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Five Types of Messages You Can Broadcast to Improve Internal Communications

Are you satisfied with your company’s internal communications? What measures have you taken to make them better? Few companies have bragging rights when it comes to internal communications, which can be a real challenge and keep your business from running smoothly.

According to the State of the Sector 2018 report, an employee engagement and internal communications survey conducted annually by Gatehouse, face-to-face communications are the most effective way to communicate within an organization. Digital channels, such as digital signage and email, follow close behind in effectiveness, but are often easier and cheaper to use.

Dynamic digital signage is gradually proving its worth to companies and is being used more and more to broadcast messages. According to the same Gatehouse survey, 64% of companies in the North America now use digital displays to conduct internal communications.

Email and other digital channels such as an intranet and instant messaging are very popular methods for companies to share information. However, since many employees, especially in a factory or warehouse setting, do not have regular access to a computer, these digital channels can be rendered next to useless. Digital signage, on the other hand, can reach employees no matter where they are working and have a significant impact. Read on to learn more about five types of messages you can broadcast on digital displays to improve your internal communications.

ARCELORMITTAL CASE STUDY WATCH FULL VIDEO NOW

1. Share Performance Indicators

Most businesses have databases that provide numerous real-time performance indicators. Sharing these kinds of data can be an effective way to increase employee engagement and motivation. A digital display network can be used to automatically broadcast these indicators company-wide. For example, manufacturing companies can share production goals and real-time production numbers with workers on the factory floor, while a real estate brokerage can display how many closings their agents have made.

4 KPIs your Employees Need to Know

In the example below, the chart data in the main zone and the number of days without accidents in the secondary zone are updated automatically by interfacing with the customer’s databases. In addition, events, such as upcoming trainings, can be broadcast automatically by integrating a calendar.

2. Highlight Employee Achievements

We know the value of positive reinforcement, but until now, we’ve lacked an appropriate means to display employee news and achievements in a way that has a positive effect on the entire organization. Digital signage is the perfect medium for showcasing employee successes. Has an employee recently pushed her limits during a sporting event? Has another exceeded all expectations on a special project? Has a colleague set himself apart by receiving a special certification? These are just a few examples of special accomplishments that deserve to be displayed on your screen network. Motivating employees by highlighting their achievements will have a significant positive impact on productivity, performance, and retention.

3. Play Educational Content

An interesting benefit of installing digital displays is the ability to add educational and prevention content into the display lineup. It’s an easy way to share how a new machine works, introduce new safety procedures, broadcast EHS reminders, and conduct dynamic training using a medium that can be viewed at any time of day. Using digital displays increases the chances that all your employees will see the information needed to keep operations running smoothly. Since the screens catch viewers’ attention and the content is played on a loop throughout the day, you maximize the likelihood that the information will be transmitted.

5 Ways to Improve OHS with Digital Signage

4. Broadcast Administrative and HR Messages

Instead of sharing administrative information by sending a mass email, why not display it on a screen? Screens can be used to notify employees about upcoming meetings, holidays, or policy changes. Management can also use them to wish employees a happy birthday or invite them to a social event.

5. Instill Company Culture

Publishing messages about the company’s values and mission can help improve the atmosphere in the workplace and ensure that employees are all on the same page. It can also instill customer confidence and loyalty in a company or organization.

Dynamic digital signage can be used in a variety of ways to improve your company’s internal communications. Use digital displays to:

Broadcast customized messages to a specific place and audience,
Provide employees with educational and training materials,
Recognize the accomplishments of engaged employees, and
Promote the company’s important values.

Are your current internal communications methods up to snuff? In the new era of smartphones, tablets, and smart watches, companies that avoid going digital will be left in the dust. How does your company effectively use internal communications tools? We want to know! If you would like to learn more about how ITESMEDIA can help you implement a digital signage solution, please get in touch.

Brokers, Boost Your Internal Communications with Digital Signage

We are living in an age of instant wireless communications. Customers, agents, and brokerages can be more interconnected today than ever before. The internet and cellular technologies have allowed agents greater flexibility in the way they work, and many agents are eschewing the office in favor of more flexible work schedules and locations. However, some brokerage owners may have found that these technological advances have been made at the expense of agent engagement and a cohesive office culture. A new tool being used by tech-forward brokerages to combat this phenomenon is dynamic digital signage.

Dynamic Digital Signage, You Say?

That’s right! Dynamic digital signage is so much more than just scrolling banners or slide shows on a television monitor. While many are aware that digital signage is an effective tool for communicating with customers, it is an equally effective way to communicate with agents and office staff. Today, digital signage is an integrated communications solution that can push customized content to any screen you choose, whether it be a tablet, mobile device, desktop screensaver, high-resolution office window display, weatherproof outdoor screen, or remote interactive kiosk. Digital signage helps your employees receive office communications as though they were in the office when instead they might be meeting with a client at a property or catching up on emails between closings off site.

Improved internal communications can have a host of benefits for your brokerage. Read on to learn about just a few of them.

Increased Engagement

Agents and staff want to be informed of what’s going on. Making sure people are up to date is a best practice for all businesses across markets and industries. Louis-Philippe Péloquin, Director of Communications at ArcelorMittal, said that since installing digital signage, he “no longer hears employees say, ‘I didn’t know.’” Is everyone at your brokerage always in the know? If they are, they’re likelier to be engaged. According to the Harvard Business Review, engaged employees miss work less often, turn over less frequently, produce higher quality work, and are healthier[1]. Furthermore, engaged employees are 87% less likely to quit their jobs, according to the Hay Group. Read more about increasing employee engagement with digital signage here. Prioritizing engagement is a proven strategy for not only recruiting the best agents, but retaining them as well.

More Motivation

Motivated employees are more productive. Digital signage solutions are a seamless and real-time means for motivating your agents. Brokers can connect their databases and sales trackers to digital signage software that displays metrics like sales volume, number of closings, and number of active listings per agent. Top agents are recognized and praised for their hard work, inspiring friendly competition among colleagues.

Higher Satisfaction

According to BCG, employees who feel appreciated, who feel like valued members of a team, and who identify with their company’s values are much happier at work[2]. Dynamic digital displays are a very public way to easily recognize agents for the quality of their work, wish them a happy birthday, celebrate their growing families or personal milestones, or announce promotions. Investing in digital displays is a way to show your agents that you care—both about them and about the longevity of your business.

Internal communications are as important as customer communications, if not more. The benefits of effective internal communication cannot be understated. Add dynamic digital signage to your internal communications strategy today. To learn more about how one real estate brokerage owner, Claude Allard, radically changed his business with digital signage solutions, read our full case study.

[1]Employee Engagement Does More than Boost Productivity, John Baldoni, HBR, accessed Feb. 16., 2018, https://hbr.org/2013/07/employee-engagement-does-more

[2]Decoding Global Talent, Rainer Strack et al, BCG, accessed Feb. 16, 2018, https://www.bcg.com/publications/2014/people-organization-human-resources-decoding-global-talent.aspx

4 KPIs your Employees Need to Know

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are essential metrics companies use to measure how they’re doing. KPIs help decision makers ensure their choices are informed. Most companies have invested in complex and extremely costly databases with KPI dashboards to keep tabs on their performance. These KPIs are frequently only available to decision makers and the management team. Couldn’t sharing them with employees and customers also be beneficial? Read on to learn about which types of KPIs are best shared for maximum benefit.

5 types of messages you should communicate now to improve your internal communications

4 KPIs your Employees Need to Know

Indicator #1: Production Indicators

KPIs are often used to monitor production and can be useful for motivating employees. These KPIs include quantity produced, reject ratio, production targets, and downtime, among others.

Sharing the quantity produced in the above example with the product 2 team may motivate them to continue their good work. Highlighting good performance is obviously important. Plus, sharing this information might also motivate the product 4 team to work harder to achieve better results or determine what occurred in January to cause a slump in production.

Indicator #2: Quality Control Indicators

Quality control indicators are also information that is worth displaying and communicating to a company’s various departments. These metrics are very diverse and range from cost of quality to percentage of compliant products and number of defects.

Displaying this data promotes transparency between management and employees. Providing easy access to information often has a beneficial effect on employees. To perform at a high level, workers needs to feel like they are part of the team. Displaying data that was formerly reserved for managers is an effective way to promote engagement and better performance.

Indicator #3: Project Progress Indicators

All departments in a company can benefit from knowing the progress of ongoing projects. This allows all employees, whether on the production floor or in the offices, to have a common vision of the work done. This overview is motivating since it reflects globally the situation according to the tasks performed by the different departments.

Indicator #4: Shipment Indicators

A diverse array of companies deal with shipping. Many employees would likely be interested in knowing how many products have shipped, the number of on-time and complete shipments, etc. during a given month compared to previous months and during the same month the previous year. The ultimate goal of displaying these KPIs is to show employees how their work translates into measurable results.

Production, quality control, project progress, and shipments are four KPI categories all of your employees should know. Want to go a step further? Keep reading to learn about a few bonus points you can think about!

Keep Your Customers Informed

Why not share some of your best data with your customers, too? Your customers would probably be interested in hearing that your shipments increased over the past few months, indicating that your business is doing well, or that you have a particularly low defect rate. You can share this information with customers and suppliers in your waiting or conference rooms.

Dynamic Digital Signage for Communicating KPIs

Email is the most commonly used method for communicating with employees and is increasingly common for communicating with customers.

That said, some employees do not have regular access to email throughout the work day, particularly in fields like manufacturing where most workers are on the floor and not looking at email. Thankfully, there is a cutting-edge solution to help communicate KPIs to all of your employees: dynamic digital signage.

For manufacturing companies, dynamic digital signage is an interesting solution for communicating effectively with employees on the floor. A screen placed in a strategic location, for example, can be used to broadcast KPIs that are specific to a department or task.

In addition to KPIs, dynamic digital displays can be used to show several other types of messages. Want to learn more? Check out our article on 5 types of messages you need to share with your employees.

To find out even more, check out 5 good reasons why you should use digital signage in a factory.

Dynamic Digital Signage: A Veritable Swiss Army Knife for Real Estate

What’s the first thing that pops into your head when you hear the words digital signage? Probably a screen with images and text on it, right? It’s true that most people associate digital signage with signs that provide instruction or information. But depending on how you use it, digital signage can serve as a variety of different tools to help you perform a whole list of tasks, just like a Swiss army knife.

Dynamic digital signage is a combination of durable, high-quality hardware—like screens and tablets—and the powerful functionality of customized cloud-based software. The software makes it possible to display content where and when you want across a network of screens and devices. But don’t limit yourself to just thinking about digital signage as a network of software-powered screens displaying listings in your windows. It can also serve as one or several of the following tools for your business:

Compelling Communications Tool

Digital signage is a powerful communications tool that helps you reach your agents and provide them with useful and essential information, whether they are on or off site. Use digital signage to schedule and notify your team of a meeting, inform them of office announcements, provide information that instills the values of the organization and office culture, and share important industry news.

Advantageous Administrative Tool

Digital signage is also a useful administrative tool. Rather than having an office assistant figure out who is in the office when, use digital signage to track and display office attendance as well as available conference rooms in real time. Agents can easily tap themselves in and out as they enter or leave the brokerage without time-consuming logins or interruptions.

Effective Engagement Tool

In addition to helping with communications and administrative tasks, digital signage is also a way to increase agent engagement. Digital screens can be customized according to where they are displayed, so internal information is reserved for agents’ eyes only. You can use digital screens in your back office to inform your agents that the brokerage has hit a revenue milestone or sold an important listing. It can also be used to display office statistics, performance indicators, and make important announcements. Agents can also be recognized for meeting goals and celebrating birthdays, making them feel appreciated and therefore more engaged in their work.

Multifaceted Marketing Tool

The best benefits of dynamic digital signage might be how it can be used in a marketing context. The most obvious benefit is the real-time updating of listings. Long gone are the days of paper listings and updating every listing by hand. New listings, including photos, videos, specs, price, and the listing agent’s name and contact information are automatically pulled from your internal software and displayed for clients to see. These listings can be displayed both inside and outside your brokerage as dynamic window displays or waiting room screens, or even remotely at an off-site location. The listings can be customized based on the location of the brokerage and the target clientele.

Digital signage is not a one-trick pony. Its benefits extend much further than the sleek hardware on your walls, in your hands, or on your desks. Brokers can revolutionize their communications strategies, simplify administrative tasks, increase employee engagement, and transform their marketing by implementing customized digital signage tools that fit their needs. Get in touch with us today to discuss what you need. To learn more about how digital signage is being used across an array of industries, check out these additional resources:

Location, Location, Location: It Matters for Brokerages, Too!

Three things matter more in real estate than anything else: location, location, location. When it comes to buying and selling property, location has a greater effect than nearly any other factor. The same can largely be said of brokerages themselves: when they are in more desirable locations, their chances of success increase.

With the economic downturn in 2008, many brokerages downsized their offices and moved to less expensive locations. These locations wound up being farther from city centers and sought-after neighborhoods. Many broker/owners also had to put updating their offices on the back burner to weather the drastic slowdown in business. Today, things are looking up, but better economic times have been paired with technological advances that allow agents to work when and where they want, reducing the importance of brick-and-mortar locations.

For many years now, brokers have had to make smart choices about what they invest their hard-earned money in. With the rebalancing of the North American real estate market, many are deciding that it is time for some much-needed upgrades. What better time, then, to invest in a technology like dynamic digital signage?

Why Would My Brokerage Want Digital Signage?

Dynamic digital signage is so more than scrolling banners and slide shows on a monitor. It is an integrated communications tool that can push customized content to any screen you choose, whether it be a tablet, mobile device, desktop screensaver, or 50-foot-tall outdoor screen. What’s more, it is also a way to demonstrate to your current and prospective clients that you are up on trends and keeping with the latest technological advances. Since the technology as it exists today is still relatively new, it can be a way to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Some Unexpected Benefits of Digital Signage

Elevate your brand perception. Digital signage is sleek, contemporary, and appealing. Using new technology to improve your business shows your clients and employees that you care about how your brand is perceived and the quality of your image. The top-of-the-line tools provided by digital signage are perfect for demonstrating that you care and are willing to invest in yourself.

Project value. Digital signage is an investment, but as Claude Allard mentions in our case study about how RE/MAX uses digital signage, it can do the work of a full-time administrative assistant and be automatically updated 24 hours a day. Therefore, over the long term, the advantages provided by digital signage will more than pay for themselves while providing value-added services to your clients and employees.

Make your agents’ jobs easier. Digital signage is more than just listings on a screen. It facilitates internal and external communication, administrative tasks, and marketing. Agents can tap in and out of the office, deliver better listings presentations, and be up to date on the inventory, transactions, and performance of the brokerage. When you have the right software powering your digital signage, all the data your office keeps can be automatically transferred to a display to tell the story of the day, showcasing the brokerage itself, its customer service, and its culture to agents and clients alike. Learn more about the varied ways digital signage can be used in real estate.

Still Not Convinced? Let Us Paint You a Picture.

A prospective client arrives at your brokerage. While waiting, she sees how many sales you’ve made in the last 30 days and pictures of the beautiful properties that have been sold on a screen in your waiting room. Your administrative assistant pulls up a screen that shows which agents are available and their areas of expertise. The right agent is called up to the front desk, fast! The client engages with the agent and joins him in a free conference room to discuss her needs. The agent can review listings on a beautiful large screen display with the client before seamlessly transitioning to a laptop or tablet at any point during the meeting. The agent and client can speak at ease, build rapport, and browse listing, pictures, video, specs, locations, and more. The client swipes through and chooses her favorites. The agent pulls up his schedule to find a time to show the properties to the client, who is impressed with how professional, prepared, and organized the agent is. And… since the same attendance feature that was used initially shows that the agent is busy and that the conference room is occupied, the agent conducts the meeting undisturbed. As the client leaves the brokerage, she sees that during her meeting, the brokerage closed another major sale and the closing agent is featured on the same screen in the waiting room.

Sound too good to be true? It’s not! Get in touch with us today to discuss how we can turn this picture into a reality. Rather than investing in art for your walls or new curtains for your windows this year, why not invest in something that will pay you back and improve your business instead?

5 Ways to Improve OHS with Digital Signage

Occupational health and safety (OHS) is a major issue that can cost businesses a lot of money. According to the IRSST, which studies occupational health and safety, OHS costs businesses around $3.2 billion[1] a year in Quebec alone. The IRSST also calculated that the average cost for an occupational injury is $34,869.[2] This includes:

Medical expenses: medical care and rehabilitation fees, training time for other employees, medical exams
Funeral expenses: the cost of a funeral in the event of a fatality
Salary expenses: hours not worked or that weren’t productive but were paid as salaries and employee benefits by the employer on the day of the accident
Lost productivity: the value of the work that is not done by the injured worker
Administrative expenses: the cost of turnover (recruiting, training, etc.)
Human costs: loss in quality of life for the worker and his or her family, friends, and other members of the community; potential years of life lost (fatality)

Businesses must also consider the potential increase in their insurance premiums following a fatality or serious injury.

Knowing how expensive they are, businesses must take the necessary steps to prevent occupational injuries. A prevention plan that informs workers of the risks associated with their work and training to give them the skills and knowledge required to safely carry it out are essential. To that end, dynamic digital signage is a solution that allows companies to:

Inform employees of risks and dangers
Share OHS best practices
Ask employees to be vigilant
Share statistics on accidents that have occurred
Display messages numerous times

5 types of messages you should communicate now to improve your internal communications

4 KPIs your Employees Need to Know

1. Informing Employees of Risks and Dangers

A major way to improve OHS is to inform employees of risks and dangers in the workplace. For example, if a factory’s ambient noise levels are high, they can permanently damage hearing if those exposed do not wear proper protection. The image below is a concrete example of what could be displayed on a screen to inform employees about potential consequences if necessary precautions aren’t taken.

2. Sharing OHS Best Practices

It is important for employees to be informed, but companies should also tell them, or rather remind them, about good OHS practices. For example, employees should wear personal protective equipment (PPE) at all times.

Take a look at a concrete example of what could be displayed on a screen to remind employees of OHS best practices.

3. Asking Employees to Be Vigilant

One of the advantages of digital signage is the ability to change a message quickly, making it possible to quickly draw attention to a near accident and ensure employees remain vigilant. It is also possible to inform employees of temporary dangerous conditions. For example, Caution, the building entrance is icy!

4. Sharing Statistics

Digital displays are an effective way to share statistics about accidents that have occurred at work. For example:

Number of days without minor/major incidents
Months with the most accidents
Number of heat strokes in August

The following screenshot represents a concrete example of what the screen at your company could look like when sharing statistics.

5. Repeating Information

We tend to forget things quickly, which is why we often benefit from repeated exposure. Digital signage is an efficient communication tool that can repeat the important OHS information described above. Moreover, an important advantage of this tool is the ability to automate safety messages according to the time of day, work shift, or the location of the screen. This ensures that the right message is delivered to the right audience.

Digital signage is a tool that can be used to take your OHS prevention strategy to the next level and help your company avoid the consequences of an unfortunate accident. To learn more about how digital signage can be implemented at your company, check out the following articles:

[1] Rapport R-922 de l’IRSST

[2] Rapport R-922 de l’IRSST

Everything You Wanted to Know About Digital Signage but Didn’t Think to Ask

Keeping up to date with the newest marketing tech can be a struggle for any business owner. The space changes so quickly, so how can you know if the latest cutting-edge solution is right for you? Dynamic digital signage is one such solution. Understanding the ins and outs will help you make the most informed decision about whether it’s a product that works for your business. Below, we address some of the general aspects of dynamic digital signage to help point you in the right direction.

What is a digital signage content strategy and why make one?

What Can Dynamic Digital Signage Be Used For?

Digital signage has a variety of uses that can be broken down into three main categories:

Communicating with Employees

“Since we’ve started using digital signage, we no longer hear our employees say, ‘I didn’t know.'”

Workplace communication can be tough. To help facilitate communication, companies can use digital displays and screensavers to broadcast important information to their employees, such as company messages, performance indicators, safety reminders, and more. These messages can serve a variety of purposes: they can be informative, educational, motivational, or simply entertaining. Some companies even broadcast information to help prevent workplace accidents. Louis-Philippe Péloquin, Director of Communications at ArcelorMittal, said that since installing digital signage, they “no longer hear [their] employees say, ‘I didn’t know.'” Improved communications can lead to increased motivation, higher productivity, and improved safety.

Communicating with Customers

“McDonald’s restaurants now display their menus digitally, but they still sell the same Big Mac.”

Businesses large and small are communicating with their customers in new ways. Many companies are seeking solutions to reach their customers differently. Digital displays paired with dynamic content management software are an innovative way to increase awareness about a product or service and can be updated in real time. Digital signage is also four times as likely to attract a customer’s attention than a traditional display. For example, large multinationals like McDonald’s use digital signage to display and update their menus. Some RE/MAX, Coldwell Banker, and Century 21 real estate brokerages, on the other hand, use it to promote the properties they have for sale, both in displays outside their offices and within their offices themselves. Digital displays are sleek and tech forward, and brokerages can use them to elevate the perception of their brand among both customers and employees by sharing office data: sales figures, active listings, properties in escrow, testimonials, and more. Learn more about how one real estate agency owner, Claude Allard, radically changed his business with digital signage solutions in our full case study.

Communicating with Users

These days, engagement is the buzzword on every marketer’s lips. Users expect to be engaged, whether they are waiting for the bus, navigating an unfamiliar city, or visiting the doctor. Digital signage is a means for connecting and engaging with users in a meaningful way. For example, the City of Montréal makes driving easier by using digital signage to let drivers know about road work and available parking spaces throughout the city. McGill University Health Centre uses digital screens and terminals to help visitors find their way around the hospital. And several municipalities use digital signage to inform public transportation users about delays, schedule or route changes, and general information like the weather and news.

The Most Popular Industries Using Digital Signage

The Digital Signage Ecosystem

While relatively simple, dynamic digital signage requires specific hardware and software components to work properly. The diagram above shows how all these components communicate with each other. Let’s take a closer look at the basic digital signage components.

Software is the heart of the digital signage ecosystem. You might not be able to touch it, but it’s what controls and sends content where you want, when you want it.

Digital Signage Software

In the digital signage ecosystem, software is the core. It may be intangible, but it’s what controls and sends content to the desired screens according to a predetermined schedule. For the past several years, this software has often been Cloud-based and accessible from any internet-connected platform. It has undeniable advantages, but when it comes to the important elements of reliability and security, some software comes up short. Buyers should make sure that their providers use a solid and secure infrastructure, such as Microsoft Azure. If you’re unsure of how to choose the best software for you, check out our article about buying the right software.

At ITESMEDIA, we’ve developed our own proprietary digital signage software called ITESLIVE. It allows for automated communications management and even allows you to connect directly to your own databases to update information like KPIs or projections seamlessly and dynamically. Allow us to convince you: schedule a free online demo today.

Digital Displays: Not Your Ordinary TV

Displays are where your content is dynamically shown. Displays look like televisions but have features that make them suitable for commercial use, such as extended service lives, waterproofing, and increased brightness. Digital displays can be used on their own or can be put together to create video walls of any size. The screensaver of a computer can also be used to display content. Finally, digital LED panels, like those that show the number of available parking spaces in a given location, are yet another example of a type of digital display.

Interactive Displays

Interactive displays take it up a notch: like digital displays, they are screens that display content but also integrate an advanced tactile interface to provide users with a dynamic, interactive experience. They can be used anywhere, from shopping centers to help visitors locate a particular store, to real estate offices to show potential buyers the features of various properties. Even tablets, which have become increasingly popular in the past few years, can use used to deliver and display interactive digital content.

Media Player

The media player is the link between the digital signage software and your screens. It is what allows you to display the content created in your content manager on your entire network of screens. It’s generally quite small and has the same basic functionality as a computer. It can connect to the internet via an Ethernet cable, Wi-Fi, or even a cellular LTE network and plugs into your screens using an HDMI cable.

Another alternative technology that has been developed recently and that is being used more frequently is called SoC, which stands for system on chip. This system is less expensive than an external media player but doesn’t always offer the right level of performance. It can also be more expensive to perform maintenance on the signage if there’s an issue. We can help you determine whether a media player or SoC technology is right for you.

All You Need to Know About Content Strategy

Most digital signage providers will tell you that developing content strategy is an essential step in a successful digital signage project. They are right! However, the content strategy is often misunderstood by customers, but also, by suppliers.

Let us set the record straight and share with you the important elements of content strategy to consider when planning your digital signage project.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Digital Signage but Didn’t Think to Ask

What is Content Strategy?

First, it’s important to understand the role of content strategy in digital signage: it’s the result of the analysis of your company’s communication goals. The content strategy is developed to effectively meet the diverse needs of a company. Concretely, the process involves determining how the content will be displayed on the screens; what kind of content will be displayed in the different parts of the screen depending on the location of the screen, the target audience and the time of day.

Moreover, it is at this stage of your digital signage project that you will decide on the ideal location to install your screens. Remember that the installation of screens outside the establishment serves a completely different purpose than the installation of screens inside.

How does outdoor digital signage survive Québec’s winter ?

Developing a content strategy is a crucial step in planning a digital signage project. The strategy will provide a guideline to your messages: what to publish, to whom, when, where to install the monitors, etc. The strategy will also allow you to determine the font size of the text. Make sure the messages you broadcast are easily readable from where the screens are installed.

If you want to set up your digital signage project without a content strategy, you will not be as successful as you expect. Think about it, how do you capture attention and engage a target audience if the messages you broadcast are inappropriate, inadapted, or worse, uninteresting? Depending on the industry and the sociodemographic profile of the employees, their interest varies greatly. You will lose time and resources in communicating messages that are not personalized and do not have a target audience.

A good content strategy will allow you to establish the specific content you want to broadcast on a particular screen in order to trigger a change in behaviour in a particular group of employees.

This is why this step requires a great deal of thinking. It is best to write the messages first, and post the content later. Knowing the target audience of each screen installed in different locations of the company will allow you to broadcast the right messages to those concerned.

How to Develop a Content Strategy?

Developing a content strategy, as mentioned previously, requires a great deal of thinking. The majority of our customers do not know where to start or which direction to take to begin with their project. That’s why we suggest you get help from content strategy experts to support you. They will help you analyze the communication needs of your company.

That being said, you can already begin the reflection process on your own before getting help from an expert. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help guide your thinking process:

What are the important messages you would like to communicate?
What kind of information would capture the attention of my target audience?
Where would be the best location to install screens based on the movements of the target audience?
How much time is needed to understand the content?
What performance indicators could be used to motivate the target audience?

What Content is Interesting to Broadcast?

Depending on the location of the screen and the target audience, it is possible to broadcast several types of content. Here are some examples of interesting content according to the location:

At reception areas or in waiting rooms, you can capture the attention of clients with the following content:

Capsules “Did you know …”?
Real-time statistics on health and safety at work
A corporate video
A calendar of upcoming public events
Current projects and mandates
News and weather forecasts

In office spaces, a cafeteria or an employee lounge, you can motivate employees with the following content:

Educational videos to perfect knowledge
Real-time statistics on health and safety at work
Key performance indicators
Birthdays of employees
Ongoing projects
Special Mentions
Upcoming social events

5 types of messages you should communicate now to improve your internal communications

5 Ways to Improve OHS with Digital Signage

4 KPIs your Employees Need to Know

In conclusion, it is essential to develop a content strategy before diving head first in a digital signage project. You can determine the strategy yourself, but make sure you still get the advice of an expert in order to achieve the best results.

With a good content strategy, your digital signage project will be successful!

Industry 4.0: are you an innovative manufacturer?

The Québec Government calls them “innovative manufacturers”. These companies have decided to lead a whole new industrial revolution. According to Dominique Anglade, Minister of Economy, Science and Innovation, an innovative manufacturer is one who highly prioritize computerization, automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. Is this the case of your company?/p>

A factory 4.0, also known as a smart factory, has, over time, adapted to new technologies. Technology 4.0 consists of productivity growth, lower production costs and increased quality. Productivity is increased due to the availability of multiple new resources.

Why so many changes in production?

The factories 4.0 have screens everywhere. In fact, each worker has a screen at his workstation, on which the statistics and the stages of production yet to be accomplished are presented. By showing these statistics, the goal here is not to criticize workers. On the contrary, we want them to rely on the steps and to ensure that production is carried out effectively. This technique is used to avoid oblivion, since the production is sometimes quite complex. Moreover, the screens indicate whether the steps have been successfully performed, thereby reducing production errors. Companies can thus guarantee a higher level of quality than before.

Digital signage to improve internal communications

In addition to production advances, digital signage will help you automate your internal communications. Prevention messages, for example, could be displayed across your network of screens or in an area of your plant. Moreover, if you have a message to send to all of your employees, you can now do so from your workstation. Digital signage has many advantages in the manufacturing industry, click on this link to learn more on the subject.

What about the monetary aspect?

Of course, keeping up with technology means significant expenditures in the short term, which sometimes can make factory managers hesitate, especially the ones who have not yet made the 3.0 technology turn. A factory wishing to computerize and automate its technologies sees this expenditure as a long-term investment for several reasons: data flows are automated, steps are clearly communicated to the worker and operations are analyzed in order to maintain high quality. Here are some arguments that will convince you to take the 4.0 technology turn to increase the productivity and profitability of your factory.

Obviously, when companies decide to invest in 4.0 technology for their plants, they make a significant investment for their future. Indeed, the figures show that companies that have taken the 4.0 turn are increasing their turnover faster and hiring much more new employees than their competitors.

To financially help factories wishing to integrate 4.0 technology, the Government of Québec has decided to invest $ 825 million dollars over the next 3 years. In addition, several other financing options are available. Factories wishing to innovate and harness new technologies can also benefit from Investissement Québec’s Innovative Manufacturer Financing program. Now that you know that the resources are there and are accessible, all is left to do is request financing!

Digital signage: An innovation for manufacturing companies?

Manufacturing companies have experienced a bit of struggle in recent years. Globalization and instability in some parts of the world have forced them to get ahead of the game on the productivity level as well as staff management. However, getting ahead of the game or innovating, often entails high implementation costs and for this reason, corporate leadership can be reluctant to invest, afraid that the risk would not pay off. Therefore, it is important for business managers to analyze the different solutions offered in order to make an informed decision.

Are you familiar with digital signage? If not, check out this page of our website which clearly explains what it is.

Companies like Arcelor Mital and Domtar have chosen to make this technological turn and it might as well be a feasible solution for your manufacturing company. In this article, we will present you with the many reasons why this technology could help and allow you to innovate.

Data automation

In business, time is a rare commodity. Leaders are often running out of time and as a consequence, communication with the staff becomes almost inexistent. A digital display allows you to communicate multiple messages and performance metrics in an automated way. In fact, since your digital display screens are directly connected to your databases, it is possible to communicate, for example, the number of products delivered today in real time. Thus, anyone who does not necessarily have access to a computer will be able to see the results. Employees will be aware of their performance in real time without any human intervention.

Employee motivation at Domtar

Domtar, a Québec paper company, uses digital display screens inside its factory to broadcast personalized messages, to remind employees of the company’s culture and to show performance indicators. Domtar notes that digital signage plays an important role in the factory, as employees are more motivated and, as a result, more productive. Indeed, being aware of the periodic performance of the company, employees feel more involved and thus more motivated.

What relevant information and data should you display on your screens?

The data presented on your screens may seem trivial to you, but your employees like to see the concrete result of the work they perform day after day. An employee involved is certainly a more efficient one.

More dynamic communications

Here is a demo that shows what can be displayed on a screen

A digital display is much more dynamic than a paper display. Your screens will catch everyone’s eye because you can integrate colors, movements, videos, photos, etc. The possibilities are endless! Given the speed, simplicity and easy updating, you will be able to change the content of your screens, as you deem necessary.

The renewed content will contribute to the enthusiasm of your audience. Your employees won’t get tired of seeing the same image when entering their department, on the contrary. They will be much more receptive to your messages because they will be dynamic and ever changing.

Reducing your ecological footprint

By using digital display screens, you will inevitably reduce your ink and paper consumption. This will help reduce your company’s ecological footprint. Most companies want to go green for a multitude of reasons. For many, a green shift is synonymous with modernity and contributes to the well being of society. Reducing paper consumption as well as the use of other natural resources is part of that initiative. For others, it is a long-term economic investment. Of course, digital signage requires a greater investment to get started. However, it does not require buying new equipment later on to make your screens work.

Prevent costly work accidents

According to IRSST (Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail), a work accident costs on average $ 35,000 to a company. Consequently, it is important to procure a safe work environment to prevent work accidents. By using digital signage screens, you can spread prevention messages that can help reduce the number of work accidents in your factory. Remind your employees of the basics of safe work and always show them new ways to work safely an efficiently. Show them videos on a variety of topics (such as how to lift a heavy load). It will also allow you to quickly communicate an emergency message across the factory through your display network.

Don’t hesitate to include a chart with the number of days since the last work accident occurred in the factory. This will motivate your employees to be more careful in order to increase accident-free workdays on the chart. It’s a healthy competition and everyone is a winner!

Read our full article on injury prevention at work

Finally, just like all communication tools, the purpose of digital signage is to convey information. Whether you want to use your screens to motivate your employees, dynamize your communications or reduce your company’s ecological footprint, digital signage can help you innovate and make you stand out from your competitors! So tell us, which technology are you using to innovate on a communication level with your staff?

Feel free contact us to discuss your digital signage project. We would be pleased to answer any questions you may have!

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