As workspace technology experts, we often hear this question from people who are just starting to explore the benefits of advanced room scheduling software.
They tell us they already book a room in Outlook if it’s available, check if colleagues are free and then invite them to the meeting. Simple! And so it is – as far as it goes.
But Outlook can let you down when it comes to these 7 additional challenges:
- 1. Booking catering, additional equipment or other services for your meeting
- 2. Changing the room or date and time while keeping colleagues and service providers like the catering team informed
- 3. Booking meeting rooms in different locations and time zones, with different services such as catering in each location
- 4. Releasing a room in good time, rather than just not showing up
- 5. Knowing when visitors have arrived for the meeting, and ensuring a great first impression
- 6. Having clear visibility of room utilisation, to make informed decisions on internal space and to avoid expensive booking out options
- 7. Booking flexible space such as desks when you’re on the move.
Here’s how a quality room booking system such as Rendezvous by NFS helps you deal with these challenges.
1. With Rendezvous, you can book rooms, car parking desks as well as catering and services and AV as part of a single booking experience.
2. Any changes made to the booking are automatically notified to all meeting participants as well as service providers such as catering, making sure nobody goes to the wrong room or catering is wasted.
3. No shows become a thing of the past. If a meeting room is not used the room booking system automatically releases it, significantly improving room utilisation. This can save thousands annually in wasted space.
4. Booking multi-location meetings become a fast and efficient process with an easy-to-use room booking system. You just select multiple spaces from a high graphical calendar, check people availability and book that VC meeting.
5. The Rendezvous Visitor module handles all aspects of meet and greet, host notification and badge printing, so your guests get a great experience, every time.
6. Your room booking system will provide comprehensive, up-to-date reports, supporting better decisions on space planning and improving your room and desk usage.
7. A room booking system accessible via an app, such as Rendezvous Mobile, means your workers can all access the system on the go – so they can book their space before they even arrive in the office.
And the system fully integrates with Outlook, too, so everything appears automatically in your calendar and your staff see a familiar interface.
So there’s really just one answer to the question: “Do I really need a room booking system?”
It’s yes – as long as it’s Rendezvous.
Learn more about workplace transformation and how it affects you here.
