UPDATE
Since this post, Microsoft Technology has moved on and Timewatch has released a new, more functionally rich two-way Outlook sync.
You can learn more about our latest two-way outlook calendar sync here ->
Learn how to schedule resources by availability and capacity, which also works with Outlook here ->
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ORIGINAL POST
There are many resource scheduling systems out there – just as there are timesheets. However, few of them sync bidirectionally with Outlook, Office 365, Exchange, and Google. Timewatch does. This is a key reason why our resource scheduling platform is the best in the business and good for your company.
As a staff member, contractor, or an employee who frequently works out of the office, syncing your own calendar takes the pain out of you resource scheduling. By linking your personal schedule with your organization’s calendar, a scheduler can clearly see a schedule clash and won’t book conflicting time with a customer. Everybody wins.
This sounds like an easy and fundamental thing to do, but it is actually quite complex, which is why no one else does it.
Here is why syncing with Outlook & Google makes your business run better
Scheduling by email, phone calls, or voicemail is a manual process that takes time and costs money. It could take a day to get a response from someone in the field about their availability. Importantly, booking something blind leads to conflicts, which can be costly and embarrassing.
There should never be a duplicate booking with a customer. You might lose that customer.
But if calendars are synced, a scheduler can look at your employee’s calendar and know immediately iif they are available or not for an appointment with a customer. They can find a suitable time that works for everyone almost instantly. What is more important, however, is accuracy. With our system, everything that an employee puts into their calendar is visible to the scheduler, and vice versa.
Privacy issues? We’ve thought about that, too. The scheduler does not need to know exactly what the staff member is doing at a particular time. A time slot where a staff member is at a doctor’s appointment can simply be marked “private appointment” or “personal”. It’s enough to just know the employee or co-worker is not available.
Syncing saves your company time & money & MAKES money too
This system saves the company money because the scheduler is not sitting around waiting for a busy employee or contractor to return phone calls. When the scheduler looks at the company calendar what they see is what – and who – they get to schedule. It is also possible to see when someone has entered an event into the schedule to ensure accuracy and clear communication across the company.
Did you know scheduling actually makes money? Syncing saves employees time AND allows schedulers to utilize employee time better. An increase in utilization of 10% is the equivalent of having 1 extra staff member at no cost for every 10 employees. Do you want to increase your workforce by 10% for free? Now you can.
Find substitute staff members with similar skills easily
If an employee is sick and can’t make a previously-scheduled appointment, our system makes it simple for a scheduler to search across the company to find someone with similar skills who can fill in for a particular task.
The system allows the scheduler to quickly find another person to fill in but – and this is important – isn’t able to replace the original employee unless they share the neccessary skills. No more janitors being scheduled for brain surgery.
Your takeaway: synced calendars saves resource schedulers’ time, saves employee time, and saves the organization time and money.