A Meeting Room Booking System Can Organize Your Spaces And Teams
Your organization has an impressive collection of meeting spaces – from cozy focus rooms to cavernous board rooms, and everything in-between. But there’s a problem – some of those rooms are never used and others are booked around the clock, leaving teams scrambling for a last-minute alternative.
As companies scale their collaboration resources up, it’s common for those resources to be used less efficiently. That’s where a meeting room booking system can help. Room scheduling solutions are easy to implement and make an immediate impact on any organization that relies on collaboration among teams.
How Does A Meeting Room Booking System Work?
There are many room booking solutions available, pretty much all of them software-based platforms. They all generally do the same things, including:
- Integrating with most calendar platforms – Leading room scheduling software is designed for use with popular productivity applications like Google Calendar, Office 365, and Microsoft Exchange. Once integrated, users can verify who is available for a meeting through the room scheduling platform. This way, no one is accidentally double booked.
- Allowing users to establish times and reserve rooms for meetings – Room booking solutions are designed to be as easy as possible to use. Select a date, select a time, and select the meeting’s participants. If desired, users can establish regular weekly or monthly meetings through the software, so meeting schedules can be mapped out well in advance.
- Alerting everyone involved in the meeting – Once a meeting’s details are set, the scheduling platform can be set to e-mail all participants. With room booking solutions, miscommunication is no longer an excuse to miss a meeting.
- Monitoring how meeting rooms are utilized – Leading room booking solutions are typically packaged with usage analytics, so you can get an in-depth look at how often your meeting spaces are being utilized. Is there a surge of meeting traffic at a certain time? Does it seem like a particular room is never used? With this information, your company can better allocate its floorspace.
Reputable AV Manufacturers Integrate Room Booking Into Their Solutions
There are dozens of room scheduling solutions available, and the best fit for your organization will depend on how you run your meeting spaces. A lot of companies, though, rely on room booking solutions already integrated into their existing AV resources.
Two leading AV manufacturers – Crestron and Extron – have both developed room scheduling for their collaborative products. If you’re already in the Crestron or Extron ecosystem, you may have room scheduling options immediately available. Here’s a closer look at what each brand offers:
- Crestron Room Scheduling – Crestron’s room scheduling technology can be accessed from inside Crestron’s app, from a desktop or from interactive touchscreens mounted outside the room. Through the platform, users can schedule meetings and reserve rooms, and even extend meetings in progress.
The platform is at its best when paired with Crestron’s touchscreens. They’re available in 5-inch, 7-inch and 10-inch models, and can be color coded to provide room status at a glance. They also double as digital signage when not in use. - Extron Room Scheduling – Extron’s room scheduling software functions much like Crestron’s. Like Creston’s room scheduling solutions, Extron’s room booking software works with a network of standalone touchscreens mounted outside of each space.
In addition, Extron’s room scheduling software includes interactive mapping capabilities, ideally delivered using an interactive display. The map provides real-time status of every meeting space, so users only have to tap on an open room and reserve it with a couple more taps.
Another bonus, Extron’s room scheduling can be connected to the brand’s occupancy sensors. When an occupied meeting room empties, the occupancy sensors detect this and automatically reset the room’s status. No manual toggling necessary.
A Few Benefits Of Bringing In A Meeting Room Booking Solution
If you’re considering a meeting room booking solution for your organization, then you may already be dealing with space-based gridlock. Here’s how room booking can undo that and ensure smooth traffic in and out of your meeting rooms:
- Eliminate room “sharking” – Room sharks dive into open meeting spaces as soon as they’re available, and often occupy them until a meeting begins so no one else takes the space. Generally harmless behavior, but if your employees are wasting their time holding down a conference room, then they aren’t being productive otherwise and could frustrate coworkers.
Room booking software eliminates the viability of room sharking, ensuring there’s no heated competition for the best meeting spaces. - Avoid double-booking issues – In today’s collaboration-heavy work environment, it’s common for professionals to be double-booked and miss an important meeting as a result. Room scheduling software integrates with professional calendars and looks for a time that everyone can attend without conflicts.
- Provide instant options for last-second meetings – Last-second meetings are a fact of life in corporate settings, whether it’s because someone forgot to set the meeting or because collaboration can happen spontaneously. In either case, room booking software allows users to quickly identify and instantly reserve a room so they can collaborate without having to scramble.
- Optimize the number and nature of your meeting rooms – It’s impossible to keep tabs on which meeting rooms are seeing use unless you dedicate resources to it. Most organizations would rather not, but with room booking software you don’t have to. At a glance, you can check which rooms may need to be repurposed or if you need additional meeting space for your collaborators.
If You’re Ready To Optimize How Your Company Books Meetings, A Certified AV Integrator Can Help
Room scheduling technology can be a big optimizer for your meeting rooms and for your organization’s budget. Better yet, it’s simple to implement and simple to train. The only challenge is figuring out which solution to choose and how to best integrate it.
That’s where a certified AV integrator can provide valuable expertise. Certified integrators are familiar with what’s available and can match an organization’s needs to the best possible solution. If part of a larger AV system, an integrator can also ensure your room booking software is compatible with other components. In short, an integrator will help your organization utilize room scheduling to its fullest potential.