H-FARM supports the creation of new business models and the transformation and education of young people and companies from a digital perspective. Founded in 2005, it was the first company in the world to adopt a model capable of combining investments, business consultancy and digitally augmented training programs in a single place. H-FARM is today the largest innovation center in Europe.
For a long time, apps were exclusively a tool designed for private life, something not very compatible with work. In recent years, however, companies have expressed the need for tools capable of satisfying the needs of relationships and knowledge between employees, of practicality, safety and energy saving in working environments, to optimize resources and reduce waste, saving time in the management of routine operations and making each environment intelligent.
H-FARM turned to us to think about the internal development of an application that would allow it to include in one place the main functions, useful to the people who work within the campus:
make the devices and controls visible to manage lighting, access to different areas, monitor switching on, heating and air conditioning with a simple touch, taking advantage of the home automation system present within the H-FARM structures;
choose and order lunch at the various catering outlets present; foster relationships between employees, allowing them to get to know each other and have contact details for each one;
access a news system regarding the Group and the various companies;
view your position within the structure on a map, highlighting which area you were talking to.
Fundamental for H-FARM is to make the IoT (Internet of Things) functions with which the app must interface highly performing, through the development of the back-end and beacons detectable via Bluetooth to be installed on each individual device. To do this, our technical team immediately concentrated on developing a mobile app capable of exploiting the potential of a native environment and the Internet of Things, to create an out-of-the-ordinary user experience that allowed the user to view the areas in his vicinity and his position, highlighting them on a map on the screen.
Thanks to the technology developed, once an area has been chosen, the user can view the devices inside it and, with a series of available commands, control doors, lights, gates, windows, etc... To make the experience simpler, we have implemented a system of filters to facilitate the search for the user, who simply needs to click on one of them to view only devices of that type.
For security reasons we have also developed a permission system through which, depending on the company they belong to, a user can only view certain areas and devices. This means that the individual no longer has any kind of problem opening the office and turning on the lights, but at the same time he cannot carry out any kind of action on offices or buildings that are not his responsibility. Conversely, for some administrator users, we have provided access to a special section from where it is possible to view all the H-FARM structures and control each device remotely, removing the need to be in the presence of the device to control it.
With respect to the need to also make the application a "social" tool for employees, we have developed a section that allows them to get to know each other through user profiles, find mutual contacts for professional use and identify people based on their same interests. Thanks to the app, every employee can:
start the search for a colleague by name, company, location (among the various H-FARM ones) and skills;
view your personal and contact information (email or Skype);
view public profiles on the various activated social channels
Finally, a section of the application has been designed to have a review of all the main news regarding the H-FARM Group and to view the menu of the day of the restaurants present within the various structures, proceeding with the order conveniently from the app.
