Image Gallery: PlanetOne’s New Digs
PlanetOne, the master agent and cloud/connectivity provider, just moved into a brand-new office in Scottsdale, Arizona — a short drive north of its old digs, which it called home for 15 years.
“We’d outgrown its usability and really needed to expand our office space so we could hire more people in engineering, sales, back office, finance — we’re hiring positions in all of the above,” CEO Ted Schuman told Channel Partners. “And this new corporate office will accommodate all the growth we have.”
The transition took just three weeks from signing the papers to setting up shop. PlanetOne also expects to move out of its Irvine, California, regional office this spring for a larger space.
Schuman gave us a tour of PlanetOne’s new headquarters, which not only features more space for employees, but also a larger area for the master agent’s partners to drop in and continue their education.
Click through the gallery below to see what we saw.
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There's no doubt where you are as soon as you walk in the door. A comfortable waiting area awaits guests. No, we don't think that old phone works.
Sitting in the chairs in the previous slide, you can see the crowded trophy case that holds PlanetOne's many honors from over the years.
The official grand opening on Feb. 27 attracted a great crowd. This end of the office offers a break for employees, including a PlanetOne-branded shuffleboard table.
"We really wanted to open up the space and make this end of the building the 'fun zone,' if you will," said Schuman. "We've got shuffleboard, ping pong ... last Friday we shut down at 3 and cranked up the music. Sometimes enough [work] is enough."
Continuing with the fun theme, there's room out back to step away and relieve some stress.
"We've got basketball, volleyball, tennis courts outside, a park that's about a mile lap around it," Schuman said. "If people want to take a call outside, put in their earbuds, get some sunshine and push away from their computer, I encourage them to do it. We all need to push away sometimes and find a little balance, so we've tried to create that environment."
PlanetOne's preferred providers can find their names in chalk on one of the office's walls.
"We were going for a collaborative feel, something was also set up nicely for social media, and no better way to promote and advertise our partnerships with our preferred vendors than to give them their own wall with their logos up the way that we see them," said Schuman. "So we commissioned a graphic artist to come in."
PlanetOne invited local partners, provider reps and special guests to join its employees in conversation at the grand opening.
There's now plenty of room for each employee to get work done, and a collaborative workspace in which to do it.
The new office sports a much larger conference room than what was available in the company's old office. That's Schuman talking with Channel Partners executive editor Craig Galbraith (facing the camera) on the left.
"We wanted to create a very welcoming space for all of our preferred vendors and our partners as well," Schuman said. "So we have plenty of space to accommodate everyone."
This is what Schuman calls the "broadcast center" in the office, showcasing some of the technology that the company delivers to its customers.
"Education is part of our daily life here; it never stops. Is there a day over the course of a year where we're not learning something from somebody? We really wanted a place to welcome our providers and our partners to come in and have face-to-face meetings, as well as stuff we can stream over the internet and encourage people to dial in to the PlanetOne broadcast center," Schuman said. "So we'll have a curriculum we're going to be going live with in about two weeks, and everybody will be able to sign up for the sessions and log in, sitting right at their desktops. We will do a lot of virtual lunch and learns, where you can sit right in the comfort of your home and office, and dial in and get trained by some of the sharpest people in technology."
Schuman (right) stopped to pose for this picture inside his office with Channel Partners sales director Thomas Baker. You might say he likes sports.
