At a Glance
IT teams want meeting room displays that are easy for employees to use, but dependable and secure under the hood. This guide breaks down how to choose flexible hardware, pick the right deployment model (cloud or on-prem), and roll out displays in a way that actually gets used. With Door Tablet, you can run the software on any tablet, tailor the setup to your environment, and ensure adoption by putting a real champion in charge. Because the tech alone won’t change behaviour, you need a plan for rollout, support, and follow-through.
When IT teams start looking at meeting‑room booking solutions, they usually want something simple: a visual interface that lets people see which rooms are free and book them on the spot as they walk past. At the same time, they care deeply about how the system works behind the scenes because they’re the ones who will configure it, integrate it with calendars and networks, and keep it running smoothly.
This article walks through what to consider when choosing and implementing meeting‑room displays, using Door Tablet as the primary example. We’ll cover the hardware features that make the devices reliable and easy to use, discuss deployment choices (cloud or on‑premises), and outline a step‑by‑step implementation process. If you’re comparing multiple solutions, this guide will help you understand why Door Tablet’s approach to hardware, software and support is well-suited to delivering an intuitive experience for end users while meeting IT’s reliability and security requirements.
Choosing and Deploying the Right Hardware
The hardware determines the reliability and user experience of your room displays. Look for devices that can handle round‑the‑clock use with durable screens and robust enclosures. Tempered glass or similarly tough materials ensure the display won’t shatter or deteriorate with heavy use.
A bright, high‑resolution screen with wide viewing angles makes it easy to read schedules from different distances and positions. Support for Power‑over‑Ethernet (PoE) allows a single cable to deliver both power and network connectivity, simplifying installation and enabling remote power management. Optional features such as NFC or RFID readers for user identification and LED lights on the front or sides that show room status can further enhance usability and security.
The advantage of Door Tablet’s software is that it can run on many different tablets and it won’t lock you into one. Our tablets come in many shapes and sizes. Check them out here.
Door Tablet provides separate installers for Android and Windows devices, and tablet apps are available from Apple, Google and Microsoft stores. This flexibility means you can pair the software with consumer tablets or professional panels as needed.
Software Setup: Cloud vs. On‑Premise
Next, decide on the room booking software that will run on these displays and how it will be hosted. Broadly, you have three options with Door Tablet (on-prem, on your cloud, public cloud).
Many vendors offer cloud-hosted room scheduling platforms. In this case, the tablets simply connect to the vendor’s cloud service over the internet. Cloud setups are easier to start with; you sign up for an online dashboard, configure your rooms and calendar integration, and deploy the app to the tablets. The vendor handles server maintenance and updates. This is great if you want quick deployment and minimal infrastructure on your end.
Ensure the cloud service supports your requirements for security and data residency. For example, Door Tablet offers a multi-tenant cloud called “Door Tablet CONNECT” for its room displays, and other vendors have similar SaaS environments.
If your organisation has strict security policies or limited internet connectivity, an on-premise solution might be preferable. This means running the room booking server software on your internal network (or a private cloud like an Azure/AWS instance under your control). On-premise gives you full control of data and usually allows more customisation (e.g. custom integrations with internal systems). For instance, Door Tablet can be deployed on-premises or in a private cloud, in addition to its SaaS offering. When evaluating software, check if the vendor provides both cloud and self-hosted options, and whether switching from one to the other is possible (some start in the cloud and later migrate on-site).
Process for a Successful Rollout
We believe that there are 2 parts of any successful meeting room panel rollout. The first part is choosing a solution, and the second part is the adoption. You can choose a good solution, but if your teams don’t know you are intending to bring this solution into their daily routine and they don’t get training, they will ignore it.
You need at least a champion to be the frontrunner and preacher for this project. Someone needs to follow up with users and their bookings, and be very customer service-oriented in dealing with the users of the system. It can be the L&D department or the IT support, it depends on the size of your company.
Start with a pilot. Identify which rooms need displays and validate cabling and network capacity. Acquire a few test devices and connect them to a demo or trial server. Mount them temporarily and verify that bookings sync correctly and that PoE delivers stable power. Use the trial period to evaluate hardware (screen quality, LED visibility, NFC reader) and test the software with your calendar.
Once the pilot is satisfactory, install the production server (cloud or local) and register all meeting rooms as resources. Connect each tablet to the server using the server URL and any required keys. Configure booking rules (e.g., maximum booking length, check‑in requirements) and customise the interface to match your company’s brand. Test important features such as RFID/NFC check‑in and ghost‑meeting cancellation. You can start from now, sharing via email about the meeting room displays and how they will influence the booking workflow. Try to make your teams excited about this.
Start with the rooms people already fight over, like executive suites, boardrooms, and all-hands spaces. These are high-visibility areas where successful adoption builds momentum. Make sure everything is fully functional before go-live: the panels sync properly, check-in works, calendar data is accurate, and the interface is customised with your branding.
From there, expand floor by floor or team by team. Treat each wave like a product launch. Announce what’s changing, explain the benefits, and include a short “how to use this panel” guide. The champion should shadow early adopters, collect feedback, and adjust settings as needed. If users ignore the check-in, make the prompt clearer. If they’re confused by booking logic, simplify it.
The displays won’t do the work alone. But with a thoughtful rollout and enough hands-on support, they can quickly become one of the most visible wins in your office tech stack.
The Bottom Line: Are Room Booking Displays Hard to Implement for IT Teams?
It should not be, it should not be hard to maintain either. As an IT professional, you need to see firsthand how a solution integrates, how it's managed, and how it performs within your infrastructure.
See how you can provide instant clarity on room availability while maintaining full control over data and deployment.
- Book a Demo: Get a 1-on-1 walkthrough of the user-facing displays and the powerful admin controls.
- Test It On Your Server: Get our free on-premise trial installer and validate the platform's performance within your own network.