Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
The Client
Headquartered in Detroit, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) is a non-profit mutual insurance company and independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Founded in 1939, BCBSM is the largest health insurer in Michigan, serving 4.5 million people in Michigan and 1.6 million members who reside in other states. It consists of 152 hospitals and more than 33, 000 doctors, making BCBSM the largest such network in Michigan.
The Challenge
Within the BCBSM real estate portfolio, there are a total of 15 properties throughout the state of Michigan used by over 8,000 employees and by its multiple subsidiary businesses. When Kathy Lord, Director of Facilities Administration at BCBSM, started leading the team in 2009, she noticed the room booking process was complicated. Oftentimes, rooms would get overbooked or a room wouldn’t be released properly when someone canceled a meeting, leaving it vacant when it could’ve been booked by another group. This translated to significant frustration among employees and clear workspace efficiency issues.
“Whether an employee was coming to our location in Detroit or in Lansing, the process of reserving a space needed to be the same,” said Kathy. “Similarly, regardless if someone needed to book a training room, conference room, banquet room, flex department, or even the president’s conference space, the tool needed to be easy and consistent for everyone to use.”
To help reduce unintentional double bookings or no-shows, BCBSM turned to FMS:Employee, formerly Asure Resource Scheduler, to provide a more streamlined, company-wide system for managing room scheduling and desk bookings.
…regardless if someone needed to book a training room, conference room, visitor room, flex department, or even the president’s conference space, the tool needed to be easy and consistent for everyone to use.
Kathy Lord, Director of Facilities Administration, BCBSM
The Solution
Before making FMS:Employee available to the entire company, BCBSM first started using it in 2000 to enhance the facilities experience from a room setup capability. In addition to making it really easy for people to schedule meeting rooms, with the AV and resources they needed, a big draw to FMS:Employees was that employees loved being able to see a picture of the room they were looking to reserve.
“For an organization such as ourselves, with multiple locations across Michigan, having the ability to see what a space looked like, along what amenities it offered, was game-changing for our employees,” said Kathy.
Not long after, the company installed the FMS:Employee’s Microsoft Outlook plugin to provide everyone at BCBSM access to the system. Kathy recalls rolling out the Outlook plugin as an easy first step when expanding the tool to more employees, since most people were already used to booking meetings through their Outlook calendar; however, she also saw the advantage of being able to activate other functions within the same system to respond to future organizational needs and an evolving workplace.
“One of the main reasons we chose FM:Systems’ room and desk booking solution was because it’s not just made with a facilities operator or food service provider in mind. It was important that anyone in the business could eventually use it.”
For an organization such as ourselves, with multiple locations across Michigan, having the ability to see what a space looked like, along with what amenities it offered, was game-changing for our employees
Kathy Lord, Director of Facilities Administration, BCBSM
The Results
Since 2002, the FMS:Employee full-service room continues to be used by all of BCBSM employees and subsidiary companies. Overall, the company has enjoyed how easy and quick it is to manage all their booking needs, resulting in a more productive and positive workplace experience.
“Today, FMS:Employee works across all our departments, who wanted a more customized offering. It was easy to upgrade our environment to a cloud-based one with our IT teams not needing to manage an on-premises solution now,” said Kathy.
BCBSM also has implemented the food service module of FMS:Employee for its catering and office coffee programs. Before the pandemic, the organization used the module to manage several catering vendors throughout the state. With subsidiary brands, and numerous offices in the network, all required food service management and coffee programs were able to be booked within the same platform, greatly saving time with accuracy.
“We use the module for all our catering requirements and the office coffee vendors across our sites. This management is now routed through one entity. We used to have three cafes and two dining locations, but two have been shut down due to the pandemic. Once they reopen, the module will be a great convenience as it gives us management features integrated into one tool. This means our people do not have to use another third-party solution – they get the convenience and functionality straight from FMS: Employee,” said Kathy.
Each time BCBSM has expanded functionalities, they have worked closely with the FM:Systems professional services group and internal IT teams to build an enterprise tool capable of meeting all requirements customized to their needs. Even if the infrastructure is different, all employees can access FMS:Employee and enjoy the benefits of the cloud-based platform.
“The reliability and ease of use the tool offers has been widely accepted by Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan,” said Kathy. “But the main reason we’ve stayed with FM:Systems for more than two decades now is because of the company’s professional services group. They’re so knowledgeable and always available to answer any questions we have had.”
“No system is perfect, and there will always be a few small things that do not work like we expect them to do. But having an overall 98% efficiency is incredible, and FMS:Employee checks all of our boxes across all our business units. It is a rock-solid tool that delivers on what it promises. It is always available and accessible to our employees,” said Kathy.
The reliability and ease of use the tool offers has been widely accepted by Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan,” said Kathy. “But the main reason we’ve stayed with FM:Systems for more than two decades now is because of the company’s professional services group. They’re so knowledgeable and always available to answer any questions we have had
Kathy Lord, Director of Facilities Administration, BCBSM
What’s Next
Outside of the regular technology enhancements, BCBSM will consider upgrading onto the FMS:Employee mobile app. This will tie into its authentication tool and empower employees scheduling capabilities, regardless of where they are working.
Because of the pandemic, BCBSM has focused on creating a safe workspace for its essential workers, which comprises 30% of their employee base. These employees have worked in-office during stay-at-home orders to answer phones, process claims and complete other tasks that simply can’t be achieved remotely. Thus, like many organizations, BCBSM is evaluating their return to work strategy, and what corresponding tools, including FM:Systems, can effectively support new work arrangements.
“So, outside of maintaining the FMS:Employee tool, we will stay steady with the current state of our work environment for the next six months as we look at how we can best transition back. Once significantly more people are working from our office locations, we look forward to assessing how we might be able to integrate other FM:Systems digital workplace solutions,” said Kathy.
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