Innovating in tough times
Nexkey introduces Nexkey Portal and Apple Watch App
It’s been 3 months since I’ve joined Nexkey as the VP of Products, and it’s been quite the whirlwind as I get up to speed with smart locks and access control at Nexkey. That journey took an unexpected turn over the last couple of weeks with COVID-19, and it’s ripple effects. The most immediate concern we had at Nexkey, like many others, was the health and well-being of our employees & their families. We disbanded from the office to focus on our families and to avoid spreading the virus. That doesn’t mean that work at Nexkey on frictionless access is paused. Quite the contrary, we’re still actively working using online collaboration tools like Zoom, Slack & others. We continue to manage the infrastructure and innovate and build new features, two of which I’m quite excited to release to all of our customers.
First, I’m excited to announce Nexkey Portal. Using any browser, Nexkey Portal will allow Administrators to not only have a different mechanism to manage their keys & users but we introduced two new features (Dashboards & Messaging) that aren’t currently found on the Nexkey iOS & Android Mobile Apps.
Dashboards
Portal’s new Dashboard feature gives administrators powerful, real-time insights into space utilization and personnel flow -- a value add that you’ve never expected from a solution that manages access for your space.
For example, you can:
Track the growth and usage of your space over time
See, in real-time, how many people have entered your space, so you can use real data to plan how much coffee or snacks to order for your office or to plan staffing levels.
Track users to identify your most loyal customers or those who aren’t accessing your space and potentially at the risk of most churn.
Identify the users who are not using certain doors so you can re-evaluate if those users really need access to those keys
Messaging
The other new feature in Portal is Messaging, which allows Administrators to send in-app messages to users based on where the user is, and open up a contextual communication channel with your users / customers. For example, rather than sending an email or Slack message about your office, you can message your users in a way that’s both timely, in-context and relevant. For example,
“The meeting scheduled for Conference Room A has been moved to Conference Room B”
“Impromptu ice cream hour at 3pm in the cafeteria”
“Enabling Holiday Hours for the main office today”
Go ahead and check it out at https://portal.nexkey.com, using your standard Nexkey credentials. This is an example of the ways that Nexkey is stretching the boundaries of what to expect from an access management system.
Apple Watch App
The other new product we’re excited to announce is Apple Watch support for the Nexkey App. Access Control is all about striking a balance between security and convenience / usability. The Apple Watch, and other wearables, are the ultimate expression of personalization and convenience and I use it regularly to pay for groceries, measure my steps and heart rate during my runs or dog walks. Adding the Nexkey App as a complication on my watch face allows me to do a 2 tap door unlock without having to reach into my pocket for my phone or put down my coffee mug or deal with ugly card readers.
