What if car parks and offices were managed on a single platform?

Coming into the office should never start with a series of uncertainties. Will I find a parking space? Where will I sit today?

Yet, in many companies, car parks and office spaces are still managed separately, using different tools and processes that unnecessarily complicate the day-to-day lives of employees, as well as those of HR and facilities teams.

What if the problem wasn’t a lack of spaces, but a siloed approach to management? After all, car parks and office spaces serve the same purpose: to enable everyone to come to work in the best possible conditions.

A single platform makes it possible to simplify this management, optimise space utilisation and offer a smoother experience for everyone. That is what we will explore in this article.

Car parks and offices address the same challenge: managing limited resources.

In a business, certain resources are essential on a day-to-day basis, but they are not always used to their full potential. This is particularly true of car park spaces and office spaces.

A car park space may remain empty for a whole day when an employee is working from home. An office may be unoccupied for several days a week because its usual occupant is not on site. Yet these spaces continue to hold significant value for both the organisation and the employees who need them.

With the widespread adoption of hybrid working and flex-office arrangements, companies must now rethink how they manage their car parks and offices. The issue is no longer simply about having enough space, but about sharing it effectively amongst staff whose attendance patterns are constantly changing.

Ultimately, the challenge is the same for both these resources: how can we ensure that every available space is used at the right time, by the right person?

Without appropriate management, the consequences soon become apparent:

- Employees with no visibility of available spaces (car parks and offices).
- Spaces that are available but unused.
- HR and facilities teams under daily strain.
- A lack of insight into the actual occupancy rates of spaces.

Optimising the management of company car parks and offices does not therefore necessarily mean creating more space, but rather making better use of what already exists. Through more flexible organisation and the right tools, companies can improve the employee experience whilst keeping their property costs under control.

After all, car parks and offices follow the same principle: they are shared resources that must be accessible simply, fairly and efficiently.

Why does using two different software programmes no longer really make sense?

For a long time, the management of company car parks and offices developed separately. On the one hand, a tool for allocating and booking parking spaces. On the other, a desk-booking solution to support flexible working. Two distinct uses, yet both addressing the same need: organising staff presence on site.

Today, as ways of working evolve, this separation is becoming increasingly difficult to justify. When an employee plans their visit to the office, they don’t think in two stages: “First I’ll book my parking space, then I’ll look for my desk”. They simply want to organise their working day as easily as possible.

So why force them to use multiple tools, multiple logins and multiple booking processes?

↪ A fragmented employee experience.

Using multiple platforms quickly creates complexity. An employee has to remember different logins, understand the specific rules for each tool and juggle several interfaces.

Conversely, a centralised experience meets a simple need: knowing, in just a few clicks, where to work and how to get there. This ease of use is a key factor in adoption. A tool that is too complex or fragmented is likely to be used less, even if it technically meets the company’s needs.

↪ More complex management for internal teams.

For HR teams, general services and workplace managers, managing two software programmes also means an increase in administrative tasks:

- Configuring multiple tools.
- Managing different user accounts.
- Responding to requests across multiple interfaces.
- Manually consolidating data to gain a comprehensive overview.

Yet the whole point of a workplace management solution is precisely to simplify day-to-day operations, not to add an extra layer of complexity.

↪ Data that is difficult to analyse.

The main drawback of separate management also lies in the lack of visibility. Data on the company car park and offices remains siloed, even though it tells the same story: that of actual site footfall.

How many staff members come into the office each day? Which days see the highest attendance? Do the available parking spaces actually meet demand? Are workspaces sufficiently optimised?

Without a consolidated overview, it becomes more difficult to make the right decisions regarding the layout of premises, the reduction of property costs, and the organisation of hybrid working.

This is why more and more companies are now looking to consolidate the management of their car parks and office spaces within a single platform: an approach that is simpler for staff and more efficient for organisations.

The benefits of a single app for managing company car parks and offices.

↪ Greater visibility into how your spaces are being used.

When your car park and office management is based on a single app, you benefit from a more comprehensive view of the occupancy of your sites.

This allows you to better understand:

- Which days your premises are busiest.
- Which resources are in highest demand.
- Which spaces remain under-utilised.
- How your staff’s attendance patterns are changing.

This data enables you to move away from management based on estimates and make decisions underpinned by actual usage. You can therefore adapt your spaces, anticipate your needs and optimise your property costs.

↪ A simpler experience for your staff.

For your staff, coming into the office should remain a seamless experience. They shouldn’t have to search for a parking space and then a place to work, using several different tools.

With a single app (such as Sharvy), they can organise their day from one place. They can check availability in real time, book a parking space or a company desk in just a few clicks, and adjust their bookings as their schedule changes.

By centralising these functions in one place, Sharvy makes it easier to adopt hybrid working and improves the day-to-day experience for staff, who benefit from a more seamless and autonomous way of organising their work.

↪ Fairer management of your resources.

When the number of available parking spaces and offices is limited, the issue of fairness quickly becomes a key concern.

How can you prevent certain employees from always booking the same resources? How can you ensure fair access to available spaces?

A management platform allows you to set your own rules:

- Priorities based on specific profiles or needs (people with reduced mobility, pregnant women, etc.).
- Limits on bookings (e.g. by introducing a credit system).
- Zone management (HR, marketing, development, etc.).
- Monitoring of actual space usage.

This enables you to create a more transparent system, where the rules are clear to everyone and where each resource can be allocated more effectively.

↪ A solution tailored to new ways of working.

Hybrid working has permanently transformed the way your staff use your premises. Fixed desks are gradually giving way to shared spaces, whilst car parks must also adapt to fluctuating occupancy levels.

Having a solution capable of managing both these aspects allows you to navigate this change with greater confidence. You’re no longer just managing available spaces: you’re overseeing a flexible working environment capable of adapting to your teams’ actual needs.

This is precisely the aim of a solution like Sharvy: to enable businesses to centralise the management of their car parks and office spaces within a single platform. Thanks to space booking, customisable rules and occupancy metrics, you have the tools you need to optimise your resources whilst enhancing the employee experience.

How does Sharvy centralise the management of company car parks and offices?

Managing company car parks and offices involves numerous factors: the employees concerned, varying availability, access rules, priorities and changing needs over time. To address these challenges, Sharvy brings all these aspects together within a single application, making day-to-day administration easier.

The solution can be connected to your HR environment via API integrations with HRIS systems such as Lucca, Horoquartz, Kelio, etc. This synchronisation automatically keeps employee information up to date and avoids duplicate data entry and manual tasks when employees join, leave or their circumstances change.

Beyond booking, Sharvy also allows you to take into account each company’s specific rules: access to certain areas, priority criteria, organisation by teams or multi-site management. Each organisation can thus define a system tailored to its constraints and specific needs.

When the number of requests exceeds the available resources, Sharvy uses a fair allocation algorithm to distribute places more evenly. In particular, this algorithm analyses booking history over the last 60 days and takes into account employees’ specific needs to prevent a small number of users from consistently monopolising the same resources.

By combining car park and office management into a single app, Sharvy provides greater visibility into space usage and helps businesses organise their hybrid working environments more easily.

Criteria to consider before choosing a platform.

Choosing the right solution isn’t simply a matter of selecting the tool that offers the most features. The real challenge is to find a solution that genuinely simplifies day-to-day operations, both for your staff and for the teams responsible for managing the spaces.

The first criterion to consider is therefore the user experience: your staff must be able to find a parking space or book a desk in just a few clicks, without having to understand the complexity behind this management process. The solution must also be able to adapt to the way your organisation operates, with rules that can be customised to suit your needs: access priorities, zone management, different sites and specific constraints.

Integration with your existing tools is also essential. A solution capable of connecting to your HRIS or IT environment eliminates the need for manual updates and ensures that employee data remains reliable at all times.

Finally, opt for a tool that gives you a clear overview of how your spaces are being used, thanks to occupancy metrics and concrete data.

In conclusion

For a long time, car parks and offices were regarded as two separate issues. Yet behind these two challenges lies a single reality: that of a business which must adapt to employees with more flexible and varied working habits.

Today, the question is no longer simply how many parking spaces and workstations you have, but how you enable everyone to access them easily, whenever they need to.

By bringing together the management of car parks and office spaces within a single platform, you can provide a more coherent response to the new realities of hybrid working. Employees gain greater autonomy, whilst internal teams have better visibility to adapt their spaces according to actual usage.

Any questions? Check out the following FAQs!

Is this management system only suitable for large companies?

No. The challenges of managing shared spaces affect all organisations with limited resources: head offices, multi-site offices, flex-office spaces or car parks with fewer spaces than there are employees.

What is the main benefit for HR and general services teams?

A centralised platform enables them to reduce the administrative tasks involved in managing requests, gain better visibility into space usage, and make decisions based on concrete data rather than estimates.

Can a space management platform support a CSR initiative?

Yes. By gaining a better understanding of how space is used, companies can optimise the size of their workspaces, minimise under-utilisation of resources and support policies related to sustainable mobility, such as monitoring the use of spaces dedicated to electric vehicles and car-sharing.