KEEPING THE RELATIONSHIP FRESH
How a dealer and client make the best of generational and economic evolution.
CA Technologies is one of the largest independent software corporations in the world. Solutions from CA Technologies enable customers to manage and secure IT environments and deliver more flexible IT services to the business faster. Headquartered in Islandia, Long Island, the company maintains 150 offices in more than 45 countries. CA has been a customer of Waldner’s for 15 years.
CA Technologies philosophy centers on their idea of “SmartSpace™” – harmoniously blending people, space, and technology. Jeanette Sabino, Principal Workplace Strategist at CA corporate is responsible for furniture specification and ordering for the many locations. Her goal is to enable employees, through IT and space, to be the most productive, collaborative and innovative they can be. Recently their projects have been as a direct result of lease expirations. They look at the site makeup and assess the current and future needs of the employees. How many will commute into the office versus the number that will tele-work or share workspace. Corporate Real Estate uses employee demographics of the workforce and business needs to make decisions on location.
c:scape furniture accommodates smaller workstation footprints without panels, creating a more open environments that supports both individual work and spontaneous discussion.
Jeanette, a workplace strategist then engages Waldner’s in the specification process. The most recent SmartSpace™ project was a reset of their Plano, Texas office. By implementing SmartSpace™, CA was able to reduce their footprint from 133,000 to 77,000 sq ft upon lease renewal. Waldner’s helps assess their needs by conducting a Workplace Survey in conjunction with Steelcase. Surveys are an excellent way to engage employees in efforts to change the work environment. CA’s approach is to engage their customer and find out what their needs are. Their original layout consisted of 80% personal work space. After evaluating the survey results they realized that more collaborative space was needed for their workers. The new layout would consist of 65% personal or “me” space and 35% collaborative or “we” space.With this information the Waldner sales and design team work together to configure the optimal layout for the client.
Once the install has been completed, Waldner’s and CA host a soft opening to aid employees with a smooth transition to their new environment. Employees are encouraged to get comfortable with the new furniture and technology and taught how to best make use of it. They are appreciative of the space because they had a say in how it was designed.
CA considers Waldner’s a turnkey solution. The tech company chose Waldner’s because of their networking capabilities, ability to source local installation companies and other products. They are able to draw on their industry experience and knowledge of the latest products to offer custom solutions to any design or logistics challenge. “We come up with a problem, they provide us a solution” says Jeanette. Years ago, before technology integration into furniture was common, CA was mounting large AV equipment into conference tables. In response to this void in the market, the Waldner’s team designed a custom trough in CA’s conference tables and it has since then become standard in all of CA’s offices. Manufacturers followed suit with fully integrated products since. Forward thinking, tackling challenges, and embracing constant evolution is both the approach of Waldner’s and CA and explains their successful partnership.
