Cleaning system for a post-COVID world

As everyone becomes more aware of hygiene post-COVID, targeting your effort to where it can have the greatest impact will be key to delivering safe and clean environments within existing budgets.

Working with hardware partners, Disruptive Technologies, Infogrid uses tiny, inexpensive and hygienic sensors, installed in seconds, to make buildings smarter.  

Their Smart Washroom system combines data from three different types of sensor:

1. Traffic sensors that track how often cubicles or urinals are used
2. Wireless feedback panels (said to be ~80% cheaper than the nearest alternatives) for customers to click to highlight their satisfaction level and when supplies such as soap or paper are low
3. 'Audit’ touch buttons for cleaners to register a clean.    

Infogrid CEO, Will Cowell de Gruchy, said: “When our algorithms combine all the data on traffic, customer feedback and cleaning schedule in our visual dashboards, you generate unique insights, and can really optimise how you schedule your cleaning.  

"The real-time alerts which are automatically sent to the cleaning team allows them to resolve issues immediately, rather than when the next clean is scheduled.  

"All of this means you can clean better, with your existing teams - something that is going to be a lot more important in the post-lockdown world.” 

The data showed a client who operated a shopping mall that customers were dissatisfied with the toilets when footfall was highest; by just shifting effort from less busy times to more busy ones, customer satisfaction was shown to significantly increase. In addition, cleaning teams received positive feedback for a job well done, which improved retention. The data was so powerful that the client is in the process of rolling out the solution across its estate.

Installation of the Infogrid solution is quick and easy, requiring no technical expertise, and the solution is deliberately kept low-cost.  

Will said: “Either price or complexity (or both) has really held back the use of technology in cleaning, and has meant that few pilots have scaled.  We are determined to change that.”

For one client running a 10-floor office block, the entire solution took two hours to install. It immediately showed a mismatch between cleaning and usage, and also a difference between the scheduled rota and when cleaning was actually occurring.  

Optimising this enabled a 20% saving on cleaning time required - which today could be re-deployed to further improve hygiene - while simultaneously increasing customer satisfaction.

For more information, visit www.infogrid.io or contact Infogrid on info@infogrid.io