The Christmas Day bombing attempt aboard a Detroit-bound airliner once again places into focus the importance of communicating warnings in times of emergencies.

It's easy to get complacent and drift from day to day without paying much attention to potential threats until an incident out of the blue slaps us across the face and demands we sit up and pay attention.

For many, the actions of Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, the man U.S. authorities say attempted to detonate an explosive device in his underwear, aboard Delta Airlines Flight 253 are such a wakeup call. The failed Christmas Day bombing came at a time when most people were focused on gathering for cherished family time and taking part in long-held holiday traditions. But with one news flash, those priorities, at least for a moment, were redirected into thoughts of safety and security.

Personally, beyond the typical reaction of most Americans to word of the failed effort, I could not help but think of the important role digital signage can play in delivering emergency alert messages.

Certainly, I'm not so wrapped up in digital signage that I think there's a place for 42in LCD panels and a digital signage network aboard an airliner. That's just silly. But what does come to mind is how businesses, educational institutions, stadiums and arenas, casinos, government agencies, the military and many others have taken steps to ensure emergency messaging via their digital signage networks as a component of their overall strategy for responding to a threat.

Consider these circumstances:
* Severe weather: Thunderstorms, tornados and other severe weather events can strike with little warning. In 2008, 125 people lost their lives in the United States due to tornados. Those in public places may have had a better chance of survival with adequate warning via digital signage.
* Fire: Public facilities with existing digital signage networks can add emergency fire information, such as escape routes, for use in the event of a blaze. The same signs also can deliver specific, vital communications from rescue workers to people in different parts of a building.
* Armed intrusion: Sadly, students and teachers periodically have been in the crosshairs of shooters at high schools and universities in the United States. Digital signage can warn of an intrusion and possibly direct people out of harms way.
* Military contingencies: Military bases with digital signage networks can tie the command structure into personnel scattered around the base via the signs as a supplement and backup to traditional military communications channels.

In each of these circumstances, digital signage can be used to convey important warnings, instructions on where to go, where not to go and what to do. Additionally, conveying emergency information via digital signs serves the needs of the hearing impaired and deaf. With digital signs, emergency alerts and messaging can be communicated quickly and effectively to those who otherwise might not realize a dangerous situation is unfolding.

For those businesses and institutions with existing digital signage networks in place, all that's needed to accommodate communicating during an emergency is a little forethought and planning. Often, a safety officer working for an organization will identify possible contingencies and the types of messages needed during such events. Canned digital signage slides with escape route maps, directions on where to proceed in a severe storm and other information can be prepared in advance and called up at a moment's notice when needed.

A digital signage network also can be built to allow authorized personnel in a public safety center, such as a campus police office, or even located anywhere with an Internet connection and password-protected access to take control of the network and create and display specific instructions on the fly.

The Christmas Day bombing attempt is a highly visible reminder that emergencies can occur at any moment. Responding to an emergency with vital information can mean the difference between life and death. Digital signage is an effective means to do just that.

Timeliness of messages and availability of your intended audience may be the most fundamental reasons digital signage is effective.

Two of the most basic reasons digital signage makes sense as a communications medium are its timeliness and availability.

In terms of timeliness, short of actually telling someone something face to face in a place of business, there may be no way to communicate more quickly with your co-workers, employees or customers than digital signage.

With digital signage, the time between actually conceiving a message and delivering it can be measured in seconds in many instances. When used properly, tapping into this extraordinary advantage means digital signage content will be fresh and relevant, both key factors in attracting and holding the attention of an audience.

When it comes to availability, digital signage may even have face-to-face communications in a business setting beat. Because the location of digital signs should be strategically chosen before a single message is ever created, they can be located where they are most available to their audience. For example, imagine a lunch room in a manufacturing plant, a break area in a mechanics shop, suspended from a ceiling above a production line. Each of these locations makes communicating some messages to employees much easier than finding an employee or group of workers and having face-to-face conversations.

Taken together, the timeliness of digital signage message and their availability to employees can be leveraged to improve productivity, enhance safety performance and even to boost sales.

I am familiar with one factory manager who regularly updates production figures on the company's digital signage network to inform his workforce about how well they are doing in meeting production targets. Given the ability of digital signage systems to tap into databases, it is possible for this manager to keep groups of workers apprised of their performance as data is updated in the database the company uses to track production.

Similarly, in some sales settings, digital signage is an effective way to encourage production, recognize performance and reward success in a public way that taps into the competitive nature of many sales people.

Customer service and support, too, can benefit from the addition of digital signs to help employees at a single glance keep track of wait times, percentage of problems resolved, open tickets and even customer satisfaction.

Businesses should also consider tapping into the timeliness and availability digital signage offers when it comes to safety. Not only can digital signage networks offer admonitions aimed at keeping the workplace safe, they also can be used to remind employees of their ongoing safety record.

Equally important in that regard is the ability of digital signs to offer timely emergency messaging to a workforce spread out through a factory or corporate campus. Potentially lifesaving warnings and emergency information can be communicated in seconds during severe storms and tornados and when other hazards may occur. Modern digital signage can even tap into public address systems to mirror an audible warning with visual emergency information. This can go a long way to meeting various disability requirements in work or public places.

There are many reasons digital signage makes sense as a communications medium, but none may be more fundamental than its ability to serve up timely information -be it production figures, customer service wait times or even warnings of a threatening storm- where that information is most available.