With the increasingly hybrid nature of work, creating a great meeting environment and experience has become a paramount way of enticing staff back into the office.
For Gen Z staff in particular, face to face interaction is incredibly important from the point of view of effective mentorship from their managers. For knowledge workers, in general, ideation and decision-making are sometimes best down across a table.
Having a resource booking software solution in place is key to ensuring an orderly process is in place and ensuring that the service team’s workload is kept manageable – streamlining processes is key. A solution such as the Rendezvous Workspace solution is designed to help service teams manage their workload while ensuring a great meeting room experience.
Let’s explore the wider meeting room software ecosystem and how resource scheduling software plays a major role in creating a great meeting experience.
The meeting room ecosystem
Meeting rooms have therefore become more and more sophisticated with a wealth of technology introduced to provide the optimum in-room and virtual meeting experience. For both remote workers and face-to-face attendees it is crucial to create an engaging and uplifting experience.
While important, resource booking software is a constituent part of a wider workplace ecosystem. When reviewing the technology stack for your meeting room then you need to look at a number of options including:
Digital signage – in modern meeting rooms this is becoming an increasingly popular means for vistors and staff to get information about present and upcoming meetings. Real-time integration with meeting booking software ensures that guests and organisers alike can be fully informed and aware of any changes.
Room panels – it is also not unusual for meeting rooms to contain in-room panels. Thanks to integrations with the meeting room booking and resource booking software, meeting organizers can extend meeting times if required and also arrange additional catering – straight from the panel. Another advantage of the integration with the room panel and the resource booking tool is that they can also raise service alerts, say if they need help with AV.
Video conferencing – in the hybrid workplace this is increasingly important. Many meetings these days have a virtual element. Integration with the resource booking software creates the ultimate video conferencing experience. Working seamlessly with software such as Teams, Zoom, and Webex, the resource scheduling tool makes light work of managing attendees in multiple locations and multiple time zones.
Outlook integration – staff are said to “live in Outlook”. Thanks to integration between the resource booking software and Outlook – service teams are kept fully aware of any changes to catering and AV requirements. Communication is streamlined and in real-time.
Meeting room booking – with a dedicated meeting room booking software solution, staff can easily book the required rooms, get email notification and plan their week. The software also prevents common issues such as double booking of rooms and “ghost bookings”.
Desk booking – of course, while staff are in the office they will need somewhere to work from between meetings. As part of the meeting room and resource bookings software, they can also book desks – for a day or even in half-day segments.
Space utilization – a key component of hybrid working from the perspective of real estate leaders is knowing how space is being used. With a wealth of data from Rendezvous around bookings, occupancy, and utilization they can build up an accurate prediction of future demand and reconfigure space accordingly.
What does it deliver?
Let’s explore what the solution offers:
Process improvement – booking the meeting room is just the start. Thanks to the resource scheduling tool, meeting organizers can arrange all the added essential extras such as catering, car parking, visitor badges, seating layouts, and audiovisual with no need to send emails to multiple departments – everything is centralized.
A one-stop solution – everything that is required as a meeting “add-on” can be achieved in one place – a simple and easy to use drag and drop interface enables meeting organizers to select, order, or book everything that is required in one screen. Whether it is catering, car parking, or AV it is all achieved in a couple of minutes – or less. The relevant service team is notified immediately.
Automated notifications – plans change in business all the time. With Rendezvous any cancellations – even last-minute – are notified to the Reelavenert service teams, organizers, and attendees.
No food is ever wasted and resourcdes can be quickly reallatoed while at the same time you maintain a professional and organizes communication process with your visitors and meetig attendees.
Customization – not all businesses are managed the same. The Rendezvous resource booking software can be tailored to your business needs so that it enables management to apply business rules of what rooms and resources can be booked out and by whom.
For example, the solution can be configured so that only directors can book executive lunches.
The meeting rooms in the software can be set up so that only the resources allocated to that room can be booked out – thus avoiding common issues such as the double bookings of projectors. Similarly, the solution can be configured to handle special requests such as setting up disabled car parking spaces as part of your inventory.
Cost savings and control – The time savings and reduced food waste that come with a resource booking tool will immediately translate into financial savings.
An added benefit of the resource booking software is the ability to apply chargeback codes to departments – great for managers to keep control of costs and for the accounts function to check budgets against actual usage.
A mobile-first experience – ideal for today’s hybrid workers, our mobile app is designed for booking on the go – with a few taps and swipes on the screen, staff can easily book rooms and services with the same level of integration between Outlook and internal service providers as they can expect with the desktop app.
The key benefits
The specific benefits can be summarized thus:
Time savings – the Rendezvous solution presents organizers with an intuitive interface which enables them to book rooms, catering, and AV in one simple process. Our mobile apps make it even easier.
Cost savings – the resource scheduling tool helps reduce wastage, saves time and money spent on external bookings and you can even charge back to internal cost centers.
Improved workflow – the solution manages the whole workflow of vended services, notifications are managed in real-time, and all meeting changes are communicated via Outlook.
Read more about the resource scheduling tool
Conclusion
For today’s sophisticated meeting room environment, a resource booking tool is a key part of the meeting room booking software technology stack.
With such a solution in place, staff can quickly book all requested meeting resources in one simple process – even from a mobile device. Integration with Outlook and automated alerts ensures that staff and service providers are kept in the loop.
For management, the resource booking tool reduces wastage, rationalizes costs, and streamlines operational processes.
Overall, the whole team’s workload is effectively managed, booking meetings and resources is easier for everyone while the service team is effectively managed through one coordinated system.
To see Rendezvous Workspace in action, request a demo today.
