INTRODUCTION
In 2004, the founders of Shopify started selling snowboarding equipment online. But they wanted to do more than just sell goods; they wanted to own their brand and build relationships with customers. There was no e-commerce tool that would enable them to do that, so they built it themselves. They soon realized other stores were in need of a hassle-free platform to build their retail business, and Shopify was born.
Today, Shopify is the leading multi-channel platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems, powering more than 800,000 businesses in approximately 175 countries, and generating $41B in gross merchandise volume in 2018 alone*.
THE CHALLENGE
In 2017, Shopify added 325,000 square feet of space to its headquarters in Ottawa, Canada. The goal was to create a more efficient, connected, and collaborative workplace, starting with room scheduling. Galina Tsyganovskaya, AV Infrastructure Specialist, Napoleon Soberanis, AV Build Lead, and their team were tasked with finding a new enterprise room scheduling solution that could integrate seamlessly with Robin® scheduling software, the company’s existing platform.
THE SOLUTION
The search for a room scheduling solution that met all their criteria for success led Galina and Napoleon to Crestron. “After learning Crestron TSW room scheduling touch screens would not only integrate natively with our existing Robin scheduling software, but would also eliminate the inconsistencies my team was experiencing when deploying, managing, and monitoring tablets, we knew that Crestron was the way to go,” says Tsyganovskaya. They subsequently decided to replace all tablets with Crestron TSW room scheduling touch screens.
Crestron touch screens, natively running Robin scheduling software, are mounted just outside each meeting space, so employees can immediately see if a room is available and for how long. They can conveniently book meetings on the spot, see the full schedule for the day, and even reserve a time for later in the day. They can also check-in, extend the current meeting, end a meeting early so the room is returned to inventory, and more.
Another benefit of the Crestron touch screens becomes apparent in the event of a power outage. Previously, Shopify’s IT staff would have to manually reboot every tablet and then reconnect them to the network. The Crestron solution eliminated this downtime.
TSW touch screens are also employed inside meeting spaces to provide fully integrated one-touch control of everything in the room including lights, shades, displays, audio, and video.
RESULTS
With the help of Crestron, Shopify has created a workspace that not only helps its employees be more productive, but also optimizes meeting space usage. The ability to natively run the existing Robin scheduling software on Crestron touch screens was critical to the project’s success, ensuring an easy-to-use, deploy, and maintain solution company-wide.
The room scheduling initiative was so successful Shopify added Crestron lighting and shading solutions throughout its headquarters, also conveniently controlled from the TSW touch screens.
