The Next Big thing: Post COVID-19 Workplaces

- Apoorva Verma

Pic: Freepik

The economy cannot survive a lockdown mode forever and the vaccine for COVID-19 may take years to develop and market, ‘unlock 1.0’ had become the necessary evil. This puts the responsibility on organizations, irrespective of their size, to focus on making the workplace safer for employees. 

 

This pandemic has changed the fundamental aspects of professional lives — from the daily commute to work environment to interactions amongst colleagues and peers. Hygiene and safety concerns are here to stay and will probably remain for at least a year from now or even more. 

 

Consequently, businesses are re-accessing their business models and working on best practices to follow on restarting operations. Thus, they are looking at:

 

1.    Ensuring compliance: what will be the best practices for floor management in a post-COVID-19 workplace? Face masks, sanitizer, gloves, and face shields are the new survival kits. Social distancing is being jacked up and automation solutions have seen a jump owing to the difficulty in ensuring these social distancing norms. 

 

2.    Hygiene: Can they deploy contactless technology wherever possible and emphasize on frequent sanitization in high-touch places?

 

3.    Accelerated technology adoption: Each sector has different requirements and use of advanced technologies such as AI and IIOT can help manage operations better. 

 

Returning back to work will require efforts and everyone needs to be vigilant. The world is at a stage where people can’t afford to be lackadaisical in their approach. Organisations are looking for long-term solutions to enforce safety compliance, especially in workplace environments where thousands work together. 

 

Computer vision technology solution trained for detecting compliance such as IRIS AI, by Integration Wizards, is ensuring face mask and social distancing compliance for organisations. It works on any existing CCTV network and identifies cases of social distancing or face mask violations and sends real-time alerts to the relevant authority. A dashboard provides detailed analytics for a given time period. In addition, using face recognition technology, their newly launched attendance app – LogMyFace, is a contactless attendance solution. 

 

Change is perpetual. But sometimes, it is the only option. As the world around us is changing, it has provided us with a new canvas. It is time to paint a new picture. 

Get in touch to discover the best compliance solution for your business. 

Competing in the Age of AI

-Apoorva Verma

How machine intelligence is changing the rules of business and what should companies do to stay on top? 

Pic: Freepik

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science that makes it possible for machines to learn from experience, adjust to new inputs and perform human-like tasks.

According to IDC, companies are forecast to spend $98 billion on AI, globally in 2023. This stems from the fact that more and more businesses continue to invest in projects that utilise the capabilities of AI software and platforms. For example, most companies have turned to chatbots or automated customer service agents for their customer services.

In the current scenario, the world is grappling with a global pandemic, the COVID-19. This has forced most of the countries into lockdown and changed the way businesses function. The role of AI has now become more important than ever.

We are in a phase where AI is realising its potential in achieving human-like capabilities, so isn’t it time to question the business leaders on how they can harness the strength of man and machine.

With technologies such as deep learning, IoT, computer vision and language processing, machines have learnt how to speak, read, text, identify patterns, and so much more. As this field precipitates more into commonly manual activities, for example, the use of AI to combat the corona pandemic in many countries such as training the AI to recognise a positive case using the Chest X-Ray or using drone cameras for thermal screenings.

THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE:

Rather than scrapping the traditional methods of competitive advantage, AI reframes them in such a manner that companies can get a dynamic view of their strengths. For example, the health and safety of company employees were traditionally dependent on manual hours of patrolling security, it then moved to long hours of video feed monitoring from multiple cameras. However, humans are prone to error due to fatigue or negligence.

So, how can this be reimagined by AI?

• Data: AI can harness data at a much faster rate and directly from users. 
• Automation: Algorithms learn from data and experience. This allows us to train them for any security breaches as well as to explore new opportunities that may not be possible manually.
• Decision Making: AI increases the rate and quality of decision making as the number of inputs and the speed of processing for machines can be millions of times higher than for humans. 

Thus, AI can make lives safer and help employers gain insights on those areas that may have been opaque to them before. Our computer vision solution, IRIS AI is certainly changing lives and supporting business restart their operations.

Furthermore, predictive analytics and objective data are free from human gut feeling and experience. Many industries such as manufacturing, warehousing, retail, banking, automobile and many more have all moved sharply towards adapting computer vision technology. For example, in retail, AI can generate insights from online as well as physical stores (if connected using computer vision).

CONCLUSION:

In this AI-enabled world, it is almost imperative for companies to embrace AI to achieve a competitive edge. Companies need to identify what machines can do better than humans and vice versa, and then develop complementary roles and responsibilities for each, and redesign processes accordingly.

IRIS AI – A fight against the COVID-19 Pandemic

pic: Unsplash 

How do we stop a global pandemic which has infected over 3.6 million and claimed more than 250000 lives? 

As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise, wearing masks and gloves, frequent hand sanitization, social distancing, and early identification of infected people are crucial in curbing further spread of COVID-19.

However, the biggest challenge that is faced by organizations is to enforce and ensure strict compliance with these measures. Especially at a time when the number of cases is on a surge each day, non-compliance due to human negligence and fatigue can cost us greatly.

To put it in words, “we are our worst enemies” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is where technology such as computer vision can be highly impactful. IRIS AI, a flagship product by Integration Wizards Solutions can transform your passive CCTV cameras into active analytical tools.

The computer vision technology can keep your employees and premises safe by ensuring the use of masks and gloves by people, social distancing compliance, and early sensing of fever using thermal cameras.

With the majority of countries in a lockdown, business continuity is another key challenge being faced by companies across the globe. However, it is also critical to get the operations re-started to get the economy back up.

So, for those looking for an effective mechanism of ensuring more than 99% compliance without any infrastructure overhaul, implementing IRIS computer vision can help.

IRIS AI uses the feed from existing CCTV to detect non-compliance and raises real-time alerts as SMS, WhatsApp messages, email, etc. The alarm is configured to be sent to the right authority who can then take the necessary steps like personally contacting the non-compliant employee. Moreover, it gives insights on a dashboard for the organisation to understand the analytics during a given time period.

In these challenging times for communities across the globe, technology and innovation could be the key in this fight against COVID-19.

Happy women's day to our nerds, geeks and genius coders

What image comes to your mind when you think ‘Geek’, ‘Nerd’ or ‘Genius Coder’?

The bespectacled guy with spiky hair is passé, here is what the geeks at Integration Wizards also look like. Women who are as good at applying make-up as they are at training the algorithm for intruder detection or detecting a bug in a thousand line code. 

Integration Wizards prides itself for creating an inclusive workplace where meritocracy rules. We function without any bias at every step - fair hiring process, promotions based on performance, onsite visits as per project requirements, leadership opportunities, it is all earned by the deserving employee. 

Women’s day started being celebrated in the early 1900s to respect and honour the work that women do. The theme for International Women's Day2020 is #EachforEqual to celebrate a world where women constantly challenge bias, stereotypes, and are achievers at every front. That just about sounds like the profile of any woman working at Integration Wizards. Our phenomenal women talk about what Women’s day means to them. 

This is what an inclusive workplace looks like. Ours. 
Happy Women’s Day.

What you need to know before bootstrapping your company?

- By Apoorva Verma

Starting a firm is one of the most planned decisions that one can make in their lifetime. In fact, the founder(s) have so much on stake that they look at all sorts of possibilities - including that of failure. Thus, building something on their own requires practicality, technical expertise and management knowledge in addition to the funds. 

Here are some tips on bootstrapping your own business by co-founders of Integration Wizards Solutions, an Indian startup that’s purely bootstrapped and profitable since its first day! Founded by Kunal Kislay, Saquib Khan, and Kumar Raman in 2014, its unique products are deployed by a global clientele including eight Fortune 500 companies. 

1. Learning to Balance 
According to research published in the Entrepreneur, business knowledge with necessary technical expertise in product development is very important for starting any business. However, "The best approach to achieve this is to get the right co-founders," says Kunal. He further adds, "As your partners, they play a key role in taking the organisation in the right direction by bringing their expertise, be it management or technical as well as contributing on various aspects of work and finances as and when necessary, especially if you are self-funded." 

2. Financial Planning
“While the lessons learnt along the way are priceless, one of the key lessons this journey teaches is the financial planning,” says Saquib. He adds that one needs to evaluate their revenue sources, plan a clear burn out strategy as well as resource management.   

3. Client Acquisition
It’s not just about starting out with an idea, it’s about researching the need for it and developing the product accordingly. If you carefully carry out this research, it has the potential to develop a product that could make your profits break-even within a short span.  

4. Creativity in promotions 
Bootstrapped start-ups need to be creative in their PR and promotional activities too. While they should be proactive in attending events and conferences to build personal contacts, it’s important to manage the funds in the right direction, and they need to decide when to spend and where. 

5. Risk Assessment 
Although, most entrepreneurs are confident, “One should have an exit plan in mind too” says Kunal. This is crucial as you need a plan in case things go south. Risk assessment is very important to save you from bankruptcy. It gives an overview of the business model, the revenue sources, market research, and management strategy et al. 

It's all about balancing the pros and cons

While the sense of responsibility increases as you run an organisation, the freedom to play by your own rules is a breather. As a bootstrapped firm, you will not have venture capitalists or investors breathing down your neck for every decision you make. 

Since the decision resides with the founders, the start-up growth is mature as it is free from outside influences that could push the company in various directions. Thus, ‘the company focuses on producing flagship products while retaining their company culture,’ says Saquib. 

As they say, necessity is the mother of invention – especially when your own pocket is on the line. Thus, you tend to innovate, invent, and reinvent on various aspects of businesses. In fact, sometimes you might find yourself working or making decisions on aspects of management that you haven’t done before. 

However, one disadvantage of a bootstrapped start-up is undoubtedly “the Cash Crunch.” It’s a perpetual reality and affects many decisions. One of these include hiring the right talent. As with all good things, hiring the right candidate comes with a price too. Moreover, if you haven’t taken interviews before, decision making becomes even more difficult.

Note: This is also published in YourStory.

Looking Back: The best of 2019

“If you are not prepared to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary” – Jon Rohn

This year saw substantial growth in artificial intelligence and computer vision adaptation as well as the demand to keep up with the technology and innovation in businesses. These were the key drivers that kept us going, and also continue to motivate us for the upcoming decade.

We completed six years and successfully graduated from the start-up club to become an enterprise. From receiving ISO certification and Nasscom membership to getting recognised by Google amongst a handful MDM providers, it was a year to be proud of.

Our revenue has propelled eight times and we have on-boarded about twenty clients in the last six years. Working with our strategic partners Nvidia & Microsoft, we cracked the code on machine learning and many from our team up-skilled. We developed algorithms to control automated drones and upgraded for our client goals.

Our product is being used by 20,000 users across the globe and we actively participated in global conferences in the US, Spain and India. We grew not only in talent, but numbers too. A start-up that began with five now has about 65 members and a 7000sq. Ft of state of the art development centre in India.

Another feather to our cap came with the addition of seven Fortune 500 companies such as PostNord, Dover, Heineken, Xerox to name a few. Moreover, our AI-powered computer vision product, IRIS is now the synthetic intelligent eye for some corporate giants that include one of India’s largest solar plants, automobile manufacturer, chemical manufacturer, jewellery retail chain, construction corporate, heavy engineering, as well as FMCG. Last but not least, we also made some great improvements to our website – that’s right, we had a revamp of our website.

And we are not stopping here. We are striving to achieve more associations, more growth in 2020. 

#2020goals #yearendreview #sixyears #anniversary

Moving towards an AI-enabled future

McKinsey Global Institute claims that artificial intelligence is contributing to a transformation of society 10 times faster and at 300 times the scale, or roughly 3000 times the impact of the Industrial Revolution.

This is observed by the upsurge in artificial intelligence and computer vision adaptation as well as the demand to keep up with the technology and innovation in businesses in the last few years. According to a report by IDC, aggressive investments have been made in cognitive and AI solutions and in fact, global investments are expected to reach $57.6 billion by 2021.

Such investments are catalysed by the advent of modern computer vision and image processing techniques. AI-powered computer vision coupled with hardware-based accelerators have opened up the possibilities of analysing images in real-time to identify objects and activities. 

Since, a typical CCTV image is more than 100,000 Bytes, in this context, it might be quite apt to surmise that a picture is worth hundred-thousand words! 

At present, there are over 500 million CCTV cameras installed and the number is expected to rise to over a Billion by 2021. While these cameras cover everything from manufacturing, yards, warehouses, retail outlets to several parts of modern cities, so far they have been used retrospectively for monitoring and forensic analysis.

However, there is substantial growth in their usage in various verticals. For instance, retail outlets are getting equipped with the capability of knowing their customer demographics, dwell time and even emotions. Even the government is contemplating their use in smart city initiatives as they could prove beneficial if suspect activities are filtered from the live CCTV footages. Likewise, manufacturing premises bolster their safety parameters by ensuring any hazardous non-compliance is actively analysed and reported. 

In fact, stepping up occupational health & safety for people at all levels is the new benchmark that some of the companies are trying to work towards. If this becomes a norm, it could make a sustainable difference in global OSH challenges and promise a brighter future. 

Thus, an AI-enabled future lies in the best use of distributed vision technologies while delving into the deeper end of machine learning and deep learning to explore and understand the potential of these technologies better.

If you are looking to explore how computer vision technology can be useful in your enterprise, check out IRIS AI by Integration Wizards Solutions.