It is hard to believe that it has been nearly two years since the outbreak of COVID-19. Since then, we have been through a whirlwind of rapidly changing information, misinformation, and a near-complete economic shutdown. The fear of contracting a contagious virus completely changed the way we lived, worked, and played, all of which was essentially halted until the production and distribution of several vaccines early this year. Now that people are getting vaccinated and new cases have dramatically dropped, much of the country is getting back to “normal” life.

But what does normal mean anymore? That is the challenge many businesses will face on their journey back to find normal, and some challenges may prove too difficult to overcome. For Commercial Real Estate, one of the challenges will be how to compel people to return to their buildings. Technology companies that find answers to these challenges will lead the way in finding the new normal. Datawatch Systems, an access control company and technology innovator, set out to find an answer while developing Datawatch DirectConnect. This virtual key app eliminates common touchpoints, leverages state-of-the-art technology, and is an enhanced cloud-based access control experience consisting of four main pillars: 

• Touchless Navigation
• Reservation Bookings
• Visitor Processing
• Occupancy Management

Touchless Navigation

One priority became navigating a building and reducing common touchpoints. The touchless navigation allows a tenant to raise a parking gate, open a locked door, or call an elevator and select the destination floor, all from the DirectConnect app. This technology is complete with a Siri Shortcut function so one can navigate verbally.

Reservation Bookings 

Tenants can reserve conference rooms, fitness rooms, and other amenity spaces with the DirectConnect app. The tenant selects from available time slots, chooses the time they want to access the area, and uses their credential at the access point to enter the space. The managers set occupancy limits – once the maximum occupancy is reached, tenants cannot make additional reservations.

Visitor Management

Once a conference room is booked with the DirectConnect app, a host can send a visitor an invitation, QR code, and instructions via email directly from the app. When the visitor checks in with a QR code, the host will receive an email. The visitor will then be escorted to the suite or directed to a QR code in the elevator, which can be scanned using the DirectConnect app and taken to the correct floor.

Occupancy Management

To ensure that occupancy limits are honored, the Datawatch DirectConnect app provides an overview of each essential amenity space with the occupancy percentage displayed, allowing for active monitoring of the amenity spaces.

Integrations

As businesses are returning to the office, management companies are utilizing tenant experience apps. Datawatch can fully integrate with tenant experience apps utilizing the same DirectConnect technology. Datawatch APIs expand access control and physical security benefits by working with these third-party applications to optimize mobile convenience, deliver better visitor experiences and create an interconnected group of building automation solutions.

If you would like more information about Datawatch DirectConnect, please reach out to us at dwsales@datawatchsystems.com. Let us know how we can help you get people back into your building.