Wayne,
I have been a Proximity Space user for about a year now and I can vouch for the their white label commitment - such a great thing to have a service provider want to promote you, not themselves.
A little bit about Proximity, and then I will let everyone pitch questions:
Besides creating their software platform from scratch, they also own and manage multiple coworking locations. And no, they don’t want to compete with you - it just seems that they have morphed from owners to owners / software & hardware developers.
Onboarding is simple. I manage the tech at Evolve Workplace (evolveworkplace.com) and in my previous life I was a banker/real estate guy (yes, I feel much better now!!). I like tech, but I’m not a developer and the system is intuitive and easy to use. However, the Proximity system does allow for some serious granularity when managing the membership levels (access to the space, free conference room hours, discounts, one-time/recurring add-ons, etc.) that with a bit of use is a great way to customize your memberships and space use. Also, the system allows you to make a ton of “hidden” memberships (not seen by the public when signing up) for those one off deals that you may want to create to fit the needs of certain members.
Membership experience is straightforward. Members become free “community members” with only a name, e-mail and password. Once in the system, you can market to these free members via e-mail to let them know about community events, seminars, etc. Once a person selects a paying membership and walks through the simple Proximity app (branded with your logo, not Proximitys) setup for their mobile device - (https://help.proximity.space/faq-s-collection/saving-door-app-key-to-your-phone), they can easily access the membership portal and manage their “Profile” (great way to market yourself throughout the Proximity network of coworking locations - great for solopreneurs), create and manage conference room bookings, review and update membership levels and view historical billing and add/edit payment sources - works with both credit/debit cards as well as ACH (save on those darn credit card processing fees).
Door Controllers - this is one of features that really blows my members away!!! With the Proximity app on your mobile device (again, branded for your company, not Proximity), our members can open interior/exterior doors up to 24 hours a day, 365 days per year based on settings you as a space manager can edit. Again, here is where the granularity of the system really shines as you can basically manage access for any membership. And, the app is simple to use - just open the app and circles representing each door the member has access to appear. Images of locks appear in each circle and show if the door is open or not. If not, members press the circle/lock corresponding to the door they wish to open and boom, door opens for something like 15 seconds and then relocks. And on a security note, all door access is logged on the space administrator’s dashboard so beyond your camera system, you can see who has open locked doors in your space!!
I could go on and on, but will leave off hear and field questions as much as I can.
Be well,
Dave
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On Friday, April 13, 2018 at 8:02:24 AM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
Hi Wayne,
most tools on the market claim that they put the focus on the community and member experience, but this aspect of the flexible workspace management platforms still hasn’t made significant progress beyond the marketing slogans.
Most of the current platforms do a good job in automating your day-to-day tasks and also reducing the operational hassle around billing / invoicing / membership management, etc.
I’m happy to hear that you are looking member experience and community engagement. As far as I’m concerned the competition in the flexible workspace industry is picking up speed and those two things can be a real differentiator.
Talking about member experience and community engagement, I would suggest looking at the following:
- Member experience - based on my experience the most frustrating part of moving to a new coworking space is the onboarding process and some minor day to day pains that can ruin the overall impression of your members about the space. Thus I believe a great way to improve this experience is by making it as hassle-free as possible. One way to do that is through automation - provide automated door access, provide internet access with member login details & also use it for automatic check-in in the space.
Also, make sure that there is an intuitive members portal that can allow members to self-service themselves as much as possible - checking out events, reporting issues, booking meetings rooms, finding other members & companies in the space, online checkout for services and membership plans, etc. If possible also provide them with a native mobile app that they can use for easy access to any of the self-service functions.
- Focus on community - a first step in the creation of a vibrant community would be to make sure that people communicate with each other and have the chance to mingle with colleagues from other companies. Over here you can look for integrated event management, integration with external calendars, intuitive members directory with interactive profiles, ability to send messages to everybody announcing events/new services/new discounts/extras, etc.
In terms of attracting new members. If you invest in some of the activities mentioned above you should definitely receive positive feedback from your current members which will inevitably lead to good rep and more new members.
In regards to some of the options, you have mentioned - Nexudus have a pretty rich feature set that will probably cover some of the things that I mentioned above. However, some users find the interface a bit overwhelming, thus I’m not certain if newly created spaces can take full benefit of all the functionality. I cannot comment on Proximity Space since I haven’t used them. If you are looking at other alternatives that provide all essential functionality + white-labeling and multi-location support feel free to check out https://officernd.com/ as well.
I hope this helps you out.
Full disclosure: I’m part of the OfficeR&D team.
On Thursday, April 5, 2018 at 4:21:07 AM UTC+3, Wayne Maceyka wrote:
Hello! There are a few small spaces here in VT that are in similar phases of “starting” and it feels like a good opportunity to share a space management tool to allow focus on community and facilitate fantastic member experience - and easily interconnect the spaces for current members and prospective members. Do Cobot and Nexudus help attract new members? How does Proximity Space stack up? I like their white label commitment, maintaining each space’s identity (VERY important in VT!) while reaching more people.
Thank you!