Why Commercial Cleaning Robots are the New Standard for 2021

4 min readDec 22, 2020

With 2021 promising big wins in the fight against COVID-19, you might wonder whether it’s worth investing in new cleaning solutions to meet today’s unique challenges–when a return to “normalcy” is seemingly right around the corner. It may be tempting to ride out the rest of the storm without making any significant changes to your cleaning program, like implementing commercial cleaning robots.

The reality is, commercial cleaning robots are not just a short term solution to the many challenges posed by a global pandemic. Yes, these robots have helped cleaning teams meet unprecedented levels of demand and sky-high cleaning expectations. But, the need for better, faster cleaning won’t just go away in the new year. Instead, commercial cleaning robots will become the new standard for proactively keeping public spaces cleaner and safer–in 2021 and beyond.

WHY YOU SHOULD IMPLEMENT COMMERCIAL CLEANING ROBOTS:

1. Cleaning Remains Critical into 2021

The United States is still months away from full public access to a COVID-19 vaccine. The real milestone for returning to normalcy will be when enough of the population is vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, a timeline that remains uncertain.

Until then, cleaning standards must remain strict; a message sometimes lost in the exciting news of safe and effective vaccines. However, slipping into complacency now is dangerous, as cases surge across the United States. Learn more about why the vaccine news doesn’t mean relaxing cleaning standardsanytime soon.

2. The Culture of Cleaning Has Changed–For Good

As a society, we won’t be returning to pre-COVID levels of cleaning demand even after the pandemic is over. The pandemic has fundamentally changed the way people perceive public spaces and their expectations for the cleanliness, health, and safety of those spaces. That’s something that will persist for years to come.

Additionally, the culture of cleaning itself has changed. Cleaning teams that have implemented commercial cleaning robots are seeing massive improvements in their cleaning performance. They increase their cleaning quality and efficiency, save time and costs, and better-allocate resources using real-time data.

Even before the pandemic, labor shortages and razor-thin margins drove many commercial cleaning companies to look for a change–a better solution to the ongoing challenges in the industry. The pandemic has only accelerated the adoption of this next generation of cleaning technology, and the benefits of this technology will provide long-term value beyond the current crisis.

3. Keep Up with COVID-19 Cleaning Demand

The immediate benefit of cleaning robots is their ability to streamline your cleaning protocols rapidly and allow you to reallocate cleaning resources when demand is higher than ever more effectively. For example, Whiz, the commercial robot vacuum developed in partnership with Brain OS and ICE Robotics, can offload up to 30% of your cleaning time. This allows your team to spend more time disinfecting, sanitizing, and deep cleaning–without overburdening your staff.

4. Realize the Value of Being an Early Adopter of Cleaning Robots

Robots working alongside staff is the future of clean; however, there is enormous value in adopting this technology sooner than later. You can start seeing better cleaning results now and reap long-term benefits over time.

5. Maximize Long-Term Cost Savings

The costs saved from automating time-consuming cleaning tasks add up over time. Adopting automated cleaning solutions early on will enable you to maximize those savings.

6. Build Your Data-Driven Cleaning Capabilities Now

The future of work is data-driven. Building those capabilities now not only helps your teams get through the current crisis; it sets your team up for future success and sustainability. Commercial cleaning robots allow you to access valuable data like how often and thoroughly spaces are cleaned, how long it takes to clean a given area, and more.

For example, Whiz tracks the square footage vacuumed each day and logs every hour it swept each space. Our Whiz Connect software platform can visualize this data, which provides actionable insights so you can easily track goals, manage cleaning routes and locations, and ultimately get the most out of your cleaning activities.

Conclusion

The cleaning culture has changed dramatically as a result of the pandemic, positioning commercial cleaning robots to be a long-term, table stakes solution. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be an enormous investment. Some cleaning robots like Whiz are available with a subscription model, allowing you to pilot the solution in your facilities cost-effectively.

Written By: SoftBank Robotics Team