Case study: How Gateway Church uses Envoy to reinforce their tech-forward brand
“Envoy helps us convey that we’re a tech-forward church and organization. From day one, I’ve always been impressed with Envoy; it adds a ton of value to the guest experience.”
— Brett Huckins, Executive Director, Technology
Since we started Envoy, we couldn’t be more proud that it’s now the choice of thousands of companies across the world, ranging from private companies like Pixar and Reddit; public companies like Yelp, Pandora, Box, and Shopify; and government contractors like Planet Labs. You’ll also find us in less expected fields, including legal, energy, construction, medical, education, and many more.
Whenever we can, we love digging a bit deeper into how our customers are using us. We recently spoke with Brett Huckins, Executive Director, Technology at Gateway Church about the impact Envoy has had on their company’s visitor experience and brand image.
The Challenge
Started in the living room of Pastor Robert Morris in 2000, Gateway Church has grown from a group of 30 into one of the fastest growing and largest churches in America. With nearly 30,000 people attending weekend services at their various locations Dallas / Ft. Worth, it’s the fourth largest church in the U.S.
Gateway’s ministry is supported by 750 full-time staff who work in seven different administrative buildings in Texas. Brett Huckins, Executive Director, Technology, leads a team of 50 in Gateway’s new Tech Building.
Here are some of the operational challenges they were facing:
- Technology is a priority for Gateway Church; from support during weekly sermons, to a robust social media presence, to live streaming for parishioners who can’t attend in person, it’s an important way to communicate. More than 6,000 people have visited Gateway’s offices in the past year, including vendors and people coming for counseling or appointments with pastors.
- In the past, most of the offices had no check-in system — or, where there was a front desk, the receptionist had to manually type in their information and print off a badge.
- With so many visitors moving through so many offices, it’s hard to deliver a consistent and personal experience. “For example, the Tech Building can be confusing to find and people often don’t know where to go,” said Huckins.
Envoy’s Solution
What Envoy brought to the table was a great fit for Gateway Church’s needs:
- Gateway’s new Tech building did not have a receptionist, so they decided it would be a good opportunity to give Envoy’s visitor sign-in system a test drive. Envoy has been such a success that they’ve now rolled it out to all of their buildings.
- Envoy offers a practical solution that streamlines registration and check-in, but it also helps solidify Gateway’s modern image. “Envoy is one of the things I’m most proud to have in our lobbies. It adds to the fact that we’re a tech-forward church and organization,” said Huckins.
- Envoy’s pre-registration feature helps to deliver a more personalized and integrated experience to their visitors. When people are invited to Gateway for a meeting, their host can send a pre-registration email. This not only requests any information that might be needed in advance, it’s also an opportunity to provide information that will help their visit go more smoothly.
- Envoy’s integration with Okta, a security and identity management application, helps keep Gateway’s staff information up-to-date. “It’s so efficient to use cloud services that integrate with each other,” Huckins explained. “When we add a new employee in Active Directory, Okta automatically creates a Box account, a Slack account, an Envoy account, and others — that’s the beauty of using it.”
- From great customer support to the slideshow feature on the welcome screen, Huckins says everyone is singing Envoy’s praises. “People love it, from the guests to the employees who manage it. Many of them comment on how cool it is.”
Interested in learning more?
- Read Gateway Church’s full story in our case study.
- If you’re interested in using Envoy to make sure you’re delivering a visitor experience as delightful as your brand, you can explore all of our features with a two-week free trial.
