Microsoft Bookings has had a journey… It was first only available to small business licenses, then released to enterprise licenses. Now, Microsoft is releasing another change in June for ‘Bookings in Outlook’.
What does this mean for you and your organization? Well, if you want a great step-by-step on the ‘how-to’s of Bookings check out our webinar recording. If you’re not sure if Bookings is right for you, then keep on reading!
What app should I use and when? (Bookings vs Scheduling Assistant vs FindTime)
If you are the meeting creator, and confident in the attendee’s free/busy time then Scheduling Assistant is the best option for you
If you are the meeting creator and can’t see your attendee’s free/busy status, then FindTime is the best option. This will allow you to list out several times available on your schedule. Using FindTime will allow attendees to vote on the best time related to their schedule. No more proposed times and emails back and forth to coordinate a meeting.
If you are not actively booking meetings or a portion of your job requires scheduled appointments, then this is when Bookings will come in handy. This is helpful for attendees outside your organization or for internal team members that require a formal consultation.
What if I’m looking for something for personal use?
If you want a solution similar to Bookings but just for you and not for a whole team? By the end of June 2022, “personal” Bookings inside Outlook should be released to all. We believe based on information from Microsoft documentation and previews that most if not all current Bookings features will be available in personal. Check out future webinars, and we may cover personal Bookings.
During our webinar we briefly mentioned FindTime which is still in the bucket of scheduling but specifically used to poll multiple recipients for their meeting time preferences.
Check out our quick guide we created on how to use FindTime.
How does Centriq use bookings?
At Centriq we have found that Bookings is great for scenarios where someone needs to schedule some time with a team, but maybe it doesn’t matter which team member is selected or the service the team provides take a specific amount of time and specific questions need to be answered first by the scheduler, so the team has that information ahead of time. Most of these examples are when external people need to schedule time with Centriq folks, but as everything is, this is not the case 100% of the time. For example, my team needs some help migrating our files from the local network drive into a SharePoint site and the IT team has a Bookings page which shows a one-hour migration training session. So as the manager I can go and see availability for IT and schedule a session, IT will select which team member will conduct the training, and they know what to prepare for before the session.
How are other departments using bookings?
“Microsoft has a long list of examples for how or when to use Bookings for a group of people.”
Financial services
Consultations
Banking and insurance services
Tax filings
Government & Public Sector
Court hearings and trials
Public services
Department appointments
Healthcare
Patient visits
Provider-to-provider collaboration
Insurance consults
Education–K-12
Parent-teacher conferences
School town hall
Student-counselor visits
Human resources (HR)
candidate interviews
onboarding benefits
assistance training and seminars
Education–Higher Ed
office hours
tutoring
student services
exam sign-up
Retail
assisted shopping
contractor scheduling
design services
General Enterprise
and small business needs
customer and client meetings
tech support
legal reviews
facilities
Although we have mentioned a few scenarios in this blog and during our webinar, we know that there is an infinite list of possibilities. We would love it if you told us about how you are using Bookings. If there are scenarios that you think would benefit by using the Bookings app, let us know! We’re happy to discuss solutions and training options that would best fit your overall plan.
Tag us in your Bookings solutions and situations (@Centriq Training), or fill out the form below and let us know how we can help.