Shared Living Spaces

Adding onto our list of this year’s Think Tank Partners, we are proud to present Glide, the specialists in delivering super-fast and reliable solutions for students, residential developers and businesses. Glide is the UK leader in infrastructure solutions for difficult-to-serve markets, paving the way in gigabit broadband with over 300,000 customers.

For this interview with Glide, we decided to do things a bit differently and host a conversation between our very own Christian Schmitz, Coliving Business Development & Sales Manager at SALTO Systems, and Carolina Suarez, European Commercial Manager at Glide. The framework for this conversation is to share insights on the core services and technology required to deliver a high-quality resident experience in addition to differentiating these properties from the traditional rental market.

Read ahead to find out the ways in which Glide and SALTO Systems aim to empower shared accommodation and what’s in store for this Think Tank partnership.

What led you to have this conversation about core services in shared accommodation?

Carolina (Glide): In 2019, Glide’s Smart Fibre Infrastructure™ changed the Build-to-Rent sector forever, bringing state-of-the-art smart technology and Gigabit broadband to award-winning Build-To-Rent residences across the UK. Smart fibre is a unique, seamless, future-proof, full-fibre building infrastructure.

Glide worked with partners across Europe to explore the vision of a connected future for purpose-built accommodation. Talking to developers, operators and residents to understand technology demands and trends and to better understand which partners would best deliver integrated solutions.

The promise of smarter living creates demand from the next generation of renters. Technology will improve well-being and a sense of community will create loyalty. All factors that create a reputation for excellence for property developers and operators. We wanted to go beyond disparate technologies and explore the role of integrated technologies in creating the smart buildings of the future.

What is the correlation between SALTO Systems and Glide?

Carolina (Glide): Future-proof fibre technology is the best way to connect a building and deliver pervasive Wi-Fi. Resident experience is not just about unbeatable Wi-Fi but also how residents interact with a building. Glide’s seamless fibre network carries every building service, saves a significant amount of space and energy, is fast and reliable and supports approved third-party solutions like access control from SALTO Systems.

Christian (SALTO Systems): From an access control perspective, shared housing operators would like to update permissions for new guests or colleagues with the comfort of not being tied to a specific location.

The second, and more important goal of the partnership, is to work closer together on enhancing the customer experience journey. Both parties have in-depth insights and solutions which go beyond smart access and Wi-Fi connectors. I am referring to Big Data which jointly provides new solutions and finally, a better experience for all audiences: residents, operators and third parties.

What elements are in consideration when enabling the provision of these services while simultaneously providing reliable connectivity?

Carolina (Glide): Our products and services work best when they’re truly connected.

Four elements combine to provide exceptional resident experience. The correct infrastructure through the core of the building, onsite wireless and wired connectivity connecting residents to the internet and operators to the building, smart technology enhancing experiences, and differentiating the property and data analysis to identify trends and save money.

Our SFI™ works seamlessly with all the services, with spare capacity built-in. We enable services that help operators run buildings better. Enabling telephone and video communications, laundry and gym systems, digital signage, CCTV, lighting & climate control systems, Energy Management Systems (EMS) and of course, security and door access.

Christian (SALTO Systems): Adding onto Carolina’s point, we have also found that integrations are vital to an ecosystem, as is the strategy of many operators to focus on core competencies. This means using SaaS components of all kinds and not spending too much time or resources on developing their own entire ecosystem entirely by themselves.

A cloud-based smart access control solution like SALTO KS allows real-time management even remotely, and can seamlessly integrate with various self-developed or third-party software PMS solutions.

“Smart solutions play a big part in the end-user experience and directly affect operational efficiency.” - Carolina Suarez, European Commercial Manager at Glide.

Another correlation is that Glide and SALTO are concerned with both the side of the student/resident as well as that of the operator. Is there a difference between these two sides of shared accommodation?

Carolina (Glide): The primary focus for the operator is raising operational efficiency and keeping costs down whilst also delivering a first-class resident experience. In older buildings, the operations team is often limited in their ability to improve efficiency or enhance the resident experience because they are limited by the tools and data available to them.

Technology and infrastructure are being considered by developers at the conceptual stage and architectural stage of property development. The benefit of technology is being felt more widely by creating freedom for developers to create amazing spaces that make people happy and enable operators to focus on resident experience.

Residents depend on the internet so it is expected to always work. In a Coliving environment, residents will likely engage with communal Wi-Fi first so it needs to be fast and create an impression. Any communal indoor or outdoor space will be enhanced by great communal and pervasive Wi-Fi and create a sense of community.

We know residents require a fully supported, seamless and comprehensive network that looks after their every need, around the clock.

From your perspectives, what are the major challenges shared living schemes operators face in terms of security and enabling an efficient security system?

Carolina (Glide): Ruckus predicts that by 2022, 51% of all devices connected to the internet will be IoT. This shows huge growth, but also poses challenges in terms of security. In the first half of 2019, there were 105m attacks on IoT devices, which shows the need for networks to be fully secure.

Christian (SALTO Systems): Security lies at the core of our solutions, as is the guarantee that we are always up-to-date on all fronts: Software, database security, mechanical security, and finally, making sure that we as a hardware supplier meet all certifications with our product portfolio which can go on any door worldwide.

Q: How do we make sure our solutions and customer journeys are well accepted?

Carolina (Glide): We speak to developers and building operators with a simple objective. By making building infrastructure future-proof they can continue to be at the forefront of constantly shifting technologies and focus on meeting the demands of a modern high bandwidth community.

Operators need to continue to explore technology that delivers operational efficiency and operational savings. Any cost savings can be channelled into enhancing the resident experience and creating spaces where well-being is actively monitored. Historically, smart technology often adds complexity where it should create simplicity. The aim for operators is to make what is complex simple and streamline technology to ensure it stays relevant for today, tomorrow and the future.

What lies ahead for this partnership?

Carolina (Glide): We are taking our thoughts even further and now we’ll be working on joined workshops which will gather the two different perspectives of our services.

Given the technologies we use and the vision we have as providers, we will be further exploring the opportunities to work on common projects, together with operators and developers, in order to enhance their offering and complement our services.

Christian (SALTO Systems): We as service providers find ourselves having different approaches, towards the same purpose. We value well-being, security, communication, and interaction with regards to the end-user while facilitating the product used by operators for enhanced customer experience.

Thank you very much for sharing your findings, experience, and perspectives with us. If you would like to find out more about Glide, visit their website, blog, and LinkedIn.

Read further for more information on Christian and Carolina.

Carolina Suarez is the European Commercial Manager at Glide. Her experience being an international student, working for international education and having lived in three different countries has influenced her view on living trends and standards. Passionate about shared living concepts and technology, Carolina has started the expansion of Glide across Europe to contribute directly to the fulfilment of basic needs to today’s generation: connectivity.

As a dedicated Sales & Business Development Manager for SALTO Systems, the lock manufacturer of electronic locking solutions since 2001, Christian Schmitz has developed a passion for Student Housing, shared living, coliving and coworking. Over the years Christian has become a specialist in the international market and upcoming trends in the shared living segment. The passion of the people working behind the scenes ignites an endless ambition for Christian to make a difference on a global scale and empower the shared living movement.

To read more about SALTO KS, click here or follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn for the latest product features, team updates and news from the industry.

SALTO KS provides a flexible access control management system that requires no software installation or the added expense of a fully-wired electronic product. Modern cloud-based, wireless access control systems are easy and simple to use for businesses including Coworking Spaces, Coliving Buildings, Purpose Built Student Accommodation, Retail, Multi-Tenant Housing, Gyms and many more. Our best in class wireless access control solution and smart locks guarantee the efficiency for your business. Integrate smart locks, start easily managing wireless access control now!

We are proud to have solutions that have been implemented globally, from our own turf in The Netherlands to across the pond in the Empire State. For this reason, we like to make it a point to reach out to our customers around the world and find out what led them to SALTO KS and how they make use of it.

In this blog post, we focus on Australia, where we have an incredible Cloud team and colleagues who do their best to learn more about the spaces and sites using our cloud-based access control solutions. Two of these happen to fall under the same category of Student Housing and while both are customers, they are very different in their mission and identity.

This is supported by Josie Rae, Marketing Manager at SALTO Systems Australia and New Zealand, who says that “Australia offers world-class education and safe communities for international students.” According to Josie, these benefits will still hold true post the present pandemic; "As a service industry and home-away-from-home for young adults, implementing a cloud-based access control solution such as SALTO KS is operating with an eye to the future.”

Read on to find out more about Ultimo Terraces and The Student Housing Company.

Ultimo Terraces

Sydney’s universities and colleges attract a large number of overseas students. This generates a demand for council approved, safe, and secure accommodation, like the Ultimo Terraces student house-shares. Ultimo Terraces has three adjoining terraced houses, each with several bedrooms, a shared lounge, kitchen, bathroom and courtyard, and a communal laundry. While Ultimo Terraces are not primarily limited to student housing, they provide a valuable option for all renters.

According to the owner and operator of Ultimo Terraces, managing access to the houses and rooms was quite a headache before the decision to switch to SALTO KS. This was not only demanding on management time but inconvenient for the students, who had to wait for access. Additionally, there was a lack of visibility for the owner and operators who had no real-time clear view of who had access to which houses, doors and bedrooms.

“If a student lost their key card, a building manager had to come onsite with a new card, and physically reprogram it (which meant accessing the space under the stairs). Resetting a PIN code was a 10-minute process per door, involving taking the PIN pad apart,” said the owner.

After seeing SALTO Key as a Service (KS) at an expo, Ultimo Terraces’ owner decided it offered the perfect solution. The student’s phone becomes their ‘key’ for access to all parts of the house and is linked to a central management system via the cloud. Using their phone is an attractive and intuitive option for students, who are far less likely to lose the phone than a keycard. A flat battery is a potential risk, but Ultimo Terraces has a simple and practical solution, with a charger kept outside the front door.

Nevertheless, bedroom doors still have PIN pads or Keypads, as a backup option (in case students leave their room without their phone), but these SALTO Keypads can be programmed remotely from the central control system, rather than having to be physically taken apart. This means that changes and updates to access can be made on the fly, with no waiting for a manager to get to the house.

"As a service industry and home-away-from-home for young adults, implementing a cloud-based access control solution such as SALTO KS is operating with an eye to the future.” - Josie Rae, Marketing Manager at SALTO Systems Australia.

The Student Housing Company

The Student Housing Company is part of the Global Student Accommodation family. In Australia, they operate 4 properties housing over 1600 students. University Square in Melbourne opened its doors in July 2018, followed by The Boulevard in Perth, Infinity Place in Melbourne and most recently Park Avenue in the heart of the student precinct surrounding The University of Melbourne. With prime locations, all-inclusive rents, exceptional customer service and great community spaces, The Student Housing Company sets new standards for student accommodation providers.

Complete peace of mind for parents and students alike is an integral part of their brand promise and secure and flexible access control is an important element in delivering this. Students need to be accounted for and have access to their individual rooms, as well as various communal spaces. Some of these communal spaces are only accessible during certain hours of the day such as the swimming pool in Perth, or open to certain individuals, as is the case with the communal bathrooms split by gender at Park Avenue.

SALTO KS allows The Student Housing Company to centrally manage all their properties in real-time. For instance, the residence office can now see when a student last accessed their room which is vital for student monitoring. Notifications allow instant alerts to be sent to activity in the system based on their parameters. This has been used to identify when a student returns from a period of absence so that they can be welcomed back reliably every time.

The ability to remotely open doors also supports after-hours services. Since COVID-19, this has been used for opening the main doors for parcel deliveries and housing doors for when students are locked out. It has kept their students and staff safe by limiting human contact, while still providing the same level of service and ease of access.

“Once you learn how to efficiently use the system, it’s very simple and streamlined. The different functions are easy to navigate and simple to use.” - Becky Blakeway, General Manager of Infinity Place and University Square.

The right access control system can transform the student housing experience for both management and residents. This streamlined process can increase security while simultaneously giving students more independence and control over their spaces which while temporarily belong to them, provide them with a home away from home.

As Josie Rae points out: “Flexible security and safety measures have never been so important, and the integration possibilities with other service platforms allow these properties to truly differentiate their offering.”

To learn more about how SALTO KS benefits Ultimo Terraces, The Student Housing Company, among other spaces, visit our selection of Customer Stories.

To read more about SALTO KS, click here or follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn for the latest product features, team updates and news from the industry.

SALTO KS provides a flexible access control management system that requires no software installation or the added expense of a fully-wired electronic product. Modern cloud-based, wireless access control systems are easy and simple to use for businesses including Coworking Spaces, Coliving Buildings, Purpose Built Student Accommodation, Retail, Multi-Tenant Housing, Gyms and many more. Our best in class wireless access control solution and smart locks guarantee the efficiency for your business. Integrate smart locks, start easily managing wireless access control now!

Anyone who has ever operated an office property or a residential building knows the importance of utilizing that building’s full potential. Whether that means optimizing their tenants’ experience with amenities or ensuring the building’s profitability, every owner and operator has their priorities when it comes to managing the building’s resources.

However, what if we told you that you do not need to pick and choose your priorities and that you can maximize your building’s full potential in every sense?

Enter Rise Buildings, a property management platform devoted to ensuring operational efficiency while providing an optimal occupant experience. Rise Buildings has been a KS Connect Partner since the start of the year and has helped SALTO KS provide seamless solutions to end-users.

In order to properly introduce Rise Buildings to you, we asked the team a few questions about who they are, what they stand for, and which solutions they have to offer.

Read on to find out everything you need to know about Rise Buildings:

Could you please introduce your company to our readers?

Rise Buildings is a robust occupant experience and property operations platform that consolidates multiple software and hardware solutions into one, fully-integrated platform. As a result, we are able to deliver savings from reduced technology spend and greater operational efficiency. Our platform also drives higher retention and enables ancillary revenue opportunities through amenity bookings and concierge services.

Further, our data analytics engine allows owners and operators to see and understand critical information about what's going on in their buildings and proactively capitalize on this intelligence. We do this while delivering an on-brand, seamless product, with the possibility of white-labelling, that drives both high adoption and high utilization across the building population, including occupants, staff, and management.

Rise is currently used in over 200 buildings, including some of the top, state-of-the-art multi-family and commercial office properties around the world.

Which features do Rise Buildings offer its users?

The Rise Buildings platform is a full-featured property operations and occupant experience platform that encompasses over 45 features. This includes visitor management, package management, the amenity booking system of record, payments, work orders and preventive maintenance, a full-suite communications module, and much more.

Rise was built and designed by a team with decades of experience as developers, owners, and operators in the real estate industry. Our product was built with the goal of providing a single platform for property managers and staff for everything they do in their property on a day-to-day basis. It also provides the corresponding features that occupants need to interact with the property in one place. By providing this level of functionality, Rise delivers a world-class experience to end-users, achieving this through multiple points of engagement ranging from providing the property’s social feed, enabling the purchase of third party goods and services, a peer-to-peer marketplace, the ability to post and RSVP for events, and so much more.

You recently published an article on your blog about the benefits of fully integrated property platforms. Could you please explain those to our readers?

The importance of a fully integrated platform can be distilled into three main benefits, all of which are interrelated:

• Exceeding occupants’ expectations for a high-quality experience in their building. The clearest manifestation of this is the goal of having one place for every occupant's needs.
• Increasing property management and staff operational efficiency through valuable tools and automation to reduce double-data entry, multiple logins, overhead from multiple vendors, and more.
• Increasing the NOI (net operating income) for owners with the end goal of making the building more profitable. Two ways to achieve that are through increased revenue (happier occupants who stay longer) and lower costs (less turnover, lower overhead/inefficiency).

Ultimately, our platform creates a win-win-win. It provides a better experience for occupants, better tools for staff and management, and better financial performance for owners.

How does the integration of Rise Buildings with SALTO KS benefit the end-users?

Rise’s integration with SALTO KS is a perfect example of our goal of being the one place that occupants and property teams need to go to do everything in their building. SALTO KS’ smart lock technology complements Rise’s complete, end-to-end access and visitor management tool for end-users, which also integrates with the building’s property management and access control systems. With Rise + SALTO KS, end users can use their mobile devices to open entry points, common area doors, and elevators throughout the property based on their credentials as well as individual unit doors equipped with SALTO locks. Further, this integration enables occupants to remotely open access points throughout the property when expecting visitors.

Together, Rise and SALTO KS provide a seamless, end-to-end mobile-based solution for end-users to easily move about their building safely and securely.

In your blog “What Most Of The PropTech Industry Gets Wrong About Tenant Experience”, you mention the importance of functional technology as opposed to technology for technology’s sake. Could you elaborate on that?

The key point is that if you want people to adopt and utilize a technology platform in a building with the end-goals of achieving a great experience, increased efficiency, and higher profitability, you have to provide features that deliver value that users cannot readily get elsewhere. If a building technology’s primary goal is to enable users to order coffee from downstairs, the technology isn’t delivering unique value; that’s something they can do with their Starbucks app. As a result, it’s unlikely that occupants will switch to that platform for coffee ordering, or anything else for that matter.

If, however, the platform’s primary focus is on unique capabilities that people can’t do elsewhere, such as unlocking a door using the Rise + SALTO KS integration, people will adopt and utilize the platform because, after all, they cannot go to the Starbucks app to open their door.

“It is only after you get people to download and use a platform that you can suggest they do things on that platform that they might do elsewhere.”

How do you see the Real Estate industry progressing in the future, especially in regards to property technology? Are there any features you would like to see?

First and foremost, we expect to see an acceleration in buildings adopting more technology. While this was already a trend, it was moving more slowly prior to the pandemic. COVID-19 is proving to be a catalyst for technology implementation in the real estate industry. That said, we are still in the very early stages of both the adoption curve and the innovation curve for real estate. Much of the technology currently offered in real estate is table stakes in other industries. Sometimes this manifests as technology providers trying to push for technologies that are “cool’ over technologies that are actually needed. Before real estate starts implementing the really advanced stuff, we have to start with getting the basics right. And to be clear, doing the basics right is not easy. Implementing good, functional technology is complex if you want to do it the right way.

Thank you, Rise Buildings, for giving our readers an in-depth understanding of your solutions, products, and services, as well as your view on the future of technology in the real estate industry. We look forward to seeing this unfold, and are equally excited for the future of our partnership.

For more on Rise Buildings, you can visit their website here, request a demo, or email the Rise team at info@risebuildings.com. You can also follow us on LinkedIn.

If you want to learn more about our KS Connect partners, explore our integration page. To read more about SALTO KS, click here or follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn for the latest product features, team updates and news from the industry.

SALTO KS provides a flexible access control management system that requires no software installation or the added expense of a fully-wired electronic product. Modern cloud-based, wireless access control systems are easy and simple to use for businesses including Coworking Spaces, Coliving Buildings, Purpose Built Student Accommodation, Retail, Multi-Tenant Housing, Gyms and many more. Our best in class wireless access control solution and smart locks guarantee the efficiency for your business. Integrate smart locks, start easily managing wireless access control now!

At this time last year, we introduced you to our Think Tank Partner, SPX Agency; the experience-driven real estate agency with a mission to create and develop brands which connect to the hearts of their customers.

Now a year later, this mission has progressed into reality and SPX is evolving into Spatial Experience. While the former focused on branding and digital marketing, Spatial Experience drives the agency even further to an experience-driven hub shaping future living.

To learn more about this new chapter, we caught up with the Spatial Experience team to learn more about their evolution, their Think Tank Partnership with SALTO KS and upcoming plans for the future.

Read ahead to learn more.

Before we begin, could you please briefly introduce Spatial Experience to our readers?

Spatial Experience is an innovation hub working in the intersection of design, technology and research to shape the future of living. Spatial Experience brings creativity and innovation to emerging real estate sectors with one goal in mind: designing purposeful spaces that enable human-to-human interactions, both online and offline.

We have gone through an extensive rebranding process, leaving SPX Agency (SPX) behind to evolve into Spatial Experience. We are expanding our offer and reach, creating more opportunities for our clients and partners, enabling connections and strengthening current partnerships, such as our Think Tank Partner SALTO KS.

When did the rebranding process take place and when was it finalized?

In general, we had this in mind for a very long time. We first evolved into a creative agency and later became an ecosystem with three pillars: SPX Agency, SPX Lab and SPX Studio.

Years of research and development finally turned into concrete planning at the beginning of 2019, and in March 2020 the first activities behind the scenes took place. The message we wanted to send to the world is our enhanced positioning into an innovation hub.

“We work in the intersection of design, technology and research, and each of these aspects is very important to our business as we cannot do what we do without these three pillars.”

We have been strong in design as well as branding & marketing since the beginning and we are strengthening our expertise in technology and research continuously.

While working on SPX Lab we realised that there is a pressing need to bring product and business development into perspective, so we realised this needed to be externalised with a refreshment of the brand, that is where Spatial Experience comes from. Spatial Experience in general stands for experiencing the space, driven by different factors such as interior design, sensorial elements, interactions, among others.

“Our role is to help emerging real estate concepts in the creation of inclusive, memorable, experience-driven spaces, supporting them in digital transformation and bridging the real & digital world.”

For the last half a year we have been focused on discussions and planning of the new brand positioning, what is our role in the industry, how can we drive greater impact, connect to partners and other stakeholders in the industry to influence the way shared living is shaped. We made the decision to rebrand because we know that the real estate industry will face a need to evolve and we want our business to be capable of supporting all challenges of future living. In order to be empowered to do that, we have created an ecosystem where research & development, agency solutions and support to emerging real estate startups can coexist and fuel each other. We evolved to become a strong partner that business can turn to for great ideas, to help them materialise their goals.

“It should be noted that our approach to rebrand Spatial Experience follows a growth-driven design and design thinking methodology: we believe a brand is a living entity, it is a journey, not a destination.”

What is the significance of the Think Tank Partnership between Spatial Experience and SALTO?

Our Think Tank Partnership with SALTO resulted from a number of genuine discussions between Bart Sasim, CEO & Founder of Spatial Experience, and Christian Schmitz, Coliving Business Development & Sales Manager at SALTO Systems, during different industry events. For years we have been advancing ideas, trying to be inspiring partners for each other, and at some point, we realised our organisations would mutually benefit from a partnership. We do not foster only our intercompany relationship, we also get involved in other organisations. We are both members and partners of Co-Liv and of The Class of 2020, we are working together on Coliving Insights and we are hoping to keep working together in the future, aligning our vision for the industry.

Think tanks share ideas, concepts, perspectives and assumptions on how things will move forward, how we can answer today’s problems with future-proof solutions. As we are both stakeholders of the same industries and segments, intersections of technology, design and marketing can provide a greater value. For us, this partnership is a great chance to understand SALTO’s perspective and share ours.

You mentioned that there was an “extensive rebranding process” involved in the transition to Spatial Experience. Could you describe what this transition involved and how it took place?

This transition required strategic thinking, planning and a seamless promotion of the new identity and brand. On an internal level, it involved an alignment of our vision and mission and of our long term involvement in the industry, as well as the reinforcement of the belief that we can drive more impact through other tools. Bound to the success of this major transition was also an alignment of our team culture. To accomplish the rebranding in the terms of what we envisioned, it was crucial that every member of our team understood the implications of the expansion of our horizon. A number of novel ideas, technological advancement, digital solutions and a whole new ecosystem would be now embedded into their DNA as well. In that sense, regarding team culture, we feel we have matured a great deal during the transition process. Certainly, one of the biggest milestones of Spatial Experience was to have built a culture that enables our team to support the industry on multiple fronts.

On an external level, this transition required us to better communicate in a more holistic yet simple way what we do and what we stand for, as well as what our work, services and products can bring to our stakeholders eg. clients and partners, among others. A well-defined message from Spatial Experience had to be translated into our offering as well.

What is in store for Spatial Experience and SALTO’s partnership and the upcoming future?

One of the main reasons we started a Think Tank Partnership with SALTO is that we are aware of how important smart technology is and how it helps drive sustainability, efficiency and value creation. With this in mind, we are developing a new venture named Digital Estate, that will connect multiple PropTech solutions among other Tech Tools in one single platform, linking real estate businesses with products and services in an easy, integrated, seamless experience.

Digital Estate will be an enterprise dedicated to help real estate businesses in sustainable digital transformation and to reach their highest potential, allowing users to browse, select, combine and book services & products.

Thank you very much for sharing your experience, plans and perspectives with us. If you would like to find out more about Spatial Experience, visit their website, blog, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Stay tuned for a special second part to this interview, where we dive further into experience design and the future of living with Spatial Experience.

If you want to learn more about our Think Tank Partners, explore our coliving page. To read more about SALTO KS, click here or follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn for the latest product features, team updates and news from the industry.

SALTO KS provides a flexible access control management system that requires no software installation or the added expense of a fully-wired electronic product. Modern cloud-based, wireless access control systems are easy and simple to use for businesses including Coworking Spaces, Coliving Buildings, Purpose Built Student Accommodation, Retail, Multi-Tenant Housing, Gyms and many more. Our best in class wireless access control solution and smart locks guarantee the efficiency for your business. Integrate smart locks, start easily managing wireless access control now!

Over the past year, many industries have seen changes in their infrastructure and practices, finding new inventive ways of keeping up with the times. One of the largest and often overlooked sectors is that of student housing.

In 2020, student housing facilities have had to change their operations and conditions to suit the worldwide pandemic climate. Moreover, housing a certain age demographic makes for an even trickier situation wherein the lack of control and supervision can lead to an even more challenging strategy.

Student housing facilities around the world have adopted new measures. They have implemented new technologies which can enable them to provide their students with as much ‘normal’ a student experience as possible. Student housing is, after all, an integral part of student life.

In this blog post, we look at how student housing units can optimise their spaces for the year ahead, to ensure as much normalcy as possible.

Quarantine-friendly dorms

The most prominent hurdle in running student housing units safely is arguably the struggle to ensure quarantine spaces. For students who live together and share communal facilities, this is especially hard and sometimes impossible. Rather than eliminating common areas and shared kitchens or bathrooms, a simple redesign or roster system could be highly effective. These spaces are proven to be a core value for higher education and contributing to student life. According to BDC, even well-executed socially distancing signage can go a long way and be adjusted depending on the regular updating of regulations.

“The furniture itself may adjust with high partitions that give an added layer of virus protection, social separation, and acoustic privacy.” - BDC.

Flexible and safe access

In keeping with changing regulations, students often opt to go back home or even alternate between living in their previous homes and dorms. Granting students flexible access is a vital step in giving students the freedom and allowing them to feel comfortable and in control of their own living space. Implementing the right access control system will enable students to use a Tag or their smartphone to access their rooms or apartments. This was the case in The Student Housing Company, which uses SALTO KS to manage all their properties in real-time centrally. For instance, students at University Square in Melbourne can remotely open doors that also support after-hours services. Since COVID-19, this has been used for opening the main doors for parcel deliveries and housing doors for when students are locked out. It has kept the students and staff safe by limiting human contact while still providing the same level of service and ease of access.

Touchless and hygienic environments

The key to gaining students’ confidence and allowing them to be comfortable is to create an environment of minimal contamination. While the transmission of COVID-19 through surfaces is yet to be confirmed, the virus can also spread through droplets released from sneezing or coughing. If other people inhale this or come in to contact with the droplets in their mouth, nose or eyes, or hands, they could become infected with the virus. This is why minimising contact and preventing the need to open door handles can go a long way in protecting students. Tags, automatic front door openers during certain times of the day, elevator cards, and touchless access can make all the difference. The cost of installation might deter people from implementing these systems. However, their impact lasts long enough to reap the benefits of the investment.

Lastly, cutting edge technologies such as BioCote antimicrobial coated technology effectively reduce a broad spectrum of microbes by up to 99.9%. Since 2011, SALTO Systems has incorporated the antimicrobial silver ion technology in its smart electronic lock range, electronic cylinders, locker locks, and supporting devices like wall readers. This provides integrated and lasting hygienic protection that helps regular cleaning regimes and hand hygiene.

Other ways to optimise student housing for 2021 include single-occupancy housing, air filters, and room dividers, among other new tools and innovations. At-risk students can be extended even further support, offering them prior access to single rooms and contact with support and well-being services. CNBC even recommended local governments to consider initiatives similar to the Duet Program in Boston that gives students who are earning their college degrees online, the physical space to work, a computer, internet access and local mentors, to make sure that lower-income students are given all the tools they need to ensure academic success.

To find more about SALTO KS, click here or follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn for the latest product features, team updates and news from the industry.

SALTO KS provides a flexible access control management system that requires no software installation or the added expense of a fully-wired electronic product. Modern cloud-based, wireless access control systems are easy and straightforward to use for businesses including Coworking Spaces, Coliving Buildings, Purpose Built Student Accommodation, Retail, Multi-Tenant Housing, Gyms and many more. Our best in class wireless access control solution and smart locks guarantee the efficiency for your business. Integrate smart locks, start easily managing wireless access control now!

A few weeks ago, we reintroduced you to our Think Tank Partner Spatial Experience, formerly known as SPX Agency. The team behind Spatial Experience collectively form an innovation hub working in the intersection of design, technology and research to shape the future of living. They strive to bring creativity and innovation to emerging real estate sectors with one goal in mind: designing purposeful spaces that enable human-to-human interactions, both online and offline. The first part of our conversation with the team focused on their extensive rebranding process and their upcoming future.

Now, we dive into the topics of their expertise which we have been waiting patiently to discuss with them, and the KS Blog provides the perfect platform to do so.

Read ahead to learn more about the team’s views on experience design and its implications on the technology, solutions and strategies behind experience design.

How is experience design used in the real estate industry?

At Spatial Experience, we go beyond the B2C (business-to-customer) experience. Most often, we are involved in the early stages of the project and we start with designing an experience for Investors. We believe Investor Experience (IX), Partner Experience (PX) as well as Employee Experience (EX) is crucial at the pre-launch stage when you need to get the full alignment of a cross-disciplinary team to understand the vision, mission as well as objectives of the project. Only after that, we may fully focus on Customer Experience (CX).

Experience design works on different levels. When looking at, for example, the journey of a typical hotel guest, there is the pre-booking phase, the arrival, the whole experience of the hotel stay and the post-visit memory-driven phase as well by experience. Experience design is really about understanding the user journey and the different elements that influence it on a service, design, marketing, operational level and beyond. Essentially, it is about how guests are being treated when they come to a specific location. The experience happens on multiple dimensions divided between a physical and an intangible aspect. For example, one may have an experience when you physically enter a space and also an experience when using an application or digital platform. Space intersects both in the real and digital world. So when designing experiences, we are continuously broadening the perception of space, a topic very close to our hearts.

You previously said on behalf of Spatial Experience, “By enhancing the spatial experience and providing solutions for urban spaces, we want to make people feel more connected, included and noticed.” What is the importance of human-to-human interactions for Spatial Experience?

The reason why we work at the intersection of the shared economy and real estate is because we want to stimulate human interactions. We work with shared living concepts, such as student housing and Coliving, where the actual human to human interaction is at the core.

“Real Estate is not necessarily only about the space itself, it is about how you utilise it, what kind of value can you bring, how can you commercialise it in a way to be perceived as a good product or service for the end customer.”

In times of social distancing, we are invested in finding solutions for sustaining human connection. When a new building opens its doors to a thousand residents, but people are not allowed to interact in the common areas, what do you do? You create an interactive and stimulating environment online. We have been introducing strategies and tools to communicate, encourage conversations, and strengthen the community. Moreover, we are continuously optimising processes for operations and the community management team so they can focus on what really matters: fostering human connections.

Do you think collaborations within different stakeholders in the industry is important? How do collaborative events and publications, such as Coliving Insights, affect the industry?

In answering this question, we encourage everybody to read more on our new venture, that places collaborations at its core: SPX Studio. Through the startup studio, we are opening doors to partners and clients to drive more impact in the industry through joint ventures. Coliving Ventures, our first venture, has successfully launched Coliving Insights and will be launching its first awards ceremony next year: Coliving Awards.

Regarding the Coliving Insights publications, we received very positive feedback from all of our stakeholders. We understand how valuable this feedback is and use it as a primary stimulus to keep going. We noticed that from the first edition of Coliving Insights to the latest, we have been able to involve higher stakeholders from the industry. By expanding stakeholder involvement, we help with the consolidation and professionalisation of the industry in general, also in establishing Coliving as a promising asset class that can drive more investment and impact on a global scale. This aligns with our mission & vision of pushing industry growth and fostering innovative solutions for future living. Our most recent edition of Coliving Insights is available for download now. Coliving Insights No.4: ‘Invest, Develop, Operate & Scale’, explores the coliving lifecycle through 160+ pages of original content from more than 25 expert contributors.

The next joint venture to be launched by SPX Studio will be Digital Estate. Through this enterprise we will be enabling innovation in real estate by gathering multiple vetted PropTech solutions and Tech Tools in one integrated environment, connecting businesses with products and services that suit their tailored needs.

Your rebranding press release coined the acronym VUCA, to describe recent events in the world and an environment that is ‘Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous.’ Could you expand on how you see the VUCA world and how it is relevant for experience design?

The acronym reflects the reality we live in: nothing is certain, the world is complex and ambiguous, change is constant and we need to adapt faster than initially anticipated. A profound understanding of this allows us to take a strategic approach as an organisation to provide services and products that answer to the market's needs and are flexible enough to stay relevant in “VUCA” times.

“When designing experiences while working together with our clients and partners we take into consideration that the world is a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment.”

This way we are able to see challenges from a broader and long-term perspective - not as one-time problems that need to be solved but as an action-reaction chain that leads to specific consequences in the future. That is why we take time at the beginning of every project to get a better grasp of the target audience and the environment they operate in.

By understanding the context (the VUCA world), we are able to design solutions that truly make people's lives better, reducing uncertainty, helping them quickly adapt to change and thus, add value to their future living.

What role does smart technology play in the “cities of tomorrow” and Spatial Experiences’ next steps?

SALTO, as one of the leaders in smart technology in its field, is a great sparring partner that helps us understand the perspective of technology enablers and juxtapose it with the end customer needs. We are humbled about our achievements in technology as these were, a majority of the time, tailor-made for our clients & partners, and we are looking for a way forward to scale some of our concepts to drive more impact.

We have a genuine desire to democratise access to technologies that can push the industry forward. However, this requires a broad understanding in regards to the current state of PropTech, what it actually does and how it can be used in the most sustainable way to drive impact within our industry.

To read the first part to this interview, where we explore the innovative rebranding process of SPX Agency into Spatial Experience, click here.

We’d like to extend our gratitude to the entire Spatial Experience team for sharing their knowledge, plans and perspectives with us; not once but twice! If you would like to find out more about Spatial Experience, visit their website, blog, Instagram and LinkedIn.

If you want to learn more about our Think Tank Partners, explore our Coliving page. To read more about SALTO KS, click here or follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn for the latest product features, team updates and news from the industry.

SALTO KS provides a flexible access control management system that requires no software installation or the added expense of a fully-wired electronic product. Modern cloud-based, wireless access control systems are easy and simple to use for businesses including Coworking Spaces, Coliving Buildings, Purpose Built Student Accommodation, Retail, Multi-Tenant Housing, Gyms and many more. Our best in class wireless access control solution and smart locks guarantee the efficiency for your business. Integrate smart locks, start easily managing wireless access control now!

Spaceflow: making smarter buildings

Seamless access and movement between buildings where you may live or work are key in curating the best possible tenant experience. Spaceflow, is the integral puzzle piece who can make this happen, delivering software and community engagement services to landlords and building operators across the globe.

How do they achieve this? By combining the physical and digital in order to elevate the experience for occupants; connecting local services, smart building features, and community life in offices and residential buildings, all in a single app. This includes offerings from any local service, like restaurants or wellness providers, booking meeting rooms, receiving news about the building and local events, and of course using the right access control system. This is where SALTO KS steps in.

We spoke with Head of Marketing at Spaceflow, Petr Boruta who has been with the company for more than 3 years. He says, “It has truly been great to see the progress from the very beginning and our first implementation to where we are now with 100+ buildings launched. Our product, the team and the company as a whole have since developed tremendously.” In this blog post, Petr discusses all things Spaceflow and gives us insight into the integration with SALTO KS.

The team behind Spaceflow

Spaceflow app: how it works

Read on to find out everything you need to know about Spaceflow:

Could you please introduce your company to our readers?

Spaceflow’s mission is to empower landlords to create the best tenant experience possible across their portfolios on a global scale.

Spaceflow was created to make buildings smarter and more community-oriented. Through our mobile app and community engagement program, we offer a single link connecting building services, amenities, smart building features, and community, all in one place.

Today, landlords‘ top priority is to minimize vacant space whilst increasing asset value. We solve this problem by boosting tenant loyalty with customized programming and enhanced tenant experiences, effectively increasing tenant satisfaction and retention.

Spaceflow can be summed up as “Your building in one app”. How does the app achieve this?

Spaceflow connects local services, smart building features, and community life in offices and residential buildings which improves integration, collaboration and simplifies daily life.

The app itself has four core modules: smart technology, such as touchless access systems that we integrate from partners like SALTO KS, communication from the landlord and building management via the newsfeed, ticketing and messaging, access to services, amenities and bookings, and finally the possibility to get to know your community better– via events (even virtual!), news from other occupants and neighbours and community sharing.

Simply put, Spaceflow fills that missing gap between you and the building you work or live in.

The Spaceflow engagement program

Community engagement seems to be a vital component of Spaceflow’s offering. Could you share more about the Spaceflow Engagement Program and efforts to drive tenant experience?

We always strive to build communities in which tenants can thrive, by integrating an effective engagement program with the help of our experienced community team. In order for landlords to meet the surging demand for smart solutions and community, we craft experiences for tenants in various shapes and sizes, both on and offline. This means working side by side with clients during the adoption process, organizing regular success meetings, and in-depth training, followed by a tailored marketing strategy and campaign to raise awareness, engagement, and adoption prior to launch.

Once Spaceflow is live, our community team can help with anything from organizing launch events, pop/ups, finding local offers and perks, and tailoring timely, relevant, and engaging content for your community.

The Spaceflow mobile and web app

“We recognize that in a time of increased disconnectedness and loneliness in society at large, it is now more important than ever before to utilize technology as a way to build bridges between people, emphasizing the great need for a community-oriented approach to life in order to motivate optimal tenant health and well-being.” - Petr Boruta, Head of Marketing at Spaceflow

Buildings' digital layer

What is the role of Spaceflow with respect to building management and tenants respectively?

Spaceflow is here to help the building operator or owner with managing the whole building-tenant and building-occupier relation. Today, buildings need to have a digital layer as well as a community engagement strategy in place in order to differentiate from the competition and appeal to tenants.

We also help our clients manage the value of their space by providing data for more precise decision making and enable additional revenue from all transactions by providing their building as-a-service for tenants to enjoy.

Integration of Spaceflow and Salto KS

How does the integration of Spaceflow with SALTO KS benefit the end-users?

Seamless building-access and movement are one of the key cornerstones in creating the best possible tenant experience. The integration of SALTO KS as a provider of digital access control, and Spaceflow as a tenant experience platform, enables just that. Building occupiers can now use the tenant experience app in their mobile phones to unlock doors throughout the building they live or work in.

What would you like to see for the future of this integration with Salto KS?

The next step for our integration is to allow administrators to manage Salto KS users through the Spaceflow admin console and thus reduce the number of apps they have to use on a daily basis.

Thank you, Petr and the rest of the team at Spaceflow, for giving our readers an in-depth understanding of your solutions, products, and services, as well as your view on the future of technology in optimizing tenant experience. We look forward to seeing this unfold, and are equally excited for the future of our partnership.

For more on Spaceflow, you can visit their website here, request a demo, or have a look at their official blog.

If you want to learn more about our KS Connect partners, explore our integration page. To read more about SALTO KS, click here or follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn for the latest product features, team updates and news from the industry.

SALTO KS provides a flexible access control management system that requires no software installation or the added expense of a fully-wired electronic product. Modern cloud-based, wireless access control systems are easy and simple to use for businesses including Coworking Spaces, Coliving Buildings, Purpose Built Student Accommodation, Retail, Multi-Tenant Housing, Gyms and many more. Our best in class wireless access control solution and smart locks guarantee the efficiency for your business. Integrate smart locks, start easily managing wireless access control now!

From the experts' point of view, the clear design and intuitive user experience were the main reasons for voting to award the SALTO MyLock Configurator a 2020 ARCHITECTS’ DARLING AWARD. In addition, they positively highlighted the immediate display of configuration changes and the user navigation. SALTO MyLock was clearly above the average of all participants in most evaluation categories.

The award was judged by a jury of communication experts and renowned representatives of top international architecture companies and specifiers. In the course of the evaluation, the jury members answered questions about the brand, the "look & feel," "search results," and open questions about "difficulties," "time required," and "personal impressions." An overall mark was derived from this, which formed the basis for the final ranking.

SALTO MyLock enables specifiers, architects, partners, and end users to individually configure SALTO‘s wire-free electronic door lock components and visualise them on different door types or styles. In addition to the electronic hardware, they can choose from several door models and a wide range of colours, finishes, handles and functions.

The renowned ARCHITECTS' DARLING AWARDS have been awarded by Heinze GmbH for ten years. This year, the awards were judged in 25 product areas, from flooring to technical products. In addition, 12 theme awards were evaluated by a jury. Categories here included "Best Website," "Best Product Innovation," and, new this year, "Best Product Configurator." The Cradle to Cradle Challenge Award, the award for sustainability and corporate responsibility, was also presented again.

MyLock online configurator: https://mylock.saltosystems.com/