Five Benefits of a Meeting Room Booking System Tablet

By Katherine Schwartz
Demand Generation Specialist
SpaceIQ

More companies are turning to meeting room reservation software as they organize their workplaces. Software creates a system of record and order, plus promotes better interaction between employees and shared workspaces. But software is only half of the equation. A meeting room booking system tablet is the tangible component employees need to engage your workplace’s room reservation system.

Stationing tablets outside of major meeting rooms remind employees to book time and appropriately interact with workspaces. Tablets also serve as a natural bridge between the digital booking system and the physical workspace. Here’s a look at five reasons tablets are an essential part of any room reservation system and how companies can put them to work with maximum benefit.

1. Tablet booking is intuitive

In the era of smartphones and touch screens, tablets are an intuitive technology for most people. They instinctively tap, swipe, and pinch to access a wealth of features not possible on static booking screens. Not only does this familiarity encourage employees to approach and use tablet booking systems, it also encourages them to use them correctly. They’ll feel comfortable reserving rooms, scrolling ahead to see future bookings, check room information, and even send invites.

2. Tablet booking is habit-forming

The more comfortable employees become with room scheduling software, the more apt they are to make it part of their routine. The intuitive nature of tablets takes away fear of using the software, thus enabling good habits to form. As they become more attuned with tablet booking, it becomes second nature to them. This helps to promote a smooth-running workplace and gives facility managers accurate insight on space utilization through booking software. This then translates to better workplace design, based on a clear understanding of space usage habits.

3. Mobile vs. stationary use

Though most often installed outside of their respective rooms, tablets don’t need to be stationary resources. By nature, they’re mobile. Regardless in what capacity it’s used, a tablet affords facility managers great oversight opportunities.

Stationary, a tablet serves as the gatekeeper for a room. If Holly wants to book the Aristotle Conference Room, she can walk up to the tablet outside that room, select the time, and send invites. It’s a fixed resource, and employees will always know exactly where to find it.

Mobile tablets offer another dimension of potential for room booking applications. Take a coworking space, for example. Visitors check in at a kiosk tablet to claim their space. A facility manager can grab one of these kiosk tablets to quickly walk the floor, and confirm occupied vs. unoccupied spaces in real time. Updates marked on the tablet are live, which means anyone can walk into the coworking space at any time and check in.

4. Push notifications and customizations

Tablets for conference room schedule display offer a wide breadth of opportunities for push notifications and other customizations. This can greatly affect how employees interact with different spaces and in what capacity.

For example, there might be a leak in the Finch Conference Room. To prevent someone from booking that space, the facility manager might push a message to the room’s booking tablet that says “This room is unavailable. Sorry for the inconvenience.” Similarly, employees might use the tablet to push notifications to facility managers—such as notifying them of a maintenance issue. Tablets are a true two-way communication system regarding space utilization.

Facility managers might also customize widgets or display information based on each bookable room. An oft-used, 10-person conference room might show the schedule prominently for passersby to see, while a rarely used four-person space might show the time and date until tapped.

5. Cross-platform compatibility

Room scheduling software is likely to run natively on tablets, which gives employees the power to utilize its full capabilities right from the tablet. Beyond this, tablets can run cloud apps with relative ease, which means user action on the tablet can seamlessly sync to everything from workplace apps, to other integrated cloud apps, to an Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS). Tablets are an end-point in the room reservation ecosystem—often, the most-used one.

A tablet is more than a screen

While some companies are happy to display room information on small screens or TVs outside of conference rooms, this simply isn’t enough. Tablets offer a level of functionality that regular screens don’t, which lends itself to the above five benefits and the ultimate success of a room reservation system. If you’re moving to a booking-based system and want employees to use it accordingly, give them a reason to. Give them meeting room booking system tablets.

Keep reading: Essential Conference Room Digital Signage Info