Incube.Space Transforms Commercial Real Estate to ‘Space as a Service’

Earlier in 2019, Incube designed a smart office for Bosch called the London Connectory. As part of the design phase, Incube also managed the technology integration including the integration of Kisi for door access throughout the site. We spoke with co-founder, Rishi Chowdhury, about how Incube has developed an aggregated API layer for offices that want to run more efficiently, optimize space utilization and improve productivity and collaboration.

How does technology inform space as a service?

Our urban mobility coworking space, London Connectory, opened in April, with Kisi installed from the beginning. We designed the tech stack to provide maximum value to both Bosch and resident members in the space, ensuring usability and functionality.

We got Kisi units for all of the entrance and exit doors as well as all the meeting rooms and private offices in the space — 14 door readers in total. Kisi offers multiple benefits, one being secure access; only members or approved guests have access and we can grant access remotely for contractors with time-based scheduling. Since we’re a coworking space it’s great to be able to differentiate between membership levels and provision various levels of access. Our CubeOS platform integrates with multiple IoT devices to provide control and insights from one location. When building our tech stack we look for quality, features and interoperability. Kisi is a great example because, beyond the functionality and design, Kisi integrates with a number of other software systems we use such as OfficeRnD or Envoy. This means that via CubeOS we can set up automated workflows such as guest access. Rather than have a reception at the door all day, our Office Managers are able to get on with providing the best experience in the space knowing when members pre-register guests, they can sign in at the iPad at the door, which will also take their picture, notify our office managers and then automatically unlock the door so guests can enter and meet their host; who will also be notified.

Managing the meeting rooms is also simplified. If someone books it then Kisi grants them access for the time they booked and helps us assign credit usage based on how they use the space—that way as a commercially run space we’re not losing revenue.

How many users do you have?

The space has capacity for 100 members and we’ve had thousands of guests that have come and gone since we opened in March 2019. We have also been able to provision access to contractors and suppliers when required out of hours.

How many access levels do you have?

We use three levels for members—hot desks, private desks and private offices. Then there’s provisioned access for contractors, landlord, cleaners and the security team in the building, all have different access schedules depending on their role.

Why did you choose Kisi?

Whilst developing a smart space, we needed more than just a door access system, we needed a smart door access system with maximum interoperability and flexibility. Being NFC ensured users don’t have to rely on a data connection via the app and could use access cards, or even access using an NFC ring (all of the staff use an NFC ring and the option is there for members). It provides a real wow factor but is a very intuitive way of opening the door. Cards get lost/left somewhere else and require you to have a hand free, so having an option to add any NFC enabled device meant we could ensure the technology adapts to suit the human rather than the other way around.

As well as the existing integrations with other software tools, we integrated Kisi via it’s open API’s, to our facilities dashboard which aggregates all of the IoT devices within our demise. This allows office managers to have one location they can control everything, access data and insights and set up automated workflows. We have one location in which we can lock and unlock all doors, or via zone alongside the other integrations such as lighting, power and audio equipment.

Kisi gives us insights alongside data from other devices to get a better overview of space utilization. It has been extremely efficient and easy to integrate.