Ben Johnston
RMG Networks

Meet our fictious friend, Samantha. Samantha works in the People and Culture Department (formerly known as HR) of a mid-sized financial services company.

Meet Samantha

On any given day, Samantha and her department colleagues have a lot of information to share with the company's employees. They frantically spend much of their time organizing that information into emails, handouts, and meeting agendas in order to educate the employees on a wide range of subjects. But the problem is that the employees are very busy and distracted, and their calendars are full and their in-boxes overflowing with emails - many of the messages don't even get read or absorbed. And, these are important company messages that could help the employees be more productive!

One day, Samantha goes to a happy hour with her local metro-area "People and Culture Professionals" group to socialize and learn about trends others are using in employee communications. Over drinks, she shares her problem with the group. Then she hears Brian, a colleague from another company, talk about a great solution he has found called Digital Signage.

Brian explains to Samantha that he realized the employees at his company like looking at the TV screens in the break rooms, the lobbies and the conference rooms, which the company used to just play the news. Brian says he realized the TVs would be a great way to reach busy employees instead of clogging up email boxes and holding more meetings. He then tells her he found a company that showed him how to put his important People and Culture messages, company performance data, and even real-time production information up on the screens. They even showed him how to bring in sports, news and weather to keep viewers engaged. As a bonus, it turns out that publishing annoucements on the TVs is really easy to do, as simple as writing an email and dragging in an image in many cases.

Brian's company still uses email for some annoucements and hasn't eliminated the need for meetings yet, but his department's email volume is down and from surveying his employees, he knows their awareness of company events and their engagement with the company's goals has increased. Brian is happy with the results.

Samantha buys Brian a drink and asks him to tell her more. She thinks she just might have found a solution to some of her problems.

David Anzia
Senior Vice President - Sales
Frank Mayer and Associates, Inc.
 

Tablets have been touted as “reinventing” and “revolutionizing” retail. Retailers and consumer-facing businesses have been testing the use of tablets to gain operational and marketing advantages, and they like the results. Here are some ways retailers are getting big impact out of small screens.

Brand Collaboration

In some cases brands have joined forces with key retailers to test tablet kiosks.
Target is reported to have tested iPads loaded with product content from Johnson and Johnson’s BabyCenter parenting website in baby departments of 10 Illinois stores. The test initiated in 2013 also included trained staff members with the aim of providing a more specialty store type of experience for new parents.

Engagement Tools

Tablets can also improve the process of trying on clothes either by providing convenient access to inventory for additional size, style and color options or virtual mannequin software that lets shoppers try a look digitally. They can also be tools for social feedback.

The flagship store of London retailer Karl Lagerfeld has installed iPads in dressing rooms to allow shoppers to take selfie photos with their clothing finds to send to friends.

Product Creation Stations

Tablet touchscreens provide a functionality that allows shoppers to try out design options and get creative. A number of athletic shoe brands like Puma and Nike have incorporated tablet customization into their retail strategies. To add impact to the experience a digital signage connection allows customers to show their creations to a wider in-store audience.

Signage

Tablets can replace paper signage. In fast changing categories this means up-to-the-minute product information. They give retailers the ability to cater to sophisticated shoppers who want detailed product specifications for high-end purchases like electronics, creative content for categories like fashion or pairings and source of origin for food.

Kate Spade has replaced paper signs with iPads placed strategically throughout the store to display product information and relevant content. Part of that content will be user-generated images designed to increase dwell time.

POS Devices

Using tablet at restaurantRetailers who are using tablets for checkout appreciate their multi-functionality.  They can accommodate inventory checking, ordering, product information and sales associate training.

The IHL Group reports (Mobile POS: Hype to Reality, May 2013) that tablets have been most popular as POS devices with independent retailers and mall-based specialty chains. Falling into neither of those categories, Whole Foods Market plans to expand checkout locations in several of its stores by testing tablet checkout stands at fresh sandwich and coffee stations.

There’s so much more to launching a tablet program than just choosing a tablet and an enclosure. Our latest whitepaper Using Tablets to Transform Retail Experience can walk you through all of the considerations that go into planning a successful program.

David McCracken
President
Livewire Digital
 

Hi, my name is David, and I’m a Disney-holic.

My family and I have been going to Disney World almost every year since my kids were young. Now that my grown kids aren’t “kids” anymore, we experience the parks in different ways but still love it just as much. On our family Disney trip last month, we couldn’t stop talking about the newest technology advancement that was included in our experience.

Disney’s MagicBands are light, colorful bracelets that make the whole guest experience seamless and simple. They were developed as part of Disney’s billion-dollar MyMagic+ interactive technology system and take customer engagement to a new level.

Let me tell you, if anyone knows omni-channel engagement, it’s Disney.

Inside each MagicBand is a microchip that acts as your interactive key to the parks. Your bracelet grants admission when you wave it over a ticketing reader at the park gate. It saves your place in line for attractions — that’s Fast Pass to you Disney veterans — and your reservations at restaurants. It can let you into your Disney hotel room, keep track of your pictures taken by park photographers, and be used as a charge card to make purchases. It even activates the Sorcerers of Magic Kingdom, an interactive game played at the park.

As someone who can’t even count the number of times my kids lost a hotel room key or FastPass ticket, I see how valuable MagicBands are in easing the stresses and hassles of a family vacation!

The magic behind MagicBands is Radio Frequency, or RF, technology. This is the same tech used with keyless car entries, credit cards, and wireless video game controllers. MagicBands also connect with Disney’s existing interactive software (website, mobile apps, etc.), creating a true omni-channel network.

I couldn’t help but think of ways this technology could be used to bring the customer experience together in many different industries:

Retail:

    track preferred customer programs
    offer special discounts
    make restaurant reservations
    monitor pre-purchase or early-bird access

Healthcare:

    store patient identities/histories
    grant approval for services/privileges
    track process through the system
    schedule appointments

Hospitality:

    grant access to rooms
    book reservations at local attractions
    track loyalty programs
    interact with kiosk software to bring up previous search histories

The sky’s truly the limit with this technology. And would you expect anything less from Disney? What other uses can you see for RF technology like this?

Submitted by Ashley Ropar
Marketing Manager
Industry Weapon

For that matter, nobody's reading those occasional emails, either.
Or the quickly-scribbled reminders on the whiteboard in the lounge. Yet those haphazard attempts at corporate communication aren't uncommon. In a fast-paced work environment, companies find it difficult to maintain strong communication amongst employees. There's always something new to report and there's no way to get that information out instantaneously. At least without digital signage.

It seems pretty obvious, right?
A digital platform allows you to constantly distribute accurate, useful information to each and every member of your team. More exciting and advanced than traditional fliers and emails - let's not even touch on the whiteboard - digital signage demands attention, meaning your message will be received, not ignored.

On Average, an employee receives 304 business emails per week. Lost within that overstuffed inbox important internal emails simply cannot get the attention they need. Trying to sift through emails is exhausting and a waste of employee time: In Fact, 10 IQ points are lost while constantly fielding emails, which is the same effect as losing and entire night of sleep. That guy's going to have some trouble focusing today.

Constantly struggling to convey the latest meeting and event times, as well as their dates and locations?
Relay that information on you digital screens, alerting employees and allowing them to organize their schedules accordingly. No longer will employees be uninformed about where to be and when, juggling layers of information jumbled up within dozens of emails.

Digital signage also serves as a motivational tool for employees to stay on-task.
Display the latest sales numbers and approaching deadlines to remind everyone of their responsibilities as well as the company's overarching goals. Recognize employees who have gone above and beyond by reporting their achievements, announce upcoming events and milestones, and share media coverage.

Internal digital signage is targeted specifically for your employees.
Broadcast it in lounges or breakrooms, hallways, conference areas, cafeterias - any place that employees typically visit at least once a day. External signage, such as media displayed in office lobbies can act as a PR tool. Visitors can view content customized for public consumption, such as image-enhancing company news, employee and company achievements and messages from business executives.

Incorporating digital signage into your office space carries across-the-board benefits. Improve company-wide communication, increase employee morale and motivation and share relevant, engaging information with visitors to promote positive company PR.

Allow digital signage to revolutionize how your company communicates.
The results will speak for themselves.

1https://www.atlassian.com/time-wasting-at-work-infographic
2https://www.atlassian.com/time-wasting-at-work-infographic (repeated)
3Northern Sky Resources, 2010 Global Market for Digital Signage 2nd Edition

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