Workplaces keep changing to meet the needs of their employees. As more companies adopt hybrid work models after lockdown, managing the office space efficiently becomes more important to ensure employee friendliness and cost effectiveness.
The management of physical space in an organization is called space management. Organizations adopt this practice to manage their entire office space, track occupancy information, and create spatial plan.
Space management involves multiple steps such as gathering data, forecasting, analysis, and strategic planning. This concept sounds simple, but it can be quite challenging to implement in practice.
Space management is an integral part of effective facility management since it is the cornerstone for many activities. It helps with property management, occupancy management, room reservation, move management, and maintenance management.
Strategic planning of space allows you to develop cost-effective solutions while optimizing the availability of workspace, enabling your employees to efficiently manage the space.
Here’re the benefits of space management system in today’s time:
Space management software assists in managing, auditing, and tracking your company’s physical assets. This is an automated technology that provides a host of features to manage office space or any other premises.
The solution offers a simple and intuitive interface that helps in optimum space utilization. With an effective space management software, you can:
Moreover, the majority of space management software can be accessed via a web browser and mobile app. You can easily manage space availability, location, purpose, capacity, occupancy time, etc. on the go.
Let’s have a look at some of the common types of space management system.
Automating the room booking process and measuring room occupancy is a key benefit of room booking software. It offers a central platform for booking a conference room and reserving other spaces within an office or shared facility.
A meeting room management system allows work teams to book a meeting room or schedule reservations, lock certain amenities, and conduct post-meeting cleaning automatically. It provides all the details of a meeting room or space whenever you need it.
Conference room management systems ensure easy booking of conference rooms and other office spaces for effective management and planning of meetings and discussions.
A coworking management system is specifically designed for managing coworking spaces. With its powerful hybrid workplace management features, it helps managers create a flexible workspace that can accommodate the needs of a diverse group of individuals.
Seat management software ensures that there is the right seat for everyone at your workplace while also utilizing the space in the best possible way. Seat allocation software is important for planning where your employees sit in the office as per their work shifts.
Modern workplace managers need space management software at their disposal. It empowers organizations to come up with data-driven decisions on how to create an office environment with positive workplace experience and minimal space wastage.
Unused space is a common scenario in large organizations. The use of space management system software helps organizations manage underused spaces and reroute resources for its optimum utilization.
Every day a lot of time is spent by employees in finding available work desks, meeting rooms, parking spaces, etc. A space management tool tailored toward the need of employees can help business owners ensure that employees have the equipment and location that they need for their specific tasks.
Data is essential for effective space management. If this data is scattered across different platforms, the communication within specific departments can become siloed. With the help of space management software, facility managers can easily track space usage and take necessary measures.
Communication and employee satisfaction improve with better transparency in the workplace. One of the benefits of using space management software is that it provides you with information and real-time metrics like the percentage of space utilized, total area available, and operating costs per square foot.
Space management software facilitates energy savings by highlighting the unoccupied or unused spaces. Also, it saves organizations from unnecessary facility-related expenses that often go unnoticed and add up to the operational cost.
Essential space management features that you will find with the best software:
Ability to capture real-time data: Space management software can capture the occupancy data in real-time. Biometric devices can be connected with biometric devices and occupancy sensors to track real-time information. When managers have this type of data at their fingertips, they are well-equipped to make informed decisions.
CAFM software integrations: The software must be fully integrated with computer-added facility management (CAFM) software like AutoCAD or any other similar solution. This will facilitate your team to navigate through different scenarios and take a look at the impact of any changes before they are implemented.
Other Enterprise system integration: Your space management software should integrate with the enterprise systems of your organization including HR and accounting. This will enable you to set up spaces in accordance with work shifts and rosters.
Availability of mobile apps: The workforce today is more mobile than before and wants access to every information at their fingertips. With space management apps, your employees will be able to find available work desks, meeting rooms, and people from anywhere, thus increasing productivity.
Reporting capabilities: Along with collecting and aggregating the data, the software should also support robust reporting, analytics, and dashboard features. Top-level space management software provides actionable insights to make proactive decisions.
It is important to remember that not every space management software offers the features your business needs. Here are the factors to consider while selecting the best space management software for your company.
Cloud-based management: You can opt for cloud-based space management software that helps manage and access the space management features from any device and anywhere. However, on-premises space management software ensure greater control over data security.
Ease of use: An effective space management system should have an intuitive interface and must be easy to use for every employee. Look for a solution which even a person with limited technical knowledge can use after training.
Integration with other solutions: The best space management solution should easily integrate with other software like AutoCAD, room reservation systems, occupancy planning software, service request software, and more.
Scalability: A growing business must find space management software that is easily scalable. You must be able to manage the expanding space and ensure optimum utilization.
Forecast future space needs: The best space management solutions make it easy to visualize your future space needs. It helps you in the planning of space expansion or reduction based on changes in employee numbers as well as the space utilization rate.
Service and support: Whether it’s on-premise or cloud-based solution, check for the level of support you will get from the vendor in case you are finding any feature too complex.
Conclusion
The right space management platform not only helps in better planning and utilization of your office space but offers a lot more than that. It allows organizations to save their operational cost, make strategic planning, boost employee satisfaction levels, get meaningful insights, and increase productivity for effective facility management.
FAQs
Administrators, office and facility managers and employees of an office or organization can use space management systems to monitor facilities and manage physical assets more efficiently.
Space management systems should be used to increase the efficiency and productivity of your working environment and promote general work well-being through cost-effective solutions.
Condeco, WorkInSync, Office Space, and Skedda are some of the best and most-used room booking software with advanced functionalities.
Robin, Team, iOffice, and Office Space are some of the best meeting room management systems that eliminate the problem of wasted meetings and room hoarding.
Skedda, AskCody, Jean and YArooms are some of the best conference room management systems to get the most out of your conference room.
Engage, CoWorking Ops, Digicuro, Briskly and OfficeRnD are some of the best coworking management systems for managing coworking spaces.
Related Categories: Meeting Management Software | Screen Sharing Software | Remote Monitoring Maintenance
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