The R&D engineers of Kone Elevator India, along with their global team, have come out with an innovative solution to operate elevators using WhatsApp.

“It is a first-of-its-kind application. It eliminates the need to press a button to reach the desired floor. All that one has to do is to download the app. The apartment or the commercial complex should have a ready wi-fi in place. A simple box installed on the elevator roof would do the rest,” Amit Gossain, MD, Kone Elevator India, said.

“Called ‘Elevator remote call using WhatsApp,’ the hardware and the software for the application was developed by Indian engineers along with the global team. It is the need of the hour to maintain social distancing. So, we came up with the idea in just 60 days,” he said.

The company has also come up with hand rail sanitisers and air-purifiers for elevators.

Mr. Gossain also said that in the new normal, elevators cannot be overcrowded. For this, Kone has come up with an automatic overload sensor, for which they had received several enquiries.

On the impact of COVID-19, he said there was no new business since April 2020, but it was offering maintenance services. Kone’s exports were mainly to SAARC countries and nothing much had happened as these places were also reeling under lockdown.

“We did not get any cancellation of orders. We have started our operations with 33% staff. It would take about four to five months to understand the process of the new norms,” he said.