Have you ever tried navigating to a place you’ve never been? Odds are, without a GPS, directions, a map or your cellphone, you’re unlikely to arrive where you’re trying to go. The same thing can be said about your meeting room design and technology. You may have an idea of where you want to be, but don’t have the clear path to get you there…leading to a meeting room full of functional challenges and technical difficulties.

That why successful integrators take time to create a proven and repeatable process that minimizes headaches and downtime to ensure customer success. How is this accomplished? Here are a few steps to help you get started.

Get to know the project

A good, well-thought-out process should start with a complete understanding of the project. This should include doing a full audit of the existing technology and equipment to determine what stays and what goes. A few questions to ask include:

• How are rooms being used?
• What do users expect from the rooms?
• Do the seating and other non-technical items need replaced?
• What existing audio, video and content-sharing equipment is staying?
• What platforms are going to be used?

Asking these questions will help you identify the “must-haves,” “nice-to-haves” and “no-thanks items” and to clarify the reason behind the meeting room change.

Plan the install

Having a full understanding of the project and the customer’s problems gives a foundation for your installation. Specifically, this information can be used to identify and overcome any potential hurdles facing the project, including new and existing component compatibilities and design differences (especially if working on multiple rooms).

The best integrators overcome these challenges by assembling and testing as much of the system as possible off-site to make sure the on-site installation goes smoothly. This helps reduce downtime by identifying all installation issues before arriving on-site. It also allows some components to arrive fully assembled, bringing additional speed to the process.

Craft a post-installation plan

Once meeting room installation is complete, process-oriented integrators create records of all room components along with a plan for maintenance and support. At a minimum, they should 1) document changes to hardware, software, platforms and other things like seating; and 2) provide on-site training to ensure customers understand the upgrades and know how to use the technology. Great integrators will go even further by maintaining ongoing communication through regular updates and check-ins.

RoomReady’s proven process

The RoomReady Way is our proven process – our roadmap – that always leads to meeting room success. It ensures we simplify how your meeting rooms function, accelerates your technology installation times and improves your overall meeting productivity. Check it out.

Whether you choose us or someone else, make sure your integrator has a well-defined process for setting up and ensuring the success of your rooms. The best integrators become an extension of your team, and you’ll want someone whose process aligns with your values and business approach.