10 Things to Look for in Meeting Room Booking Software

Meeting room booking system streamlines the scheduling process by letting you take advantage of additional features. Finding the optimal desk or meeting room, ordering additional services such as catering, sending invoices and more can be a time-consuming task. Especially if you work in several systems or have to use the phone as the main mean of communication.

Meeting room booking software is a time-saving tool giving you access to all the features you need in one system. It replaces many of the manual tasks, and its features can reduce the time you spend on meeting planning. Should you choose a tool designed for your current system such as Microsoft Outlook®, you are ensured maximum usage of your IT investments.

Factors Streamlining your Meeting Scheduling

When choosing meeting room booking software, consider the following 10 factors:

1. Ease of use

Strong user adoption is key to the success of any software. To encourage user adoption, it’s crucial to select meeting room booking software with a simple, easy-to-use interface that allows users to view, search, and schedule available meeting rooms and attendees quickly and easily. A system that simplifies the process of booking rooms and resources will gain favor with users.

2. Anytime, anywhere accessDon’t

impede staff from scheduling meetings just because they’re out of the office. Look for meeting scheduling software that can be accessed via the web and on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Learn more about our Workspace booking app here.

3. Established client base and support team

The meeting room booking software market is replete with startups, many of which will inevitably fail. Avoid problems by purchasing meeting booking software from an established company with a proven track record, solid client base, and good technical support.

4. Built-in reporting capabilities

Your meeting scheduling software should generate advanced and standardized reports in various formats and offer support for third party tools, so you can keep better track of meeting room and resource usage to lower costs.

5. Real-time synchronization

Meeting room booking software with a central database that is updated in real-time gives all users access to current information. This prevents double bookings and other scheduling conflicts.

6. Scalability

If your organization has desks, meeting rooms, and resources in multiple locations, selecting meeting room booking software that scales to multiple locations and handles bookings across different time zones is critical.

7. Ability to order additional services at the same time as booking a room

Users should be able to order catering and other services without leaving the meeting room management system.

8. Integrate with your company’s ERP system

Meeting room booking software that integrates with your company’s ERP system allows you to complete the order-to-invoice process for both internal and external service providers.

9. Visitor management module

Give visitors arriving at your company office a good first impression by registering them quickly with a visitor management system. A visitor management system alerts hosts that visitors have arrived, allows receptionists to print name badges for visitors, and frees them up to focus on other tasks.

10. Customization tools

One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to desk and meeting room booking solutions. Look for meeting scheduling software that comes equipped with built-in customization tools that allow you to adapt the system to your business processes.

Resource Central: Meeting Room Booking Software for Microsoft Outlook®

Microsoft Outlook® is an effective personal scheduling tool, but it isn’t powerful enough to handle the gamut of a company’s meeting and resource scheduling needs. If you’re looking for a meeting room manager that is more robust than Outlook® alone but is just as user-friendly, try Resource Central from Add-On Products.

Resource Central is a certified add-on solution for Microsoft Outlook® and Exchange. It’s a complete meeting room booking and resource scheduling tool that provides your staff with one-click access to room reservation and resource booking functionality within Outlook®’s familiar scheduling interface. Users can complete meeting arrangements instantly, from finding and reserving meeting rooms to booking associated services. Normally, it takes about 7-12 minutes to arrange a meeting, but Resource Central allows users to schedule meetings, including all extra services, in just 2 minutes. This saves you approximately 10 minutes per meeting.

To learn more about Resource Central, please contact us for a trial or to schedule an online demo.

Learn more about hot desk booking in Resource Central here.

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