Telhio Credit Union chose Integrated Building Systems as their partner for technology planning, design, and installation for their new headquarters project. In this blog post, learn more about their new office and how technology supports the Telhio team.
ABOUT THE MOVE
Telhio Credit Union bought their previous location at 96 N. Fourth Street in 1962. In that year, they had 3,200 members and managed $3.2 million in assets. Today, Telhio supports over 70,000 members and $1.3 billion in assets. With this growth, it was time to expand into a larger, more modern headquarters to better suit their needs.
The Telhio team decided on a move to the Columbus Downtown Development Corp.’s Peninsula Office Building at 330 Rush Alley, which is part of the historic Franklinton neighborhood redevelopment.
In a press release, Telhio President Derrick Bailey said, “As the oldest credit union in Franklin County, we want to ensure we remain grounded in the community, and Franklinton is the oldest settlement in Franklin County.”
Their new office is approximately 30,000 sq. ft., about 3,000 more than their previous location. On May 13, 2023, the credit union’s sign was placed on the building. The team began moving in June in 2023.
PARTNERSHIP BEGINS
Before the move could start, Telhio had to consider what all they needed in a new office. One essential facet of this planning was technology infrastructure – and they knew they needed a trusted partner to help plan, design, and install the right solutions.
“We have worked with other companies, but Integrated Building Systems was easily the best workmanship and the most professional.”
Telhio Senior Vice President of Information Technology, Jason Bittinger, worked with Integrated Building Systems previously at Telhio’s Reynoldsburg location. When considering who to partner with for the headquarters move, he returned to the Integrated Building Systems team.
“We have worked with other companies, but Integrated Building Systems was easily the best workmanship and the most professional. It was great to work with Chip [Chapman, Integrated Building Systems President] and his team,” Bittinger explained.
Telhio also selected Integrated Building Systems for this project because of their experience working with the other design-build partners. The Daimler Group is the developer on The Peninsula Office, and Mode Architects did the design for Telhio. Integrated Building Systems has worked with this team on other corporate headquarters, including for several tenants in the 80 on the Commons building and White Oak Partners and CF Bank offices in Hamilton Quarter. The Telhio team could trust that all of their trade partners could coordinate to deliver a seamless end result.
Integrated Building Systems was also the chosen design partner for Burgess & Niple, which occupies the two floors above Telhio’s new headquarters in The Peninsula Office.
TECHNOLOGY PLAN
With the right team in place, it was time to determine what technology would help the Telhio team do their best work.
Telhio COO Jessica Bing drove planning for the headquarters project. She knew how she wanted the space to function – with collaborative meeting rooms, a state-of the art boardroom, and a modern aesthetic.
The first step in determining what technology would help them achieve that effect was a trip to the Integrated Building Systems Tech Studios. Bittinger and Bing, along with a few other members of the Telhio team, visited the Tech Studios to test out the latest in video conferencing, digital signage, wireless presentation, sound masking, and more.
“The Tech Studios really helped us visualize what we wanted in our meeting rooms. Even listening to different microphones helped us narrow down the many potential options,” Bittinger said.
The Tech Studios tour started the collaborative planning process between Telhio and Integrated Building Systems. After a few rounds of discussions, and refining the right combination of solutions, the final plan moved on to the design phase to create functional, integrated technology infrastructure.
THE RIGHT SOLUTIONS
The backbone of Telhio’s technology infrastructure – literally – is the structured cabling system. This supports all other technology in the office. This includes fiber backbone and over 400 Cat-6 plenum cables that support desktop computers, TV displays, the access control system, room schedulers, wireless access points, and more.
Small conference room with all-in-one sound bar
With the backbone in place, the next essential part was creating video conferencing set-ups for the meeting rooms that would allow the far-end participant to feel like they were in the room.
Several smaller meeting rooms are complete with all-in-one sound bars that include cameras, microphones, and speakers. The sound bar connects with a hidden small form factor PC and a TV display for a full video conferencing solution.
Ceiling panel microphone and speakers
In the large boardroom, to accommodate the potential number of participants, Telhio opted to invest in a custom-engineered video conferencing system. This includes ceiling panel microphones, pan-tilt-zoom cameras, ceiling speakers for sound reinforcement, and a custom-programmed 7” touch panel room controller.
With all of these meeting rooms, another consideration was how Telhio would manage scheduling the spaces. Integrated Building Systems recommended room schedulers to be mounted outside of the meeting rooms that integrate with Outlook for easy scheduling of resources.
MOVE IN – ADD ON
Telhio’s HR and IT teams moved to the new headquarters in June of 2023, ahead of the rest of the team in July. They realized quickly that due to the way HR and IT offices connected, they could hear every word of the other teams’ conversations.
Close-up of a sound masking emitter
In the open office spaces, Integrated Building Systems designed and installed a sound masking system for speech privacy. Telhio’s IT team realized expanding this solution to the HR and IT suite would solve their problem, so Integrated Building Systems installed 2 more sound masking zones after move-in to optimize productivity and speech privacy.
USING THE NEW SPACE
Since the rest of the Telhio team started to move in July of 2023, they have learned how technology can help them with their work.
“The new technology is more flexible and easier to use than in our old office,” Bittinger said. “Our team has quickly learned how to host meetings and display content.”
From video conferencing to displaying content for internal meetings, Telhio’s team communicates better using technology.
GET HELP WITH FUTURE OFFICE PLANNING
Are you planning a new headquarters for your business? Schedule a call with Integrated Building Systems to get help planning and installing the right technology for your workplace so your entire team is equipped to do their best work now and into the future.