How Redesigning a Meeting‑Room System Boosted Usage by 26% – A Product Design Case Study

Introduction

Meetings are a primary way for employees to plan work, sync progress, and collaborate. Companies need efficient meeting‑room management, but waste occurs due to low utilization and reservation issues. In Q3 the design team, together with product and operations, optimized the meeting‑room system.

Deriving Design Goals

Designers must understand the business to contribute value across the whole workflow. Without business insight, designs cannot solve user needs or improve management efficiency.

Field research in two Beijing headquarters buildings showed low effective usage. Competitive analysis and problem‑focused discussions defined the project.

Implementation

Increase room utilization Old system required a minimum 30‑minute reservation, causing wasted slots. The redesign reduced the minimum to 15 minutes and added a “room‑grab” feature that lets users scan a QR code to claim an idle room, while owners can lock rooms.

Expand room information Beyond name, floor, and capacity, the new system shows photos, navigation, and equipment details, helping users locate and assess rooms before booking.

Enhance participant experience Integration with email, calendar, and check‑in systems synchronizes invitations, creates calendar events, and sends push reminders 15 minutes before meetings, reducing context switching.

Intelligent Exploration

Smart conference‑room capabilities were explored through industry research and hardware trials. Infrared and radar sensors from two vendors were installed in test rooms to capture real‑time occupancy, laying groundwork for future automation.

Results and Next Steps

Since the October 14 launch, daily reservation volume grew 26.2% weekly, release rate improved 11.7%, and released slots were reused for 230 hours. The grab feature adds an average of 54 hours per week, and calendar invitations increased 27%.

The team will continue focusing on smart‑room features to further improve efficiency and service quality.