Bitwards and the French-Finnish School of Helsinki. A great match – Évidemment!
The French-Finnish School of Helsinki – Lycée franco-finlandais d’Helsinki – offers bilingual education from preschool to upper secondary school. It is located in Munkkivuori, Helsinki. Due to renovations, the upper secondary department had to relocate to substitute premises on the sixth floor of a commercial building, the so-called IBM- building, which is located nearby.
The move obviously entailed organizing the space to include, among others, a teachers’ room, some office space, a student counselor room, and a copy room.
‘One of the first issues we had to face was how to arrange access to the rooms’, says Pirjo Pippuri, vice-principal of the upper secondary school. ‘The building provided us with keys that needed to be duplicated for everyone. Besides, we talk about sizeable keys, of which we should have carried a different one for each room. Making copies of multiple keys for all the personnel was not only expensive, but it would also have been a nightmare to handle. We have about forty teachers, service staff, substitute teachers, and delivery and maintenance crews. I was really concerned about it’.
Bitwards solves the access issues
Sometimes, though, luck is just around the corner. Soon after the relocation, discussions on how to solve this time and money-consuming dilemma started with Bitwards, which, coincidentally, is located in the same building and on the same floor.
‘I expressed my concerns in terms of how to handle this issue. I was worried we would never even get all the keys back once a teacher for example would stop working for the school. Hardly anyone remembers to return keys, and that’s a fact. People have to be reminded but that’s also no guarantee of eventually being able to collect all the keys’.
Bitwards proposed a smart access solution for the French-Finnish school to solve the issue in the school. Installing Bitwards’ devices on the door handles doesn’t require wiring or network. Their installation did not either create long-time disruptions in daily school activities.
‘I am the designated administrator of the Bitwards service, so I got thorough training on how to use the platform and how to assign mobile credentials to authorize access to all the people needing it. I must say, we are delighted. We feel like we are living in the modern era; we don’t have to worry about forgetting our keys. We can simply use our phone to access any room’, vice-principal Pippuri says.
IMAGE: Susanna Määttä / BITWARDS.
Bitwards smart access is suitable for anyone
She would recommend Bitwards smart access solution to any office, company, or institution with a high turnover. ‘This is the only way of not having to deal with the hassle of duplicating, replacing or handing out keys’.
The upper secondary school moved into the substitute premises a year and a half ago and will stay for another year. ‘The great thing is that we can take the devices with us and use them in the renovated premises, too,’ concludes vice-principal Pippuri.
Text: Katariina Benedetti
