How to Improve Sustainability with Resource Booking Software

Sustainability has become a key initiative for many global companies. Sustainable business practices have been found to help businesses become more efficient, profitable, and productive. Sometimes sustainability stems from required regulations, but many leaders have implemented sustainability to help strengthen brand reputation, support optimal resource usage, and lower overhead costs.

Another reason for sustainable practices has actually come from the shift towards hybrid and flexible working models and the use of coworking spaces. And something businesses may not realize is that workspace and resource software tools can help them to improve their sustainability efforts. Two examples include identifying wasteful activities and resource efficiency trends, and tracking resource usage to help identify space and utility needs.

Below we’ll look at how to improve a company’s sustainability by leveraging a resource booking software.

Large Workspaces Translate to Large Footprints and High Costs

Why should a company be thinking about looking to their workspace and resource booking software to help identify and implement more sustainable practices? It really comes down to need and usage.

A report from the Department of Energy found that “the average number of kilowatt hours per square foot for a commercial building is approximately 22.5.” Heating, lighting, ventilation, refrigeration, cooling, hot water, and plug load are all behind this high energy usage. When you translate that to a company’s utility bill, things get expensive fast. Add onto this the financial cost of real estate, cleaning, upkeep and maintenance, and the ability to sustainably operate seems challenging. And what if half that space wasn’t being used but it had to be maintained?

In today’s world a resource booking software tool can help you identify inefficient workspace and resource usage, support efforts to optimize resources and workspace layouts, as well as provide valuable insights to inform decision makers when determining work models and connected workspace and resource needs.

Sustainability Benefits from Resource Booking Software

Are your employees using the workspaces you offer? One of the largest sources of both environmental and economic waste may be your meeting and conference rooms and desks. The costs of maintaining a workspace can quickly exceed the monthly rental or mortgage payment. Every square foot of your workplace demands a percentage of the rental payment, maintenance, utilities and services, and other implicit costs (furnishings, cleaning, etc.).

This is why optimizing your workspaces for efficient use can save a business time and money by reducing waste and related service costs. As an added benefit, optimizing workspaces to match employee needs can improve employee experience, well-being and productivity.  For example, Amway used Add-On Products’ Resource Central to reduce meeting booking times by 85%.

And this is where a resource booking software like Resource Central comes in. A workspace and resource booking system with reporting, Resource Central can help you keep better track of how shared resources and workspaces are being used. With customized reports that show details on how desks, meeting rooms, etc. are used daily, it’s easier to discover opportunities to eliminate waste, uncover gaps and trends, and make decisions on how to lower overhead costs.

5 Ways to Use Resource Booking Software to Improve Sustainability

1. Employ Hot Desking Practices to Create an Eco-friendlier Workforce

An easy first step towards sustainability is to consider your workforce practices. Especially for hybrid and flexible models, order to prevent valuable workspace from sitting empty and to minimize environmental impact, it’s crucial to use existing space more wisely with practices like hot desking.

This practice of booking shared desk spaces enables any business to make the most of their workspaces by allowing for a flexible use of desks and meeting spaces via a streamlined booking process. Resource scheduling software allows you to manage and book hot desks based on your workplace’s needs, so you can create a more collaborative and flexible workspace for more employees while generating cost and time savings.

But how many desks and meeting spaces do you actually need?

You may not need the large office you currently have. You may be able to eliminate 10 or 20 desks and a few meeting rooms. You may be able to allow for greater resource sharing, including shared office equipment and tools which can help reduce waste production. By using a booking software with analytics you can:

2. Reduce Workplace Costs and Space with Booking Software Insights

1. Learn how specific workspaces and resources are utilized, and identify workspace utilization patterns
2. Identify utilization improvement opportunities for hot desks, offices, meeting rooms, community areas, and related office resources
3. Maximize the use of your workplace spaces including desks, meeting rooms and more, which will help lower operational and maintenance costs, as well as reduce the company’s use of electricity and gas
4. Reduce resource waste and inefficiencies to lower a company’s carbon footprint, operational costs and streamline resource processes and orders

By understanding your workspace and resource usage patterns and implementing changes to match your workforce’s actual needs, you can support significant environmental benefits as well as operational efficiencies.

Real-World Example: Wessex Water

Wessex Water HQ and operations center is known to be one of the greenest offices in Europe, but as part of its environmental pledge, it recently sought to take significant steps to reduce emission levels and implement technology that would make working practices more efficient. By using Add-On Products solutions, Wessex Water was able to lessen their environmental impact and enhance workspace and resource scheduling and visitor management.

Read the full story >

3. Reduce Food Waste from Catering

A staggering 1.3 billion tons of food waste is generated around the world each year – that’s roughly one third of all the food produced in the world. Not only is food waste bad for the environment, but it can also cost your company money. For example, if you order catering for a meeting but then cancel the meeting and forget to cancel the catering service in addition, that food will end up being delivered and going to waste. This leads to food waste and unnecessary costs that could have easily been avoided.

With Resource Central, automated cancellations help reduce food waste from catering by automatically canceling catering (and other services) at the same time when a cancellation is processed. This prevents mistakes that chip away at your company’s bottom line and lead to food waste.

4. Help Employees Choose Eco-Friendly Resources

With resource scheduling software, you’re not limited to booking AV equipment, catering, and meeting rooms. You can also book eco-friendly resources like electric cars and bike parking spots. For instance, several municipalities in Denmark are using Add-On Products’ Resource Central software to book electric cars and support their CO2 emissions reduction efforts.

Helping employees to choose more eco-friendly options is another easy way to drive sustainable business practices.

5. Combine Sensor Systems with Booking Software to Enhance Workplace Sustainability

A final way to help further sustainability with integrated workplace sensors in combination with your booking solution. A sensor-controlled “smart office” could actually help automate workspace check-ins, cancellations, and no-shows. This could expedite room turnover and cleanings, provide a clearer picture of employee usage and behaviors, and cancel associated resources for more streamlined facility management. For example, if a reserved meeting room or desk is not used, there is no need to clean it.  Sensors can also enhance existing business insights by answering questions like how many hours a specific space is used, what days resources are most, or least utilized, and which areas of the workplace are least popular (and thus potentially prime for elimination).

Learn more about how sensors can be part of a company’s sustainable practice >

Sustainability Benefits of Workspace Software Solutions

Using a workspace and resource booking solution can be an easy way to drive sustainability forward within your business. From implementing an eco-friendlier layout and eliminating waste, to using a more flexible workspace model and tech-empowered automations and insights, sustainability is easy to improve with the right workspace and resource booking software.

Summary of the Benefits Gained by Using a Resource Booking Solution

• Reduced resource consumption
• Space optimization
• Lower overhead costs
• Lower utilities and services costs
• Reduced operational costs
• Smaller carbon footprint
• Lower contributions to harmful emissions due to lower transportation and commuting needs
• More efficient use of electricity and space
• Reduced food waste
• Better brand perception
• More productive and satisfied workforce

Ready to explore how you could drive sustainability forward? Set up time with our team to discuss how our business software solutions could help make your office work smarter, not hard, for both economic and environmental benefits.