How PwC optimizes meeting management with Gfacility

The challenge: fragmentation, waste, and a lot of manual work

At PwC Netherlands, organizing meetings before Gfacility was fragmented. Employees booked meetings in their calendar but then had to arrange catering, register visitors, and request AV equipment through separate tools or emails. Management assistants were constantly switching between systems. 

"With the systems we had at that time, it wasn’t efficiently organized."

This approach led to mistakes and waste. If someone canceled a meeting, it often happened that they forgot to cancel the room and catering. Result: empty meeting rooms and unused lunches.

Maurice Verwer clearly remembers: "Facility Management was mainly focused on the day-to-day back then. Complaints, malfunctions, operational hustle. Much was reactive." By largely outsourcing operational and tactical tasks, his core team could focus on control and strategic value creation.

The ambition: from frustration to focus on strategic facility management

Under Maurice’s leadership, FM was transformed into a control team with a future vision. He emphasized the strategic role of FM in themes such as sustainability, employee experience, and the war on talent.

"By directly linking our activities to PwC’s strategic spearheads, like diversity and sustainability, you can engage in conversations with the board at a different level."

But without a modern digital foundation, the ambition remained vulnerable.

The search: a future-proof FMIS 

What PwC was looking for was not just a new Facility Management Information System. It had to fit into a modern, digital work environment where simplicity, reliability, and integration are central. High on the list of requirements were:

• A connection with the calendar (at that time PwC worked with Google Calendar, now with Microsoft Outlook).
• One central platform for all meeting-related services.
• Fully adaptable to PwC’s business processes
• A significant reduction in inefficiencies, mistakes, and no-shows.

The inspiration came surprisingly close: colleagues at PwC Belgium had successfully implemented Gfacility.

"We saw with our Belgian colleagues that Gfacility really works. What Gfacility solved there was a big problem: the no-shows. Because the system is directly linked to the calendar. I think we immediately knew: this has to be it."

The solution: one integrated platform with a focus on user-friendliness

In close cooperation, Gfacility was set up according to the wishes and working methods of PwC Netherlands. Important principle: the end user must be able to manage almost everything from their familiar calendar environment. Gfacility makes this possible with an intuitive plugin in the calendar.

An employee planning a meeting can immediately book a room, add catering, register visitors, and select AV facilities — all in one action. If the meeting is canceled or rescheduled in the calendar, all reserved services are automatically canceled or adjusted. No separate emails or forgotten phone calls anymore.

Gfacility was set up with, among others:

✅ Real-time integration with Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook

Depending on the platform used, Gfacility synchronizes in real-time with the employee's calendar. Bookings, changes, or cancellations automatically update space, catering, visitor, and AV reservations.

✅ Central platform for reservations

Users no longer have to navigate different tools or departments for meeting-related matters. Everything happens in one environment. Maurice: "A booker can now arrange everything at once. No more separate emails for visitors or coffee."

✅ Integrated catering and visitor registration

When booking a meeting, additional services can be selected directly. The catering department receives orders automatically and is immediately informed of changes. Visitors are also pre-registered through the same system.

✅ Support for AV facilities

Organizers can easily indicate which audiovisual equipment is needed. The facilities department sees this immediately and can prepare the correct equipment. This prevents surprises on the day itself and increases meeting reliability.

✅ Smart rules for catering and room usage

With Gfacility, PwC can easily set who can request or use what — from catering to meeting rooms. Rules can be applied per location and user group, such as who can sit in which room or when approval is needed for an order. Think of automatic budget control, digital approvals, and clear agreements to streamline the process.