The Workplace Has Changed. Has Your Workplace Technology?
Hybrid working has fundamentally changed how organisations use office space. Employees no longer come into the office simply because it’s expected, they come in to collaborate, innovate and connect with colleagues.
The challenge is ensuring people have the right spaces, the right technology and the right information to make every office visit worthwhile.
Microsoft Places helps organisations create intelligent workplace experiences that improve collaboration, optimise office utilisation and provide the insights needed to support smarter workplace decisions.
At CPS, we help organisations use Microsoft Places to modernise hybrid working, improve employee experience and maximise the value of existing Microsoft 365 investments.
Why Microsoft Places?
Microsoft Places is Microsoft’s workplace experience platform, designed to help organisations coordinate people, places and schedules. Rather than relying on separate desk booking, room booking and workplace management solutions, Places brings everything together within Microsoft Teams, Outlook and Microsoft 365.
Organisations are adopting Microsoft Places to:
- Improve Hybrid Working: Help employees coordinate office attendance and make in-person collaboration more meaningful.
- Optimise Workplace Utilisation: Understand how offices, meeting rooms and workspaces are actually being used through real-time analytics.
- Improve Employee Experience: Make it easier for employees to find colleagues, book workspaces and plan collaborative working days.
- Reduce Workplace Costs: Consolidate workplace management technologies while making better use of office space.
- Maximise Microsoft 365: Unlock capabilities already available within Microsoft 365 E3, E5 and Microsoft 365 E7 licensing, reducing the need for third-party workplace management platforms.
The Challenges Organisations Face
Creating an effective hybrid workplace is about more than enabling remote working.
Many organisations still struggle with:
- Poor Workplace Visibility: Leaders often lack reliable data showing how office space is being used.
- Disconnected Booking Systems: Separate desk booking, room booking and workplace management solutions increase complexity and licensing costs.
- Poor Collaboration Planning: Employees frequently arrive at the office only to discover key colleagues are working elsewhere.
- Underutilised Office Space: Without utilisation insights, organisations struggle to optimise workplace investments and property costs.
- Rising Operational Costs: Maintaining office space without understanding actual demand can result in unnecessary expenditure.
The Evolution Of Hybrid Working
The workplace has evolved significantly.
Traditional offices were designed around fixed desks and predictable attendance.
Today’s organisations require flexible environments where people can collaborate effectively regardless of where they work.
Microsoft Places represents the next generation of workplace technology by combining scheduling, workplace intelligence and AI to create smarter workplace experiences.
As Microsoft continues to enhance Places with Copilot and workplace intelligence, organisations will be able to make increasingly informed decisions about how people and workplaces work together.
What Is Microsoft Places?
Intelligent Workplace Experiences Built Into Microsoft 365
Microsoft Places helps organisations coordinate office attendance, workspace availability and collaboration from within the Microsoft applications employees already use.
Key capabilities include:
- Desk Booking: Enable employees to reserve desks quickly through Outlook and Microsoft Teams, ensuring flexible workspaces are available when needed.
- Meeting Room Booking: Simplify meeting room reservations while improving visibility of available spaces and reducing scheduling conflicts.
- Workplace Coordination: Help employees see when colleagues plan to be in the office, making it easier to coordinate collaborative working days.
- Workplace Analytics: Understand occupancy trends, workspace demand and utilisation patterns through intelligent reporting and analytics.
- Space Optimisation: Use real workplace data to make informed decisions about office layouts, capacity planning and future workplace investments.
- Microsoft 365 Integration: Work seamlessly within Microsoft Teams, Outlook and Microsoft 365, creating a familiar and connected employee experience.
Microsoft Places & AI
Smarter Workplaces Powered By AI
As Microsoft continues to embed AI across Microsoft 365, Places is becoming an intelligent workplace platform rather than simply a booking system. Combined with Microsoft Copilot, organisations can expect workplace experiences that help employees make better decisions about where to work, when to collaborate and how to maximise productivity.
AI will increasingly help organisations:
- Improve Workplace Planning: Analyse utilisation trends and recommend improvements to office layouts and workplace strategies.
- Enhance Collaboration: Suggest the best days for teams to work together based on meetings, schedules and colleagues’ availability.
- Optimise Office Space: Identify opportunities to reduce unused space while improving employee experience.
- Support Better Decisions: Provide workplace leaders with richer insights into occupancy, collaboration and workplace performance.
- Prepare For The Future Of Work: Create workplaces that evolve alongside changing employee expectations and AI-powered ways of working.
Common Microsoft Places Use Cases
- Corporate Offices: Improve hybrid working, optimise office utilisation and create better employee experiences.
- Local Government: Support flexible working while reducing property costs and making better use of council office space.
- Healthcare: Coordinate administrative teams and improve workplace planning across multiple locations.
- Professional Services: Help consultants and hybrid teams coordinate office attendance and collaboration.
- Education: Enable academic and professional services teams to work together more effectively across campuses.
- Every Organisation: Create workplaces that encourage collaboration, improve flexibility and maximise existing Microsoft investments.
Business Outcomes
- Improve Employee Experience: Create workplaces that are easier to use, more collaborative and better aligned to hybrid working.
- Optimise Office Utilisation: Use workplace analytics to make informed decisions about office space and facilities.
- Reduce Operational Costs: Consolidate workplace technologies and optimise property investments through better utilisation.
- Increase Collaboration: Help employees coordinate office attendance and spend more meaningful time together.
- Maximise Microsoft 365 Investment: Take advantage of workplace experience capabilities already included within Microsoft 365 licensing.
- Prepare For The Future Workplace: Create intelligent workplaces that combine collaboration, workplace analytics and AI.
Why CPS?
We Create Intelligent Workplaces, Not Just Desk Booking Systems
Many organisations see Microsoft Places as a booking tool. We see it as the foundation for the future workplace.
CPS helps organisations combine Microsoft Places with Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Microsoft Viva, Microsoft 365 Copilot and AI to create connected workplace experiences that improve collaboration, employee engagement and operational efficiency.
Our experience also delivers measurable business outcomes.
Why Organisations Choose CPS
✔ Microsoft Modern Work Specialists
✔ Microsoft Places Experts
✔ Hybrid Workplace Strategy
✔ Microsoft 365 & E7 Specialists
✔ Microsoft Teams Integration
✔ Workplace Analytics & Optimisation
✔ Adoption & Change Management
✔ AI-Powered Workplace Transformation
Whether you’re supporting hybrid working, reducing workplace costs or preparing for the AI-powered workplace, CPS can help you maximise the value of Microsoft Places.
Ready To Transform Your Workplace?
Our Modern Work specialists can help you:
✔ Assess your hybrid working strategy
✔ Optimise office utilisation and workplace costs
✔ Deploy Microsoft Places across your organisation
✔ Maximise your Microsoft 365 and E7 investment
✔ Create an AI-ready workplace for the future
Book a Microsoft Places Strategy Workshop