As flexible and hybrid work strategies continue to take the world by storm, workforce management tools have become increasingly crucial. Platforms like Envoy workplace offer companies a way to manage their resources (and teams) more effectively from a unified digital platform.
This solution allows team members to find and book rooms and desks, track deliveries, and more. Plus, team leaders can monitor usage statistics, send emergency notifications to teams, and use in-depth analytics to make intelligent planning decisions.
In this review, I’ll give you a behind-the-scenes look at the key features, pros, and cons of Envoy workplace to help you decide if it’s the right option for you.
Quick Verdict: Pros and Cons
After reviewing quite a few workplace management apps, I think Envoy Workplace is great option for a lot of teams. It’s easy to use, works well with a range of integrated apps, and there are even add-on apps for guest management and coworking spaces.
I would have liked to see more built-in AI capabilities, but the Workplace features of Envoy are at least very affordable. The biggest downside is that add-on solutions for visitors and front-desk management can be pretty expensive.
Pros:
- Excellent workplace maps and scheduling tools
- Integrations with a huge range of platforms
- Comprehensive controls for business leaders
- End-to-end insights for space usage and engagement
- Real-time notifications and alerts
- Easy to use interface
Cons:
- Limited customization options for complex workplaces
- Expensive pricing for additional features
- Slight learning curve for certain capabilities
Envoy Workplace Review: The Key Features
Envoy is just one of the software solutions offered by the Envoy brand. It bundles together all of the key features companies need to manage work environments, like desk and room booking software, delivery tracking, emergency notifications, and analytics.
In this review, I’m focusing specifically on the “Workplace” kit, but it’s worth noting you can access visitor management tools and front desk options from Envoy too.
Envoy Room and Desk Booking
Like most workplace management tools, Envoy’s main features revolve around helping companies make the most of their available office space. The room booking system, for instance, comes with convenient green, yellow and red indicators to instantly show users which spaces are available for meetings or training.
There’s a handy “check in” feature, that automatically updates the room’s availability on the app, and you can even show team members what’s available in each room. For instance, you might list that you’re using Zoom Rooms and digital whiteboards in one room, and Microsoft Teams in another.
Users can book their spaces using Envoy Mobile, Google Calendar, and Office 365. You can also set up “booking” features on tablets and displays around your meeting rooms. You can even send nudges to users through channels like Slack, reminding them to “check in” or attend a meeting.
Users can also add privacy settings to rooms, like hiding meeting names for private conversations.
The desk booking system is similar, giving companies extensive control over their space. In a hot-desking environment, you can designate exactly which desks are available to reserve. Plus, team members can see comprehensive workspace maps in real time on the app.
These maps show which amenities are nearby, like computers or printers, and which other team members have booked spaces close to them. In the app, you can even choose the people you most want to sit next to. I particularly like the “hoteling” feature, which allows employees to book desks for an hour, a day, or even a week.
Deliveries and Emergency Notifications
The Envoy app’s delivery function and tools for “emergency notifications” are some of the key things that set it apart from similar tools, in my opinion. Most flexible workspace management tools don’t include specific features for monitoring deliveries.
However, with Envoy workplace, keeping track of mailrooms couldn’t be simpler. The platform even comes with a built-in software solution to help you scan packages and match them to the right employee in your directory. You can also let team members know when deliveries are available to pick up, log deliveries in your online dashboard, and send automatic reminders to team members.
Plus, it’s simple to send immediate notifications to your staff when they have a package they need to collect. Speaking of notifications, that takes me neatly onto Envoy’s “emergency notification” function. Within the app, users can see who is scheduled to be in the office, who’s on site, and where they are, making it easy to contact specific groups with alerts.
Once you’ve identified who you need to contact, you can send a single message to users across a range of channels (SMS, email, and push notification). Plus, users can be asked to respond to messages too, such as “marking themselves as safe” in an emergency.
This might not seem like a major feature at a time when various workplace management tools are focusing heavily on cutting-edge AI. However, I think it’s very handy, particularly for companies who focus heavily on protecting team health and safety.
Workplace Analytics and Security
The right analytical and reporting tools can really make or break the value of a platform for hybrid work management. The more you can learn about how team members are actually using your office spaces, the easier it is to make the most of your resources.
Envoy workplace comes with plenty of historical and real-time reporting tools to help businesses make the right decisions for their teams. You can track exactly which rooms and desks are being used most often by team members and access useful insights into optimizing space allocation.
The usage analytics data can be divided by days, times, and specific employee groups. Plus, you can use the data gathered for “scenario planning”, if you’re using one of Envoy’s more advanced plans. The trouble is many of the reporting features aren’t included on Envoy’s basic plan.
The same is true of the platform’s security features. While you can leverage basic access controls on all plans, you’ll need the mid-level package to use SSO and Directory Syncing tools. This plan also offers access to health and safety controls, and property-wide blacklists.
If you want more advanced user identity and security features, like SCIM sync, you’ll need the enterprise-level plan, known as “Premium Plus”.
Envoy Workspace Review: The Pricing
Envoy Workspace offers three central pricing options. However, it’s worth noting that if you want to combine Workspace with some of Envoy’s other tools for visitor management, you can request a custom quote tailored to your specific needs.
If you prefer the “off-the-shelf” options, you can choose from:
- Standard: $3 per user, per month: Workspace maps, scheduling, package and delivery tracking, notifications, announcements, and location-based mobile sign-in. This plan also includes integrations with ticketing tools and platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams.
- Premium: $5 per user per month: All the Standard features, plus health and safety controls, auto check-in, desk booking, conference room booking, space and occupancy analytics, SSO, directory sync, and scenario planning.
- Premium Plus: $7 per user, per month: Everything in Premium, plus multi-channel emergency notifications, SCIM sync, custom admin roles, and DKIM validation for workplace emails.
One point worth noting is that you can only purchase plans annually – so there is a significant commitment involved with using Envoy. However, you can request a free trial of the software to test it out before you buy anything.
Envoy Workspace: Ease of Use and Customer Support
The best workplace management apps should make it easier to make the most of your office space, so evaluating ease of use is pretty important. In my opinion, Envoy is relatively easy to use, particularly for team members who want to rapidly book spaces and desks from any device.
The Envoy workplace mobile app is as intuitive as the desktop app, and there’s even a fantastic onboarding experience that guides you through all the main features when you first sign up. Actually setting everything up by syncing directories and creating workplace maps can take a little time and effort. Plus, I found connecting apps like Slack and Microsoft Teams to be a bit of a convoluted process.
The good news is once you figure out the integration process, you can link Envoy to all of the top tools you use for calendaring, visitor management, and more. Plus, there’s an API if you want to design your own custom workflows.
From a customer support perspective, Envoy has a few pros and cons. On one hand, you can access plenty of documentation, tutorials, webinars, and guides to help you use the platform. However, the best way to get in touch is usually by live chat or email. Sometimes, you can spend a while waiting for a response, particularly if your request is complex.
For the most part, however, Envoy Academy will give you most of the “step by step” insights you need to configure settings and address common problems yourself.
Envoy Workplace Review: The Verdict
Overall, Envoy is a high-quality workplace management app. It’s a great choice for companies with busy hybrid and flexible offices, who need to keep track of all of their team members, and spaces. You’re also likely to benefit from this platform if you’re the kind of company that receives a lot of packages and needs to keep track of them regularly, thanks to the package tracking tools.
Plus, the instant alerts and notifications you can send to users on multiple channels make Envoy a good pick for environments where emergencies can often happen. I can see this tool being very useful in schools, hospitals, and fast-paced manufacturing environments.
However, Envoy might not be the best solution if you’re looking for cutting-edge AI solutions, advanced insights into user engagement and health, or a very simple, cost-effective tool for workplace management. To access most of the top features, you do need a more expensive plan, and you can end up spending a lot more for add-ons like visitor management.
If Envoy isn’t the right option for your team, make sure you check out some of our other workspace management platform reviews, for insights into the top contenders.
