App-based as a matter of course when Toca Boca chose Parakey

Photo: Fredrik Bengtsson for Toca Boca

Game studio Toca Boca in 2022 took home a strong second place in the competition Sweden's most beautiful office. One day in March, we had the honor of stepping into their inspiring, creative and lovely environment, where 180 employees open all doors with Parakey App.

Toca Boca develops playful apps/games for children with a focus "on awakening children's imagination and creating opportunities to express themselves in any way they want", as they describe it. In 2022 they moved into their new Toca Boca Campus in Sjöstaden in Stockholm - 2000 square meters of creative space with a focus on flexibility.

"We want people to have the courage to rearrange the furniture so that the working environment is optimal for what they are working on at the moment. For example, there are wheels on all desks," says Lina Persson, who was responsible for the design of the new campus. She has worked for 11 years at Toca Boca, which on the day of our visit was 12 years old.

"Lina is the one who knows most about how we live our brand", says Ronald Holmberg, IT technician, who together with Toca Boca's Campus Coordinator and another colleague manages mobile keys and users in Parakey Web Portal.

We also meet Susanna Bohnstedt from Ciceron Projekt who was an external party to Toca Boca in the campus design and relocation. It was she who suggested mobile access from Parakey to the campus.

"Toca Boca wants to work app-based, which is in line with the brand, and I knew Parakey already. We compared a few different solutions with the key in the smartphone, but Parakey felt most user-friendly and closest to Toca Boca's brand", says Susanna.

The implementation has worked well and more spaces have been added to Parakey over time.

"Several colleagues also knew about Parakey from before so it hasn't been 'What? What is this?' to unlock with the smartphone", says Lina, and Ronald adds:

"Everyone has their phone with them, it is rare that you forget your phone. The key, you forget."

"It is also convenient to be able to give temporary access to people who are staying in the premises for a limited time."

"Otherwise you have to keep track of who has which blip," Susanna adds.

Previously, Toca Boca had a system with fobs, but they agree that Parakey is a simpler and much better system.

"It is also a time saver. We have saved a lot of time. Before, key fobs had to be ordered, they had to be registered with the property owner, the process depended on a person with the right authorization and the management was tied to a single computer."

"With Parakey, we can sit anywhere and invite new users. We can prepare and send a key to a new colleague a week before they start. That way, new colleagues can just walk right in when they arrive on their first day," says Ronald.

"Making you feel welcome and included is important to us," says Lina.

We conclude by asking if they would recommend Parakey to other companies.

"No," Lina laughs ironically. "Yes, of course. It has worked beyond expectations."