In light of October being a rather scary month, we thought we would highlight 31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage. We hope you enjoy them. Reason #3: Wi-Fi powered digital signage
For those of us on the go, we see public Wi-Fi networks everywhere. This was not as much the case just five years ago, but now it's almost an expectation from customers that Wi-Fi be made available to them. We see them in banks, hospitals, restaurants and so forth.
And for those companies or organizations who want to add
digital signage for their customers, the screens can simply latch on to the existing Wi-Fi network. We pre-build the hardware with the necessary SSID information and they connect directly into MediaTile's servers over the Wi-Fi network.
Much like cellular, these are also simply plug and play. Hang the sign or player on the wall and plug it in. Our two biggest markets for Wi-Fi enabled digital signs are
healthcare and
education. These are two environments where Wi-Fi network are not only prevalent but also pretty powerful. Next quarter we're helping a community college launch its network, completely running on Wi-Fi.
Wi-Fi allows a company to build a digital signage network without any physical tethering to a network. And because our system isn't a streaming environment, companies don't have to worry about the signage network being a drain on their Wi-Fi.
Earlier this week, we held a free webinar with Dominican Health (one of our customers) about their
digital signage installation. Mike Lee, the Director of Marketing & Communication, shared his knowledge and lessons learned on how Dominican Health has used the technology to improve communication with doctors, nurses, patients, visitors and the general public.
I came across this post which talked about even more
use cases for digital signage inside healthcare organizations. The author identified 8 main ways:
- Wayfinding applications can direct visitors from point to point within facilities, thus speeding-up the process of finding a patient room or check-in area.
- Content can be delivered dynamically within check-in areas providing patients with important information that is relevant to them (such as expected wait times).
- For friends and family members, patient treatment status can be delivered in real-time, thus alleviating the fear of uncertainty during a surgery or procedure of a loved one.
- Relevant entertainment can be tailored and delivered to a patient room based on a demographic profile captured during the patient check-in process.
- Better facilitation of communication with staff. Digital signage solutions can replace the typical whiteboards found in areas such as nursing stations, emergency and operating rooms, improving the overall coordination of care.
- Improved collaboration. Doctors, nurses and administrators can use digital signage and software collaboration tools to improve relevant workflow communication.
- Automation of the patient check-in process. Digital signage, when deployed with the right content management system, has the potential to streamline wait times and improve the capacity to service a greater number of patients and to improve the patient experience.
- Awareness and demand generation related to the gift shop or cafeteria. Digital signage can be deployed to promote specials and promotions, thus increasing sales and profitability tied to concession and hard good sales.
Without a doubt, this was one of the better overviews I've read of digital signage in healthcare. And even though these are all great use cases, great content will ultimately be what determines how viewers interact and respond.
In our growing industry, there are quite a few learning opportunities for those looking to pick up some information: white papers, blogs, how-tos, and so forth. And often these are written by companies like ours who have a vested interest in growing the industry. (It's what we do.)
But rarely do you have the chance to hear directly from someone who is running a digital signage network. This is what we provide in our
webinars. If you've signed up for one of ours in the past then you've heard from Eli Lilly & Company, Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission and Rolls-Royce.
This Wednesday,
sign up and take 30 minutes to hear from
Dominican Hospital. They are one of our healthcare customers using digital signage to communicate to a vast audience. And I think this where the most learning comes from.
My background was largely in manufacturing, which presents its own set of challenges. Healthcare?
That's another beast. And I didn't realize how tricky it was until I started helping hospitals roll out digital signage networks.
At a hospital, your audience includes employees, visitors, patients, donors and more. And even within those, there are strict breakdowns. Take employees for example. Doctors need different information from nurses, who need different information from the administrative staff, who need different information from the security staff and so forth. It is an insanely diverse audience.
Digital signage, lets communicators and marketers segment their network so that the right information is communicated to the right people at the right time. And this is what Mike Lee, the director of communications and marketing for Dominican Hospital, will share with us on Wednesday.
Sign up today.
Seating for our digital signage webinar next week is getting limited!
Please
register now to join us for a discussion with the Marketing Communciations Director of Dominican Hospital, a member of Catholic Healthcare West, to learn in a live discussion:
* Why they need a flexible and secure communications tool;
* What different internal groups are part of the overall team and what resources are
needed to manage the solution;
*Future plans for growing their 3G/4G cellular digital signage network outside their facilities
We hope to see you there!
Hands down one of the top markets we are seeing for new
digital signage installations is healthcare. And this includes hospitals, medical office buildings and so forth. But their networks are a little different than others because they are much more multi-faceted.
Often times within the same network, you'll see a hospital (for example) use a network to aid external branding AND internal branding. They're doing customer marketing AND employee communications. They are also using signage to deliver critical health-related messaging to the audiences.
On Wednesday, September 21, we are hosting a
free webinar with Domican Hospital, a member of Catholic Healthcare West. While many of our healthcare clients utilize in-house WiFi to network screens, learn why Dominican Hospital chose cellular as their preferred networking choice.
Sign up today and hear from an organization who has successfully deployed a digital signage network for heatlhcare.
Register for our September 21
Cellular Digital Signage for Healthcare webinar and learn how
Dominican Hospital, a member of Catholic Healthcare West, the fifth largest hospital provider in the nation and the largest hospital system in California, continues to grow a solution which exceeds their business goals and more.
Learn…
- How Dominican Hospital found an easy-to-deploy solution that fit their business needs due to HIPPA requirements;
- How they developed a campaign strategy to target and resonate with their wide variety of viewers, including fundraising and emergency broadcasts;
- Lessons learned since initial deployment of their digital signage network.
Register now!
With the dangerous weather that has hit many parts of the Midwest and South in the past month, I'm sure (and hopeful) that many crisis communication plans are being dusted off.
Crisis planning is one of those efforts that most companies do but hope they never have to enact.
I've been a part of many crisis and business continuity teams where everybody has the classic red binder that nobody thinks will ever get used.
But do employees know what to do? And what about environments where you might have customers on site. Will employees know what to tell them?
I was at a coffee shop once that lost power during a dangerous thunderstorm. Their "policy" was that if the store lost power (for whatever reason) customers had to leave. So they sent a dozen or so customers out into the storm instead of sheltering them.
We've already had one manufacturing whose facility was damaged by a tornado. They are a customer of ours after the fact. Fortunate for them, nobody was injured during the strike. However, they recognized that they didn't have a quick and visual way of notifying employees of dangerous weather on the way so that everyone could be prepared.
One of our healthcare customers have put several of their
digital signage onto their emergency power network. So this way if the hospital loses power, the screens can still operate and communicate vital information to employees, patients and guests.
Now of course,
digital signage will never prevent nasty weather or any emergency but it should become a part of your crisis communication activities. This works for corporate communication environments, for those where the network serves internal needs, as well as even retail, banks, etc. The same signage you use to promote products and messages can then be used to provide emergency information.
I fully appreciate what I'm proposing here is not ground-breaking, but it just shows one more example of how digital communication can dynamically change the environment and keep people safe.
______________________
Photo credit,
Jeff Attaway
A few weeks back, the unassuming staff of
DailyDOOH shared news of a purported story identifying the most dangerous men (and I assume women) in the
digital signage industry. You can peruse the comments on the post to see who readers, named and anonymous, suggested were the most "dangerous."
And then the always verbose and enlightening
Bill Gerba put in his two cents on who he thought were the most "dangerous" (which he was quick to point out does not equate to the most annoying).
So who is the most dangerous?
Is it Richard Fisher (
PRN) or Garry McGuire (
RMG) as Bill suggests?
Is it Adrian Cotterill and the "crack staff" at DailyDOOH?
And reading through the comments on DailyDOOH's article, other suggested names include Lyle Bunn as well as numerous CEOs of various companies.
But who do I think is the most dangerous person in the industry?
It's you, the end user. The customer. The person tasked with managing a network, day in and day out.
The reason you are the most dangerous is because you are the one spending company dollars to invest in a network. You are the one creating (hopefully) relevant and entertaining content for your audiences, whether it's retail, corporate communications or healthcare. If you are successful, the industry is successful.
That's what makes you the most dangerous person in the digital signage industry.
__________________________
Flickr image courtesy of Ell Brown
Today's guest post is provided by MediaTile's Vice President for MediaTile Sales, Heather Whalen.
MediaTile is the Premier Digital Signage M2M Partner for Verizon Wireless.
Verizon Wireless and MediaTile have joined forces to showcase our solutions at Emerging Technology Briefings across the United States. Atlantic City is one of several locations designated in 2011 to attract and engage potential customers with our digital mobile solutions.
Customers attending this event include the Tropicana - Atlantic City Casino/Resort, and Print Art Inc., a commercial printer servicing hospitality, retail and healthcare customers throughout the greater New Jersey area.
National Purchasing Partners (NPP) -another MediaTile Partner- will also be attending the event to showcase our product and service offerings to their own members. Verizon Mobile M2M partners at the event include IPVision and Blackberry .
At today's Emerging Technology Briefings, Jack Sera (of Verizon Wireless Enterprise Data Solutions for the Retail & Hospitality markets) spoke about creating a customer connected world. One of the examples he gave was this: customers debarking from a plane flight can immediately reserve a hotel room, purchase gifts (using QR codes) and make dinner reservations, anytime, anywhere, with the latest mobile wireless technology.
We look forward to providing you with updates as the tour continues!
Next week, I'll be out in Las Vegas attending my fourth
Digital Signage Expo but this will be my first time being part of any session. Last year, I was able to lead a few of the corporate communication lunch and learns but this year, I'm moderating the
Best Practices in Corporate Communication session (S10).
It takes place bright and early Wednesday, February 23, at 9 am. That early in the morning can be brutal for the Vegas crowd, but I'm hopeful that my panelists and I are up to the challenge. In addition to Andrea Scott from BNSF Railway, two
MediaTile customers are on the panel: Chris Bias from Eli Lilly and Lyn Riggins from Washington Surburban Sanitary Commission.
What I like about the panel is that though they are each expert corporate communicators, they come from vastly different companies and organizations.
So if you're attending this year's Expo, please attend our session. But if corporate communication just isn't your thing and/or are interested in other sessions, here's a few that I'd recommend. I'm sure there are others of equal merit (or maybe better) but these are the ones that caught my eye.
Wednesday, 2/23 at 9amS4 -
Content Strategy & DevelopmentS9 -
Driving Industry Growth through Standards (Check out Bill Gerba's
comments about his session)
Wednesday, 2/23 at 3pmS12 -
Planning a Digital Signage SystemS19 -
Software platforms: Selection ConsiderationsThursday, 2/24 at 9amS27 -
Managing the Maze of Third-Party ContentS32 -
Digital Signage in Healthcare
Thursday, 2/24 at 10amS39 -
Tips & Techniques for Connectivity and Signal Distribution (we hope there's a lot of talk in this session about the benefits of cellular)
S40 -
Using Interactive Technology to Engage and Entertain Customers and Visitors
Next week, the
Digital Screenmedia Association is hosting a
Digital Signage in Healthcare webinar. It's free to
sign up for the October 12 webinar and I highly recommend doing so if you have the time.
We're proud that one of the highlighted companies during the webinar is Dominican Hospital. Mike Lee and Dominican have been a client of ours for more than a year now and have incrementally grown their digital signage network. They use it for
employee communications, as well as updating patients and visitors. We have a full case study on their network available for
download (PDF).
If you're interested in learning more about digital for healthcare, I recommend downloading the case study and registering for the webinar. They are both great opportunities to learn from the best.
MediaTile is a proud sponsor of the Digital Screenmedia Association. Its is to advance the growth and excellence of the global digital signage, interactive kiosk and mobile community through advocacy, education and networking. If you're interested in
joining, it's free for qualifying organizations.
Years ago, it wasn't easy to track down quality research on digital signage. But iff you're just now getting into the technology, there's a wealth of information at your fingertips.
There are a host of great blogs out there, but many times corporations are fascinated by the almighty white paper. And fortunately,
Digital Signage Today is a great resource for these more authoritative resources. Many are sponsored by vendors in the digital signage space (including this
one on 3G/4G cellular by
MediaTile) but they are all very well written and provide sound advice.
They are even broken down by market, so if you're looking for digital signage for healthcare, there's a
white paper for you. Retail?
White paper. Want to learn more the real cost of digital signage?
White paper.
The point being that there is now a lot of information out there that can help you not only determine if the technology is right for you and your company but also provide you guides on making the most of your investment.
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