Follow Datanami:
July 31, 2020

New AI Software Helps Businesses Reopen During the Pandemic

As COVID-19 continues to surge in many countries around the world, businesses small and large are struggling to navigate a completely transformed (and partially decimated) global economy for an indeterminate period of time. With the U.S. economy shrinking at record-shattering rates, some software designers are stepping up to help businesses answer this unprecedented challenge. Now, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is joining the fray with new, AI-powered software that aims to help businesses reopen during the pandemic.

TCS describes the new software, called IUX for Workplace Resilience, as a “business command center solution.” IUX for Workplace Resilience promises to blend AI-powered risk management analysis with functionality spanning areas key to reopening amid COVID-19. With the workplace safety tools, for instance, businesses can monitor infection risk levels at various locations using phone- and badge scanner-powered contact tracing, images, and videos. Based on that data, users can also take action and record compliance. The tools also span sectors like regulatory support, operational resilience, and customer engagement.

“Using analytics, a business manager at a retailer could forecast cash flow based on predictions of payments and receivables against current and predicted scenarios throughout the pandemic,” TCS wrote in a press release. “In financial services, a bank manager could profile risk at specific branches by running what-if analyses based on infection rates, workforce impact, and client relationships.”

TCS also offered other examples, like monitoring employee and customer sentiment and predicting impacts to revenue and supply chains. The suite is powered by TCS’ IUX (Intelligent Urban Exchange) platform for big data and analytics. IUX specializes in applying real-time analytics to information streams, using AI to identify correlations and make predictions. The software displays this information through visualizations on a “business command dashboard,” where it also offers recommendations.

“As workplaces reopen, businesses are under great pressure to ensure the safety of employees, customers and visitors as well as monitor compliance and mitigate risk,” said Ashvini Saxena, global head of Digital Software & Solutions at TCS. “With its integrated analytics platform and business command center, IUX for Workplace Resilience enables them to capture and analyze disparate enterprise and IoT data so they can understand safety and business risks in real time to maintain business continuity.”

TCS, which posted $22 billion in revenue during the last fiscal year, is a subsidiary of Tata, India’s largest multinational business group. Tata has been lauded in the past for its early action on crises affecting its supply chains. 

Datanami