Appian's Covid-19 Response Management application tracks employees' work and health status so they can be supported from afar
Remote working has become the new norm for many office workers in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic (Credit: Unsplash/William Iven)
Businesses can monitor the health and safety of remote workers during the coronavirus pandemic using a new free app.
US tech company Appian has launched the Covid-19 Response Management application for companies and government agencies across the world.
It creates a central command centre that tracks the health status, location, travel history and details of any employees who contract the virus – which has swept across the world to force some countries into lockdown, encouraged others to place heavy restrictions on their population and brought economies to a standstill.
With many office staff now working from home, the app – which runs on Appian’s cloud platform – enables organisations to support their employees from afar.
Why Appian has created the coronavirus worker app
CEO Matt Calkins, who co-founded Appian 21 years ago, said: “I believe workplaces can be more than a job and a paycheque. In challenging times, a business can use its strength on behalf of others.
“I’ve seen this happening at Appian during the current health crisis. Scores of employees have volunteered their assistance to colleagues in need.
“While some of us are ill, caring for others or watching our children, others are willing to help delivering groceries, offering a ride and assisting at home.
“To co-ordinate this generosity, and to keep us healthy, we created an application.
“The “Covid-19 Response Management” application establishes a central command centre to safeguard the health and safety of employees and facilitates the matching of volunteers with people who need help.”
How the coronavirus worker app works
Virginia-based Appian’s usual job is selling its low-code development platform, which enables clients including Barclays, John Lewis and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport to create applications via graphical user interfaces and configuration rather than computer programming.
But its coronavirus worker app has been made available at no cost to any organisation with more than 1,000 employees.
They can request, deploy and configure Covid-19 Response Management within two hours, and have access to Appian’s Covid-19 application desk for assistance in setting it up.
The app collects health information from all staff, storing it in a cloud system – certified by the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) – designed to protect sensitive information.
Employers can view the health and work status of all staff by geography and department.
“The more an organisation knows about the health of its employees, the more it can do to protect others,” said Calkins, whose company is helping major firms across financial services, pharma, manufacturing and other industries to manage their Covid-19 response and co-ordinate a disparate workforce.
How university is using the coronavirus worker app
The University of South Florida, which is based in Tampa and employs 16,000 academic staff, is already using the coronavirus worker app.
CIO Sidney Fernandes said: “Centralising accurate information about our people, where they are, and what they might need, and reaching our whole community is key to coordinating our organisation during crises.
“During the hurricane season of 2018, Appian helped us build and deploy an application for tracking our 50,000-student community in just one day.
“We use it to ensure the safety of our students and faculty during all crises.”