Whitby is redefining education, accepting the challenge to prepare kids for success in the 21st century. To set the stage, the Greenwich, Connecticut-based private school takes a forward-looking approach to their academic programs as well as how the school itself gets things done.

“Every touchpoint is an opportunity to show how we do things differently, to show how Whitby embraces innovation to create a world-class learning environment,” said Sarah Mead, who oversees marketing and communications for the school.

When visitors come to the school, they sign in using Envoy’s digital visitor registration system and take a photo, which automatically prints out on a personalized name badge. “This shows how tech-forward we are, but it also saves us time,” said Sarah. “Envoy really simplifies the check-in process.”

 This shows how tech-forward we are, but it also saves us time. Envoy really simplifies the check-in process.

Helps the school engage with parents on a personal level

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Open House events are a huge opportunity to showcase the “Whitby difference” by allowing for the school to deliver personalized attention to prospective parents. Envoy keeps track of parents who attend, as well as their email address, children’s names, and which grades they’re looking at—something that used to be done manually.

“In the past, the Admissions team would scramble afterward to get the information into our system, and the odds of missing something were much higher,” Kaitlin Pitcher, Whitby School’s Events Coordinator explained. “This information is extremely useful to us because we use it to send follow-up emails to those who attended.”

She says automating the sign-in process with Envoy integrations has been great for Admissions because it gives parents the right information at the right time, and “allows for seamless follow up with a parents after the event,” says Sarah. “The moment a parent signs in, they get a personalized email with specific information about the grade they’re interested in. We did this by creating a Zapier integration from Envoy to Hubspot,” she said.

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Takes a load off the front office

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The front office is a critical hub for school activity and security. Envoy helps Whitby create a reliable, precise record of their visitors.

“I do 1,000 things a day, and I can’t miss a thing,” said Linda Hepp, the school’s receptionist. “There’s a lot going on inside the office—the bell is always ringing and children are constantly streaming in and out. I need to keep everything straight, but I also need to make sure I know exactly who’s come in each day.”

For example, she says, the school is building a new gym, which means deliveries, contractors, and engineers are constantly coming through the door. “If our operations team asks me which contractors have stopped by, I can quickly look up their names in Envoy’s online dashboard. I don’t have to spend time flipping through a paper binder.”

Envoy has also sped up the check-in process for part-time teachers who are regularly at the school, but are not full-time staff. These non-payroll employees use Envoy’s mobile app, which enables them to sign in within seconds.

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