Dive Brief:
- Envoy has added emergency notifications to its integrated workplace platform, according to a Nov. 14 press release.
- The change allows customers to use data from the platform to communicate across their global workplaces through text messages, push notifications and emails during an emergency, the company said.
- The addition comes as organizations face increasing compliance, regulations and standards related to protecting workplaces and managing safety.
Dive Insight:
A recent Envoy survey found that 41% of respondents, including facilities, security, workplace and IT managers, believe that safeguarding workplaces has become more difficult in the past 12 months. About 56% of the respondents attributed security challenges to the volume or severity of threats in the past year, with 47% stating that the heightened difficulty is due to the effects of hybrid work and 44% saying it is the result of more coworking and shared spaces.
The new emergency notifications, aimed at combating hybrid work and coworking hurdles, pull data from its workplace platform to send “tailored messages to employees and visitors who are in the office when an emergency occurs,'' according to Envoy. Founder and CEO Larry Gadea pointed to growing challenges in navigating a complex work environment, especially when urgent action is required.
"Employees may be expected to be working in the office one day and working from home or flying to another office the next day, and in-office visitors often have their own shifting schedules. Should an emergency happen on-site, you want everyone in the office to be safe and secure, not just the people traditionally 'assigned' to the office," Gadea said in the release.
Within its platform, Envoy is also releasing data-based attendance insights, which it says can help building operators and companies proactively manage space and gather personalized input for resource utilization. Based on historical attendance data, these insights identify patterns of how employees use office spaces, equipping workplace leaders with a better understanding of how to balance dedicated and flexible workspaces.
Envoy previously noted that its platform utilizes occupancy data, gathered from sources from sensors to badge swipes, to generate workplace data for the platform. Now, by aggregating information from office equipment and such resources, it says it can provide unified workplace data in a single dashboard, allowing leaders to “make quick and informed decisions to meet the changing needs of their businesses.”
