arbooONE - Desk Sharing is Caring

Desk Booking Concept

Your guide to launching your desk booking initiative will take you through the following phases

Preparation

Gather requirements from your employees and stakeholders

Configuration

Customise the desk booking software to suit your requirements

Go-Live und operation

Productive use of the solution and ensuring sustainable utilisation

Communication

Always accompany the introduction of your desk sharing initiative with communication measures at every stage

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Phase: Preparation

Needs and requirements analysis​

The first step in preparation is defining the target group. Who are the people affected by your initiative? Which desks can be booked, which employees keep their assigned desks?

We recommend involving employees at an early stage in order to ensure lasting acceptance of your initiative. This includes the joint clarification and prioritization of the requirements of your target group, requirements that flow into the later evaluation of the software solutions.

Involvement of the works council / IT co-determination obligation / works agreement

One of your most important stakeholders when it comes to making jobs more flexible is the works council.

Early involvement of the works council is also essential in this case - the members of this body are often co-designers of the initiative and pave the way for the legally flawless introduction of the initiative in your company.

Workplace equipment, infrastructure and hardware compatible?

Harmonize the equipment and infrastructure of as many flexible workplaces as possible in order to be able to achieve high utilization.

If 100% compatibility of the employees' hardware with the infrastructure at the workplace is not possible, note the special features - these are good candidates for equipment features in a booking software that employees can explicitly filter by.
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Start software selection to implement your Desk Booking Concept

Start searching for the right software solution. The be-all and end-all of this topic is the focus on use cases. Use your prioritized list of requirements for the analysis. Also note non-functional aspects such as requirements for integrating the software into your infrastructure and environment.

As a solution provider for desk booking, we would be happy to show you exactly how arboo covers your requirements. In a live demo, we will demonstrate to you in a short time how users and those responsible would work with the system based on your requirements.

Let us get in touch, we look forward to your inquiry.
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Define responsibility

Just because IT made the suggestions for desk booking software, or because HR brought up the idea for making it a more flexible work environment, doesn't mean that these departments should deal with the topic forever.

Put it in your defined roles and responsibilities in your project team for the implementation project and later operation of the solution.
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Phase: Configuration

Installation and connection

Whether in the cloud or on premises, whether SAAS or other models - ultimately the system must be installed and configured for your company from an IT point of view.

One of the most important aspects that we definitely recommend is the connection to your user directory. From a user-friendliness perspective alone, this step is essential. For employees, user-friendliness is first defined by the easiest access to the application. The selected software solution should be usable without additional login, ideally even from a familiar environment for employees.

Configure the system based on your concept

Your software is available for you, you now have to take care of filling and configuring your bookable Shared Desk resources.

Use the opportunity here to involve the future responsible parties. With the installation and the configuration of the resources, you gain a lot of experience with the system, experience that will benefit someone later in operation or with later changes.

Provide equipment features, define permissions

Now the time has come to store special features in the system and in the resources. If your desks are equipped differently (e.g. 2 monitors, docking station or height-adjustable table), it is easier for employees to find a compatible workstation using a filter.

Another special feature that you may have to provide could be to limit for some resources the ability to be booked for specific individuals or groups.

Test with a pilot group

An essential step before unlocking for all relevant users is a test run with real users.

Please note that as the responsible team you usually have high/privileged permissions, this could falsify your test results when testing. Therefore, test with real users, put together a pilot group with relevant people - especially in the context of the previously defined special features - and have the solution tested.

Use the pilot phase and ideally the entire period of the project for communication to your target group.

Prepare the booking interface for go-live

The day of the go-live is approaching - so the booking application (the app, the site, etc.) must be prepared for the go-live. Make sure that the app is accessible to the relevant target group.

The goal is for employees to be able to access the booking application automatically, easily and without any effort when it goes live.
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Phase: Go-Live and Operation

Go Live Event

Your initiative will now be made accessible to your entire target group.

Use well-known communication channels to promote the initiative. Provide your employees with all the information they might need. Answer any questions your employees might ask beforehand and also make this information available.

Use important dates where you can communicate with many employees, plan a special date to explain your initiative and show live the software solution you have chosen.

Record the demo portion of these events and post them online for employees to refer to later.

Communication

... is not a one-off task and please - do not underestimate this task.

Prepare your employees for the coming change in the way they work. Explain to your employees what the reason for the new initiative is. Address worries and reservations.

Also make sure that new employees know everything about the initiative, just like the employees who were already there at the launch.

Gather experience and feedback and adjust your configuration if necessary.

Your work of the last few weeks and months will now come into its own. Validate your assumptions from the preparation phase and adjust the configuration - if necessary.

Your initiative was launched with strategic goals. Have these goals been achieved? Continue to act on the use cases and educate your employees on relevant changes.

Continue to ensure accountability

The composition of teams and roles change over time.
Ensure that if there are changes in your teams, you continue to have adequately trained staff available to nurture the initiative.
arbooONE - Desk Sharing is Caring

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