Free cloud-based software suite helps businesses transition workers safely back to office

Following a slew of earlier free solutions to help businesses to weather the pandemic, this new addition will be useful indeed.

Back in March, amid global office shutdowns, cloud-software firm Zoho introduced Remotely, a free suite of 11 business applications designed to help companies of all sizes transition to remote work. More than 25,000 organizations have benefited from this initiative, which will remain free for businesses through September 1.

Zoho subsequently unveiled its Small Business Emergency Subscription Assistance Program (ESAP), which continues to provide Zoho’s small business customers with free access to their existing Zoho applications. Nearly 20,000 organizations have taken advantage of ESAP, which is providing financial relief during the global crisis.

In April, Zoho’s Vertical Relief Plan was rolled out, offering businesses in three hard-hit industries—Retail, Government & Non-Profit, and Education—custom-built tools and assistance programs to navigate pandemic-related issues. Now, Zoho is entering a new phase with its BackToWork program, which is aimed at providing employees around the world a safe and secure way to return to the office.

Free for the rest of 2020

BackToWork, a fully comprehensive modular solution enabling businesses and organizations to safely transition back into the workplace, will be free for the remainder of 2020.

Said Gibu Mathew, Vice President, and GM, Asia Pacific Zoho Corp: “Now that organizations are planning to reopen in some parts of the world, we want to help them resurge, this time through BackToWork, an application enabling companies to maintain end-to-end workplace safety and meet compliance needs, without affecting productivity. The next phase of normality in the workplace would also need confidence building steps from employers, and this application would help in that direction.”

Scalable to companies and organizations of all sizes, BackToWork supports Chief Operations Officers, Chief Human Resources Officers, Facility Heads and their teams in making critical decisions around returning to the workplace without compromising on the safety and compliance aspects. The application consists of modules designed to address every concern involved in the process of re-entering the workplace, all a secure solution that aims to be user-friendly:

• Safe Entry: Define multiple buildings and locations and control facility access based on employee wellness and travel history via a contactless end-to-end check-in system through generated QR codes.
  
• Employee Wellness Assessment: Track workplace wellness by defining self-assessment, safe entry, and travel policies. Employees can securely and privately submit a wellness questionnaire reporting travel history, recent medical history, and other pertinent possible exposure history.

• Maintenance and Assets: Define and manage assets and building maintenance requests for employees. Repair/replacement requests can be handled in the app.
  
• Admin Control Panel: Gain a 360-degree view of workplace data in pre-configured dashboards as well as add and manage your employees, and define roles for tasks such as approvals, emergency contacts, etc.
  
• Communication: Materials such as announcements, FAQs, and best practices, policies and safety documents can be shared with employees and managed in the Communication module.

The application can be easily integrated with HR platforms such as Zoho People and BambooHR, and is accessible via progressive web app, iOS and Android.  BackToWork can be simply integrated with Active Directory and Zoho Directory. Several future enhancements are in the pipeline, including a travel management module and integrations with popular video conferencing platforms.

According to one corporate user of the free Zoho solutions: “For us here in the National Maternity Hospital, it was very much a case of continuing to provide our services in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. To do that, we needed to provide and assure easy access to up-to-date, accurate, and insightful information concerning our response to COVID-19, which could underpin effective and efficient understanding and decision-making.”

As part of Zoho’s ongoing effort to support businesses during these uncertain times, BackToWork will be offered free of charge until the end of 2020. After that period, it will cost $2 USD/user/month for all regions.