Nexudus Year in Review - 2020 Release Roundup
It’s no secret that 2020 has been a strange year on all accounts. The pandemic and its effect on just about every aspect of regular life as we know it has led us to unwillingly experience so much change, and at times, we have been left wondering if it was ever going to come to an end at all.
Fortunately, despite the adversity brought on by the past year, we at Nexudus have been able to persevere and our solution continues to deliver outstanding value to our customers. Times have not all been easy, but through thick and thin, we have stayed true to our mission of pushing forwards the coworking movement and making the most exciting way of working accessible to everyone.
We are proud of what we have managed to achieve this year, but none of this would have been possible without the continued support of our community - your feedback provides us with what we need to implement changes and improvements, and without you, none of this would be possible!
We’re going to be taking a look at how our year panned out, summing up our popular releases, and giving you some insight into what to expect from us this year.
With this in mind, it’s only right that we start from the beginning...
January
Looking back to the beginning of the year, our day-to-day lives in the absence of COVID seem like distant memories, and truthfully, nice ones too!
At the time, our software updates were mainly focussed on improving and facilitating the experience for the end-user. We made changes to how network accounts worked, which made it a lot easier for operators who were managing numerous sites but wanted to consolidate their Nexudus use into one platform, rather than having to maintain different portals for each.
February
As panic regarding the pandemic grew, people were beginning to make predictions on what this would mean not just for our industry, but society as a whole. Both us and our spaces expected to be heavily affected by the impending office closures. With this in mind, we knew that a pre-emptive measure of addressing the situation was needed. Throughout February, we got to work on building into the platform ways that spaces could temporarily freeze memberships, as well as providing step-by-step guidance on how this could be done, along with other advice and guidance relating to the pandemic and what it meant for coworking spaces.
March
By March, people everywhere had begun to recognise the effect that the pandemic was having. Coworking spaces were closing everywhere you looked, and space members were beginning to wonder what was next for them. Fortunately, from this awakening moment, we shifted our focus to providing that much-needed support for communities who knew that in-person interaction was no longer an option.
We transformed coworking interactions as we knew them by taking any physical interaction-inviting Nexudus module such as events, meeting room bookings and community boards, and connecting them with Zoom. A pandemic wasn’t going to stop coworkers from communicating, even if it couldn’t be face-to-face!
April
During this time, we realised that members stuck at home would have a lot more free time, and as this brought on a widely-welcomed focus on upskilling, we saw this as a perfect opportunity to help our users to get the most out of Nexudus. As such, we worked on producing content to further support our customer base both with our newer and older releases and integrations.
As well as our stepping up our extensive documentation in our knowledge base, we began producing 20-minute webinars on a fortnightly basis that ran through individual, highly-specific topics, showing our users how different functions could result in different outcomes within the platform. Providing insight into how to use Nexudus to offer discounts and virtual services to members, to send surveys, to automate workflows, to engage your community and so much more, our webinars helped to provide the support that was needed during a time when it was so easy to feel disconnected.
May
In May, we added always-on virtual rooms to remote coworkers’ arsenal of tools, thanks to our integration with Jitsi. From our own experience, we realised that what we missed most from the office environment was the spontaneity of the day. Whilst meetings were made possible via video conferencing, we began to notice that there was still something missing - the impromptu conversations that would happen whilst in the office. With this integration, members could jump in and out of virtual rooms in real-time without needing to install any software, or even without having an account with Jitsi. As we’re sure that our users did too, we found that this was perfect for so many things, from quickly bouncing an idea off of a teammate to just having some company over lunch!
June
As lockdown began to ease, spaces were able to re-open with an increased focus on sanitation, and therefore saw a need for tools that would help them to manage their space in a safe, secure manner. Of course, technology was, and remains the perfect way to facilitate this process, and a number of our apps helped to make this possible. We experienced a large uptake in our contactless options, with NexIO, NexBoard and Passport by Nexudus all being major players in providing access to spaces and rooms, and as spaces realised that they needed a way of maintaining below-occupancy levels, NexClicker was born. All of these tools, along with the widely-used Wi-Fi-based check-in, helped spaces to effectively keep track of who is accessing the space at any given time.
July
The month of July was another turning point in allowing flexible workspaces to thrive whilst battling the pandemic's spread. With the introduction of Floor Plans, operators were, for the first time, able to present their space in an explorative, meaningful bird's-eye view form. In this way, not only could a member see and compare the space's facilities and amenities at a glance, but they were also given more freedom to visualise and make choices on where they would sit based on proximity to other members. Needless to say, its introduction made it a lot easier for members to keep in line with the physical distancing measures of the time.
August
August saw the much-anticipated release of Nexudus Explore. The powerful reporting tool gave operators an opportunity to analyse their business-critical information to learn everything they need to know about how their space is operating, presenting the information in insightful, but easy-to-understand reports on a thorough, customisable dashboard.
As well as this, we provided our users with a new and updated Members’ Portal to take their Nexudus experience to the next level. We both revamped existing features and developed some brand new ones, such as the aforementioned Floor Plans, a two-way Google Calendar integration, self-hosting options and a new basket system, which made pre-purchase reviews and edits possible. And don't forget, we made it operate a whole lot quicker and more efficient than before!
September
The Nexudus for Gmail add-on that we made available in September hugely simplified the lives of Gmail and Nexudus users, saving so much time that would have been previously spent transferring records. The G-Suite add-on allows operators to route messages from Gmail straight into Nexudus at the click of a button. By using this, administrators have the option to convert any email either into a new opportunity or a note for an existing customer in the Nexudus CRM system.
You can download the add-on by searching for ‘Nexudus’ in the G-Suite marketplace, or by following this link, and clicking Install.
Once installed, you will find the add-on on the right side of your inbox screen, as you can see above.
October
We’re sure that you’ll be more than familiar with this by now, but in October, following a few months of discussion, organisation and of course, execution, we completely overhauled our existing website design to bring you the new Nexudus website that you find yourself using right now! When designing the look and feel of the new site, responsiveness and efficiency was paramount - we needed to ensure that as well as adhering to our newly-updated brand guidelines and making sure everything looked as good as it worked, that it was as simple as possible for visitors to get access to the information they were looking for. We added a Nexudus Academy section so our users could brush up on their skills, a consultants area, an apps page, as well as more information on our integrations, reseller scheme and lastly, but by no means least, our very own story.
November
Contactless technology has always been impressive and increasingly important, but in 2020, we realised just how relevant this technology could be. Given the success of the extended use of contactless technology across the industry, in November, we launched Nexudus Automation Tiles. These small, plastic tiles each contain an NFC chip and a QR code, and by placing them around your space, they allow you to connect your physical space with your Nexudus account. Whether they are looking to open doors, book rooms and hot-desks, request help or much more, your members will trigger a Nexudus action by simply scanning a tile with their Passport app. To find out more, click here.
December
This month, we concluded our technology for workspaces webinar series, which brought together some experts in the field to discuss the ways in which the right technology can transform your flexible workspace.
We have been hard at work devising our strategy for 2021 - this will include some major releases that will as always, improve your experience of using Nexudus. Stay tuned for more news on this in the new year...
And that brings us to an end! As we're sure you'll agree, we're quite happy to be moving into a new year. 2021 promises some very exciting things for our organisation, the wider coworking and flexible workspace industry and the world in general, so we hope you're feeling as positive about the future as we are.
From all of us here at Nexudus, we hope you have a very Happy New Year - here's to making this new year better than the last!