Shared Workspaces
Integrating Kisi and Optix for an automated coworking space with thriving community
6 min reading time
Story shared by
Founder
With three locations across the city of Vancouver, Suite Genius offers coworking spaces where freelancers and entrepreneurs can enjoy the amenities of an office while maintaining their independence. Thanks to Kisi and Optix, they can accomplish those goals with maximum automation and operational efficiency.
For just over 10 years, Suite Genius has provided a secure and comfortable place for people to work and collaborate, fostering a sense of community and offering opportunities to network. By nature, an access control system has the potential to stifle collaboration, but Kisi and Optix do the opposite.
We met with Mitchell Purdy, the company’s founder, to talk about why integrating Kisi and Optix was the right solution and how it has created new opportunities for Suite Genius and its members.
Suite Genius had hoped to implement Kisi in its locations for several years, but previous landlords were reluctant to move away from their old-school access methods.
When opening the newest location in Lonsdale, Mitchell had the opportunity to start from scratch, and he knew Kisi was exactly the solution he needed.
He predicted that it would be more efficient, automated, and future-proof than other access control solutions.
Kisi stood out as the innovator,” he explains. “It aligned better with our membership, the software that we use, and all the tools that we need to use.”
With a few modifications to the 100-year-old building in Lonsdale, Suite Genius was finally able to make their vision for Kisi a reality.
Once Kisi’s access control system was in place, the next step was to tighten and improve the integration with Suite Genius’s coworking software. At the time, they were using an enterprise-level solution that worked well enough but had limitations in terms of configuration options.
That’s where Optix comes in.
Mitchell quickly saw that Kisi and Optix were an ideal pair. The process of transferring data between the two was seamless, allowing Suite Genius to get the new software up and running right away.
“You have to automate as much as you possibly can,” Mitchell says. That’s the key to success in a coworking space, particularly one where members want to come as they please and their work demands.
When a new member joins the Lonsdale space, all Suite Genius has to do is enter their details in Optix. That automatically triggers Kisi access, and site managers can tweak it as necessary.
The integration of Kisi and Optix also simplifies access level assignments and scheduling. By placing people into groups based on their membership types, Mitchell could grant access to spaces during specific times.
Once they’re in the system, entering the building couldn’t be easier. All members have to do when they want to unlock a door is hold up their phone and tap it.
With Kisi and Optix, Suite Genius can quickly issue short-term privileges. In the past, if a member needed temporary access, a manager had to manually make an adjustment, which generated an email that the member could click to open the door. Kisi enables them to instantly grant access and copy the new link, testing it before passing it along to the member.
When that temporary access is no longer necessary, there’s no need to recover keys or manually disable credentials. “The moment they finish, they no longer have access,” Mitchell says.
The Suite Genius space in Lonsdale is spread across two floors. The upper floor, which is primarily for more permanent members, is locked 24/7, but members assigned to the space have constant access with their Kisi authorization.
More casual, short-term members usually use the lower floor, where access is limited to weekdays during typical business hours.
With some access control systems, creating those two distinct groups would be a complex process. With Kisi and Optix, however, Suite Genius simply had to create different groups based on membership types, and that information instantly granted authorization for the specific hours allowed.
That level of control isn’t just convenient. It also offers additional value for loyal members who want to have more flexibility in their work hours, a higher level of security and privacy, or access to extra benefits.
Using Kisi and Optix, Suite Genius can give those members temporary access to a meeting room or event space for special gatherings without having to share extensive access details or cut and distribute keys.
Suite Genius uses Kisi and Optix to assign specific access schedules for different doors. This is critical to their effort to create a positive first impression without sacrificing security for their members.
“Because it’s street level, we didn’t want to lock it 24/7,” Mitchell says of the main entrance. “We liked the idea of just being able to walk in. It’s a little bit more friendly.”
That open atmosphere also extends to their patio door. With Kisi’s scheduling options, they can leave the door unlocked during work hours so members can go outside to eat lunch, take a break, or get a breath of fresh air. At the end of the day, the door automatically locks, preventing unauthorized entries after-hours.
Kisi’s access control system also allows members to stay later if necessary without worrying whether they’ll remember to lock the doors when they leave.
Moving forward, Mitchell hopes to install Kisi in all of Suite Genius’s locations, offering members the same premium experience regardless of where they choose to work.
In the meantime, he expects to see more of the same success that the Kisi and Optix integration have achieved so far. As he explains, automation is the core of a coworking space, and it will continue to be the backbone of their thriving coworking community.
What makes him so certain that Kisi and Optix are the right combination to make that automation possible? According to Mitchell, the answer is simple: “It’s working. If it wasn’t, I’d be hearing about it.”