From Basics to Benefits: Meeting Room Booking Software System for Business

Technology revolutionized the way people do things, whether in their private lives, business, homes, restaurants, and many other industries. Technological advancement played a significant role in improving office dynamics and employee daily routines in the corporate world.

Office and Room Scheduling Technology

Scheduling technology such as room booking software is a modern innovation in the hardware and software industry.

As for the hardware, it includes room scheduling devices, panels, and hallway signs. Conference room scheduling software consists of complementary hardware features touch panels placed outside facilities either mounted on the wall or found at lobby centers. People can see schedules for each room, what event is coming up, and the specific or concerned people in the meeting.

Hallway signs also found their place in workplace technology. Light signals can now show the room status in offices. For example, it lights red when occupied and green if available. It helps all users and employees to quickly determine unused spaces in just a glance down the hall.

And for the software, this scheduling system integrates to business and organization calendars to arrange and set schedules efficiently and offer room analytics. Notably, a facility scheduling system must have accurate and efficient integration feature with your pre-existing network calendars.

Most corporate businesses use Outlook, Office 365, Google Calendar, and other common platforms, and your meeting room booking software must smoothly integrate with them. Another benefit an integrable system can offer is that users won’t have to learn a new system during the implementation.

Additionally, meeting booking software can offer a spontaneous meeting management feature. Users can modify a conversation from an open, off space into a huddle room even up to the last minute. They can quickly look at the software mainboard, ensure it is available, and add or transfer their scheduled meeting into the calendar. After a few taps or mouse clicks, users can update and modify meeting details without others missing the new information.

Why Should You Use Room Scheduling Software?

As a facility manager, you need to fully understand room analytics to identify return on investment on your spaces. Scheduling panels and lobby display software provide essential data and report on what meeting areas users often use, how efficiently users utilize them, and how they can improve.

Technology-Driven Efficiency

Efficient meeting room use translates into effective planning in the workplace. Room booking software helps users determine how to use their spaces effectively and influences designs and layouts conducive to working. Your company can determine space utilization in the workplace by answering questions such as:-

• Which work and meeting areas do most users book?
• Do participants show up in the meeting room as scheduled?
• Do users use the meeting room for its intended purpose?

Which Work and Meeting Areas Do Most Employees Book?

With scheduling technology innovations such as conference room scheduling software, team members can view a dashboard or mainboard with data regarding room usage. Usually, this information includes:-

• The total hours of reservation for each room
• The average duration for each scheduled meeting
• The average meetings held each day and what particular times of the day they occur
• Frequency of each user to schedule meetings in a specific room

Do Participants Show Up in the Meeting Room on Its Scheduled Time?

A facility scheduling system can account for off-calendar cancellations. Through it, rooms do not remain unavailable when no one shows up during the schedule. Beacons, Bluetooth detectors, and other occupancy sensors can determine whether people are occupying the room or not.

Proximity beacons and check-in sensors usually use Bluetooth along with the app in a user’s device to confirm if someone already arrived in the room. They also collect data regarding movement inside the room and inferential information showing trends in schedule and occupancy.

Meeting booking software systems can automatically cancel meetings whenever there are no check-ins detected in a specific period after the scheduled time begins. This feature allows rooms to be immediately available for others to use. For example, a user plans a 9 AM meeting, and no one shows up. The room can change from reserved status to available status after 15 minutes still without any confirmed check-in. Thus, other employees who have an impromptu meeting can book and use the place during the remaining time.

Do Employees Use the Meeting Room for its Intended Purpose?

Large conference rooms with dual displays and integrated videos and sounds all controllable by a touch of a button are everybody’s dream. The most spacious meeting rooms with modern tools are usually the ones in demand.

When bigger groups run out of space to use, they would either postpone the meeting or bump any small group out of the room. Waiting and delaying would be a challenging option, thus, leading to the second. However, this would look awkward and unethical. Disturbing another important meeting by booting another group out of space could create a tense dynamic in the office.

Using room scheduling software avoids this problem as the IT department can set minimum and maximum room capacity parameters. This means if a meeting room holds 10-15 persons, only meetings with more than nine guests can schedule the room.

Changing Rooms at the Last Minute

Team members can also change room bookings using the scheduling panel in their apps or the lobby display software. It shows all other meeting rooms available at any time, so if a meeting runs late, attendees from the proceeding meeting can immediately create adjustments to stay on schedule.

For example, Employee 1 has a meeting scheduled at 1 PM, but Employee 2’s meeting precedes it and is, unfortunately, starting late. Employee 1 can check the scheduling panel and look for other available rooms so he can still begin on his original schedule.

In a technological aspect, he only needs a collaborative display to modify his meeting to see a medium conference room with the right technology. With a touch of a button through the app or in the lobby display software, you can have everything set. Simply put, these technological innovations enable employees to be agile and focus on getting their work done despite possible calendar conflicts and inevitable unlikely situations.

Find The Right Meeting Right Away!

There are still people who run late in most meetings and arrive approximately 2 to 5 minutes before the session starts. Being slightly late in meetings can be acceptable for some organizations, but there are sanctions on being late for other companies. Worse case to happen to a team member runs late and doesn’t know where to go and what room to find. Meeting room booking software helps employees avoid the guessing game frenzy because late attendees can:-

• Walk up to the scheduler as it shows all meeting in progress
• View all meeting topics in ongoing meetings
• See the names of the invited attendees
• Arrive at the correct room on the first try

Essential Considerations on Meeting Booking Software

• Room scheduling technology allows facility managers to plan future resource usage. They also help employees use these spaces efficiently and accordingly.
• Room booking analytics provided by high-quality room schedulers help facility manager’s plan and prepare for future expansion. It provides essential data on how often users schedule these spaces and offer data around technology-driven environments and other related information.

Conference room scheduling software allows employees to make their daily schedules more efficient. As technology should not be the only focus, it also seamlessly supports business operations by being suitable to your company’s process.

Why Do Clients and Employees Prefer Online and In-App Reservation Processes?

Many business owners and company admins doubt about embracing online and in-app bookings. Initially, setting up a booking system seems challenging and would need an expert programmer to handle it.

But the main question is, will your clients and employees prefer to book online and through an app instead of doing it the traditional way? Of course! Here are some reasons why:-

Online Room Scheduling is fast and Easy

The traditional pen and paper booking process is time-consuming and often results in some errors. A user-friendly, simple user interface allows users to book quickly and conveniently, no matter their age. It is the most straightforward and powerful way to keep potential clients and keep your business up and running.

It is Accessible Even after Regular Office Hours

Websites and apps are always open to all users to visit and open at any moment. Additionally, users do not have to sit in front of the computer to book as it is accessible from any device. Just a few taps or clicks and they can have their meetings scheduled during their most convenient time.

Facility Scheduling Systems Show Real-Time Availability

Facility scheduling systems help reduce double bookings and resolve no-show meetings in the office. Having a system that constantly offers a list of available time slots for meeting spaces helps ensure that users, visitors, and clients efficiently utilize all resources.

It Saves Users Costs on Phone Calls and SMS

In most cases, traditional booking processes require people to call or send an SMS. With a software system, users will need to spend nothing on room reservations and appointments. They will no longer need to pay for call charges, especially if they are from abroad.

Booking Systems are Intuitive and Clear

With a booking system for your meeting spaces and office resources, users will get clear and concise information on the meeting room and whether it has all the tools and equipment they need for that specific event.

Multi-Language Booking Systems Promote Better Communication

The multi-language feature helps users who do not speak in your language to book. Instead of contacting you via email or phone, they can do it through the app setting it in their native language since most booking software interfaces support multi-language websites.

In-App Reservations Create an Overall Awesome Experience

The booking process is most of the time the first point of contact between a business and a client. Thus, ensuring they will have an excellent first impression is essential. If users, clients, and visitors can complete their booking in less than five minutes, it will undoubtedly impress them. First-time positive experiences in using the process and other small details can significantly impact their overall encounter with you and your business.

You have just read the basics and benefits of meeting room booking software. Having one in your business helps it significantly grow and become an essential part of the corporate industry. More than that, it allows you to operate with constant progress as technology also evolves.

Today, people can do everything with technology: hotel reservations, flight bookings, car rentals, purchasing goods, and studying. People are now used to doing many things over the internet. The same thing goes for booking meeting appointments – people prefer to make it online. And since most people prefer it this way, not getting this technology for your business means not getting ahead in the industry.