How and why mobile booking resources appeals to the workforce

Text messaging on mobile is most people’s preferred method of communication today for three main reasons. First, in most cases where you would have to wait to make a phone call, you don’t have to wait to send a text. Most people accept that texts can come in at any hour of the day or night and if there’s any time they don’t want to hear the incoming text alert tone there are several ways they can silence it. Second, texts enable you to cut down on extraneous chit chat and get down to brass tacks more quickly. For example, are we still meeting on Thursday, what do you want for dinner, did you walk the dog? Yes, Thai food, no, but I’ll do it as soon as I get in. Finally, the path to texting someone is, compared with communicating via most other channels, much clearer. You don’t have to waste time with a login process and you don’t have to dodge adverts or as many other efforts to divert your attention.

We look for these same benefits in all the processes we have to follow in life: little or no need to wait, very few obstacles in our way, and we can get the job done more quickly than we could by using just about any other method. The ones that meet these criteria are the ones we tend to prefer and that’s why mobile resource booking apps appeal to the people in your workforce.

Why resource booking should be the norm and not the exception

When you realise you need to book a resource in your organisation, you shouldn’t have to wait and let it become one more task you have to remember to do – until you next have the opportunity to do it. Being able to book the resource you need from a device that is rarely far from arms reach saves you time and from forgetting to book the resource altogether.

This applies to resource booking, as it is especially important that you don’t have to wait to make a booking because what may be available when it occurs to you that you need it, may have been booked by someone else by the time you get around to it.

If you do realise at 9pm that you need to move a meeting forward, but you have to wait until you’re in the office the next morning to book a room for it, by definition, the resource booking system in place has not been designed to provide the best user experience. That means there’s a good chance that, aside from restricting you to being in the office to use it, your system is not as straightforward as it could be – if it requires communicating with other people, it isn’t. What you want is the quickest through route, which means a system specifically designed to help you get the job done with the minimum amount of obstruction. Finally, apart from wanting fewer obstacles in their way, users of resource booking software want a system that is quick to use because it has been designed to be. One reason why mobile devices lend themselves to this kind of experience is that UX designers are forced to make a virtue out of the smaller screen and limited room for function buttons, by focussing on the essential functional elements of the app. Indeed, this is also why apps available both on mobile devices and computers tend to work better if they were designed for the mobile user in mind first because adapting a mobile app to the desktop user experience is typically far more successful than going the other way round.

Matrix Booking is a great example of an app that was designed for the mobile experience first. It enables users to search for and book resources, plus review or cancel reserved rooms, desks, computers, parking spaces or any resource that is shared amongst employees at their organisation. And to provide the fastest through route for users on Outlook, the app integrates with Office 365, so it can be bypassed altogether when booking resources for a meeting. The facilities management system is ideal for businesses wanting to maximise efficiency in workplace processes by allowing users to book or cancel meeting rooms and other resources from anywhere at anytime.

Meeting room booking and resource management flexibility

Like texting, Matrix Booking can be used to book or cancel resources at any time, with minimal obstacles in your way. Our resource booking system also makes the process of booking resources faster by automating associated functions that would otherwise have to be carried out separately, such as booking catering and AV equipment, plus emailing instructions to external guests and informing both security and reception of their planned visit. In short, Matrix Booking serves its users needs well, by not forcing them to wait, and by providing easy access to a fast process. To some ears that might sound like something nice to have but not essential, but organisations will increasingly find that rather than being given credit for providing tools like this, they are discredited for failing to do so. To illustrate – many children today have grown up so used to touch screens that being able to manage the content of a screen by touching it is their first instinct. Only after the disappointment of discovering the contents of a screen can only be managed using a keyboard or mouse will they explore those options.

It is easy to understand why that should be, even if it hasn’t been your own experience. So consider how, similarly, old expectations of what it takes to carry out functions in your organisation either are or very soon will be outdated. The population of people whose expectations of technology are higher than they were B.U. (Before Uber), is growing. What were once winning features are now merely entry requirements in the competition to impress users. It is true to say that a mobile booking resource like Matrix Booking appeals to the workforce, but it is also true to say that lacking modern tools like Matrix Booking is increasingly harmful to morale and motivation in your organisation.

To ensure that it always impresses its user’s, our resource booking and workplace management software continually evolves and innovates as new clients come on board and request new features to suit their particular circumstances. For example, Transport for London, the integrated transport authority responsible for running the day-to-day operation of the capital’s public transport network, commissioned the Matrix Booking team to make it possible to book visitors independently of rooms – this feature is now available to all Matrix Booking users.