Corporate Case Study
Reduce costs, eliminate double booking conflicts and improve space utilization
Background
As a global corporation planned for an office move to a new facility, it was determined that a single scheduling tool was required to improve scheduling efficiency, optimize room utilization and improve internal communication with support teams. The current scheduling solution included use of Microsoft Exchange Resource Mailboxes for conference room scheduling and on-line/paper forms for equipment, facilities services and food services scheduling.
With over 10,000 employees in multiple locations, the current process for room and services scheduling was inefficient, time consuming, costly and created opportunities for double booking conflicts. In addition, corporate services and the facilities team needed to allocate dedicated staff to schedule equipment, provide services and enter catering orders requested by the end user population. Lastly, because there wasn't a central tool collecting reservation data; real estate space, equipment and facility support utilization was unavailable.
Key Requirements
Senior management, corporate services and frequent schedulers determined the following capabilities would be required in a new scheduling solution:
- Ease of use - Microsoft Outlook and web access
- Room and facility schedule views
- Advanced search engine to find rooms that meet users needs
- Schedule rooms, equipment, services and catering in one scheduled event/meeting
- Integration with Active Directory
- Time Zone Translation
- Automated work flow and real time notification for reservation changes
- Eliminate double booking
- Support recurring meetings
Solution
After a complete review of industry options, MeetingPlanner was determined to be the best solution to address the organization's room, equipment and services scheduling needs. MeetingPlanner was easily deployed throughout the organization and immediately provided improved scheduling efficiency and support team productivity. Users were able to find rooms that met their room and equipment needs immediately in their Outlook appointment. In addition, if the meeting time changed, the reserved rooms and resources automatically updated as well.
The equipment, facilities and catering support teams experienced a dramatic impact too. No longer were dedicated schedulers required to book equipment, support and catering. These team members were now in a position to better manage real estate, equipment and analyze the use of rooms and services, allowing them to optimize their real estate and capital equipment investments.
MeetingPlanner simplified scheduling, reduced costs and optimized utilization, providing the organization with a return on investment within 18 months.
