Dept. of Health and Human Services Launches Pioneering Mobile App Using Personalized Messages, Gaming to Encourage Healthy Behavior at Work

Spark Compass platform, Gimbal proximity beacons combine to deliver timely reminders, better choices and award points based on location

SAN DIEGO--()--San Diego-based Total Communicator Solutions Inc., a leader in mobile brand management, announced today the use of the Gimbal™ context aware and proximity platform integrated with its Spark Compass platform in a pioneering research project in workplace wellness.

The project, named Project Boundary, has been conceptualized by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) IDEA Lab and the Office of the National Coordinator. It is a research project undertaken in the spirit of exploring new concepts and ideas in workplace wellness that will benefit the American workplace, and to spark further innovation in this space.

Our project is an exploration of the following design intent – how might we better engage users within the bounds of where they are, and what they do over the course of a regular day at work, and get them to do just a little bit more toward benefiting their health,” said Nag Murty, the Innovator in Residence at the HHS IDEA Lab.

Project Boundary features a mobile application powered by Total Communicator Solutions’ Spark Compass platform that incorporates the Gimbal platform including proximity beacons with Apple’s iBeacon technology to deliver well-timed and contextually relevant triggers in order to encourage the adoption of healthy behaviors within the workplace. It hopes to explore added dimensions to the field of workplace wellness and seeks to gamify the interactions of the employees with their physical surroundings.

The app will send personalized messages to help workers make healthier choices throughout the day such as choosing nutritious items from the vending machine and drinking water eight times a day. Users will score points based on their choices. For example, beacons installed near the elevators will send messages to individuals waiting for the elevator to take the stairs instead, and assign points for those that do. The app works with strategically placed beacons, located near elevators, stairways, vending machines and water fountains, sending messages to users at the right time and place awarding points for those that are there.

The project will be an entry in the SmartAmerica Challenge, a White House Presidential Innovation Fellow project which brings together organizations with Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) technology and programs to demonstrate the potential for improving the economy and daily lives of Americans.

“The Project Boundary team has an innovative vision for improving corporate wellness,” said Erik Bjontegard, president and CEO of Total Communicator Solutions. “We knew our Spark Compass platform would be ideal for powering the experiences and gamification that Project Boundary desired. We designed a fully operational platform and mobile app, integrated with the Gimbal platform including proximity beacons with Apple’s iBeacon technology placed throughout an office building, enabling the delivery of personalized, highly relevant communications to employees’ mobile devices to encourage healthy habits in the workplace.”

“Partnering with Total Communicator Solutions on this initiative further reinforces how Gimbal’s context awareness, proximity and personalization technologies can be utilized to provide relevant information and better people’s daily life,” said Kevin Hunter, COO, Gimbal, Inc.

The Project Boundary team believes that today’s corporate wellness platforms tend to center largely around health portals and wellness services that enable the employees to adopt and maintain activities that are beneficial to their health. But the programs haven’t been able to engage users as effectively as they might want to, and wellness often doesn’t tend to register high on an employee’s radar while at work.

More than 100 companies, universities and government agencies are participating in the SmartAmerica Challenge, which culminates at the SmartAmerica Expo on June 11. Each team will be making a 15-minute presentation and booth demonstration, focusing on their collaborative effort and output of creating socio-economic goals of the Challenge.

“Project Boundary looks at developing an improved wellness solution to address the needs of the American workplace,” said Nayan Jain, Presidential Innovation Fellow, HHS and ONC. “The installation of beacons will provide a virtual indoor environment that promotes healthy behaviors, sending notifications and timely messages for improved quality of life.”

About Total Communicator Solutions Inc.

Founded in early 2012 by former Qualcomm executive Erik Bjontegard, Total Communicator Solutions Inc. develops innovative, fully integrated mobile marketing communication platforms and customized applications to help clients connect with users, customers and future users in meaningful and measurable ways on mobile devices. Its precision mobile marketing platform, Spark Compass™, integrates the Gimbal context aware and proximity platform from Gimbal, Inc., enabling the delivery of customized and relevant content for real-time consumer engagement. With numerous beacon installations in locations across the U.S. incorporating thousands of proximity beacons, the Spark Compass platform is placing beacon networks in numerous market-leading locations such as hospitals, university facilities and convention centers. Total Communicator Solutions Inc. is headquartered in San Diego, California, with offices in Los Angeles, Spain, Mexico, London and New Zealand. Visit http://www.sparkcompass.com for more information.

About Gimbal, Inc.

Gimbal, Inc. is connecting brands, venues, events and retailers with their customers in exciting new ways by providing leading-edge mobile technologies and solutions. Our context awareness, proximity and personalization technologies allow brands to drive engagement and loyalty by interacting with their customers when, where and in the ways they’re most likely to engage and make purchase decisions. Visit http://www.gimbal.com for more information.

About the SmartAmerica Challenge

The SmartAmerica Expo is the culminating event of the highly successful SmartAmerica Challenge, which is a White House Presidential Innovation Fellows project on Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) launched in December 2013. CPS – sometimes referred to as the Internet of Things (IoT) – involves connecting smart devices and systems in diverse sectors like transportation, energy, manufacturing and healthcare in fundamentally new ways. The goal of the SmartAmerica Challenge is to demonstrate how CPS can boost American competitiveness and provide concrete examples of socio-economic benefits such as job creation, creating new business opportunities, improving the economy and improving/saving lives by combining CPS technology created from significant investments made by both government and private sectors.

Contacts

Gable PR, San Diego
Tom Gable or Emily Forgeron
619-284-1714
Tom@gablepr.com
Emily@gablepr.com

Release Summary

Dept. of Health and Human Services launches pioneering mobile app using personalized messages and gaming to encourage healthy behavior at work.

Contacts

Gable PR, San Diego
Tom Gable or Emily Forgeron
619-284-1714
Tom@gablepr.com
Emily@gablepr.com