Why Meeting Room Management Software Improves Productivity

A workspace can have a few meeting rooms or upwards of 100. In either case, improper management can lead to costly consequences. A few years ago, Steelcase Workplace Survey found that 40% of employees wasted up to 30 minutes a day just looking for a space to meet. More recently, Worklytics found that the average executive spends 23 hours a week in meetings, and nearly half of this time could be cut without impacting productivity.

A new challenge has also emerged as some organizations forced a return to the office – hidden costs from empty conference rooms. Meeting room underutilization is one of the highest hidden costs for the modern workplace. According to Worklytics, “A typical 10-person conference room in a major metropolitan area costs approximately $15,000-25,000 annually in rent, utilities, and maintenance. Multiply this across dozens of rooms, and the waste quickly reaches six or seven figures.”

Add in today’s challenging economic environment, and it makes it even more important to avoid serious financial repercussions caused by inefficient room management.

What Happens When You Don’t Use a Meeting Room Management Solution

Meeting room management software supports hybrid and in-office work models by streamlining workspace management from in the office and on the go. When organizations with multiple meeting and conference rooms don’t use a meeting room management solution, they can end up with:

1. A lot of time is wasted by employees searching for a room (the average professional spends 37% of their time in meetings)
2. Double-bookings and emotional scheduling conflicts
3. Decreased productivity and output
4. Lower employee satisfaction and a higher-stress work environment
5. Inefficient resource usage and oversight
6. Higher operational costs

All these consequences can add up, resulting in loss of profit as operational costs eat away at the bottom line and creating friction in the workplace that could lead to losing top talent.

This is why we recommend organizations with multiple rooms use meeting room software.

How Meeting Room Booking Systems Boost Productivity

The biggest win for any organization when they start to use a meeting room software solution is the productivity boost. This is because meeting room management solutions are designed to create a more organized, efficient, and frustration-free environment.

Top 8 Benefits of Using Room Management Software

1. Save time by automating bookings and cancellations. Minimize last-minute confusion, avoid meeting delays, and stop wasting time searching for a space to use. Interactive maps and color-coded floor plans make it easy for an employee to find an available space that suits their needs quickly – from a mobile, laptop, or tablet device. This also is true for automated cancellations from no-shows. When one company explored how automated cancellations could improve ROI, they found the following:
   1. 20-30% improvement in effective room availability$50,000-150,000 annual savings per 100 rooms
   1. 15-25% reduction in “room not available” complaints

• Eliminate manual coordination. Resource Central integrates natively with Microsoft Outlook®, Microsoft 365, and other existing Microsoft products to automatically connect bookings to employees’ email and calendaring tools. This further reduces wasted time, relieves the stress of keeping track of scheduled events, and avoids scheduling conflicts.
  
• Optimize office space and real estate investment. Do you actually need the space you have? Do you need more? A meeting room management solution can help make sure office spaces are actually being used, and if not, give you an identifiable real-estate cost to cut.
  
• Encourage more collaboration and strengthen output. When employees can review their schedules in advance and plan their week in a few minutes – choosing which desks or meeting rooms they need – they’re better able to focus on work that matters. Meeting room management solutions that integrate with existing email and calendar tools also help improve cohesion between distributed teams and coworkers, as these tools help employees know who is in the office, where they’re working, and make it easier to find workspaces near colleagues based on who they may need to interact with that day or week.
   
• Better security and regulation. Meeting room management software can also give an organization more control of its workplace and how different spaces are used. For example, with Resource Central, you can implement role-based access and usage controls and add specific rules around specific spaces. This could include who can book the space, for how long, and occupancy limits. Secure access controls ensure only authorized personnel can book certain rooms and access specific resources, giving you greater peace of mind and less need for an IT shadow. Plus, some room management solutions can also support visitor management, with secure automations and communications.   
  
• Minimize unnecessary interruptions. This may seem little, but getting kicked out of a conference room or being interrupted in the middle of an important thought can harm productivity and the ability to stay motivated and focused. Research even shows it takes about 25 minutes on average to return to the original task after an interruption occurs. Now imagine if that happens multiple times a day/week.
  
• Support in-office and hybrid workers. The employee experience matters. It’s crucial to driving business growth and success, and when employees are happy, they’re less likely to leave. Room management software can improve the employee experience by keeping teams more engaged and satisfied as it relieves administrative burden and lets them focus on connecting with teams and important projects during work hours. From better coordination to providing spaces employees want and need, a meeting room management solution can help you maintain a positive work environment.
  
• Improve space utilization long-term. Managing spaces is great in the short term, but being able to optimize space utilization long-term for further cost savings and better sustainability is even better. Resource Central helps you do this by providing detailed data and actionable insights around space utilization and trends, allowing you to consistently make informed decisions for efficient use and design. 

Meeting Room Management Software for the Modern Office

The modern office needs to be able to use one connected system to book and manage all meeting and conference rooms.

Some key features of a meeting room system for a modern office include:

• Plan, book, and manage meeting rooms from one place
• It works natively with Outlook®, Exchange, Microsoft 365, and Teams
•  Reduce double bookings, improve room usage, and save time
• Can be installed on-site, in your own cloud, or as a SaaS solution
• Can support additional resources such as catering, EV-charging stations, and projectors

Get a 1-month unlimited free trial and learn first-hand how our meeting room management solution can streamline your meeting and conference room scheduling.

Why Choose Resource Central Over Other Meeting Room Management Solutions?

Add-On Products is globally recognized for meeting room management solutions. From organizations in healthcare and municipalities, to industrial and consumer good brands, Resource Central is a top choice when user-friendliness, quick implementation, SaaS, and automation are key concerns.

View real-world customer testimonials and case studies here.