Meetings are a critical fact of office life – whether face to face, virtual or a mix of both – they are vital for businesses to thrash out ideas and have fruitful discussions about strategy.
In the hybrid workplace face to face meetings are increasingly used as an opportunity for mentorship – Generation Z in particular welcome the opportunity for face-to-face mentoring.
Let’s explore how to streamline your meeting room selection process and make it easier than ever before with the help of a reliable room booking system.
The challenges
Firstly, let’s look at some of the challenges your staff may face in terms of room selection:
Busy meeting rooms – it’s frustrating seeing all the rooms being used with no availability due to a lack of booking process which leads to demand exceeding supply.
No shows – on the other hand it is also frustrating when clearly empty rooms are booked out for the duration when teams need an impromptu meeting.
Lack of employee engagement – plans can change. That’s a given fact of life. It’s frustrating turning up for meetings to find that the host cannot make it. Staff need to be kept in the loop when a meeting is moved, delayed or cancelled so they can get on with their day.
Double bookings – you and your team don’t want to be turning up for a meeting room to find another team already in for the duration. Aside from being embarrassing, you could be wasting time and thus money in having to look for an alternative space.
How a room booking system helps
The best room booking system will be the one that brings order to the chaos. A solution such as the Rendezvous room scheduling system will streamline the meeting experience in a number of ways:
Reduces no shows and “ghost bookings” – sometimes staff will unavoidably change their plans. Thanks to the Rendezvous meeting room booking software, unused meeting space never goes to waste. Using the room booking system’s built in business rules, the unattended room will become available to be booked by someone who needs it within, for example, 15 minutes of the no show. Expensive real estate will no longer go to waste.
Double bookings become a thing of the past – introducing a dedicated meeting room booking solution eliminates the possibility of double bookings ever happening again. No more last minute panics – rooms are allocated in an orderly and logical manner. Less time looking for a free meeting room – more time for ideas!
Automated alerts – thanks to the Rendezvous Workspace meeting room booking software solution seamless integration with Outlook 365/Exchange, any changes to the meeting room booking are automatically shared by email.
Digital signage and room panel integration – the Rendezvous Workspace room booking system integrates with all the leading platforms including Crestron, Roomz and IAdea and many more. Attendees can see at a glance the meeting details on the panel so they know they are in the right place or if there has been any room changes. Attendees can order refreshments or extend meeting times straight from the room panel for extra convenience.
Mobile first – for hybrid workers we provide a range of easy to us mobile apps which enable them to access the meeting room booking solution on the move. They can book rooms and desks with ease and with full Outlook integration everything is conveniently logged in their calendar immediately.
Vended services – the Rendezvous Workspace meeting room management system does more than just book rooms. Thanks to an easy to use drag and drop interface meeting organizers can quickly add teas, coffees and refreshments to the room booking. In addition, they can also organize AV equipment for the room. All service requests are sent through automatically to the service teams as are any updates.
Multi time zone booking – with an increasing number of meetings taking place virtually or in a hybrid style and with teams increasingly distributed over national or even international borders it is vital to ensure that everyone is working off the same schedule. Rendezvous Workspace room scheduling system can handle multiple time zones with ease – making light work of even the most complex meetings. Outlook integration ensures that all attendees are in the right place at the right time.
Video conference integration – as hybrid and virtual meetings are increasingly common you will be reassured to know that the Rendezvous Workspace room booking system has full integration with Cisco, Zoom and Teams (including Teams rooms and Teams compatible panels). Meeting start and end points are completed automated or organizers can start the meeting from the panel.
Conclusion
Room booking systems have come a long way in the last few years. Savvy software vendors are adapting their solutions to the new world of work where workers both need face to face interaction and are spending time off-site.
A mobile-first room booking system such as Rendezvous Workspace is ideal for today’s hybrid worker looking to find the ideal meeting room and to create the ideal employee experience where meetings become productive, foster mentorship and provide a platform for effectively sharing ideas.
