Carr Workplaces Mobile App

Carr Workplaces has been a long-standing customer of essensys and operate workspaces across the United States – specifically in major cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington D.C.

Founded 27 years ago, Carr Workplaces predicted the impending cultural shift in the work habits of many, and subsequently designed an innovative and flexible hospitality-driven approach to the office environment. In today’s crowded marketplace, beautiful spaces are expected by consumers, but its Carr Workplaces concierge-level service and energized professional community that sets them apart from the rest.

BACKGROUND

Prior to the essensys mobile app, Carr Workplaces was using a small tech start-up to assist in the development of their own mobile app. The app had many of the pre-built features that Carr Workplaces needed and was developed over the years to be specific to the flex-space industry. This year, Carr Workplaces had to make the decision to either keep developing and investing money into this app or to look for an alternative.

Years before this decision had to be made, Carr Workplaces went about sourcing a developer which involved an extensive research phase. Ultimately an expensive decision, Carr Workplaces decided that it didn’t make sense for them to jump headfirst into the technology world and attempt to do it all themselves. Instead, they decided that it was imperative to focus on offering the best service and experience possible to their valued clients and members.

THE SWITCH

Carr Workplaces first saw the essensys mobile app in action at the New York Product Engagement Session in January of 2020.

Michele Penaranda, Vice President of Strategy at Carr Workplaces, jokingly said “I was hoping it wasn’t going to be anything that it was to make the decision easier. However, I was really impressed with this good-looking app I was introduced to”.

As an existing essensys customer, it was essential for Carr Workplaces’ mobile app to integrate with Operate and as a result, certain settings had to be rebuilt from scratch.

Michele said, “It was always in the back of our mind, that it made sense to have an essensys mobile app because we were already using Operate.”

After seeing the essensys mobile app in action and having various calls with the product team, Michele and her team had to weigh up the options between continuing with their own app or adopting the essensys version.

Michele came to the conclusion, “Due to certain circumstances, we were forced to make a decision but the essensys team made it an easy one for us. We decided the essensys mobile app was the right move for Carr Workplaces.”

HOW MEMBERS ARE BENEFITING

The main thing that Carr Workplaces’ members are using the mobile app for is to make meeting room reservations and to make quick, timely payments.

Robyn Evans, Junior Program Manager at Carr Workplaces said, “We’ve received some great feedback from clients raving about how simple the app is to use. When you log in everything you need is right there and it’s very easy to find everything. When someone is frequently on the move, that’s what they want from an app – quick, simple, and accessible.”

Robyn emphasised how seamless of a transition it was from the old app to the new, essensys app. “Training team members and helping clients get set up was very easy,” she said.

“The essensys mobile app has a clean interface and look and feel which translates well across the entire app,” added Michele. “Our old app wasn’t simplified enough and didn’t have the user-friendly interface that most apps do today. This is something we definitely wanted to improve for our clients.”

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

One of the main reasons that Carr Workplaces sourced introducing an app a few years ago is because its portal didn’t provide members with a viable mobile option. The Carr Workplaces team often heard that clients were struggling to reserve meeting rooms or make payments using the member portal on their mobile phones and as a result, had to frequently make clients aware that it doesn’t exist at the time.

Michele said, “By looking at different technology trends, we knew that people like to have access to everything at their fingertips, so we needed a mobile app solution to overcome this.”

However, Carr Workplaces appreciate that their client base is across the board in terms of their preferences. Ranging from those who just want a mobile app that can make reservations or report an issue to on the flip, the clients that are more traditional and favor the portal.

“It’s one of those things where it’s absolutely necessary to have a mobile app but everybody still loves to go on a computer,” said Michele. “We need to be flexible based on our members’ preferences and appreciate that everybody is different. essensys allows us to cater towards both of these preferences.”

TAKING THE WORKSPACE OFFERING TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Another benefit of the essensys mobile app is that Carr Workplaces receives their own app store entry without the headache of development and maintenance. essensys takes care of the updates which are automatically pushed out to any app stores that the app exists on. Carr Workplaces’ members simply update as they normally would with their frequently used apps. The app store entry can be customised to suit the Carr Workplaces brand, including a name, icon, and various colours. This allows Carr Workplaces to put their brand identity on the app and set themselves apart from the competition.