Recent research, conducted by King’s College London in April 2022, looks at London workers’ views on hybrid working. The findings reveal that although many welcome the opportunity to work from home for part of the week, they also still enjoy working from the office. In fact, the most common benefit cited from office working is being able to see and meet more people.
Certainly, having colleagues to interact, engage and brainstorm with are perks the office brings. Face-to-face meetings, lunches and work sessions can bring creativity, ideas, connection and a buzz that you can’t easily recreate when working solo at home.
Given that contact with others is clearly a favourite, workplaces should focus on how they make face-to-face interactions as brilliant as possible. Not only to help support workers but also to ensure the office facilities and services are adapted to the new hybrid approach to work.
As many interactions take place in meeting rooms or breakout areas, it would make sense for offices to review how these are managed as a first port of call. In recent years, tech solutions have developed that make managing the meeting room experience so much easier and simpler.
‘Digital Concierge’ is one of these. This high-tech cloud solution brings a first-class service to meeting rooms, breakout areas and conference centres for both your workers and any visiting customers, whilst also reducing the hospitality operational costs and bringing new sustainability benefits.
It’s simple to operate; the meeting ‘host’ has access to a digital page via a tablet, iPad or smart phone, where they are in control of the Digital Concierge. This means they can order food and drinks, call for assistance with any audio-visual tech help, adjust the room temperature or call a waiter.
It allows attendees to order exactly what they want from a fully customisable menu. The order is then sent direct to the hospitality team, who prepare and deliver the items to the meeting room.
Gone are the days of large pots of tea and coffee being made for everyone to share, and usually sitting cold and being poured away. Digital Concierge allows for attendees to enjoy a vast array of made-to-order drink options including lattes, cappuccinos and flat whites along with alternative milk options such as oat, almond or soya.
If it’s just a simple mid-morning meeting the hot and cold drink menu can be viewed or if it’s a private executive lunch a more extensive menu can uploaded. Either way, it’s a seamless experience.
Digital Concierge can bring significant savings to a business. Simply by reducing the wastage of coffee, milk and tea, which usually are made in large quantities at the start of the meeting and then left, will result in thousands of pounds of savings per year. In addition, operational savings can be made as staff resourcing can be managed far better. Rotas can be organised to align to the quantity of meeting room bookings, and staff can be re-deployed to other areas at quieter times.
These savings can mean the investment and installation of the Digital Concierge is cost-neutral, along with operational savings which directly bolster the bottom line.
To find out more about Digital Concierge or how we can help your workplace hospitality operation thrive email us on info@systopia.co.uk