CASE STUDY
Landmark House
Landmark House turn to Holler for cloud voice, security and access control refresh
Background
Landmark House is a 12,000 square foot flexible space office building in Hampshire which is home to a dozen businesses. The business was looking to refresh the majority of its technology as part of an overhaul of the value added services offered to clients.
The challenge
The existing voice solution was based on an ageing on-prem Avaya solution which was nearly 15 years old and no longer offered any of the features demanded by post-pandemic businesses wanting to embrace flexible working and cloud applications.
The existing access control system was based on a Cotag solution which was nearing 20 years old and it was no longer possible to purchase the access cards which on a regular basis were being lost or damaged.
For security the business only operated a couple of internal domestic-grade cameras which didn’t provide the coverage, resolution or storage to be of any use. Recent security concerns included a tramp sleeping in the doorway overnight and an incident of ‘road rage’ when a tenant in the building was followed in to the car park and confronted, meant the business needed a comprehensive solution to protect property and personnel.
Sharon Thomas, Centre Manager for Landmark House, explains further “since the pandemic we have become more aware that our existing technology was no longer meeting the needs of our business or that of our clients and we would need to invest in new hardware and software. Matters came to a head in mid-2023 when we had this incident of road rage and a suspected overnight sleeper in the doorway. We even had a lorry from a neighbouring business knock down our bollards but without the footage we had no evidence and could not pursue a claim. We knew it was time to invest and we turned to Holler Technology, experts in the solutions to the flexible space industry, for their guidance.”
The solution
Holler Technology met with Landmark House in autumn 2023 and immediately understood the requirements and what would be the right technological solution to address the immediate needs. Holler Voice, our award-winning, cloud voice solution was deployed in November 2023 as a direct replacement for the on-prem Avaya solution, and this immediately offered users flexible working, voice recording, presence and chat.
Turning to the access control requirements, Holler recommended the latest facial recognition door access to the front and rear doors in order to do away with legacy cards and fobs which are inherently insecure as they can be lost or passed around. Now when a user approaches an external door, the facial recognition camera identifies the person from 2 metres away and the door automatically unlocks as they reach it. This solution improves speed and simplicity of access as nobody has to stop and search for their card or fob. For visitors to the building, they’re able to press a Call button to alert the internal staff to their presence and they can then converse with them and release the door if they choose to. The new door readers also support PIN entry, QR code scanning and legacy fobs/cards if required too.
For the CCTV requirement an integrated solution with the access control facial recognition system was proposed. This meant the control software was the same for both solutions and the set-up and admin was a single product. New ColorVu external cameras were used for all sides of the building and car park coverage, which give a true colour image even at night. No longer must you and the Police study inverted B&W images where you can’t tell what colour a car or a person’s clothing might be. Now even at night the footage is full colour.
Richard Burbage, CEO of Holler Technology, continues “the requirements of Landmark House were fairly straightforward but it was important to look at them holistically and to come up with integrated solutions that worked together. I’m pleased our design was chosen and everything was implemented in late 2023 with positive reactions from Landmark House and their clients”.
Our Result
Within days of the new solutions being deployed the business was able to see the benefits. Having an integrated solution where all the technology worked together meant a number of ancillary benefits.
Sharon Thomas, Centre Manager for Landmark House, sums things up by saying “we’ve had nothing but praise from our clients about the new technology and features, especially by being able to now simply approach a door and it unlocks, rather than using the old system of cards. And we’ve already seen a positive reaction from prospective tenants when we’re doing viewings and we point out the new technology we’ve invested in. I would expect the return-on-investment (ROI) to be very quick from the response we’ve seen to-date. And lastly praise should be given to Holler Technology who understood our requirements and delivered their solution on time and on budget”.
