WHO’S IN THE OFFICE TODAY? HOW WORKSPACE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE HELPS YOU MAKE PRACTICAL PLANS

The 20th century model of a workplace just doesn’t get the job done efficiently in the 21st century. Today, work is not a place we go to, it’s an activity we engage in wherever and whenever our customers demand.

Work is now an agile, integrated activity that’s so far from the clock-punching drudgery of last century that the two seem barely related.

Want the truth?

If your office personnel is required to work within a 20th-century mind-set, you most likely have a morale problem — that’s if you can hire the best new talent to begin with.

Did you know: Gartner estimates that the average employee spends 27 hours a year looking for the right space to work.

An adaptive integration of processes and software can bring your workplace up to date and improve user knowledge.

Workplace management software helps employees control and improve their working environment to create collaboration, wellbeing and productivity.

And as a workplace owner or facility manager how you control surrounding conditions can make the environment right or wrong for your business and your employees.

Surrounding conditions can mean two different things:

• Physical conditions – e.g. what type of space is available for meetings daily, how hot or cold your workplace is, how noisy it is.
• Equipment – e.g. are collaboration tools such as video conferencing or AV available? What other equipment do your workers need or have available for successful meetings?

So when does all of this go wrong?

• When your workspace is not set up to support modern ways of working.
• When workers end up wandering around the building looking for somewhere to sit down and work, or hold a meeting.
• When your workers are uncomfortable because it’s too hot, too cold or noisy.
• When meetings fail because no-one shows.
• When no-one wants to arrange a video conference because it’s too much admin and the equipment isn’t always available when they need it.

So how do you make it right?

Good workspace management software lays all these issues to rest, making your operations more efficient and delivering an effortless agile working environment where people can do their jobs efficiently.

Here’s how using workspace management software to find room works on a daily basis:

Workspace management software such as Rendezvous by NFS provides an app so workers can easily locate and book a desk or room DAILY via their smartphone or other mobile devices.

That’s true even when they are organizing a meeting to involve participants across multiple locations or time zones.

If they need a quiet desk in a cool place, they can specify that when booking the desk – DAILY.

Up-to-date inventory control means they can identify the equipment they need at each location and book that, too – and they can even add catering in the same transaction DAILY.

It can all be dragged and dropped into the familiar Outlook calendar thanks to good integration, and any changes are notified automatically to everyone who is taking part – even the caterers — DAILY.

Is Outlook holding you back? See how to fix it for a perfect meeting experience.

Great room scheduling software works for agile workers travelling from one office location to another and also for office-based staff members who need to find available meeting rooms. Workpace management software allows them to:

• Easily find and book workspaces/meeting rooms with day-to-day capabilities — it will Inform workers of room availability based on their specifications every day.
• Create perfect meetings every time since the room scheduling software finds a room, books video conferencing within different time zones, books catering, and notifies participants if meeting times change. It will even release the room when the meeting is finished.
• Allow collaboration for better innovation and team spirit.
• Eliminates tiresome manual admin tasks.

What about long term space planning with workspace management software?

DLA Piper is a good example of long-term space planning aided by software.

The global law firm recently moved its Chicago office to River Point, a 52-story office tower on Lake Street. The law firm is leasing 175,000 sq. feet on the ninth through 16th floors in the tower.

With hundreds of employees attending several meetings in 33 rooms in one business day, DLA Piper needed to find meeting management technology to help increase office productivity.

They invested in Rendezvous, integrated with real-time occupancy sensors.

When people enter a room, sensors turn equipment on and instructions appear on the main screen alerting attendees how to project a laptop onto the screen wirelessly or physically plugged in.

Equipment will automatically shut down when the meeting ends. The room is automatically released and its availability displayed on digital panels outside the meeting space for all to view.

The integration of meeting room booking technology with a leading enterprise management system for digital signage and building control created a fully connected workplace for DLA Piper’s new space.

Thanks to the integration of the software and digital signage, workers can find a suitable meeting space, book the room and services and bring remote offices into the meeting by video conferencing, seamlessly.

They can even set up lighting, control temperature and lower window blinds.

Sensors – how do they work?

The system aggregates all the data from the sensor technology – whether that is monitoring desks, meeting rooms or social spaces. Using this data, it is possible to model and predict the future space requirements.

The system sends management an alert when space usage goes above or below user-defined levels. The system provides enough granular data to even suggest how the office should be configured.

For example, using this data to deliver 10% in space savings you can delay future office moves and expansions, or reconfigure the existing space for more flexible working patterns.

One of the great features of the solution is that it can release a space automatically at end of use to the next employee who requires it.

This can increase space utilization by around 30%.

Based on your business rules, space and desks can be automatically re-allocated when you have a “no-show”. For example, a desk can be reallocated if it has been unoccupied for two hours.

Given that the average employee spends 27 hours a year looking for the right space to work, this time saving translates to a major cost saving – creating a win-win scenario for the facility manager.

Want to reduce wasted space and streamline operations?

BOOKING SOFTWARE: BYOD (BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE) — WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

Many enterprises are currently beginning to create Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programs within their organizations. These programs allow employees to use their personal devices for work activities, further allowing them to be more productive from anywhere with an internet connection. These devices include mobile tablets, smart phones and laptops. Although expanding programs have really been lead by an increased demand from employees, the businesses see huge benefits as well. These benefits include increases in worker productivity, increased revenue and happier employees.

Forrester conducted a survey recently to find out just how effective BYOD programs are within organizations. The statistics may surprise you. The study found that 70% of employees that use a tablet for work selected the tablet themselves. 67% of employees that use smart phones for work selected these smart phones themselves. Lastly, 46% of employees that use laptops for work selected the laptops themselves. Moreover, these devices were not purchased by the company; they were an employee expense. One may think that employees would be opposed to purchasing their own equipment, but another study conducted by Good Technology found that employees are happy to buy their own equipment. The reasoning is that employees can use devices they actually like, which isn’t commonly the case if a business purchases older equipment to save on expenses. Most companies, as you can image, are happy to allow the employees to cover the expense. Thus, over 50% of North American and European companies have already begun incorporating BYOD programs. There are more benefits still, which are causing this practice to explode across the business world.

One of the most significant benefits of BYOD programs was found to be an increase in worker productivity. According to a recent Trend Micro survey, 80% of companies saw an increase in worker productivity with the implementation of BYOD programs. This is attributed to employees having constant information at their fingertips. They can update information from anywhere, anytime. This has increased communication and collaboration among employees, which has in-turn, increased productivity. With this, since employees own the devices they use for work, they are able to take them home and manage projects during previously unproductive time. Surprisingly, employees are happy to have the option to put in the extra work, if it means projects are being done faster, on their schedule.

The next benefit is an increase in revenue. One way companies have increased revenue through BYOD programs is by eliminating the section of the budget previously allocated towards purchasing computers and electronic devices for employees. An article published in Mind over Machines found that 70% of companies that have implemented BYOD programs have seen an increase in their bottom lines. Since employees are gladly using their own devices, the companies save dollars. With this, employees are able to use more technologically advanced mobile devices, if they so choose to purchase them. Another way revenue increases is with an increase in the ability for employees to work remotely. Since salesmen are able to access their programs mobile, they can manage more accounts on-the-go. For example, if they’re waiting for a client to show up for an appointment, they can still manage their other accounts before he arrives. This produces a potential to increase sales, since salesmen can manage more accounts within the same amount of time.

So, we know that companies can see tremendous benefits from implementing a BYOD program. However, how do employees feel about this shift? They are enthused, states a recent article published by CIO. It seems that employees were rarely happy with the ‘ancient’ electronics most businesses provided for them. Thus, although they may need to purchase a device themselves, they are able to get something they enjoy using. Also, again since they own the device, they can take it home and be productive in the evenings or weekends, if they choose to get more work done, or get a head-start on a project. This, along with telecommuting, produces happier employees, as they are better able to balance their home-life. Happier employees lead to less turnover and again, increases the organization’s bottom line. BYOD programs may be a win-win for both companies and employees.

If you’re wondering how to make the shift to support BYOD programs with your business, the best place to begin is with a booking software company that’s at the forefront of these new technologies. You’ll want to look for a forward-thinking company like NFS that creates innovative software that can provide meeting rooms and schedule resources for your company. You’ll need to know your business’s needs, because each business is different. If your employees are going to be purchasing their own devices, you’ll need to make sure the information they’re viewing is secure. With this, you may need to look into a booking software like Rendezvous to allow employees to collaborate by booking rooms, booking resources and using hot desks via any device. With so many devices on the market (iPhone, iPad, Windows Tablets, Blackberry and Android), it’s also important to make sure the program you choose is compatible for every device. This will ensure your employees remain well connected in a digitally savvy world.

Considering these benefits of BYOD programs, how have they been working for you?Contact us today!