Kiana Analytics: Comprehensive Digital Contact Tracing Platform

The world is trying to get back to the pace of things as before. After months of lockdown that sought to control the transmission and spread of the coronavirus, the public is now relatively more aware of their duties and responsibility toward each other. As offices and workplaces return to normalcy, companies need to deploy effective return-to-work strategies and solutions to power ahead in this new normal, focused on protecting both employees and visitors at their respective premises. Here, the importance of safe and wellness-centered work environments become imperative as companies are readily adopting Digital Tracing to contain, accelerate identification, and deal with a possible outbreak. Against this backdrop, Kiana Analytics—a leading provider of real-time location and predictive analytics— offers a ready-to-deploy, privacy-first, cloud-based Digital Exposure Identification platform. Founded in 2013 and renowned for its site management solution, the company has expanded its range of offerings in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Hope is not a strategy. A lot of companies are waiting that this virus will magically go away. Unfortunately, this is a new norm and it is going to be with us for some time. The best way to deal with this is to achieve a safe and secure environment expeditiously, and our platform does that effectively,” asserts Nader Fathi, CEO and Co-founder of Kiana Analytics.

According to Fathi, a few companies are leveraging solutions such as manual contact tracing, and Bluetooth tracking apps using technology such as Apple-Google’s contact tracing function. However, they are not always effective in ensuring accountability. He explains that manual contact tracing is slow and prone to errors and that people might even refuse to be contacted for a question. Additionally, using apps may be questionable as they have limited accuracy and data privacy concerns. With at least 60 percent of a population required to download the app (and regularly submit their health status) for the solution to work effectively, it is a dramatically reduces the cost of ownership and deployment time. “Not only can we identify people who have been exposed to someone who has tested positive, but we can also identify locations in a building which need to have deep cleaning. It’s not only about identifying people in real-time but also places which have been infected, through effective exposure notifications.

We can thus limit the impact of closing the entire facility for a potential exposure. Furthermore the Kiana Site Management solution can be used even after this pandemic is over thus protecting our customers investment,” says Sebastian Andreatta, Marketing, Alliances, and Co-founder of Kiana Analytics.

We can not only identify people who have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for corona virus but also identify locations in a building which need to have deep cleaning

Moreover, Kiana is a GDPR, CCPA, and Canadian PIPEDA data privacy compliant, and a U.S. Department of Homeland Security SVIP portfolio company. It was selected as the only representative vendor from North America in Gartner’s recent, “CIO Guide: How location services can help mitigate covid-19 spread.” Since the announcement of its solution in April 2020, Kiana’s team of experts, which includes serial entrepreneurs with expertise in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and data analytics, has been actively working with over ninety companies, universities and partners worldwide. As the pandemic has taken a significant toll on companies all around the globe, Kiana has been supporting companies from not just the U.S. alone but also Canada, Japan, Australia, Spain, and more. Kiana’s clientele includes corporate and college and university facilities, and other institutions with private networks. “Our focus is not cities or public places but people with private properties who really want to protect their physical buildings and ultimately their staff, students, and visitors,” asserts Fathi.

In addition to Covid-19, seasonal diseases such as flu could be dangerous for anyone in a corporation or university with autoimmune disorders, or other risk factors and comorbidities. Kiana is also looking to deploy future health-oriented solutions targeted specifically for these situations. “There still is an ambiguity around the development and roll out of a coronavirus vaccine. This wait could last for months or years, therefore we will continue focusing on assisting companies keep their doors open and help their employees return to work,” says Andreatta. He explains that the old idea of a smart building has changed from basic amenities such as temperature and light control to having a wellness-centered facility to ensure the safety of the overall health of employees.

Moreover, other than the enhanced focus on a facility’s safety and health measures, Kiana is currently partnering with companies that provide access control systems and COVID testing. “For any company, their staff is the most valuable asset. We’re working towards figuring out additional ways to help them effectively manage that wellness focus while keeping our primary aim of ensuring the safety of the overall health of their employees intact,” states Andreatta.