Every morning, employees would bang on the door, begging to be let in by a manager. Museum of Ice Cream realized they use an app for every aspect of their business, why not for their doors too?

While searching through different access control systems, they needed a platform that allowed them flexibility over keys, won’t break the bank, and is at the forefront of innovation. Museum of Ice Cream found Nexkey, and immediately said it became a “no-brainer”.

Employees are thankful to now be able to open any door with a simple tap in an App instead of having to wait in front of a closed door until their manager can let them in. It was a natural adoption for their millennial workforce culture.

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We have all seen the trendy, colorful pictures on Instagram. With their success came a bigger workforce to manage. They needed Smarter Access. Let’s go behind the scenes as Jes Muse, Senior Manager of Facilities and Maintenance @ MOIC, shares why they have adopted a mobile access control system and how they see Nexkey’s innovation as the future.

What is the Museum of Ice Cream?

We create an alternative reality, immersive experience for people to come to. This fosters human interaction, rather than just being on your phones. We're known as the Instagram Museum, but we weren't started with that in mind.

We do create immersive rooms where people can take creative, colorful photos thus the Instagram reputation. The point of these activities and immersive environment is human interaction, not just with people that you go there with, but with strangers, as well.

How many people need access to your space?

We have around 50 to 75 guides at any given time on staff along with a handful of managers - about seven, or eight managers now. When I first started at the museum in December of last year, there was no key system. Managers were the only ones who got keys.

They would just bang on the front door, until somebody heard them. It's a pretty vast space with five floors so we didn't always hear people right away, banging on the door.

Why did you want mobile access?

Affordability for one, but mainly for a company that is on the cutting edge of a new industry, and also using technologies. We have an app for everything. An app to clock in, and ask for our vacation requests. We use Slack for messaging. It just seems natural. It's just like, "Oh, we can use an app to unlock our doors."

We are a fairly young company. I'm one of the older people that work there. When you have a hundred millennials working for you, saying, "Here's an app that opens the door", it’s natural for them. It was an easy decision. It’s seamless, and it made a lot of sense for the demographic of people that work for us.

“We have an app for everything. It just seems natural.”

Do you use short-time access?

Occasionally, yes. When we were doing construction, I was allowing different people to have access. I gave text keys to some of the managers of those teams.

This was shortly after we installed the Nexkey. Other than that, it's very occasional that I need to use that option but it's really nice to have.

What was your biggest issue with keys?

The biggest issue was access in the mornings, before shifts. If somebody gets there close to the time that they need to clock in, and nobody is at the door, then they have to bang, and knock. Then they have to clock in, and they're late.

That was frustrating for them. Especially, since we have a pretty strict point system that we use for tardiness, and call outs, and stuff like that. So, this helped alleviate that issue, almost a 100%.

“Key cards, and fobs are going to fall by the wayside.”

Why did you ultimately decide to install Nexkey?

I was tasked with the challenge of coming up with a way to provide access that was not giving physical keys out. I did a little homework on key cards, and then realized how expensive they were, especially if they keep getting lost.

It seemed cost-prohibitive, even though I wasn't given a budget necessarily, to work with. They were just like, "Figure it out." And so, I stumbled upon Nexkey, while doing research, and it seemed like a great fit.

Nexkey is great because of the flexibility when providing access, deactivating access, and changing schedules. It's been really easy to use to track who's got access to the building. Being able to open remotely has been great too.

Like, I can be sitting at home, and somebody says, "Oh. The plumber's coming at 7:00 AM." I don't have to go in at 7:00 AM, necessarily. I just have to know when the guy is there and I can unlock it for him or give him a temporary pass. It's super convenient!

What is the biggest advantage using Nexkey?

That's hard to really single out just one for me. The biggest advantage for me may be the remote access. It's also been great to not have to be the only one in charge of adding people, and revoking access.

I can hand that responsibility over to another manager who's onboarding and offboarding. I instituted it, but then I don't have to hold on to the sole responsibility of managing access, necessarily. I can give it to somebody else.

“This is the way our culture and technology is moving - it's a no brainer.”

What advice would you give to someone who is looking into mobile access?

This is the way our culture and technology is moving. It seems to me that key cards, and fobs are going to fall by the wayside, eventually. Having the technology already in place, and not wasting a thousand dollars on installing a key card system - it's a no brainer.

For me, it was saving money, and being able to provide the best service. When the founders came out from the headquarters office in New York, they liked the Nexkey app so much, that they are instituting it in the New York office.

It was obviously a big hit with them.

[Photos courtesy of Museum of Ice Cream]

Flexibility and affordability, must-haves for the Museum of Ice Cream, Nexkey is a “no-brainer”