The team needed to increase their operational efficiency so they could maintain their membership base and provide better customer service
The Challenge
"We manage seven gyms in seven different buildings. With our old solution we had to access servers remotely via VPN in seven different systems to make sure everything was working properly. I had to open and close multiple applications on my computer multiple times a day. It was confusing to figure out which application was for which gym,” said the Operations Supervisor of a New York fitness club operator. “Our old system didn’t work properly for us. We couldn’t just open doors remotely when a customer forgot their ID. It was difficult to keep our customers happy.”
The Operations Supervisor and her team were unproductive in managing access to their locations as they needed to access multiple unreliable servers in multiple buildings to allow for specific people to enter the fitness center. Unlocking doors for gym members remotely wasn’t possible. They couldn’t afford to watch members walk away from the gym and eventually their membership. They needed to make a change to a more flexible and convenient access control and video monitoring solution that would allow them to manage the systems remotely from one simple interface. This would enable them to remotely monitor their health clubs, and most importantly, open doors remotely for members if they forgot their key fobs.
They needed to make a change to a more flexible and convenient access control and video monitoring solution that would allow them to manage the systems remotely from one simple interface.
The team needed to increase their operational efficiency so they could maintain their membership base and provide better customer service by:
- Ensuring that access control and video monitoring technology was working properly at all times
- Facilitating a quick corrective action for maintaining a clean gym with fully functional equipment at all times
- Controlling access remotely
- Unlocking doors remotely if a member forgot their key fob
- Confirming member identities to discourage sharing of fobs
- Ensuring gyms are only accessible during scheduled hours
- Issuing gym passes for specific time periods (e.g. summer passes that expire automatically after 2-3 months)
The Choice
The Operations Supervisor reached out to their access control dealer, Paragon Security, to find to find an access control and video monitoring system that would better suit their needs. “They immediately suggested that we move to a cloud-based system and recommended
Brivo Onair. Brivo Onair allows for true multi-site capabilities without running multiple servers and setting up VPN’s to call into them individually. Brivo Onair allowed us to connect the access control for all of our seven gyms in one interface. It also has a native integration with the Eagle Eye Networks cloud-based video management system. Together this cloud-based package allows me to have full control of our gyms remotely. I can unlock doors for different gyms all from one system. I can confirm member identities by comparing their ID picture with what’s in the live video feed,” explained the Supervisor.
The Change
The Operations Supervisor carries the majority of the burden and handles the responsibility of access control issues and customer complaints. With Brivo Onair, the team is able to be much more responsive to member needs. They can immediately open doors to the gym if members forget their access credentials. With the Eagle Eye Networks video integration, she can confirm that only true members are using the facility.
Since deploying Brivo Onair, the team has had no member complaints about unclean facilities. The team can be more proactive in enforcing gym rules and sending team members to make repairs or adjustments. As a result they have experienced decreased member complaints and an increase in gym memberships.
“I used to spend so much time opening and closing different applications to keep track of our gyms. Managing the gyms now takes me a fraction of the time. Brivo Onair has also allowed us to provide our members with additional intangible benefits. Some of our members have gym cost reimbursement benefits from their employers. We are able to email them personalized gym access reports as proof for their employers of gym membership and use, so that they can easily be reimbursed,” elaborated the Operations Supervisor. “All in all, deploying Brivo Onair and Eagle Eye Networks has allowed us to run our gyms more efficiently and provide additional services to our customers. We are opening another gym next month and we are, of course, going to deploy Brivo Onair there to integrate that gym into our operations.”