Everbridge launches industry’s first COVID-19 return-to-work connectivity hub

Everbridge, Inc. has announced Everbridge Control Center, the industry’s first and proven off-the-shelf physical security information management (PSIM) software platform to help organisations return to work by integrating and managing data and analytics from video cameras, thermal cameras, badge access and other building systems and automating the response to ensure the safety and protection of employees, as well as compliance with social distancing and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) policies.

Everbridge recently launched its COVID-19 Shield Return to Work software solution enabling customers to understand their risk landscape, recover their operations and protect their people as employees integrate back to public spaces. Everbridge COVID-19 Shield also offers unique contact tracing capabilities for organisations to automate their approach to mitigating an individual’s potential exposure to the virus at work. The introduction of Everbridge Control Center augments the ability for customers to protect their constituents by serving as the connectivity hub for the Return to Work solution, drawing upon 225 pre-existing, out-of-the-box integrations.

With Everbridge Control Center, organisations can automate the triggering of alerts – reducing the need for human monitoring – all while preserving privacy. By aggregating and managing the information from physical devices and sensors, Everbridge Control Center supports businesses and healthcare entities with the ability to:

• Automate the process of temperature checking with thermal cameras in order to evaluate visitors to a building or secure space and trigger follow-on protocols if the system detects an individual with a high temperature
• Evaluate building, floor and room capacity thresholds by integrating with badge access functionality, visitor management, calendaring, ticketing and other physical location modalities
• Monitor temperature, humidity and ventilation according to local and national guidelines by integrating with building management systems
• Check for room density, physical distancing and PPE compliance through video analytics

Automation includes the ability to control devices or building systems based on required workflows. If the capacity of a workspace is restricted to ten people, for example, the 11^th person to enter will automatically trigger pre-defined safety protocols and related workflows including real-time communications across multiple modalities such as public address (PA) systems, digital signage, SMS, etc.

“As part of an effective ‘return to work’ strategy, organisations need to fulfill three core objectives: know the risks facing your organisation, protect your people and recover your operations,” said Imad Mouline, Chief Technology Officer at Everbridge. “As part of protecting your people, a comprehensive solution requires either proximity- or location-based contact tracing as well as safety monitoring that triangulates data from multiple sources. Everbridge Control Center integrates devices such as thermal cameras and badge access systems, as well as opt-in-based input from employees such as personal wellness checks. Relying purely on a mobile app is not enough. The Everbridge suite of COVID-19 Shield Return to Work solutions, now with Everbridge Control Center, provides the only proven solution that brings all these capabilities together.”

“Trends we are seeing across our global customer base prove that health and safety of an organisation’s global workforce is priority number one as ‘return-to-work’ plans are executed during these uncertain times,” said Eddie Everett, Partner at specialist risk consultancy, Control Risks. “As businesses evaluate the best timing and phased approach to bringing employees back into the workplace, Everbridge Control Center provides the solution with a unified information management hub that digitally transforms COVID-19-related procedures and ensures safeguards are being followed and enforced, all while simplifying audit and reporting requirements and minimising risk related to compliance.”

Everbridge Control Center provides a commercial, off-the-shelf platform that offers a host of features which support the collection, analysis and verification of information and data, enabling faster resolution, automated reporting and complete audit trails of incidents. Beyond the time-saving and efficiency benefits Everbridge Control Center provides, it also allows continuous process improvement initiatives, training drills, system healthcare checks and more.