Mr. John Putters reports

VISIONSTATE'S DIGITAL WASHROOM ATTENDANT ENHANCES CLEANLINESS PERCEPTION, NEW STUDY SHOWS

A University of Alberta research study recently commissioned by Visionstate Corp. has provee a commonly held perception -- that taking a pro-active approach to restroom cleanliness has a dramatic impact on people's perception of the facility in general.

The study, done in conjunction with a pilot project at Edmonton International Airport focused on people's perceptions of restroom cleanliness by introducing Visionstate's new interactive touchscreen technology, WANDA (washroom attendant notification digital aid). WANDA is a smart device that replaces antiquated paper-based systems for managing and tracking restroom cleaning and maintenance in any public facility, such as airports, hotels, restaurants or office buildings. It is installed in some of the most prestigious hospitals and shopping centres in North America, including Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York and North York General Hospital in Toronto.

"This study proves that restroom cleanliness has a significant effect on people's perceptions of a building's overall cleanliness," said Visionstate chief executive officer, John Putters. "It proves that, along with valuable analytics on cleaning effectiveness, WANDA is an important part of customer service delivery, especially in today's competitive environment where maintaining a clean facility is key to the success of any operation."

The research was conducted by a graduate level student at the University of Alberta's psychology department. As part of the project, five WANDA smart devices were installed at the entrance of some of the airport's busiest restrooms.

Among the key findings from the study:

• Over a two-week period, 583 people were interviewed, of which 304 were male and 279 were female;
• Of those who sought to send a service request, 78 per cent preferred to use WANDA's antimicrobial touchscreen rather than through text or phone calls;
• 75 per cent of the participants who noticed the WANDA device and the most recent cleaning time gave a higher cleanliness rating than those that didn't notice the device.