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The Business Case for

Digital Signage
DIGITAL SIGNAGE WHITE PAPER

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 The Business Case for Digital Signage

Table of Contents
What is Digital Signage? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
How It Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Why Should I Use It? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Bottom Line Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Pixels vs. Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Democratizing Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

How Should I Use It? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Corporate Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
On Campus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Government Facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Healthcare Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Hospitality and Convention Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Houses of Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

We’re here to help! If you have any questions about your application or our products,
please contact us at 800.572.4935 or [email protected].

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of Visix, Inc. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. Visix reserves the right to alter specifications without notice at any time. D-MAR-0000-133 06/17

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 The Business Case for Digital Signage

What is Digital Signage?

Large Displays
When people say “digital signage”, they usually mean big screens used to inform and
persuade. Simply put, it’s the use of any display to present information digitally.

Retailers and advertisers were among the first to adopt digital signage (DS), drawn by the
possibilities of adding motion and sound to their marketing efforts. Retailers extended the
idea of the window display by using screens to promote items in-store, while advertisers saw
a new way to attract the public’s attention to their clients’ services and products. Video Walls

As monitors and related hardware have become cheaper, more organizations have begun
exploring the technology as a communications vehicle. DS is now commonplace, even
expected by the public. In the same way that a company without a website is seen as
untrustworthy, an organization without DS risks being seen as outdated and no longer
relevant to modern lifestyles. The question isn’t if you should get digital signage; it’s what you Interactive
can achieve with it. Room Signs
First, organizational communications supplemented by DS are better at effectively reaching
their target audiences. Second, it’s a powerful communications vehicle for security and
weather alerts, saving time and, potentially, lives.
Of course, people have always communicated visually, but visual communications that are
dynamic – not only showing moving images to grab attention, but creating and revising Desktop
content nearly instantaneously—change the game completely. Messengers
DS content can combine multiple windows, tickers, animations, and much more into one
unified presentation medium, controlled from either one computer or multiple users across a
network. Systems with these kinds of capabilities offer considerably more flexibility to deliver
content to targeted audiences at specific times.

Screensavers

How It Works
Digital signage has three main components:

Displays: The first thing people think of is the signs themselves, including LCD displays,
electronic billboards, scrolling message boards, projection screens, video walls, TVs and
Smartphones
even desktop PC monitors. In the past few years, DS has also expanded beyond fixed
displays to include mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. When it comes to the
displays and devices that deliver messages, new technologies are always emerging.

Software: The second component is the software that allows people, working individually
or in groups, to create, manage and approve the content shown on these displays. Content
management software also generally incorporates routing and scheduling tools. Content Tablets
creation can involve sophisticated applications such as video editing software or tools as
commonplace as PowerPoint. If the software being used is web-based, content can even
be created and changed remotely.

Hardware: The third component is the hardware used to distribute and play back content.
This can range from media players distributed over a network to individual, stand-alone
media players showing basic PowerPoint playback. With networked versions, a DS network Web Pages
operator pushes content to multiple players at once, or allows players to pull content from
a server as needed.

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 The Business Case for Digital Signage

Why Should I Use It?

We see DS at airports, bus stops, banks and restaurants every day, but many businesses are still unsure about the benefits for
internal organizational communications.

If you want to communicate with people, they have to pay attention to you. You can put your messages out there, but if people
don’t receive them, or don’t notice them, they’re pointless. TVs and computers have trained people to look at screens for
information, so DS is a natural choice to reach large audiences.

It’s visually better than static ways of delivering content, like email, printed posters, and bulletin boards, because:

• screens are bright and show motion

• sound can be added to draw attention
• multiple things can be shown on a screen at once
• what’s on the screen can be changed throughout the day
• it’s cheaper than print for big audiences

DS is extremely versatile and helps reach different viewers in different ways. Some people are visual, some are more auditory or
musical, while others prefer to physically interact with things like touchscreens. DS does all these things, so it gets information
across to all types of people.

More and more businesses, hospitals and schools are using DS. Companies use it to welcome visitors, show meeting schedules, or
tell employees what’s for lunch. Students on campus are reminded that registration ends tomorrow or told that the west entrance
will be closed this week. As the day comes to a close, screens in a clinic might show local weather and traffic, so people can plan
their commutes. What you show is really only limited by what you can imagine and create.

Because people are becoming increasingly reliant on screens for their information, DS is more memorable than other mediums.
Arbitron’s Digital Place-Based Video Study mentions that 70% of U.S. residents have seen a video display in public in the past, and
47% of them can still recall the content a month later.

And DS isn’t as expensive as you might think. Though big screens are the most common type of display, you can use desktop
monitors and smartphones as digital signs; basically, anything that can show a digital image can be a digital sign. You can start
with screens you already have to keep your costs down and give yourself flexibility for expansion in the future.

It’s reinforcing…
Ask any communicator and they’ll tell you that repetition is key to getting an idea across. Today, images and messages constantly
clamor for people’s attention, and it’s important that your message doesn’t get lost in the crowd. DS allows you to schedule
messages to repeat as often as you like, and more frequently during peak times, making sure that people are seeing what you
want them to see.

It’s unifying…
Achieving unity in how a brand is presented means that marketing, communications, training and other groups have to work
together. DS gives you a community forum to put that cooperation into practice. It also provides a controlled medium where
branded templates and presentation style can be predetermined. Determine your design and branding standards, distribute them
to your people and let them get to work promoting your message.

It’s inclusive…
DS is a crowdsourcing tool. You probably already have able communicators available to you – people who can easily distill many
ideas down to a tight, concise message, but you have no way of channeling their talents. DS lets you tap into their full potential
by getting them involved in communications. A well-planned communications system that includes DS can find these people and
enable them to craft and post content that boosts your message and enhances your audience’s perception and participation.

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 The Business Case for Digital Signage

Bottom Line Results Clearer

A Watson Wyatt Communication ROI Study shows that effective employee communication drives
employee engagement and increases financial performance. Over a five-year period, companies goal
worldwide ranked as “highly effective communicators” had a 47% higher return to shareholders definition
and are three times more likely than lower-ranked companies to measure their communication
effectiveness. They ensure their employees understand how they affect the overall business, which
motivates them to be more productive.

Managers are key players in engaging employees. Half the highly-ranked companies provide
management training in effectively communicating the organization’s vision to employees, and are Better
three times more likely to give managers the tools they need to deal with resistance to change.
manager
Employee turnover, absenteeism and productivity are also positively affected by good internal performance
communication practices. Watson Wyatt’s WorkUSA Survey indicates that employees who are
engaged are 300% more likely to exceed performance expectations, miss 20% fewer days of work
and are a lower turnover risk. Engaged workers are 50% more likely to be top performers in the
organization.

DS is a powerful tool in engaging employees, allowing you to include more people in the
communication process, creating more owners with the permission and ability to share Increased
information. With pre-approved templates and just a little training, you can expand the number of
communicators, which reduces the overall time spent creating and disseminating your message.
productivity

This is not just about making people feel included – this is a bottom-line imperative. Management
must be able to communicate mission and goals, and recognize employees. When employees see
a direct connection between what they do every day and what the company’s goals are, they have
greater commitment to getting the job done, trust managers’ decisions more readily and have
fewer on-the-job conflicts. The organization runs more smoothly, and productivity increases. This is
measurable. Higher
employee
DS enables you to: satisfaction
• Reach all your employees
• Highlight key messages
• Approach situations proactively
• Achieve goals with current performance data
• Conduct ROI activities
• Update employees on company news
Lower
• Maintain consistency of brand and message
turnover and
• Reduce response time to problems and crises
• Minimize micro-managing by keeping everyone up to date absenteeism
• Recognize employee contributions and achievements

Recognizing good work can also produce real-world benefits. The WorldAtWork Study shows
that recognition programs have an “extremely positive/positive effect” on employee satisfaction,
increasing motivation (58%), engagement (64%) and employee retention (34%). Employee
recognition encourages everyone to be at their best, which means they work more efficiently. Higher
returns for
DS provides a ready vehicle for banding your managers and employees together into a cohesive
whole. They walk the halls during their day and see messages from the company reminding them shareholders
why they’re there, see familiar faces being commended for doing good work and feel like they’re
part of something.

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 The Business Case for Digital Signage

Pixels vs. Paper

Digital messages are just that: digital. They do not use paper – so no trees are cut down; no water, inks or solvents are used; and
when the message is no longer relevant, it doesn’t go to a landfill to decompose and emit methane, but is simply deleted.

We’re not trying to “green wash” DS, which obviously has its own carbon footprint, but it can definitely make an impact on your
green efforts through reduced printing, energy management and education.

As the environmental and economic challenges of our times are more and more on people’s minds, they will naturally be
attracted to more modern, cleaner, more efficient technology. They will feel like they are moving along with the times, rather than
languishing in the past.

There is value, though impossible to calculate on a spreadsheet, in presenting your organization in a modern, up-to-date way.
Adding DS to your communications toolkit just heightens your perceived value, building trust and confidence in your target
audience, making your organization more attractive.

Finally, DS solutions are more cost effective for large audiences. Over multiple years, a digital signage system offers a more
effective and inexpensive option than print:

Digital Signage Print Communications

Purchase price is a one-time cost A continuing revenue drain

Annual price increases due to paper, printing and

No cost increases
transportation costs

Potentially unlimited audience Set number of targets based on pre-determined print runs

Set costs for printing and distribution, repeated with each

Lower cost per person reached
print run
Communication is distributed once, subsequent exposure
More frequent, measurable audience exposure
not measurable
Dynamic – video, animations, cable feeds, tickers, Static – one-time design is only way to grab and keep
transitions attract and maintain interest attention
Can be interactive, allowing the audience to shape their
No interactivity
experience
Unlimited space, can handle hundreds of messages at
Limited space to communicate ideas and information
once

Up-to-date and current information Timeliness limited by printing and distribution

Allows immediate update, correction and retirement of Updates require new print runs, corrections require
messages retractions and printed materials linger
Technology constantly being improved, more efficient and
Print technology has reached the summit of its capabilities
cheaper

You can also use your DS content to educate viewers on green topics. Offer energy saving tips and advertise your recycling efforts.
Make people aware that you’re trying to change the culture. You can even tie into your building management system to show
current consumption rates of energy and water so people see how much is being used and hopefully cut down.

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 The Business Case for Digital Signage

Democratizing Communications
When we talk about democratizing communications, we
mean getting more people involved in the process versus the
old-fashioned way of having a communications department “The system is clean and modern. Every
pushing out one-way messages. university or institution needing to get a
lot of information out to a large number
Why does that matter and what’s wrong with the old way? of people should have it.”
People today are less responsive to top-down communications. Andy Mrusko
With the ever-expanding range of tools constantly being Marketing Coordinator
made available, anyone who’s part of a community can post
Stamp Student Union
news and share best practices. Today, communications is a
conversation. University of Maryland

People have become used to contributing – posting on social

media, commenting on blogs and news websites, participating
in online forums, and using intranets, wikis and a constantly
growing array of mobile apps. Web 2.0, open sourcing and
HTML5 have changed the very nature of how, and where, we
create, share and consume information. With portals like these,
anyone who’s part of a defined community can post opinions,
share best practices, or simply broadcast something that’s on
“We have a generation of
their mind (they can even create a new community if there environmentally conscious students
isn’t one out there to their liking). And that’s the key point - who want a sustainable way to deliver
these new forums inspire good knowledge-sharing habits information. We’ve already reduced
because anyone and everyone can contribute. With a unified our paper usage by 10-15%.”
communications plan, organizations get to be participants, as Bill Ashby
well as shapers, of the ongoing conversation. Associate Dean of Students
Newcomb Hall and Student Activities
Organizations should want to help people act on what they University of Virginia
know and participate in that dialogue because when people
become more involved, they’re more likely to get the story
straight and share it with others. And that’s the goal of modern
organizational communications.

While these new methods of communicating spur greater

participation and engagement, they can also impact
credibility. The community holds participants accountable
for the accuracy and soundness of what they say. Modern “To communicate, you’ve got to use
organizations need to be able to balance the need to constrain
multiple channels because different
what is said while still being able to tap into the enormous
potential of a population that wants to participate and has the
people perceive messages differently.
tools to do so. People must be integrated into the
solution or it ultimately has no meaning.”
Choosing a web-based or networked DS solution, where lots of Sam Kennedy
people can get involved in the process of creating and posting Assistant Director of User Services
messages, will get better results in terms of understanding, Virginia Commonwealth University
branding and sharing. This doesn’t mean you can’t put
gatekeepers in place to make sure that your overall message
and brand isn’t distorted. You can and probably should, but you
also have an easily-monitored community platform that gives
you instant feedback. You’ll know when your communications
are working, because you audience will tell you so.

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 The Business Case for Digital Signage

How Should I Use It?

Start with what you want to accomplish, then tailor the technology to that purpose. You can learn about how to shop for and
implement digital signage in our white paper – 13 Steps to Successful Digital Signage.

The objectives for DS systems are as diverse as the organizations that use them. The following are some of the goals companies
have addressed with a digital signage solution:
• Reduce costs by
• Delivering information more efficiently
• Reducing the cost per communication
• Improving the reliability of communications
• Leveraging past investment in infrastructure and resources
• Reducing costs and time in message creation and distribution
• Reducing training costs
• Minimizing reliance on printed materials
• Generate new revenues by
• Increasing sales
• Improving cross-selling
• Collecting advertising revenues
• Reduce perceived wait times
• Improve brand perceptions or experiences
• Increase awareness of events, products or services
• Speed up transactions or other interactions

Once you have concrete objectives, you should outline in some detail how the system will operate in your organization. What kind
of content will you display? What will the system components be, and where will they be housed? Who will actually operate it, and
which budget pays for maintenance?

It’s never too early to identify sources of content. These could be select individuals; entire departments, student groups, outside
vendors or suppliers; or external, automated sources; or any combination. But now is the time to engage them.

Corporate Environments
To get through to diverse and mobile corporate audiences
today, you need to be direct and timely.

DS and messaging systems give you a path to your audience

that’s flexible and strongly visual. They deliver graphical and
video content to a range of room signs, stationary screens or
mobile devices, allowing you to reinforce messages, and target
key audiences.

Regardless of their location, people stay informed of

urgent alerts, benefits information, greetings, directions, or
recognition. Whether you use attention-getting screens where
people gather or desktops and mobile devices where they
work, your content managers can to get the message out, even
with little technical know-how.

When they’re strategically placed, TVs, video walls, interactive kiosks, and other displays deliver your message to viewers on target
and on time. They keep larger groups abreast of important announcements and performance data, and they start selling as soon
as customers walk in the door.

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 The Business Case for Digital Signage

On Campus
Nearly every educational community has events that could use
more exposure, and today, sharing campus news has never been
more critical. Campus communications are no longer just about
quality of life; they can also be about saving lives. DS systems
make it quick and easy to push urgent updates, even to mobile
devices and remote campuses.

It’s also a medium that keeps up with the times. Students, staff
and visitors are savvy when it comes to technology, and they’re
more responsive when notified visually.

DS software also makes it possible to share sophisticated

multimedia presentations that enhance campus life by
engaging and informing audiences about the many details of
residential services, social and athletic programs, administrative
announcements, and promotions from retailers.

DS can be tailored to any campus’ unique setting. Deliver

targeted messages and media to specific campus locations no
matter how geographically dispersed, or broadcast the same
content campus-wide.

K-12 Schools
You have a lot going on every day, and it can be daunting to
communicate everything that’s happening to students, parents,
teachers and staff. In order to do your job efficiently, you need
innovative tools that let you inform, educate and engage all of
those audiences quickly and easily.

Today’s students and teachers are tech-savvy, so DS is a perfect

communication solution to show announcements, media
and alerts on screens throughout your school and across your
district.

Advertise events and after-school activiites, centralize morning

announcements, showcase student work, show daily lunch
menus, PowerPoint slides, library notices and more.

Government Facilities
Government communications need to reach broad and diverse
audiences, and visitors to their offices and service centers
respond to a variety of media.

Dynamic DS delivers important messages - immediately, effectively and affordably - to government offices, military facilities,
emergency services, or community-based organizations. Because it’s network based, you can share the most up-to-date news and
announcements.

Security updates, news feeds, messages and ticker information can be delivered via a user-friendly interface that allows for easy
creation, scheduling and delivery of information. Update content instantly or manage content with advanced scheduling.

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 The Business Case for Digital Signage

Healthcare Organizations
The time that visitors spend waiting represents a valuable
opportunity to reach them with important educational
announcements, programs and advertisements.

Hospitals, clinics, physicians’ offices and community health

centers around the country are using video, graphics and info
bulletins to reinforce messages and inform patients, staff and
visitors of important health issues, treatments and news. With
easy-to-use templates and scheduling features, even people with
limited technical skills can update DS displays in patient rooms,
lobbies, waiting rooms, offices and hallways.

Hospitality and Convention Centers

DS makes it easy to complement your event planning and
execution because it delivers timely information through
strategically placed digital room signs and displays. Content
that’s up-to-the-minute and easily seen gets delivered to
displays dispersed throughout your facility, and many systems
can integrate with popular room and event scheduling
applications.

Provide up-to-date event and room schedules, advertise on

site services and keep guests informed with breaking news. DS
supplements the guest services you provide and demonstrates
your commitment to creating a satisfying visitor experience.

Manufacturing Facilities
Do you find it difficult to communicate between the front office
and the factory floor? Do warehouse employees sometimes
miss important messages? Whether it’s in the office, on the
production line or in the stockroom, real-time data is the key to
productivity.

DS lets you deliver unified messages to all sectors of your

business from one easy-to-use application. This gives you more
ways to engage your workforce, build community and increase
efficiencies. Recognize achievements and keep your employees
informed of progress toward goals by showing KPIs, inventory
counts, and health and safety announcements.

Want to learn more? Contact us at [email protected].

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