What do a taxi driver, local barber salon, and artisan coffee shop have in common? SumUp, running in the background, powering the entire customer payment journey for small business owners.
Since its inception in 2012, SumUp has been on a mission to empower small merchants to grow painlessly. Today, the fintech is a market leader in providing accessible, easy-to-use financial services and payments products to more than 4 million businesses in over 36 countries worldwide.
With a team of over 3,000 people and flagship offices worldwide, SumUp knows a thing or two about the everyday pains of meeting the workplace needs of a global team. So, what do SumUp and Persy Booths have in common? You guessed it – a shared love for productive offices!
Making open-space offices workable for everyone
The concept of an open-floor office, conceived in the 1950s to encourage communication, collaboration, and idea flow, has been further popularised by Silicon Valley and similarly innovative employers. Roughly 70% of US offices are open space, with Europe trailing close behind.
Yet, despite it being a powerful way to build a shared sense of purpose, company identity, and approachability between teams or management levels, the open-plan layout is notorious for its noise and endless distractions.
SumUp, facing similar open-plan office challenges, took a creative approach in their Berlin office. Rather than playing a game of office Tetris to reconfigure physical space, they doubled the functional square footage with soundproof call booths.
Jalal Saleh-Büttner, Head of Workspace at SumUp, explains, “We have 30 booths in our Berlin branch by now, and the demand for them is still very high. If people actively look for a booth for, say, 15 minutes and can’t find an empty one, they just ping us to get more. Actually, I’ve just ordered six more PersyONEs because you can never have enough!”
“Why so many booths?” you may think. Mainly because they are the swiss-knife of office furniture – a perfect place for calling, meeting, and deep work. The use cases can vary by department, task or even employee personality.
“Phone calls and interviews are the most popular use cases for booths at our office as people don’t want to be interrupted. The smallest meeting room we have is for four people. So, if you block a four-person meeting room as one person, it’s usually frowned upon. It happens, of course, but we encourage employees to use a booth instead,” adds Jalal.
3 top criteria for choosing a great office booth
There are hundreds of soundproof call and meeting pod providers in Europe. Boundless choice and vastly different technical specifications make booth shopping an unexpectedly tricky assignment. Workplace managers must consider everything from soundproofing quality to user comfort to affordability to choose the most optimal solution for the office.
No one knows this better than Jalal, who bought booths from four different brands just to test them out, get employee feedback, and decide on the favourite. To our delight, Persy Booths emerged at the top.
“My three favourite things about Persy Booths are the soundproofing, the aesthetics, and the colour customisation options. It’s just what our office needs,” Jalal says, explaining his bucket list requirements for a great booth. He adds, “I always recommend Persy Booths to people who visit our office because it offers the best quality at a very reasonable price compared to some high-end competitors.”
So, whether you’re a global fintech brand or a local co-working office, you’re likely purchasing based on the same three factors: the price-quality ratio, ergonomics, and effective soundproofing.
As Jalal aptly puts it, Persy Booths are “a steal” when it comes to quality and affordability. Have a look yourself!
