Episode 2: Four Types of Modern Offices That Require an Efficient Workplace Management Solution
5.0 min read
Episode 2: Multi-story and Multi-building Enterprises
In the first episode, we talked about how the future of the workplace will shift focus from place to people. As each individual employee needs certain resources to be successful, it’s the office leaders’ job to put relevant resources in place and help employees reach their full potential.
The physical office, by itself, is a kind of resource. It may have changed substantially over the past two years, but it’s still a critical space for collaboration and connection. So, in today’s episode, we’re going to take a closer look at a bigger work environment – multi-story and multi-building offices.
Transitioning to hybrid work already sounds daunting. What can we do to successfully launch it in a multi-story or multi-building office? Let’s dive in and find out together.
An Efficient Workplace Management Solution Creates a Fast Lane
What do multi-story and multi-building enterprises need to efficiently utilize space resources and make hybrid work work?
Firstly, as hundreds of reservations will be made daily, those enterprises will need a unified space booking platform, before anything else, that presents all reservations in one place and updates in real-time. Secondly, that platform must allow office managers to set up an office map, so they can use it to monitor occupancy and easily manage resources. Last but not least, as visitors and guests come and go frequently, it would be great to have a system that quickly handles visitor influx and offers full visibility of visitors in the building.
An efficient workplace management solution ticks all the boxes by combing office space (meeting rooms & desks) booking and visitor management into one system, creating a fast lane for multi-story and multi-building offices to embrace the hybrid work trend.
From an employee’s perspective, offices equipped with a workplace management solution will
Make Space Easier to Book
The workplace booking software, which is an integral part of efficient workplace management solutions, acts as a unified platform that connects every room, desk, and other resources scattered across different floors and buildings together.
Office managers firstly create an office map on the system by uploading detailed information about their space resources. Take meeting rooms, for example, locations, capacities, equipment, etc. After that, employees can filter and find a room or desk that suits their needs and book it directly on the map with a few easy clicks. As a unified platform, the workplace booking software will sync reservations in real-time, which helps to prevent double bookings.
Some workplace booking software support integration with Outlook Calendar, Google Calendar, Microsoft Teams, and other 3rd-party platforms, which allows your hybrid workforce to stay within their familiar tools and book a space anywhere, anytime.
As we can see, equipping your multi-story or multi-building office with a workplace booking software not only improves space utilization but also creates an effortless booking experience for both remote and onsite employees.
Make Space Easier to Find
In a multi-story or multi-building office, it’s easy to get lost, but the good thing is, that employees can rely on the office map to successfully arrive at their booked space.
Unifying space resources and bookings, an efficient way to manage your workplace, allows you to check and book space resources on other floors/buildings of your enterprise, greatly improving space utilization. Let’s say you’ve booked a meeting room on the third floor because all rooms are booked on your floor, but you rarely go upstairs. All you need to do is to open the floor map, locate the space you reserved, and go straight to it.
The same works for desk bookings, too. Remote workers can even use it to find a colleague as they stop by the office. Search the colleague’s name on the office map, find out where he/she sits, and go straight to his/her desk.
Strike a Professional First Impression to Visitors
Empower your employees with a visitor management system so they can meet important guests easily and strike a professional first impression. This kind of workplace technology is designed to help large enterprises streamline visitor sign-in, save time, and keep track of anyone visiting their physical workplace
Employees can pre-register the guests’ information prior to their arrival. As the guest arrives, he/she will be asked to check in, usually by scanning a QR code. At the same time, the visitor management system will automatically send a message to the employees notifying the guest’s arrival.
The visitor management system creates a hassle-free, contactless process, seamlessly connecting the host and the visitor together. This process makes sure the guest will be picked up by the right person and led to the right place, significantly reducing the guest’s waiting time. Fast, easy, and professional.
From an office manager’s perspective, offices equipped with a workplace management solution will
Make Office Space Easier to Manage
Above we talked about how an office map can help employees find their booked spaces easier in where they work. If looked at from the office manager’s perspective, customizing an office map on the workplace booking software will give them full visibility of space resources on each floor/building. At one glance, they’ll know what’s going on in the office and make necessary adjustments.
Office managers will also be granted access to assign permanent seats to non-remote employees and flexible seating areas for those who work off-site. If a meeting room is under maintenance, they can set its status as unbookable until it’s all good. They can even set up team collaboration zones or neighborhoods on the system, so a team can sit next to each other to meet and collaborate.
Some workplace booking software offers hardware options like smart sensors, which will collect space utilization data of every room and desk. Office managers can check the statistics weekly to look for room to improve and better utilize the resources.
Reduce Operational Costs
The workplace booking software and visitor management system combined will ease the burden on the receptionists because employees are empowered to make reservations by themselves. It also helps save administrative overhead on hiring multiple receptionists at the front desk.
In addition, smart sensors like occupancy sensors detect presence and auto-release rooms/desks if no one shows up. Then the room/desk status will be refreshed on the online booking system, so other people can book the space again. This helps multi-story and multi-building offices improve space utilization and thus save on real estate costs.
Safeguard Your Building, People, and Property
The security of the office building and assets is the top priority for office managers. The visitor management system offers a visitor overview for office administrators. For instance, how many visitors are we expecting today, how many have already arrived, and how many have left the building. The overview helps ensure building security and makes sure there are no unwanted strangers wandering around the building.
Equip Your Multi-story Office with the Right Workplace Tech
Operating and managing a multi-story and multi-building office is hard, but you can make it easier by equipping it with the right workplace technology. If you’re just dabbling with the trend, meeting room booking systems is a good way to start.
Yeastar Workplace’s Meeting Room Booking System is composed of a cloud-based platform, room displays, and smart sensors to help businesses and organizations streamline space allocation and save in-person collaboration from unnecessary scheduling conflicts.
In the coming months, a Desk Booking System and a Visitor Management System will be incorporated into Yeastar Workplace, which will transform it into a one-stop workplace management solution, ready to empower your hybrid office and beyond.
Start a free trial and explore what kind of possibilities your office holds in hand in the fast-evolving world of work.
