Technologies to help Ensure a Safe Return to Work

The COVID-19 pandemic has catalyzed the security industry to innovate quickly and introduce solutions specifically designed to take on the many challenges the pandemic has presented. We’ve seen many new offerings come to market to help enterprises navigate those challenges. Among them has been the introduction of many no-touch and low-touch access solutions that eliminate the need to manually touch a surface to gain access. These touchless solutions are going a long way in helping prevent the spread of the virus.

Another very important introduction in response to the pandemic has been the further evolution of video analytics. Once used mainly in video surveillance security applications, deep learning analytics are proving a strong weapon in the fight against COVID-19.

Many new video analytics software solutions are hitting the market and assisting enterprises ensure a safe environment for their staffs and guests. These solutions have the ability to detect, in real-time and even in crowded environments, whether people are wearing facial masks. Some can even differentiate if the face covering is being worn on both an individual’s mouth and nose. Alerts are automatically sent to the authorized user when there is a violation.

Video analytics are now also able to perform many other COVID-precaution capabilities. Among them, they can people-count – in other words, determine how many people are in a given space at a given time and send an alert if overcrowding is occurring or social distancing is not being observed. Some also feature reporting tool capabilities, which are needed for companies that are required to show compliance with COVID-19 guidelines.

And, there’s more good news. Some manufacturers are bringing these analytics solutions to market as a simple add-on appliance that’s compatible with their existing cameras and network video recorders (NVRs). So, there’s no additional cost or need to purchase and upgrade to edge VA devices. Many are also adaptable to meet the needs of businesses large and small.

In addition to the benefits that deep learning video analytics are providing to aid in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, facial recognition technologies are also proving to be a viable weapon in the arsenal. Investments in face recognition technologies are on the rise and new innovations are being developed, as the pandemic is paving the way for increased adoption of facial recognition solutions. And with good reason.

Although facial recognition has long been debated, actually since its inception because of privacy concerns, many enterprises, in response to COVID-19, have opted to use facial recognition technology for security purposes. The reality is that facial recognition is now a very real part of our lives for things like unlocking phones to tagging friends on social media platforms.

And since the onset of the global pandemic, tech companies and governments have been continually adopting innovative AI- based solutions to fight the virus, and facial recognition ranks high on that list. Facial recognition technology is being used in some places to monitor whether people are complying with quarantine orders and algorithms have been programmed to recognize if people are wearing masks. In addition, many biometric companies have introduced facial recognition-based thermal scanners amidst the Corona Virus pandemic to provide contactless temperature screening.

NextGen is fully committed to helping you ensure a safe return to work for your staff and guests. We are on top of all the latest technology solutions to help you meet the challenges of COVID-19, provide a safe environment for you to run your operations securely, and stay in compliance with COVID-19 guidelines.