MOVAMIN

The problem your project solves

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our notion of normality.

With many countries implementing lockdown and social distance measures, citizens join the efforts of front line workers to tackle the virus by following a simple, yet powerful motto: STAY HOME, SAVE LIVES.

This means that thousands of workers used to work in offices and other traditional spaces have transitioned to remote work from their homes.

Their daily routine has been deeply impacted: they don’t walk or cycle to work, they don’t have lunch break with their colleagues, they don’t gather in a room for a meeting or take a coffee break. Professions that are usually sedentary, now are even more so. People spend more time sitting in front of their computer, with a toll on their health.

In addition, all this happens in a context where stress and anxiety levels are on the rise because of the COVID-19 situation.

Companies are more than ever are concerned about their employees well being. Social isolation, unbalanced work routine which causes increased sick leaves, unhealthy stress and burnout. This will affect productivity which costs 700K ISK per employee each year in the UK.

The solution you bring to the table (including technical details, architecture, tools used)

The MOVAMIN team unites 6 world citizens who are passionate about healthy wellbeing. Our roots come from Iceland, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Ghana.

Movamin’s mission is to create and sustain a healthy, balanced and productive work culture.

We have designed a web based desktop app for organisations. Though still the main focus will be their staff members who will have quick and specific advice on how to improve their wellbeing in the following three domains: social, mental and physical.

As the first step we would like to focus on helping healthcare organisations in Iceland who are in high need for support. Doctors usually sit 70% of their working hours in front of the computers. Pandemic brought much more workload on healthcare systems.

At a later stage we would approach other organisations.

At the moment prototype is designed for Windows users. We used language C#, .Net framework and Telerik Rad Controls for WinForms.

The product provides notifications and an empathic chatbot assistant (buddy) that can be customizable in areas of interest and by time of the day, so the user can adapt the suggestions to their work hours and commitments.

There are different levels of intensity, but the tone is always positive and friendly. Under the current context, our product aims to avoid additional stress or anxiety in users but to bring awareness to social, mental and physical health.

The main characteristic of the solution can be summarised in:

• Company’s HR manager will have customisation options and have access to admin roles to manage internal supportive and rewarding wellbeing programmes.
• Actions required from the user are quick, so that they can easily continue with their work
• It is customizable for each user, so that they can choose when to participate and in which areas, so that they don’t get notifications that they don’t need or in a time that is not suitable for them
• Has a holistic vision of health, including physical, mental and social (there are no equivalent desktop app in the market of such)
• Is supportive: the tone of the notification and chatbot is positive, non-pushing, empathic. It acts as a “buddy”
• Encourages teamwork while participating in team challenges and specific actions that encourage interaction between teammates
• It recognises activity on Zoom / Teams meeting to be displayed after a possible meeting to suggest a break
• Has been designed under the specific covid-19 context, so we aim to encourage people and not create additional stress. Our message is positive.

According to our market research, there are many mobile apps focused on health, wellbeing or social interaction. As for desktop, options are limited. However, none of them offer a holistic approach to wellbeing, while we include three areas that are vital for a healthy lifestyle: physical, mental and social (which we consider fundamental under and after a lockdown context).

In addition, there is a limited offer of desktop versions that can be targeted for companies to include in their wellbeing programmes.

Finally, none of them uses chat bot incorporated with smart technology to focus on the user’s particular needs.

What you have done during the weekend

We have strengthened our multicultural team with an expert in therapeutic work.

With the help of the mentors and information gathered on research we adapted the original idea to focus firstly on Icelandic companies which have staff who are remote knowledge workers and who are in their 40s, want to keep active and are socially isolated. We have also identified the possibility to support senior citizens, disabled people and medical personnel through municipalities and unions.

With very valuable insight from mentors we have now a stronger ground for preparation of marketing strategy and improved our business plan.

The solution’s impact to the crisis

While workers adapt to this new scenario of remote work, feeling social isolation, stress in uncertainty and “new norm”, Movamin helps companies to have sustainable wellness programme easily integrated, customisable, with low cost and high impact. It is a tool that takes care of their staff members' health in three aspects: social, mental and physical. Users are encouraged to take quick actions that don’t interfere with their work responsibilities but have a tremendous impact in their wellbeing, like:

• Do a 2 minute exercise to stretch their back muscles
• Remember to ask a colleague about their day and how they are doing
• Do a breathing exercise to help with anxiety after a long meeting
• Remember to stop for lunch
• Remember to call a friend
• Participate in challenges to do basic healthy actions with a teammate

One of the key differentiators of MOVAMIN is an empathic buddy (chat bot) who will support in building a healthy work routine for each staff member.

The necessities in order to continue the project

Closest steps include:

• Continued work on prototype
• Organisation of testing with users and few partner companies

In order to continue the project, we will need financing to carry on with the development of the remaining features, including:

• more options to personalize user profile and adapt the tips and suggestions displayed
• company administration feature for management wellness programme
• integration with other products like calendar or zoom to identify the best time to display notifications
• strengthen technically the element of notifications (chat bot) concerning Calm Technology features
• make it compatible with iOS

We also need to:

• Create more content for the different activities (physical, mental and social)
• Support further development of Business model
• Implement marketing campaigns to reach the desired audience

The value of your solution(s) after the crisis

After the crisis, this can be marketed to a wider range of organisations, such as IT, telecommunication, finances and other. Companies can include this product into their wellbeing policies to support their staff in their return to the office space once the restrictions are over, in order to cope with anxiety or stress. There are more and more companies rethinking their strategy and to be more open to offer their staff members the possibility to work remotely and it may become “new normal”. There will be a huge need for a sustainable wellness programme approach in organisations. This solution can help many companies and people transition back into their work routines. In later stages marketing strategy can be targeted to busy workers or those who don’t have a proper work space at home.

Built With

• .net-framework
• c#
• telerik