If you’re used to living a 9-5 office lifestyle, chances are you’re spending a lot of your time enslaved to your desk or computer.
According to the American Medical Association, the ‘sitting disease’ is a nasty way of contributing to heart disease and premature heart ageing, one caused by being sedentary or sitting for hours at a time.
That’s where EVIS plans to come in.
EVIS—derived from the slogan ‘Evolution is Solution’—is on a mission to nip this health crisis in the bud, encouraging desk workers to spend less time on their butts.
But how would they do this? By introducing a smart, ergonomic and adjustable desk that lets you spend more time standing or walking while still getting work done.
Turning The Tables On Traditional Office Life
When quizzed if there was a personal reason behind starting EVIS, its Marketing Senior Executive, Christopher Kueh said that it was born from the frustrations of both founders, Ethan Chong Guang Qing and Low Jay See, who experienced lower back pains after long hours at work.
“Well, we don’t usually like the blame game, but traditional and rigid desks certainly seem like the culprit!” continued Chris.
Hence, their very own Smart Desk was born, officially debuting in July 2018 at the BIG HOMEXPO exhibition held in Bukit Jalil.
To validate the importance of a smart desk in Malaysia, the team also did their fair share of due homework.
“According to a small 2018 study, patients who used a sit-stand desk and participated in counselling to improve sedentary behaviour experienced a 50% decrease in lower back pain compared to a control group that had neither intervention,” explained Chris.
Generally, they plan to cater their products towards the ones that need them the most.
“This includes office workers, even designers, YouTubers and gamers! More often than not, these people live a sedentary lifestyle, and don’t move around much for up to 8-11 hours a day,” he continued.
A Long-Term Investment For Health
Currently, EVIS’ prime attraction is their Smart Desk.
In addition to being certified by Bewell Chiropractic, it’s fully adjustable, with 4 buttons you can use to save your preset heights. It also eliminates the need for dangling charging cables off your desk with a built-in wireless mobile charger.
The price of all of this convenience? A whopping RM3,188.
“Every individual part of the Smart Desk is carefully designed, selected and sourced,” Chris explained.
“Our table legs use 3-stage motor with low noise levels, employs an anti-collision function and power saving mode as well.”
But then again, is it worth dishing out RM3k on?
“We always believe prevention is better than cure. How much money do people need to fork out if they had neck/back issues to deal with?” he mused.
He went on to explain that the welfare of office employees should in no way be neglected to get the job done.
“Ergonomics offered by the smart desk tackles matters on both ends, i.e. makes office employees more efficient and productive, while reducing the chances of neck and back pain issues given the right posture.”
Well, I’d say EVIS certainly got their point across.
Some notable clients of theirs are Datasonic, RZB Lighting, Dimension Data as well as coworking spaces like Colony KL and WORQ.
Making Homes Smarter Too
Growing this startup to the point of success was no easy task though.
“You can have the best design there is, but to get a supplier to manufacture for you, it’s always about the minimum order quantity (MOQ) you can commit,” said Chris.
He also shared the story of founder Ethan, who had travelled overseas multiple times to meet various suppliers.
“Initially nobody would entertain us. It was really difficult to find suppliers who are willing to process the tabletops based on our requirements without charging us exorbitant prices,” he said.
After many attempts to build a good rapport with suppliers, they finally managed to get a few of them to invest their time in the startup’s vision.
Now, besides their smart desks, they’ve also produced a couple more products such as ergonomic chairs, anti-fatigue mats, and monitor stands.
They’re even looking to explore smart home solutions in the near future.
“We foresee EVIS becoming a household brand for innovative home and office products in 2 years’ time,” Chris said, adding, “We will constantly upgrade our products and explore new projects to bring innovation and wellnesses to homes, offices and businesses.”
- You can read more about other startup features we’ve written about here.
Featured Image Credit: EVIS
