6 Ways to Use Martech Tools for Covid Compliance

We all want answers. With so much still unknown about Covid-19, technology firms are being asked to step up in whatever ways they can. For the martech community, that means finding new ways to utilize location data, beacon technology, and artificial intelligence (AI) to help businesses and consumers manage the spread of the virus.

Different industries are looking to manage the spread in different ways. For retailers, that might mean using artificial intelligence to make sure customers are following social distancing rules inside their stores. It might also mean using location data, beacons, and other mobile technologies to track where consumers are going during shutdowns or monitor employee compliance with local Covid regulations.

It’s worth noting that this is a sector that is evolving at breakneck speed. These are just a few of the ways the martech community is using its technology for Covid compliance right now.

1. GroundLevel Insights: Ensuring shoppers are social distancing
GroundLevel Insights is blending mobile location data with AI for Covid compliance. The company has developed a thermal sensing, battery-operated people counter that businesses can place at their entrances to limit the number of customers who come inside their stores. GroundLevel is also using machine learning algorithms on CCTV footage to measure real-time social distancing. This gives retail associates the opportunity to find out when bottlenecks and crowding are occurring, so they can potentially open up more registers or temporarily limit the number of customers inside their stores until they’re back in compliance with social distancing standards.

2. Kontakt.io: Providing businesses with safety reports
As a longtime provider of Bluetooth-based indoor location services, Kontakt.io has decided to leverage its location services with AI on a new app designed to help businesses, governments, and healthcare authorities during this time of crisis. The company has developed Bluetooth-enabled visitor badges that companies can give to their employees and visitors to wear on lanyards around their necks. Kontakt.io’s Bluetooth badges ensure complete tracking compliance and also help with contact tracing if an outbreak at a business ever were to occur. Kontakt.io has also developed the COVID-19 Contact Tracer App, which uses AI to provide businesses with safety reports and predicts the infection risk of visitors and employees.

3. Apple: Tracking evolving consumer needs
Apple’s Mobility Trends tool shows the impact that local shutdowns have had on people’s movements throughout the country. Apple is collecting anonymous and aggregated data from its Apple Maps navigation platform, showing users how walking, driving, and transit use have changed compared to a baseline measurement. Apple’s tool is updated daily. While the data was initially being used almost exclusively by public health departments, the platform has since been adopted by a number of businesses for making predictions about future demand and supply needs.

4. Google: Drawing out consumer behavior insights
Google’s Mobility Reports are similar to Apple’s. Google is using its location data to examine the movement patterns of people in more than 130 countries. Google’s data covers high-level categories like retail, grocery, transit, and workplaces. Like Apple’s data, Google’s data is aggregated and anonymized. The Mobility Reports tool is setup to be used by public health officials, but it is also being used by marketers who are searching for extra insights into consumer behavior during an incredibly tumultuous and unpredictable time.

5. Aislelabs: Data driven social distancing standards
Aislelabs is helping businesses fight off Covid-19 disruptions by using mobile occupancy counters to ensure social distancing is maintained even as stores become more crowded. Using the WiFi networks they already have installed, retailers that connect with Aislelabs can automatically detect and count the number of smartphones within their stores. This data can then be transmitted in real-time to the store’s associates or security guards. Aislelabs is also working on a system for contact tracing and exposure notification that provides real-time metrics to large retail chains, entertainment venues, shopping malls, airports, and other hospitality-based businesses.

6. InMoment: Helping employees adapt to new environments
The customer intelligence platform InMoment recently announced a technology solution designed to help office employees acclimate to the “new normal” we find ourselves in. InMoment’s solution offers three employee feedback collection templates, along with push reports. Together, these templates are designed to gather data in key areas like employee personal health and safety, work environment, and overall engagement. Companies can use the information gathered from these surveys to understand their employees’ perceptions as they adjust to a new way of working.