist. You must ensure your entire water system is safe before exposing your resources to it.

Metal leaks

Finally, copper and lead can be a prominent health risk, even worse than what we already mentioned for many people. These metals can make it into drinking water. That’s because corrosion tends to occur when water usage is either low or non-existent for prolonged periods.

It’s more dangerous for children than adults, but that doesn’t mean your company should take it lightly. Stagnant water within pipes can even act as a catalyst for corrosion, even if you’re using anti-corrosion chemicals.

Proper guidance is available within the real estate industry, and it’s a worthwhile investment that will save you lots of costs and losses down the line.

What does all of this mean for your company?

All of these factors are important obstacles to assess, but they don’t have to become bigger deterrents than they actually are. Everything comes down to proper management, and today, CRM and ERP software and consultancy services offer the solutions you need.

For instance, CRM platforms have been lifesavers for many companies during quarantine. You can use many CRM platforms and their advanced features to help your contact tracing efforts, for instance.

Platforms like MRI or Yardi software also let you track all your investments and projects until completion. That’s vital for building assessment solutions and maintenance before reopening your company.

Our best pick for going back to work: Zoho

Zoho is easily our top choice for your work reincorporation needs. It’s an industry leader when it comes to CRM management for real estate firms. It comes with every feature you need to keep contact with your clients and resources.

Zoho is aware of the challenge many companies will face going back to work after the lockdowns. That’s why they’ve enabled their BackToWork service for everyone to adapt to the prominent changes the industry is about to face.

Zoho lets you comply with safety guidelines, with plenty of tools to assess your building and trace your contacts. In fact, it’s one of the first systems to integrate these features into their package. You can streamline vital communications to make your entire reopening a lot smoother.

Comprehensive feature modules

Zoho’s BackToWork program has all the features any real estate company needs to ensure effectiveness.

Admin control

Firstly, you have your own admin control center. It lets you track your facilities’ statuses and their safety levels. It’s a must for management effectiveness, as you can assess every building’s readiness. Zoho even lets you track health statuses for every team member and sort the ideal actions to take in case of emergency.

Wellness

Zoho also offers self-evaluation for your employees, as well as pre-made forms and surveys to streamline contact tracing. They can provide relevant information about their health and whom they’ve been in contact with.

Safe entry

After compiling your employees’ surveys, you can classify your resources into low and high risk. It’s a vital first step before starting to take people into your offices. You can evaluate your resources and whether or not they can relocate to their traditional position.

Employee self-service

Your employees can use their Zoho user accounts to submit specific requests to you. The self-service module enables them to ask for things like sanitizer, support, office supplies, and maintenance.

Communications

You can also enable your team members to communicate with each other while keeping the recommended distance. They’re able to share tips, frameworks, and guidelines with you and each other. You can also circulate important messages, like news, FAQs, and other announcements to desktop and mobile devices.

Volunteer

This one can be vital to make the most out of contact tracing. You can organize volunteers from the community for different tasks. You can create volunteering projects and recruit new employees while ensuring optimal coordination.

Professional app

Just like any other premium software solution today, Zoho is an accessible and reliable platform. That doesn’t mean it’s not sophisticated, quite the opposite. It provides every app and tool necessary for your company’s operations while maintaining its intuitiveness for immediate use.

It’s also a highly secure platform. Its servers and encryptions receive constant testing to make sure they can withstand any attack. It’s also cloud-based, so you can access your account from anywhere. It’s a prominent advantage in today’s industry.

Premium CRM

As mentioned, your CRM platform can make all the difference both during the quarantine and reincorporation. Many customers will expect the same online availability, and Zoho lets you provide the ideal service for them.

You can also guarantee their safety. It offers electronic receipts, financial management, and automation features for most of its features. You won’t have to force anyone to move to your office for exceptional customer service.

Salesforce

Salesforce has been an industry standard for good reason. It’s quite a pioneer, and it’s implemented several advanced and customizable features throughout the years. It boasts a varied app marketplace, and its workflow creation is easy to use.

However, it’s easy to see as a premium platform. It can be too expensive for smaller companies, and it can be hard to learn.

Apptivo

Apptivo is a great choice for smaller firms. You get an extensive feature suite for a solid price, all condensed into an intuitive dashboard. It’s surprisingly customizable, and it offers excellent security and mobile ports.

The only issue is how it feels more sluggish than other CRM solutions. You might also find important features missing depending on your needs.

Zendesk

Zendesk is a CRM tool focused on intuitiveness and lead management. It’s a similar ecosystem to Zoho, despite having less features. It offers a great pricing structure as well as in-depth analytics. The UI layout feels natural, and you can use it seamlessly in different devices.

However, it can be tedious when uploading certain files. Additionally, it could still prove overwhelming when compared to other standalone tools.

Conclusion

It might be exciting to come back to your office after months in quarantine. However, that doesn’t mean you should rush the reopening process. You must guarantee your employees’ comfort and safety. Thankfully, you have plenty of options to do so today, especially with platforms like Zoho.

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