Dr. Gleb Tsipursky – The Office Whisperer
Nirit Cohen – WorkFutures
Angela Howard – Culture Expert
Drew Jones – Design & Innovation
Jonathan Price – CRE & Flex Expert
Kisi, the tech company that’s revolutionizing access control and management, speaks with OT on growth, disruption, and future plans.
Last year, we wrote about Kisi and their disruptive key less system, which allows workspace operators and clients to open doors by simply swiping a command on their mobile phone.
This week we caught up with Alex Shamy, Marketing Manager of Kisi, and discussed how business is going, how they’re growing, some of the challenges they’ve faced, and what we can expect from Kisi in the future.
Going back a little, Alex tells us how the concept of Kisi was born when the founders experienced first hand a workplace security breach: “no one ever asked them to give back the key.”
Originally founded in Munich, the tech company has since moved to New York, where Alex says they’ve caught a head of steam. “Things are going well, the team is growing quickly,” he says and also adds: “The market is ready for something like us.”
The response to their product and services has been positive and the future seems promising, but the success hasn’t come without its challenges.
Alex shares how although Kisi works directly with the tenants of a building, they’ve experience resistance from traditional locksmiths. “There’s been a pushback from locksmiths about installing our system, they don’t understand our brand. We don’t sell lock or pin-pads or physical hardware, which is where they usually make the most commission; so they’ve tried to convince clients to install other types of systems or hardware even after they’ve hired us.”
In terms of success, Alex attributes part of it to our industry, “flexible workspace operators are our bread and butter.” The flexible workspace industry is one of Kisi’s target markets; “whenever operators add a new member, the member automatically has access to the space through their phone.”
“Kisi runs seamlessly in the background.” And from what they’ve experienced, both operators and members are happy with the software. “Kisi can be configured in such a way that users (administrators) can customize the days or times in which doors can be unlocked, it’s a lightweight setup, and workspace members can easily access the space.”
“As people get more comfortable with being on-the-go, it’s really just so simple to give them access to your spaces through their phones.”
Kisi is a cutting-edge tool that has successfully broken into tech-savvy markets of the US, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and New York. As for the future, Kisi hopes to become a full-on workplace security service company, “we’re going for more than just key access.”
They’re also in the process of closing a partnership with a coworking space operator, but about this we’ll hear more in the coming months.
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Image via Kisi website.
