<img src="" style="display:none;">
CONTINUE READING

How Meeting Scheduling Software Enhances Collaboration & Profitability

Discover important factors in how to choose the best meeting room scheduling software:

  • Get the most return from your investment
  • Eliminate “ghost” bookings with room scheduling software that integrates with IoT sensors
herobg-img
HOW MEETING SCHEDULING SOFTWARE

Enhances Collaboration
& Profitability

Imagine having to book a meeting room two months in advance—then having someone else beat you to it before you could confirm your reservation. As a result, department managers start reserving rooms for the entire year, whether they need them or not.

Now your conference rooms have become a battleground. Your teams have to go off-site to discuss pressing matters. There’s a lack of privacy.

And no one is getting their work done on time.

This sounds like a fictional workplace dystopia, but it’s a real problem—and one that’s hardly unique. But fortunately, there’s a simple solution.

Here, we’ll show you how meeting scheduling software solves three pressing problems for enterprises and how to choose the right solution.

subheroimg

3 Problems Room
Scheduling Software Solves

problem

1

Poor Space
Utilization

The average conference room sits empty for 75% of the day, according to a recent benchmarking report by architecture- engineering firm HOK. Yet your employees constantly complain they don’t have enough places to meet.

WHAT GIVES?

One reason for this disparity is that the sizes and types of conference rooms aren’t meeting the needs of the workforce.

75

Nearly 75 percent of all meetings are attended by two to four people.

50

Almost 50 percent of all meetings are between just two people
More than half of all meeting rooms are designed to accommodate six or more people.

Meeting room booking software can give you insights into how often your workplace is actually using each room so you can make adjustments accordingly.

For instance, if you notice several large conference rooms are rarely used, you could add partitions to separate them into smaller rooms.

Considering your real estate is your second-largest expense, the impact of right-sizing your conference room space could be significant.

WHAT’S THE COST OF ONE EMPTY CONFERENCE ROOM?

Think that empty conference room is no big deal? Let’s look at the numbers.
Average annual lease rate per square foot in 2018
$34
Average annual cost of utilities per square foot
$3.40
Average size of a large conference room
420 sq. ft.
Average conference room utilization
25%
Total annual cost of one conference room
$15,708
Total annual waste (assuming 75% vacancy)
$11,781
That’s just one conference room. If your organization has 100 rooms, that’s almost $1.2 million in wasted space!
$1.2M
(Sources: JLL’s Q3 2018 office outlook, JLL’s 3 30 300 Rule, HOK Benchmarking Report)

problem

2

Perceived Lack of Meeting
Room Availability

How often do you try to book a room through your calendar app only to realize they’re all reserved—then walk around the office later and see several rooms sitting empty?

These “ghost” bookings are a two-fold problem for organizations, creating frustration for employees while contributing to poor space utilization.

Luckily there’s a simple fix: use room scheduling software that integrates with IoT sensors.

A single occupancy sensor placed inside a conference room can send a signal to your room scheduling software if it doesn’t detect the presence of people after a certain period of time.

That will trigger the room to be made available again, eliminating these “ghost” bookings.

Using digital room scheduling panels that require employees to check in is another way to resolve this issue. The panels connect with your room scheduling software, allowing employees to easily see if a room is available as they’re walking by. If it’s open, they can reserve it simply by tapping on the screen. They can also extend their reservation or end it early. And if no one checks in after a certain period of time, the room can be made available again.
room-panelimg

problem

3

A Lack of Collaboration
and Productivity

The average employee attends 60 meetings a month, or about three per day.

That’s a considerable amount of every workday dedicated exclusively to meetings. The time it takes to find and book an available meeting room may not seem like much in comparison, but even it it’s just 10 minutes a day, that time really adds up.

emp-avgimg

Assuming the average employee earns $85,000 a year and their time is valued at $.71 per minute, eliminating 10 minutes of wasted time saves them $7.10 per day.

If your organization has 1,000 employees working 250 days a year, that’s a savings of $1.8 million.

$1.8M

For that same cost, you could hire an additional 20 employees!

The best room scheduling solutions allow employees to see the availability of every meeting space in the office simply by checking the panel or their mobile app.

Aside from saving employees a few minutes every day, it also saves them a lot of frustration.

They no longer have to fight with their colleagues over a room or stake their claim to a space weeks in advance.

And when it’s easy to find a place to meet, it’s easier to have quick, impromptu discussions that keep projects moving forward. Employees can reserve conference rooms as well as informal huddle areas where they can brainstorm or give important updates. They can also reserve smaller rooms or booths where they can work quietly or have a closed-door discussion with a colleague.

This improves collaboration, builds a more positive company culture and enhances the employee experience.
meeting

How to Choose The
Best Meeting Scheduling
Software

If you’ve looked into room scheduling software, you’ve probably come across a number of free meeting scheduling tools and platforms. You might be wondering whether a paid solution is really worthwhile.

But as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for—and sometimes free meeting scheduling tools can cost you more in the long run.

To get the most return from your investment, consider these important factors:

meeting-icon
100% SaaS
Traditional hosted software solutions are expensive to maintain and update. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is the preferred choice of modern-day workplace solutions because of its subscription-based pricing model and flexibility.
icon2-1
Integration With Floor Plans
Any effective room scheduling tool needs to have space management software as its backbone so you can see occupancy and vacancy in real time.
icon3-1
Integration With IoT Sensors
Eliminate “ghost” bookings with room scheduling software that integrates with IoT sensors and triggers automated cancellations if sensors don’t detect any activity.
icon4-1
Accessible On Any Device
Employees should be able to book rooms via a mobile app, wayfinding kiosk and digital room scheduling panels as well as their computer.
icon5-1
Connects To Calendar Apps & Notification Platforms
Your room scheduling software should integrate with calendar apps like Outlook, Google Calendar or iCal, as well as notification platforms like Slack.
icon6-1
Offers Actionable Insights
The solution you choose should give you actionable data that helps you improve space utilization, fix broken or missing assets and be smarter about maintenance.
footerimg

STOP WASTING TIME & START COLLABORATING

Start your free trial today!