THE STATUS QUO HAD FALLEN SHORT
Bowles Hall Residential College, founded in 1929, is the only residential college at UC Berkeley. With approximately 191 student residents, Bowles Hall offers a premier co-ed four-year housing experience on the beautiful University of CaliforniaBerkeley campus. Before Ernesto Bastidas, Housing Operations Director for Greystar at Bowles Hall, found Proxess he and his team were dealing with several significant challenges related to the existing electronic locks on student rooms. With no audit trail for lock transactions, frustrations with student lock outs, limited support, outdated software and escalating costs to maintain the existing system, Ernesto and the Greystar management team decided it was time for a change. “We were looking for a new lock system that could reduce lockouts, allow for mobile key use by students and staff, increase student safety, offer easy system management and ensure much better support,” Bastidas recalled.
AN ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM EMERGES
In the process of gathering multiple bids for a new system, Ernesto found Proxess and after the initial product demonstration was impressed with the capabilities, product design, simplicity and affordability of the Proxess network-on-credential technology platform. Once the Bowles Hall Board approved the new Proxess electronic access control system for the student rooms, Ernesto and his team were excited to get started as soon as the students left for summer break, but before the summer campers arrived. And because Proxess does not need WIFI or have need for IT infrastructure, more than 120 new Proxess mortise locks were installed and operational in less than one week. Getting Proxess up and running at Bowles Hall proved simpler than even Ernesto imagined. “We really received remarkable customer service from Proxess first in getting us trained on their ProxessIQ™ Software and then whenever we had any questions or challenges related to managing our new system. The level of support we received was exactly what we needed,” Bastidas shared.
DELIVERING AN UNMATCHED STUDENT HOUSING EXPERIENCE
The quantum leap in the student experience that Proxess has provided for Bowles Hall has been transformational. With the Proxess Mobile Key in the form of a secure app on their mobile phones, Bowles Hall residents can securely access their rooms easily with their mobile devices. This mobile access capability has really changed the dynamic within the student community. “The students locking themselves out of their room is way down versus previous years. Plus, the students love using their phone as their room key” Ernesto excitedly recalled. He continued, “With the Proxess system, when the students use their mobile phone to access their room the audit trail is sent back to the software in real time using the cell/data/wifi connection of the mobile phone. Mobile key access with Proxess has improved the student experience, safety and accountability for everyone.”