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Problem

The employees’ health in the office environment has recently became a major problem for companies. There is an immense amount of studies and articles about the negative impact of office jobs on the health of the workers over the  years as stated in the following examples:

• “24 ways your office job is destroying your health” (Businessinsider.com, 2016)

• “The dangers of working in an office” (Medicalnewstoday.com, 2015)

• “9 Scary Health Risks of Desk Jobs” (Jobmonkey.com, 2017)

It is commonly known and scientifically proven that it is unhealthy to just sit all day without doing any sports. Eye strain, chronic back pain or unhealthy weight gain are just some examples for occurring health risks at the desk. This is a huge disadvantage for both, the employer and the employee. The employer gets worse results due to the decreased performance of the employees. Furthermore, companies also experience the problem of employees getting unmotivated and unconcentrated very fast (Inc.com, 2019). According to some articles the number one reason for motivation loss of employees is the lack of participation. The employees often feel excluded and work just for themselves. If there is no team spirit behind the work, it will be difficult to get good results. It is a fact that joint sport activities can support the teambuilding. Furthermore, short sport breaks can improve the mental receptivity. As an employer, you are missing an opportunity to increase the team spirit and thus the overall work performance by ignoring the importance of sport activities.

Solution

The smart pull up bar (SPUB) is a simple pull up bar you know from the gym but with the difference that it is equipped with a tracker which includes various sensors and components. A minimalistic user interface enables the user to identify himself before using the device. Thus, it is possible to recognize the number of pull ups done for each user. Afterwards, this information is sent to a dashboard where the pull ups can be visualized in a personalized view. Furthermore, the creation of various challenges and groups is a functionality which supports the team spirit and the competition in a sporting context. For example, you can see a chart with cumulated pull ups of the whole company, high score lists and personalized charts. Firstly, short sport breaks during the day can lower the risk of illness and thus improve the health. The SPUB supports small sport breaks because of two reasons. First, the SPUB can be used whenever you want. For example, when you are walking down the hall of your office and need a short break. So, there is no huge effort involved in order to use the device. You do not have to leave the office, change your clothes etc. Secondly, challenges like i.e. “who can make the most pull ups until the end of the week” or statistics in general lead to an increase of the desire to compete with other users. Thus, the motivation to do sport breaks increases. Moreover, it is a fact that sport is important for team building and motivation. The SPUB supports team building, through the groups that are generated in the challenges with which you compete against other teams. This ensures that all employees in the same group motivate each other to become better than the competition. As a side effect, the members of the group get along much better with each other. This results in an overall better relationship between the group members which leads to an increase in the performance of their work.

Team
Frederick Gamer, Onur Öksüz

Use Case 

In the current period during the Corona Pandemic, it is difficult for many entrepreneurs and small business owners to generate revenue, pay employees, and adapt business processes. But the most important thing: entrepreneurs have to adapt to the current circumstances and follow the rules of the state to even carry out the usual processes of a company. After the first lockdown in Germany, many entrepreneurs are asking themselves whether and how they should continue their business. Many entrepreneurs have had to lay off their employees and now face the problem of staff shortages. 

This is also the case for many restaurant and bar owners who had to close for several weeks and are facing insolvency. Now that things are looking up and they are allowed to run their local business again under certain hygiene regulations, they need a successful solution to firstly follow the hygiene regulations, which include as little contact and social distance as possible, and secondly to save on personnel costs, generate new income and settle outstanding bills, such as rent. 

Scenario 1: Existing company 

The Italian Bruno from the city center of Cologne is in such a position. He has been running his father's family business for 35 years and was not allowed to serve his customers for several weeks. Accordingly, he was forced to lay off two of his five waiters and now has quite a few problems processing orders as usual. Therefore, help is urgently needed. 

Bruno must face the following problems: 

1. How can he handle orders as usual? 

2. How can he protect his employees from the virus? 

3. How can he relieve his employees, especially the waiters? 

4. How can he offer his customers the best hygiene conditions? 

5. How can he re-establish himself on the market and stand out from his competitors? 

6. What solution strategies are available to process orders quickly and easily without disregarding social distance? 

To face these problems, Bruno searches the internet for alternatives and comes across the application "QR-Waiter". The application promises fast order processing without having to keep customers waiting, using the latest technology. Customers can view the menu and order meals digitally via a QR code. Additionally, Bruno can save manufacturing costs of meals through stock planning and reduces the effort for adding new pictures of items on his menu card. The procurement of groceries is easier to coordinate because the application is augmenting stock planning. In the interest of the environment, especially nowadays, Bruno wishes to reduce food waste while calculating the amount of food based on demand. As customers are going out less than usual due to the pandemic. This seems to be just the right thing for Bruno and his team. 

Scenario 2: Start-up company 

The situation is similar for the new entrepreneurs Simon and Karl. The two wanted to open a new bar on a well-attended street in Cologne (called: “Ringe”) before the pandemic and are now facing a huge question mark. They do not know how to cope with the situation, especially as the bar staff would have a lot of customer contact. The problem, however, is the following: few employees are available to work and serve customers despite the current virus, because of the fear of falling ill. The two entrepreneurs do not want to take this risk and the new employees to be hired should feel comfortable and protected while they prepare the orders behind the counter.  This is exactly what they want to include in the job advertisement. Waiters and bartenders should not be afraid, as the bar owners comply with the hygiene requirements and also take into account the protection of their employees. Not only good employees should be attracted by this strategy, but also customers who no longer dare to walk into a crowd and still want to have fun. 

But how can the two owners avoid contact as much as possible without reducing customer wishes and remaining competitive? An innovative solution is needed. After a short research on the internet, they find the application of QR-Waiter, which covers all their needs. The application fills the gap of a waiter and takes orders during a rush hour, especially at weekends. Customers can use references and create custom profiles, for example, order the same number of cocktails every weekend. Besides, the bar owners can attract customers who like innovative technology and they can be a role model for other bars and especially for the customers and create a good corporate image, from the very beginning.  Since sustainability is becoming an increasingly important issue in society, it also affects the economy of a new company. For this reason, investment in sustainable business ideas is becoming increasingly important. The application promises a low-risk investment and even new investors, such as Simon and Karl, will make a high Return on Investment with it. 

Team
Melisa Nazlicicek, Dennis Keles, Sheng Jing Ly, Dennis Ludwig