Contact tracing: It’s time for IT leaders to provide a safer workplace
Tags: Leaders, Workplace, Covid 19, Contact Tracing

For the past seven months, business leaders around the world have wrestled with the challenges brought on by Covid-19. Not only must they face the difficult question of when to reopen, but they must ensure their employees and visitors are returning to a safe environment.

While contact tracing efforts are underway at the state and local government level, the responsibility of finding a feasible, flexible solution that fits into a long-term pandemic strategy is increasingly falling on businesses. As we collectively march toward a new normal, it’s time for business and IT leaders to work together on business and user continuity plans that address workplace safety.

These solutions need to be focused on long-term safety and security — they cannot be a Band-Aid for the current situation. While everyone was seemingly unprepared for the onset of Covid-19, there will be no free passes issued should this happen again.

And one of those safety initiatives involves making sure that everyone who enters the building is identified by a badge so if an employee or visitor is diagnosed with Covid-19, anyone they may have come in contact with can be notified. These badges can be used as part of a larger contact tracing plan, a component at the forefront of much-needed workplace safety solutions.

New thinking:

There is a lot of noise in the marketplace about consumer-centric «apps» and new technologies needed to help businesses conduct contact tracing. The accessibility of these existing technologies will decrease the barrier to entry for enterprises that want to implement these solutions. Location applications are moving from a «nice to have» to a «must» in the enterprise, as we see standards-based and interoperable location technologies such as Bluetooth become standard in almost all of our mobile devices. The same technology that connects medical devices in hospitals or triggers in-store marketing activations in retail outlets can be used to securely conduct a privacy-centric contact tracing and proximity solution.

Not unlike Wi-Fi, BLE runs on industry standards and is interoperable with almost all consumer mobile devices.

Privacy:

While Apple, Google and others have attracted headlines for contact tracing solutions, the requirements of a private business that must secure access to its facilities are different from that of a public venue. Businesses must also be transparent with employees about anonymity with contact tracing and personal data collection, as well as security measures that will be put into places, such as authentication, authorization and network segmentation.

As communities are taking other precautions, including avoiding large social gatherings and wearing face masks, in-office contact tracing serves as a compliment that prevents the spread of highly infectious diseases.

Moving forward:

The Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically reshaped the way we will work. The solutions we put into place for workplace safety and security need to be designed for the long-term and embedded in business processes, IT operations and workplace culture. To get started on the right path with contact tracing as part of workplace safety overall, enterprises need to focus on four priorities. First, examine the existing IT infrastructure and identify if the appropriate wireless and BLE capabilities are in place. While working with IT leadership, business leaders should expand their business continuity plans to include user-continuity processes. And finally, all stakeholders need to play a role in educating employees on the new processes being put in place and how they can stay safe.