Case Study

The Client

Happy Money is a fintech company that delivers digitally native financial tools and services that enable individuals to go from borrowing money to saving money. They do this through a purpose-driven marketplace of mission-aligned capital partners and consumers. Founded in 2009, this hyper-growth company has helped over 100,000 members pay off nearly $1.8 billion in credit card debt.

With a growing team of 285 individuals, Happy Money recently underwent a massive physical expansion moving from a 20,000 sq. ft office to a brand new 70,000 sq. ft building at FLIGHT in the city of Tustin. To facilitate its growth, Happy Money wanted a space that reflected its core values of love, trust and hustle and a focus on human happiness. Using a strategic, functional approach—Happy Money has created a positive workplace culture with the help of modern technology and minimalist stylistic office aesthetics.

The Challenge

Happy Money aimed to develop and design an optimal workplace environment that would allow employee creativity and morale to flourish. They hoped the technology advances would enable virtual workers as well as encourage collaborative discussions between those in the office and those working remotely. Happy Money wanted experienced partners that understood the values and strategic vision of the organization while carefully adhering to budgetary guidelines and recommendations. Spinitar, a Solutionz, Inc. company, worked alongside Happy Money to create a simplistic approach to high functioning technology that could adequately scale as the company continues to grow.

With assistance from a trusted audiovisual partner, Happy Money was eager to participate in the designing of the technology enabled spaces to assure they would yield the intended outcomes. The project would consist of AV design and integration that could scale along with organizational expansion. Furthermore, the number of conference rooms would nearly double from 15 to 28. Using simple and high functioning technology, the newly implemented innovations would help to optimize experiences for employees and customers.

The Solution

Happy Money partnered with Spinitar on this project for both AV design and integration. Throughout the process Happy Money and Spinitar banded together to strategically engineer a minimalistic program design that would best utilize the increased infrastructure and square footage.

The following types of technologies would be implemented in the new building:

New and improved all-hands area consisting of line array speakers, wireless microphones and a 4×4 LED Video wall
Plug and play technology with friendly, easy-to-use interfaces
Web camera technology with updated LED displays and monitoring systems
PA communication systems that would allow the company to share critical information to employees such as announcements and upcoming events
Easily synced technology solutions

Spinitar’s design approach consisted of two main goals: 1. Utilize robust yet simplistic technological innovations and 2. Use minimalistic yet aesthetic modern office space designs. With these two main goals in mind—Spinitar was able to cohesively blend function and design together into a seamlessly integrated final product. Spinitar’s masterful techniques went beyond audiovisual innovation as they worked to address design requests while creating visually appealing office spaces.

Happy Money wanted to automate technology as much as possible. Although many of the systems were complex in nature, Spinitar strived to ensure the interface was both functional and user-friendly. Happy Money is eager to utilize the new office space which now allows them to conduct and host important meetings, make internal announcements either vocally or through the digitally matrixed signage technology, or even host an after work get-together after a hard day’s work while the new systems continue to facilitate their various growth initiatives.

The Technology

Spinitar was aware of current issues related to existing technological infrastructures. Prior to beginning the project, existing equipment lacked the technical capabilities required for company growth and expansion. Although current accommodations worked for smaller teams, a number of technical issues existed. Microphones and insufficient computer hardware caused individuals to become frustrated and inundated with mindless tasks. Furthermore, existing equipment and sporadic technical components created frustration amongst leaders.

In collaboration with Happy Money, Spinitar used their years of AV integration experience and design expertise to create highly functional yet sophisticated and innovative technological solutions. This gave Spinitar the creative flexibility to implement a design geared towards Happy Money’s specific business needs.

Since Happy Money was moving into a brand new office building and was the first company to occupy the space—it was easier for Spinitar to create designs with specifications geared towards company objectives and goals. With a heavy emphasis centered around automated functionality, Spinitar attempted to make the interface as straightforward as possible.

19 Huddle Rooms

Each of the rooms contain a 65” mounted Samsung commercial grade display monitor.

Creston Mercury devices with built-in VoIP functionality were used with swivel mounts integrated directly into the table.

Cameras were then attached to the bottom of displays and USB/HDMI extenders were used for connectivity from the Mercury devices at the table to the displays on the wall.

2 Interview Rooms

Each room received a 55” Samsung wall mounted display.

Creston Mercury devices with built-in VoIP functionality were used with swivel mounts integrated directly into the table.

Cameras were then attached to the bottom of displays and USB/HDMI extenders were used for connectivity from the Mercury devices at the table to the displays on the wall.

All Hands Area

The All Hands area consisted of a 4x4 video wall which utilizes (16) 55” LCD monitors mounted to form a 165” diagonal display with (8) dedicated electrical circuits.

A 24 port network switch and (1) POE+ injector facilitates the networking side of the equipment and is well hidden inside a credenza rack underneath the video wall.

The audio consists of (4) JBL speaker line arrays which were floated from multiple I-Beams along with a DSP for line level mixing, zone control, and equalization.

The lighting is made up of (4) Martin LED lights mounted to lighting pipes attached to I-Beams in front of the stage.

An in-wall transmitter is provided to allow for quick local display of video and a nearby in-wall video transmitter allows for plug and play of a local video source. By distributing this feed back to the MDF and into the NVX matrix, this allows the feed from the All Hands area to be routed to any other signage displays in the building. This includes any display on a separate floor or even the video wall in the Reception area.

A white Crestron 10” touch panel is mounted in-wall nearby to provide control of the whole system for on/off functionality, volume, microphone selection and lighting control.

Additionally an external iPad was provided which mirrors the in-wall touch panel and allows for wireless control from anywhere in the room.

Large Conference Room

The conference room was outfitted with an 82” wall mounted Samsung commercial LED display and a Vaddio 30x PTZ USB camera.

A Shure MXA910 in-ceiling microphone was used in conjunction with a Crestron sound bar allowing for VoIP calling and echo cancellation.

A white 10” table mounted touch panel allows for control of systems on/off, microphone muting, audio volume control, camera adjustment and VoIP call dialing.

Experience Center

The Experience Center is a two way combinable room.

Each room consists of a 2x2 video wall which utilizes (4) 55” LCD monitors mounted to form a 110” diagonal display.

USB PTZ cameras were installed next to each display to allow for video conferencing sessions.

The audio is made up of (1) Shure MXA910 in-ceiling microphone which is pole-mounted to the ceiling along with (8) Crestron pendant speakers in each room.

When combined both rooms act as one utilizing all (16) speakers and both Shure MXA910 microphones in conjunction with each other.

Each video wall mirrors the other depending on which room you select a source from.

The system is controlled by (2) Crestron 10” wall mounted touch panels, one for each side of the space.

Additionally an external iPad was provided which mirrors the control panels and allows for wireless control from anywhere in the room.

3 Mix Training Rooms

An 82” wall mounted commercial grade Samsung display was used along with Creston Mercury devices with swivel mounts integrated into the tables. The Mercury simultaneously acts as both the speakers and microphone while an HD Huddly GO camera is attached to the bottom of the display in the front of the room.

An Intel NUC with bluetooth capabilities functions as the processor in these spaces and acts as the Zoom Rooms hub.

1 Game Room

An 82” wall mounted commercial grade Samsung display was used along with (8) Crestron pendant speakers.

This area functions as one of the main controllable zones for background music which utilizes a Sonos Connect box on the network, one of four distributable background music sources that can be changed on the fly throughout the building.

Reception Area

The reception area contains a 2x2 video wall which utilizes (4) 55” LCD displays mounted to form a 110” diagonal display.

A nearby in-wall video transmitter allows for plug and play of a local video source. By distributing this feed back to the MDF and into the NVX matrix, this allows the feed from the Reception area to be routed to any other signage display in the building. This includes any display on a separate floor or even the All Hands video wall.

A 10” in-wall touch panel is used for control to turn the wall off/on, select a source and control volume levels for the speakers.

1 IT Lab

The room consists of (4) 40” wall mounted commercial grade Samsung displays and (4) HDMI input wall plates for local plug and play at each display.

1 Coffee Bar

A 55” wall mounted commercial grade Samsung display was used in the area. This location also acts as part of the distributed digital signage destinations and can be controlled wirelessly via an iPad.

Digital Signage

A total of (13) 65” wall mounted commercial grade Samsung displays were used along with 2 NVX Encoding/Decoding card frames and (16) NVX box decoders located at each digital signage location (This includes the All Hands Space, Reception area and Coffee Bar).

A total of (4) BrightSign media players are used for signage content management along with a Mac Mini, while (4) mobile iPads act as the main interface for control of the signage locations.

The system was set up with user friendly “pick and poke” routing for simple management of all content. Simply pick a source and then pick a destination to route the desired content. If a display is off it automatically turns on. A scheduling system can also be put into place to have all displays turn on and off at specified times of the day.

Distributed Audio

A total of (112) speakers were used along with an (8) channel QSC digital amplifier and a (12) channel Biamp DSP.

Audio systems consist of (5) audio decoder cards, (1) paging microphone station, and (4) Sonos players.

There are a total of (7) speaker zones that can be controlled from touch panels on the 3rd and 4th floors with optional passcode protection.

Sound Masking

A well engineered Biamp/Cambridge sound masking system is used in the 4th floor open office areas to allow for noise management between the call centers and private office areas.

The Result

Together, Spinitar and Happy Money built a work environment that is flexible and conducive to teaming while helping to create a company culture that can flourish through their high functioning AV technology. The various types of high quality technologies have created a happier work space for both remote and in-office employees.

The team’s dedication throughout the early discovery stages of the project helped to ensure the process remained on track and within budgetary requirements. Happy Money is thrilled about the new technology and the role it will play in the company’s future success. The massive new 70,000 sq ft space will be used to facilitate daily work, host member events, weekly happy hours, departmental meetings, and other various in-house events.

The new technologies will help remote workers feel included by encouraging collaboration amongst all team members. Throughout the entire process Spinitar strived to implement technological solutions that would best support company objectives while encouraging organizational growth. Now that the project is completed, all agree that the space has been beautifully designed and will surely help support the growth and development of Happy Money and it’s employees for years to come.

Happy Money

Using Modern Innovative Technology that Reflects Company Culture