Mass organization: why having an effective seating allocation system in large companies is critical to success

As an HR, operations or facilities manager in a big company, you certainly understand the challenges of trying to manage the seating allocation for hundreds of employees. When it works, it can be a game changer: a major achievement that can lead to noticeable gains in organizational efficiency and employee productivity, both directly and indirectly. 

One of the biggest problems you might face, however, involves convincing the higher-ups in your company to realize just why this is so important and challenging — and to dedicate time and resources to acquire the right office space planning software to help you handle this massive undertaking. 

Below, we discuss how our very own Seating Allocation System might just be the perfect fit for your large organization, and demonstrate how it can positively impact your bottom line.

#1.  The office space planning software helps you clearly see what you’re dealing with

With a task so complex, plenty of companies will throw up their hands and ignore the problem, rather than drilling down to solve it. That means losing out on the benefits a well-laid out seating allocation plan brings to the table. Not being able to articulate the scope of the problem also means missing out on the tools which could make your job easier. It could cost your company money, too — for instance, leading you to erroneously believe you’ve run out of room to house employees.

POC’s software presents your workplace visually, using an accessible graphical interface. It’s also impressively deep, giving you access to all the data you need. It lets you link architectural graphics such as rooms and cubicles with objective information such as employee names and their departments. The results make it easy to carry out ongoing monitoring, gather precise, quality information at any time, as well as identify and locate areas which are not being used optimally. If you’re looking to, for instance, present cost-benefit ratios for a division or department for any specified month, POC’s software makes this achievable with a few clicks of the mouse. The same is true for locating unused space, unoccupied rooms, or seemingly unusable areas. In short, it allows for an in-depth understanding of the challenges at hand and their solutions, while supporting decision making processes.

Perhaps most importantly, it’s easy to learn: running inside any browser (no AutoCAD needed) and requiring just a few minutes to get to grips with. That makes your job simpler, but it also makes it easier to present the problem (and solution) to whichever decision-maker has the responsibility of authorizing the tools you use.

#2. The software helps you adapt to a constantly changing work environment

A workplace is like a giant organism with lots of different moving parts. Seating allocation systems shouldn’t be anything different. No company wants to be treading water one year from now, so why should an employee seating plan be any different? If you’re seeking maximum productivity, desk seating today is likely to be different to the one you employed six months ago, and different from the one you’ll use 3-4 months from now. The reason for this could be anything from new recruitment, force reductions and special projects to maternity leaves, medical leaves of absence, and unpaid leaves. What ultimately matters is that seating allocation management is an ongoing, dynamic process — which requires an ongoing dynamic system that lets you adjust it on a daily basis if required.

POC’s solution lets you “move” employees around with a simple “drag & drop” function, easily measure and modify areas, and run simulations involving your workspace to see how certain changes might play out. It transforms employee seating allocations from a simple map of where everyone sits to a data-rich tool that supports decision-making processes, regarding employee recruitment, organizational changes, cost reductions, and much more. 

POC’s system isn’t just a shinier version of the AutoCAD software you might already use; it’s an active participant which can help you find new ways to solve a complex problem.

#3. The software helps you consolidate critical information 

Consider how little sense it would make if you chose to spread out every member of a tight-knit team so that each one was sitting separately at the furthest possible corners of your office space. Why, then, would you want to do the same with all the relevant information concerning your seating allocation plan? Previously you had little alternative, since this plan might involve a variety of different materials, such as architectural drawings, charts, paper and obsolete, cumbersome graphics tools. That exhaustive (and exhausting) approach can lead to frustration and turn an already demanding task into a gigantic burden.

When you select a seating allocation management system, you want a one-stop-shop that will keep these in one centralized location. Not only does this save you time and money on switching between different programs, but it also makes it much easier to iron out inaccuracies and keep everything up to date and unified. This is exactly what POC’s office space planning software does. It additionally offers multiple permissions, allowing access between various parties in different parts of the organization, so that everyone is able to look, contribute toward and act on the same data. It will record who made which alterations, too.

#4. The software helps you increase profitability

Seating allocation management software allows you to save on costs in several areas. Significantly, there’s the cost saving in space and area in your workspace. Using different queries, you can easily locate unoccupied or underutilized rooms, which risks costing you money. You’re bound to save costs in teaching and learning time, thanks to its ease-of-use compared to similarly deep AutoCAD software. Finally, there’s the cost saving of the software itself. POC’s system is SAAS-based (software-as-a-service), with no installation required and a reasonable price tag. In other words: fast return on your investment.