Auto Trader Customer Case Study

See how Condeco helped Auto Trader create a more flexible, professional and collaborative environment for their tech savvy workers.

Auto Trader is the UK’s number one motoring digital marketplace. From simple classified listings to highly advanced Internet car retailing technologies, Auto Trader has been leading UK motoring marketplace since 1977.

Challenge

As Auto Trader transformed from a publishing company to a fully online digital business the migration resulted in significant growth for Auto Trader. A new work environment was needed that reflected their flexibility. They were operating through several regional offices all over the country, wanting to consolidate for a more unified and collaborative business model.

The company found themselves in a culture where meetings were necessary. This made available meeting rooms hard to find, and caused a high proportion of no-shows. Auto Trader wanted to introduce more informal spaces to their offices to reflect this new change.

Auto Trader also struggled with separate management processes for meetings – booking meetings via a Microsoft Exchange calendar was time consuming, and catering options could only be managed separately, often causing minor hiccups.

Auto Trader wished to increase their efficiency with back-end reports about utilisation, catering and services. They also wanted to be able to book meetings through Microsoft Outlook, and add any additional requirements within the same booking form.

“Condeco gives us exactly what we need as a business. The software and screens are simple to use and the auto-bump function reduces our no-shows. The catering options can be cost coded back to the relevant departments, so we can efficiently manage the waste.”

– Jason Swords, User Experience Lead, Auto Trader

Solution

Auto Trader looked at various room booking solutions, but found many were limited in function. Auto Trader felt that Condeco’s meeting room booking software, along with meeting room screens, offered the features they had hoped for – particularly Condeco’s Outlook add-in, which allows staff to book meetings directly from their MS Outlook calendar, and request additional services like catering within the same form, improving efficiency and saving time across the business.

Condeco meeting room screens streamlined the resource scheduling process, allowing employees to make instant bookings from the room screen. Occupancy lights display if rooms are in use at-a-glance, meaning meetings in progress are never disturbed. Auto Trader reduced no-shows with Condeco’s auto-bump feature – if a meeting fails to start within 15 minutes, the room is automatically freed up for others to use.

Auto Trader’s IT team easily built and configured the rooms themselves with guidance from Condeco’s service team. Auto Trader’s PAs and receptionists required very little additional training, as the system is so user-friendly and straightforward to navigate. Following this successful deployment in Manchester, Auto Trader implemented Condeco in their new London office, with an additional thirteen meeting rooms available for booking.