4 BENEFITS OF USING ROOM RESERVATION SOFTWARE IN YOUR BUSINESS

Do you remember what “water cooler chat” means? That’s what we used to call the moments of unexpected collaboration at the water fountain. Office employees gained insight from one another when taking a moment to go get a drink of water. Some great ideas developed during those small, yet thoughtful moments of socializing.

But that was when offices were divided into fixed spaces. Most likely, you had a desk that stood empty half the time and only used meeting rooms on formal occasions. Since the era of the fixed space, office layouts have changed.

Today, you might still chat around the water cooler, but the way you work has been transformed. Now, workspaces are created strategically to encourage interactions that spark inspiration. Being kept in a cramped space with a limited possibility of collaboration wasn’t doing anything for anyone. In a modern, connected workplace, you move about freely, making the most of agile desks. Meeting rooms have become multi-purpose. They act as informal meeting spaces, which are now common in offices everywhere.

Many generations are working together — Generation Z is even starting to join the party — and they each have their own needs and working preferences. As times change, “one size fits all” is no longer going to suffice. To grow a successful business, employee satisfaction is a key component. Providing employees with their own preferable workspace improves employee happiness and well-being, ultimately boosting productivity. And, a boost in productivity is going to make everyone more money. However, it’s tricky to track each employee’s personal work-life preferences.

The solution? The latest workspace management technology with room reservation software.

Many organizations, including large law firms like DLA Piper and other major companies, are using room reservation software to streamline their operations and make agile operations genuinely flexible.

Even people who work at home benefit from the software. More than 8 million people in America were already working from home by 2017, according to the US Census. But, many say they lack tools and technology to work agilely. Two-thirds say they would spend more time in their office if it had better facilities. Room reservation software can make that happen for you.

What benefits does your organization gain from using room reservation software?

1. Empowered employees

• It allows employees to feel a sense of control with their workload.
• It creates a positive working environment that encourages talent to stay.
• A recent survey found that 1/3 of US office workers wanted to be more trusted to manage where they work.

2. Perfect meetings

• The smartest organizations are turning to state-of-the-art workspace management technology to manage their working environments and automate boring, time-consuming tasks.
• Room reservation software means your employees can spot suitable workspace and book it easily online via an app. They can book resources like AV, video conferencing and even catering at the same time.
• Meetings are easy to organize across multiple locations. The technology takes time zones into consideration and automatically informs everyone if any of the meeting details have changed.
• It’s a great way to remove tiresome admin tasks from your employees’ work day. That gives them more time to focus on their real work.
• Additionally, the software lowers the risk of no-shows, a common problem that makes meetings fail and costs dearly in time and frustration. The result? Perfect meetings, every time.

3. Improved Collaboration

• We know the benefits of collaboration tools like video conferencing and AV. They get teams together, no matter how far apart the co-workers are physically. This eliminates the strain and cost of travel.
• Companies love these tools and spend a lot on them, but employees can be reluctant to engage if they are hard to organize. Room reservation software removes the obstacles faced by employee uptake by making it simple to book rooms with the right equipment for an unlimited number of locations.
• So, you never turn up to your video conference only to find that the equipment is not in place — your organizer has booked it with a single click at the same time as reserving the room.

4. Better space utilization

• Keeping tabs on a changing work environment causes real headaches for office or facilities managers.
• Tracking how office space is utilized can be tough, particularly if your organization is based in many locations or if you need to recharge other departments within your company.
• Room reservation software such as Rendezvous by NFS integrates with occupancy sensors that monitor space and desk utilization in real-time and provides comprehensive reports.
• It gives you accurate data at your fingertips so you can make informed decisions about space going forward and make sure your real estate spend is justified.

What about ROI?

When the right technology is in place so that all of these factors can act together, the connected workplace gives your employees an elevated sense of control over their work environment. Satisfied employees will work harder for your business, which benefits everyone in the long run. Why miss out on the chance to eliminate stress and increase profitability? You don’t have to re-invent the wheel… There’s software for that!

If you are in management, the captured data gives a complete, real-time view of whether your space is being maximized, and how it can be improved. You are able to configure your space to meet the changing requirements of your workforce, no matter how they evolve. By making it easy for your people to find the room they need, you can also reduce the cost incurred when they decide it’s simpler to book external space. All of this amounts to the fact that room reservation software offers a quick ROI.

When competitiveness and productivity are at a premium, and talented staff is hard to find and even harder to retain, all of this should sound like good news for your business.

Allow this technology to benefit you. Get into the connected workplace.

WHY ARE OUR WORKPLACES MAKING US LONELY — AND HOW CAN WORKSPACE MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY HELP FIX IT?

Recent studies show that a growing number of Australian employees are feeling lonely and isolated by the work they do.

In some ways, this seems strange: we’re in the midst of a “gig economy” that’s geared to promote the latest connected technologies and workspace design. Technically, it’s never been easier to communicate and collaborate with our co-workers.

In reality, though, employees are not finding the link — socially.

Being part of a gig economy means many of us to have flexible working arrangements beyond the traditional employment models of the past.

We may choose to freelance and string together jobs on a short-term, contract basis or even to work full-time for a set employer, but without all the benefits of permanent employment.

Technology is a big enabler of agile and freelance working — with a smartphone and an unlimited data plan (or a nice cafe with wifi) — you can work from almost anywhere.

However, working remotely or apart from other people can make us feel lonely and depressed, which is not only unhealthy but also impacts on employee productivity.

The rise of the coworkers

This created the rise of “coworking” where independent employees “work alone together” in a shared office space. While the average cost to use one of these facilities varies, according to the Harvard Business Review, employees are still quite satisfied and think the cost is worth it.

Engaging with people in a coworking environment is one way to lower loneliness. Gig workers have stated that coworking spaces have helped them expand their social network and they are happier and less lonely.

But what about lonely employees working for companies

Unsurprisingly, even though loneliness is a profoundly subjective and personal experience, emotions can lead to negative objective outcomes in the workplace.

Employees who feel disengaged and isolated are considerably less productive and make a lot more mistakes.

A new study has found that 37% of all workers feel lonely at work, and the main reason for this is technology advances that were supposed to make jobs easier or more flexible.

The survey of just over 1,000 employees — conducted by HR think tank Reventure — also found 38% of lonely workers reported making more mistakes and 40% felt less productive.

Do we need to change the way we focus?

“There’s no doubt that the current way that we work is essentially driven by our demands around being transactional,” Reventure managing director Lindsay McMillan said.

“Transactional means looking at screens a great deal of our time, more time now than ever before and continuing to rise. So our focus on the screen means we’re not focusing on people beside us, on the floor above us or below us.”

Focus, when used correctly, is very effective. But when our workplace forces us to multi-task…

It’s hard to do one thing well when we’re constantly being bombarded with a multitude of external demands on our attention — from the constant ping of message alerts and urgent emails to distracting chats and intrusions due to the open design of our workplace environment.

The past 20 years have seen dramatic changes in the way we work. The old walls have been torn down and replaced with open plan areas; but it seems that the new walls have become our computer screens, mobile devices and smartphones.

The constant barrage of emails, text messages and other electronic intrusions have taken time away from water-cooler chats or daily face to face interaction. Who even has time any more to recognize a lonely worker?

Because the modern workplace can sometimes seem to be a push and pull with challenges and realities that appear to be contradictory and almost impossible to resolve.

So we find conflicting demands all around us:

• We want more open and collaborative spaces in workspace design — but we also need closed /quiet-focus spaces for concentrated work
• We need to maintain a conscious awareness of the social value of companionship at work but also maintain a non-intrusive association of employer and colleagues
• We’re seeing an unprecedented spectrum of generations and diversity in the workplace, creating apparent cultural barriers.

Perhaps it’s time to stop and say “hello” to the colleague working beside you. Why not break the ice and talk to the person sitting alone in the office or a local coffee hangout?

As employers, we should be aware that simply catering to what we think will satisfy the needs of the majority of employees won’t necessarily deliver the best outcomes for the company or for individuals.

One size doesn’t fit

Adopting a “one size fits all” approach to workspace management technology and workplace design certainly doesn’t work anymore.

By developing a deeper understanding of the emotional and transactional behaviour of our employees, and being more sensitive to socially disconnected employees, we can discover innovative ways of engaging and involving all members of our workforce.

Adapting the workplace to satisfy a wider range of employee needs may seem expensive, but it pays back in improved productivity and employee retention.

Effective and thoughtful workplace design can provide the right types and variety of workspaces that are required to support the diverse range of tasks that staff need to perform on a daily basis: from activity-based workstations to team rooms, from informal brainstorming areas to quiet spaces and pods.

Selecting the correct workspace management technology to support this flexible space is every bit as important as effective workplace design.

The solutions that you deploy need to be as fit-for-purpose and as flexible as the workspaces themselves — and just as easy to use.

When it comes to booking workspaces and scheduling supporting services such as catering and AV, we should be providing our employees with workspace management technology that is intuitive.

It also needs to integrate seamlessly with the existing technologies (such as Outlook) that they’re already using on a daily basis.

This familiarity makes it easy for them to find and book the workspace that best suits their specific needs even when they are on the move, using an app.

When used effectively, workspace management technology can help alleviate stress and bring employees together for perfect meetings and pleasant, easy and effective collaborations — and there’s no better answer to loneliness at work than that.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PERFECT MEETINGS

It’s Monday and you’re stuck in traffic worrying that you might miss your mandatory Monday morning meeting at the office. This is a common story told around the world. For the past century, meetings have essentially defined our work culture. Interviewing for a new job? There’s a meeting for that. Need to review your work with the marketing team? There’s a meeting for that. 90-day employee review? You guessed it, there’s a meeting for that. Quite frankly, the list goes on and on.

The fact is, no matter how you feel about them, meetings are a necessary part of a successful business. When done properly, meetings provide a productive place for collaboration, problem-solving and new ideas that ultimately propel your company forward. But how do we perfect our meetings so we overcome the stereotypical “I survived another meeting that could have been an email” slogan? That’s where things get tricky. Keep reading to learn how to create, implement and execute the perfect meeting(s) for your organization.

Why do we attend meetings in the first place?

First and foremost, it’s important to note why we attend meetings, to begin with. There are many reasons why people attend meetings including:

• Gaining new information on something occurring in the company
• Expressing concern about issues and situations
• Making complex client decisions
• Fulfilling regular job requirements
• Reviewing your work with a supervisor

And so on, and so forth.

When should you schedule a meeting?

To change the stereotype around meetings, we first need to define what constitutes even holding a meeting. As a business owner, team leader, or supervisor always ask yourself a few simple questions before booking a meeting.

• Why are you holding the meeting?
• Do you have a clear and identifiable reason for the meeting?
• What’s your plan of action for the meeting?
• Are you prepared to execute the plan of action during the meeting?

If the answer to any of these questions is “no” then you’re probably better off sticking to slack and email for whatever you wanted to discuss. Every meeting should have a clear goal and objective outlined ahead of time — otherwise people begin to feel like their time was wasted and half the meeting is spent talking about what everyone ate for dinner last night. Clear, defined objectives is key for creating structure around your meetings.

How to improve your meetings

Improving meetings isn’t as difficult as it seems. According to PsychologicalScience.org, employees average 6 hours per week in meetings and managers average 23+ hours in them. When you analyze those numbers, that’s an extensive amount of time spent in meetings. Improving the efficiency of your meetings will positively benefit everyone in your organization.

Start with a few basic steps to improve your meetings:

• Send out an agenda about the meeting ahead of time. This ensures everyone is on the same page and time won’t be wasted.
• Encourage collaboration and contribution. Make everyone feel welcomed to share their ideas and thoughts.
• Keep all discussions as focused as possible. Avoid gossip and talk that is better suited for happy hour.
• Ask for feedback. After the meeting, send out surveys about the structure of the meeting. Or simply ask people for feedback so that your organization can continue to improve its meetings.
• Provide refreshments or coffee for the invitees. Offering something like this has a positive effect on everyone in the room.

How to analyze behavior in your meetings

If you’re unsure if your meetings are being well received by the attendees, there’s a few things you can analyze to get a clearer picture.

As a leader or someone holding the meeting, be on the lookout for a few of the things listed below.

• Eye contact. A lack of eye contact usually indicates a level of unease. During your meetings, everyone should have eye contact with each other.
• Posture. Poor posture often indicates boredom.
• Excessive fidgeting or nervous habits. This could mean people are nervous, bored or frustrated with what’s being discussed. Keep an eye on these behaviors, but never address them during the meeting.
• Yawning. Yawning can be more than just being tired from a lack of sleep. If a person is facing a super tedious task, they can often feel overwhelmed which psychologically results in tiredness.

If a number of these things are going on during your meetings, it could be a telling sign that people aren’t engaged and/or attentive. However, you should address these concerns in private and never bring them up individually during the meeting(s).

When in doubt, use technology to perfect your meetings

It’s 2019, and technology is at the forefront of most businesses. At NFS, we’re committed to breaking down the stereotypical meeting culture and improving the way we create and execute meetings across the board. However, it’s getting tough to manually manage the entire process start-to-finish. That’s where technology comes into play.

Our software, Rendezvous, is a world-leading software solution that helps your organization transform the way it manages meetings rooms, desks, and workspaces — as well as services like catering and AV. To truly perfect your meetings, we believe you need technology that integrates with your organization in more ways than one. To learn more about how we can help perfect your meetings, visit https://myrendezvous.net/.

ILTACON VISITORS GET THE CHANCE TO SEE RENDEZVOUS MEETING ROOM BOOKING SOFTWARE IN ACTION

The NFS Technology team at ILTACON in Orlando, Fl, until August 22 is having a busy time demonstrating its leading Rendezvous meeting room booking software in space 210.

Law firms are finding efficiency and ease utilizing our leading Rendezvous
Workspace meeting room scheduling software. It improves workplace collaboration, uptake of video conferencing — and reduces no-shows at meetings dramatically.

Rendezvous meeting room booking software gives law firms one simple tool to handle every element of your meeting. From room booking to A/V, catering to invites and updates for digital signage, Rendezvous makes your meetings perfect.

Law firms internationally and domestically are utilizing Rendezvous to ensure efficient use of their increasingly flexible space. It’s not uncommon for a firm to have more than 30 meeting rooms on one campus or building.

Locating an available room, booking it, plus required resources and adding it to a calendar is now a necessity every day. Once the room is booked via an app, sensors will release it when the meeting ends. Sensor technology can track usage, occupancy and presence in real-time making it easy to analyze space requirements.

Rendezvous Workspace as cloud-based or on-premise software is the affordable answer to perfect your meetings. It’s is used by organizations across the world to streamline operations, reduce costs and improve worker wellbeing with better collaboration and stress-free booking solutions for agile workers.

THE NEW WORKPLACE – OFFICE OR VENUE? IT’S TIME FOR A RADICAL RETHINK

Waves of change have washed over our offices — IT, video conferencing, AI and mobility — and work’s now a thing we do, a place we go.

So it’s time to ask tough questions about what our workplaces are REALLY FOR. In other words:
The new workplace: is it an office — or is it a venue?

Think about it.
You go there to do a specific thing
You visit it to meet with people
It’s got all you need to meet your goals
It’s a fun place to be (or should be)
You book your space before you get there.

I mean, you’d never just turn up at a gig hoping to get in. Hanging around looking for a seat? That ain’t rock ‘n roll.

And it doesn’t rock the new workplace, either. Recently, we’ve swapped out our formal boardrooms and fixed desks for more flexible spaces that suit agile working.

We can sit down and do our jobs in many places — malls, coffee shops, our own kitchen counter — but we still need the office to be the beating heart of our working life.

It’s where we meet up, face-to-face or virtually via travel-saving collaborative tools such as video conferencing and AV.

It’s where we sit down at a hot desk or drop in to a breakout space to catch up with colleagues.
We get better when we get together

A recent survey said:
“People working in teams innovate faster, achieve better results and report higher job satisfaction.”
No surprise there.

So we still need the office when it comes to promoting spontaneous collaboration and positive mental health.

It’s a generation thing?
Gen Z, in particular, is keen on a friendly office get-together.
A crazy high percentage — 92% — of these 18–24-year-olds think they don’t work best at home — and a huge 81% say social and communal areas are important workspace facilities.
But it’s not just the Z-ers — all generations are impacted to some degree.

So it’s time rethink your workspace as a venue.
You may never have looked at it that way before.
Is it easy to book a space there?
Can they do that before they arrive?
Is it a cool place to get together with colleagues?
Does it have everything they need to achieve their goals?
Does it make them feel good?
It fits, right? You want your workplace environment to cover off all these elements.

If you already use room scheduling software, you’re be feeling smug — you’ve put a check against all those questions.

If you don’t, you’ll be amazed how much difference room scheduling software makes to your operations.

Give them the hot ticket
It works right from the get-go. Your technology-supported workspace-as-a-venue means workers book their ideal hot desk or meeting space easily using an app.
So they’ve got the hot ticket to your gig before they even arrive — remember point 5 above?
And because they’ve booked resources from VC to AV and even catering in the same single booking transaction, there are no delays.

The workspace venue that rocks

They arrive, settle down, get working or meeting. The room scheduling software even reduces no-shows by automatically informing everyone if a room or time changes.

No hanging around; that’s a cool workspace that makes everyone feel good, not just friendly Gen Z-ers. Hey, who’d ever want to leave? Talent retention never looked so easy, while productivity and wellbeing are a natural result.

I like the idea of the workspace as a venue; it’s an enjoyable and attractive perspective on our working lives that’s a great fit with a healthy work-life balance.

So it’s time for office owners like you to have a radical rethink.
Get the tech.

Get the right stuff, the room scheduling software that makes it all happen for you and your workforce.
Then get your workspace venue open for some real business. That’s my kind of gig.

AUDIO VISUAL BOOKING SOFTWARE

Benefits of Rendezvous audio visual booking software:

Multi-location capability

As well as allowing staff to book meeting space across different venues and time zones, its audio visual booking software enables organisers to book technology at the same time as they can secure audio visual or video conferencing equipment for any or all of the meeting venues.

Easy to use

Rendezvous AV booking software integrates completely with Outlook, so any changes are automatically communicated to attendees — and if there’s a cancellation, the audio visual equipment is released back into availability.

Saves time

There is nothing more frustrating than a lack of preparation. With Rendezvous, no more time is wasted hunting for technology after the meeting is supposed to have started.

Saves money

With Rendezvous, you always know where your AV equipment is — saving unnecessary expenditure on external equipment rental. You can also determine, based on historical trends, what equipment you may need to purchase to enhance your inventory.

Click here to know to more about our rendezvous audio visual booking software: https://myrendezvous.net/audio-visual-booking-software/

Visitor management solution

Enhanced security

With Rendezvous it is easy to keep track of all your suppliers, visitors and staff as they are logged automatically in the system.

An improved visitor experience

Visitor badges can be effortlessly produced from the system, the host notified automatically when a VIP arrives in reception and any service requests sent seamlessly to staff.

Seamless communication

Any changes in a meeting can be notified quickly to both visitors, hosts and service providers to ensure that everything runs like clockwork and no time is wasted.

RESOURCE SCHEDULING SOFTWARE

The benefits of our resource booking solution:

Saves time:

The solution presents the user with all the information they need to make sure that all the aspects of the meeting are managed and that no items get overlooked.

Improved efficiency:

The solution presents the user with all the information they need to make sure that all the aspects of the meeting are managed and that no items get overlooked.

Improved workflow:

The solution manages the complete workflow, effortlessly updates service providers and applied business rules to ensure everyone is kept in the loop and that no items are double booked.

Click here to know more about resource scheduling software: https://myrendezvous.net/resource-scheduling-software/