ClubReady uses cloud-based access control at its health club facilities

Bethesda, MD, May 23, 2012 – Brivo Systems LLC, leader in cloud applications for security management, today announced that ClubReady, provider of health club management services, has joined the Brivo Technology Partnership program to develop a software integration that enables their health club customers to offer safe, efficient access to their health club facilities, 24/7.

ClubReady is a web-based, club management service for fitness facilities that connects clients with trainers, service providers and club management to increase revenues, efficiency and improve client and employee satisfaction.

“We match our ClubReady software to each of our fitness club’s business models,” said Christopher Gallo, VP, Training and Business Development Division at ClubReady. As the popularity of 24-hour access to fitness facilities has grown, it was natural that ClubReady would seek a proven partner to assist them in adding that capability to their popular software.

Matt Mercurio was on the team that researched access control providers who could potentially integrate with ClubReady to offer managed, safe 24-hour facility access. “We were looking for a company that could provide door access control via web services,” recounted Mercurio, ClubReady Lead Developer. “After extensive research, we found the Brivo ACS WebService and it was exactly what we needed.”

Mercurio continued, “The goal was to make the integration invisible to the Club owners and their clients. Once the hardware is installed, they don’t have to worry about the functionality of ACS WebService, they simply control their system using the ClubReady interface. Synchronization to the door hardware is nearly instantaneous. A card can be provisioned for a member and is immediately usable at any of the doors managed by the system.”

Of all the fitness facilities in the US, ClubReady estimates that at least 20% of newly-developed membership-based club models are interested in providing some sort of 24/7 access, making for a very attractive market. With Brivo “inside” the ClubReady system, fitness facility staff only work with one familiar interface while all data from the Brivo system is seamlessly pushed into ClubReady—eliminating data entry errors and providing management of multiple interfaces.

With the Brivo integration, ClubReady customers will now be able to better track fitness facility customers who are not up to date on membership dues. Delinquent customers can easily be denied access until they have paid outstanding charges, ensuring non-paying clients aren’t using facilities and assisting in bringing in revenue with little effort.

“Our goal was give our clients the tools to offer their customers access when they want it, so we went out and found the best to make that happen,” commented Gallo. Our customers can now offer a higher-value service for very little additional cost to them and their facilities are now even more secure with Brivo.”

ClubReady, through the Brivo integration, can manage an unlimited amount of doors for customers. In many instances, in addition to a main external door, internal doors are also managed to control and document customer access to premium areas, such as tanning and spa rooms. Facility owners use the system’s alert feature to notify them by text or email when a client has entered their building outside staffed business hours, thereby providing anytime, anywhere control. The system also allows for alert notifications for other events the owner may choose, for example, doors left ajar, unauthorized entry attempts, or loss of power.

“This is a great addition to the ClubReady package,” commented Mercurio, “For the club owners, they need door access to operate flawlessly and provide seamless integration between Brivo and our system. Once we activate it for a Club, it becomes a natural part of the ClubReady system.”

“We are pleased to be partnered with ClubReady to serve the growing health club market,” said John Szczygiel, Executive VP at Brivo Systems. “This integration makes use of our DataSync API, providing world-class access control capabilities while eliminating redundant data entry and increasing the accuracy of managing membership privileges. ClubReady's objectives in this project were well aligned with our core philosophy of delivering simple, secure and scalable solutions that help our customer's grow their businesses.”