5 BEST MEETING MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE FEATURES FOR YOU

Have any meetings scheduled for today? If you answered yes, take a moment to look around the room and do the math on how much it’s costing your business for everyone to collaborate.

You can start with the cost of workspace – as an example, average asking rents for office space in NYC were still running at around $65 per square footin the fourth quarter of 2017.

Then think about the salaries. It is estimated that 220 million meetings are held in the US every month, and the average salary cost of $338 per meeting.

That’s only more reason to make sure the meeting you’re organizing is going to be worthwhile, right?

The issues that make meetings go wrong are common, and they include:

• Difficulty organizing the meeting, particularly across multi time zones
• Trouble finding the right space to hold the meeting
• Problems with making sure resources such as AV and video conferencing are available
• Changes in arrangements not communicated to attendees
• No-shows.

These can all add up to a lot of unnecessary costs, including wasted time and employee frustration.

Is there an answer? Luckily, there is, in the form of meeting management software.

This technology has developed rapidly to meet the changing demands of our workplaces, thanks to the continuing trend towards agile working and the requirement for more flexible meeting and conferencing space where employees can collaborate freely.

Meeting management software has many beneficial features, but the best are:

1. Mobile access
2. Easier location and booking of meeting space
3. Meeting resourcing
4. Automated updating
5. Easy finance.

So how do these 5 best meeting management software features help you?

Mobile access – workspace today has to be flexible, providing facilities for both informal and formal meetings, and facilities for agile workers on the move.

If employees have to roam the building looking for somewhere to work or meet, it hits their productivity and reduces their job satisfaction.

The modern workforce expects to be able to access facilities and services via mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, and the best meeting management software offers effortless online capability from wherever they are.

The most advanced systems, such as Rendezvous Workspace, come with mobile apps for the greatest ease of use and convenience, and integrate closely with Outlook.

Easier location and booking of meeting space  – Having to call an administrative employee to book a room adds a level of complexity to a meeting and deters  busy workers.

Meeting room scheduling and hoteling technology provides a self-service function that saves time and removes obstacles to flexible working.

Complementary technology such as desk occupancy sensors and beacons work with this room and resource scheduling software to create a real-time view of available space.

The result is that employees can quickly locate the space they need – even across different time zones if it is for a video conference – and book it online themselves with no third-party intervention necessary.

Beacon technology has further benefits, too. For example, it can detect who is near it and start your video conference as soon as your attendees enter the meeting room so there is no dial-in delay.

Meeting resourcing – meeting management software provides the ability for employees to book the technology they need for their meeting, and even define what their catering needs are, in the same single transaction.

Your resource scheduling system will keep an up-to-date inventory of important equipment such as AV, video conferencing, projectors etc.

It means no-one turns up for a meeting only to find a vital piece of equipment is missing. Delays like this are part of the reason why meetings can be unnecessarily costly.

Automated updating – something changes in your meeting? The scheduling system lets everyone involved know about it automatically, even the caterers. This cuts administrative time and reduces no-shows (one of the biggest complaints people have about meetings).

Meeting scheduling technology also integrates with the latest in digital signage to help guide attendees to the right place.

This can be a particular issue if you have attendees from another location or from an external organization, so the use of room signage to guide them to their destination quickly and effectively is needed.

Easy finance – meeting management software at enterprise level is now available as a cloud-based option, reducing up-front costs and allowing a rapid ROI thanks to streamlined operations, increased worker productivity and better workplace wellbeing.

Thanks to these features and others, meeting and resource scheduling technology provides facility managers and office owners the opportunity to have an end-to-end view of their workspace with comprehensive reporting.

Supported by real-time data, office managers can see exactly how their workplace is meeting the demands of employees, and make informed decisions going forward.

Meetings most likely will always be a part of office life. They provide the opportunities for collaboration that spark the innovation, ideas and team spirit organizations need to move forward.

Meeting management software is already helping many digital-savvy corporate organizations and law firms keep their operations streamlined and their employees productive and happy. If your organization is not among them, it’s time to start thinking technology.