Case study · Coworking

CatMarina: book, pay, walk in

Twenty-two meeting rooms in a new office and coworking space in Lahti — and a plan, at first, to hand out keys for all of them.

CatMarina started in the furniture business in the 1970s and has become a significant property player since: an indoor sports arena in Hollola, floating villas and saunas, and now an office and coworking space. Its founder and CEO Heimo Hälikkä has always been curious about new technology, and the brief for the new space was a safe, user-friendly experience for everyone in it — which meant access had to be controlled and manageable.

Twenty-two rooms, and the key drawer that never happened

The first thought was traditional keys. Then somebody counted the rooms.

“We should have employed someone full time just for handling access authorizations, handing out keys and keeping a log book to track users or chase forgetful customers, not to mention having to order expensive service to replace all the locks because of lost keys. We started to look for alternatives.”

Jenni MattilaSales, CatMarina

Security first

Mobile keys turned out to be the safer option as well as the easier one. The doors to the building stay closed; only authorised people open them; once inside, people move freely between the rooms they have rights to.

“Security is essential for us. Bitwards Mobile Access ticked all the boxes concerning security and safety, as it allows controlling the flow of who is accessing the premises at all times, making it a safe environment for our customers to work in because we know that keys cannot end up in the wrong hands. We can deny access if deemed necessary.”

Jenni MattilaSales, CatMarina

Why Bitwards, and why Asio

“We chose Bitwards because Bitwards could deliver fast and accommodate our needs. They also had an integration with Asio, which provided the online booking system that our customers now use to reserve meeting rooms. Customers, staff, cleaning service crews, and occasional visitors could immediately access the premises by downloading the app.”

Jenni MattilaSales, CatMarina

There was one small problem early on, not of Bitwards' making. It was found and fixed quickly, which Mattila counted as the more useful proof: “It's comforting to know that if bigger things arise in the future, we can rely on prompt, responsive and competent customer service, which is so rare nowadays.”

Book, pay, access

• The customer books a room or a space, for the time they want, in the Asio web service.
• They pay for the booking through an online payment service such as Paytrail.
• Asio authorises the Bitwards Mobile Access service to issue the rights.
• Bitwards sends the rights to the mobile application.
• The customer opens the booked space at the booked time.

Asio is a Finnish IT company specialising in booking management for schools, cities and municipalities, restaurants, business parks, parking halls and lodging — spaces, rooms, classrooms, parking spaces, devices, times and events. Because the API integration between Asio and Bitwards already exists, a deployment like CatMarina's is a matter of configuration rather than construction.

Who would Jenni Mattila recommend it to?

“I recommend implementing Bitwards Mobile Access in any office with more than one employee. It is unquestionably worth the initial investment. For example, we will never have to go through any costly key replacement operation. The system works; employees don't have to make an appointment to meet customers to hand out keys or to remind people to return them. I would also recommend it to Airbnb owners: customers book and pay online and are granted access to their app in a few minutes.”

Jenni MattilaSales, CatMarina

CatMarina is now considering the same arrangement for bookings of its floating villas, and for storage rooms.

Text: Katariina Benedetti. Graphics: Bitwards / Susanna Määttä. Originally published by Bitwards, 9 February 2023.