WABCO + Meetio = Effective change management

Who is WABCO?

The everyday working life of a company is a puzzle to assemble as it is. However, being the number one global supplier of technologies and services that improve the safety, efficiency and connectivity of commercial vehicles, with 15 000 employees in 40 countries might make that puzzle a bit more challenging. We are of course talking about WABCO. To better understand exactly how a massive organization like WABCO succeeds in organizing their everyday work, we talked to Reza Dizadji, IT digital workplace leader at WABCO.

From unstructured to structured

One of the things you need to have in place to ensure that your workdays run as smoothly as possible, no matter what size of organization, is a bulletproof booking system for meeting rooms. For WABCO, the management of meeting rooms faced a lot of challenges due to the amount of meetings being held, no-shows and a lack of communication. Reza explains that the responsibility of finding a system to manage all of these problems falls on the IT-department:
The problems that lead an organization towards researching different systems for meeting room management are of course individual. For WABCO specifically, Reza tells us that the challenges mostly revolved around the general lack of management which had some pretty serious consequences:
Before using a meeting room system, as managers we faced several issues such as no-shows [when people don’t show up to their booked room, but forgets to cancel it], or employees always having to ask the reception for room availability… This resulted in a lot of stress and additional costs as we had to book offsite rooms. Not efficient at all.
By turning to Meetio and implementing meeting room managers in their office, WABCO managed to overcome these challenges and create a symbiosis between the co-workers and the system.

Why Meetio?

Why did you choose Meetio? What were your buying criteria?

The first challenge we faced was availability, right. So, we booked the rooms through Outlook but that was it. There was no indication on whether that room was booked or not. Not even if it was spoken for in the next fifteen minutes or so. We had manual signs which we could slide open and close if it was occupied or not but that was still
engaging in that activity.

  • Technical: cloud configuration, Android, device independent and globally deliverable for harmonizing the organization.
  • Administrative: dealing directly with manufacturer as oppose to reseller making sure we have the direct link and support.

The criteria for choosing Meetio differs between customers, but more often than not we are chosen over another competitor. According to Reza that has to do with both pricing and our staff:

Another thing that varies among our customers is how they choose to use the system and what functions they value the most. For WABCO, Reza explains, many of those functions are linked to actually optimizing the booking of rooms:

  • The “check-in” function makes sure that no-shows are a thing of the past
  • The bidirectional sync between the Meetio device and room calendar give users full flexibility to book a room as they wish
  • The visibility of availability saves the reception, assistants and meeting room users a lot of time by having a direct view on the rooms’ calendars
  • Full statistics of room usage helps us drive cost and efficiency of that use

Change management

This might all sound excellent, and finding a system that helps will of course change the order of the workflow and make everything easier. However, implementing a new system is a challenge in itself. As a manager and decision maker you have to both convince and encourage your co-workers to use the system consistently. A step in that direction is listening to the employees and their feedback, which is key in change management. To better understand how WABCO succeeded in their change management we asked Reza what feedback he got from the employees at WABCO:
They love it and clearly see the benefits. The change management was instant and the devices became the source of information rather than the calendar.
Change management is of course always easier with a product the users love. That is why Meetio always strive towards simplicity. With an easy, user-friendly system your employees will have a harder time disliking it. We ask our customers for feedback as well, which brings us closer to understanding what the users need and want, and to understand what we’re doing right and what we can improve. What’s the best thing about working with Meetio?
The people! Meetio has a team of professionals who understand the challenges of a company – they take the time to measure and investigate in order to provide tailored solutions and innovate based on your actual needs.

Reza's advice to you

Reza’s To Do list for companies in the same position as WABCO:
  • Fully assess the scope of your issues whether it be with meeting room management, conferencing or end-user desk efficiency.
  • Envision a solution that will fit you. Do your research and handpick a package that provides full flexibility on all levels.
  • Believe in the innovations brought by companies like Meetio, and be aware that you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars to reach your goal.
  • Never stop evolving in this digital era!
Do you want to start your own journey? Contact us and we will help you!

Share this story

Let’s write your story!
Get in touch