Migrating from Nexudus to Optix with KWENCH

At KWENCH work and culture club, experience is everything. Located in Victoria, Canada, the beautifully designed 25,000 square foot space features a state-of-the-art fitness facility, a full service kitchen and bar, and a library and meditation room to help members have their best day, everyday.

Beyond just the physical space however, what really stands out about KWENCH is their commitment to creating an inclusive and welcoming community. Everyone belongs at KWENCH, and you’ll feel it as soon as you walk through the doors.  

Tessa, owner and founder at KWENCH, and Caleb Van Der Kooi, General Club Manager, are leading the charge in creating this inspiring community. So when their existing coworking software was hindering Tessa’s vision for creating an exceptional member experience, they knew they needed to make a change.

Here is how switching from Nexudus to Optix transformed their backend operations at KWENCH and enabled the team to provide a better experience for their members.

The challenge: A clunky experience for the front-facing team

Before Optix, the front-facing team at KWENCH was managing a lot of inefficiencies within their processes. Their operations were clunky and pieced together and nothing was communicating with each other.

Because their previous system was difficult to navigate, members relied heavily on the KWENCH services team to do everything from paying an invoice to making a booking. Nothing was easy to access and the experience of their members suffered because of it.

What KWENCH was looking for in a technology partner

As the Club Manager, Caleb’s goal was to automate as many processes as he could while still maintaining that human to human connection that members had come to expect from KWENCH. When the team realized they couldn’t do this with their existing coworking software provider, they knew they needed to make a change.

The team moved to Optix to streamline all of their operational processes. Their goals were clear: give their member services team their time back and create a guest experience that was aligned with their high expectations

By switching to an easy-to-use, mobile-first platform like Optix, Caleb and the KWENCH team would enable their members to interact with the space as they needed, creating a better experience for both the community and the admin team.

How KWENCH is using Optix

Since switching to Optix, the KWENCH team has automated dozens of manual processes, empowered users with a beautifully branded White-labeled App, and integrated with their otherkey systems, including Kisi, to create a seamless technology ecosystem.

Here is how Caleb and the KWENCH team are using Optix to power their community.

Automating day-to-day tasks with Automations

Automations is a new addition to the Optix platform that helps operators automate their most time-consuming day-to-day tasks, from communicating with leads to member onboarding.

In less than 60 days, the KWENCH team has set up over 30 automations, helping them automate over 5,000+ actions that otherwise would have been completed manually.

Caleb has been able to use Automations to streamline all of the recurring tasks the member experience team was performing manually, from onboarding new members and following up with day pass Users, to adjusting Users’ account types and statuses in Optix.

The best part is, they haven’t lost any of the human touch that people have come to expect from KWENCH. In fact, Automations has freed up the team’s time to do more of exactly that.

Learn more about how KWENCH is using Automations to build a better community.

Empowering members with an easy-to-use White-labeled App

Before Optix, members were heavily reliant on a web portal or the member services team to book a desk to pay their invoice. Now, with a custom-branded White-labeled App members can do all of this and more on their own and on the go

Using the KWENCH app, members are able to book a phone booth, report an issue, and check what events are happening that week on their phone, freeing up a lot of the member experience team’s time. With all of this time saved, the KWENCH team can redirect their attention to connecting with members and being immersed in the kind of community they want to build.

In less than three months, members have made over 2,500 bookings automatically through the app, equaling major time savings for their team.

Simplifying door access with Kisi

To help make their space easier to manage and more secure, the KWENCH team opted to install Kisi readers throughout their space. Through the Optix and Kisi integration, members are able to unlock any Kisi-enabled doors with the KWENCH branded White-labeled App.

It’s made accessing the space much easier for members, and has created a better experience for their team. With the help of Optix and Kisi, the team has automated over 2,000 check-ins in just 90 days. KWENCH is bustling! 

Automating these check-ins gives their team incredible data and insights on their traffic and overall member engagement.

Increasing oversight with the Visitor Management app

Keeping track of who is coming and going in any coworking space can be challenging, especially with a large 25,000 sq ft space like KWENCH.

Caleb and the KWENCH team use the Visitor Management app by Optix to keep track of day visitors and who is in the space. The Visitor Management app lives on an external tablet at their reception area. Once visitors sign in on the tablet, they’re automatically checked in and their information is added to Optix as a lead.

These leads can then be targeted via email communication in Automations.

What’s next for KWENCH?

Switching coworking software platforms can be an intimidating step for coworking operators, so much so that it often holds them back from making the change even when they know it can transform their business. But in the end, the switch is always worth it.

“I’m super proud of how everybody’s adapted,” says Caleb. “We basically overhauled all of our systems at the same time, and that’s a lot to learn and a lot to adjust to. The team has just rolled with the punches and seen through the rocky waters with the vision of smooth sailing in the future.”

Now that the team has transformed their operations and created more efficient systems, expansion is on the horizon! With such a positive mission, and a goal to empower each and every one of their members, we are so excited to see this team expand KWENCH into new communities. Every community could use a little more KWENCH! . 

Thank you to Tessa, Caleb and the KWENCH team for your collaboration in this piece and your continued partnership. We’re incredibly proud to power your space with Optix!