Envoy launches Protect to help workers return to the office safely
No matter the industry, the coronavirus pandemic has absolutely rocked the way that we work. Work from home is the new norm. But many are anxious to get back into the office and startups are looking to help with that transition in the safest way possible.
One such startup is Envoy, a company that launched back in 2013 with a guest sign-in platform for offices. Today, Envoy is launching a new suite of products, called Envoy Protect, meant to help workers get back into the office safely.
The platform has been in beta for several months and thus far has more than 5,000 organizations signed up. As of this week, Envoy has facilitated 1 million safe returns to the workplace.
Protect was built specifically to give workers access to the office and peace of mind in doing so, with features that include health questionnaires, capacity management tools, integrations with access control providers to ensure only healthy, approved individuals can enter the office, touchless sign-in with QR code, contact tracing, and integrated temperature screening, to name a few. Administrators can also customize registration by location based on local health and safety requirements, customize registration instructions and get analytics on the office traffic flow.
(Image: Envoy)
Envoy is also launching Desks, which allows businesses to properly socially distance workers who are in the office and ensure they're using a clean and safe workspace when they come in. Desks will launch as a closed beta as the company continues to test.
Envoy Protect is included with a Visitors plan at no additional cost to businesses.
There is a ton of movement in the future of work space. Just recently, Eden introduced a similar product to help offices re-open safely.
Envoy has a great position in the space with nearly $60 million in funding from investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Menlo Ventures and Initialized Capital, among others.
Founder and CEO Larry Gadea says that last quarter was the best quarter (in terms of revenue) for Envoy, despite the shifts caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The company has approximately 150 employees, of which 41 percent are female and 20 percent are underrepresented minorities.
Gadea says that one of the biggest challenges for Envoy right now is spreading the word about Protect. Envoy Visitors, which enables guests to get into the office, was an inherently viral product. People visited an Envoy-enabled office and realized they wanted that same system for their own office.
The biggest challenge will be making it clear to people that there is a lot going on in our workplace and that our products can help a lot," said Gadea. People are thinking so much about their home and once people go back to their workplaces, they have to remember it's a much better place for people to be thinking straight and working together. Our challenge is making sure people do that safely and don't rush that."