Get with the Program What is Digital Signage, how can it help your business, and why switch over?
What, Where, and Why? What is digital signage, how does it work and what can it do for me?.
What IS Digital Signage? Digital Signage is the use of a display device, much like your tv or computer monitor at home, to show appropriate info, adverts and video to viewers while being controlled from a remote location. We ve all seen the screens in shops, offices, football grounds, taxis, banks, and the list goes on. Until recently most of these screens would have been connected to a dvd player and a dvd on repeat. This was very limited for presenting current info, or even advertising, as it relies on the info on the DVD being up-todate, so if any changes needed to be made, it involved lengthy (and expensive) re-mastering of the dvd (or dvds, one for each display location) and relying on potentially untrained staff to use the right disc at the right time, and ensure all locations were changed at the same time. signage solution can bring many benefits to an organization. Greater impact, better presentation, up to date info, prices, news, directions, and the power to control your content using computer networks able to transmit images, data and more in fractions of a second from anywhere in the world. Now is the perfect time to go digital. This guide will give you the information you need to get started on this exciting new way to make sure your message gets to the right people, on time. In this day and age, consumers and companies are looking for more versatility than traditional printed or read-only media can provide. This is exactly what digital signage now makes available. A well applied digital
Typical Uses: What s out there now, who s using digital signage and why:
Who needs Digital signage and why? It would be very easy to get sidetracked by purchasing the largest, brightest screen available. this however is NOT a good place to start. Your content is the most important thing to get right, so once you know what you want to display, it then makes sense to start with a good digital signage hardware/software system. This is the hardware that will run your displays, so it needs to be able to do everything you want and be easy to use, and give you the flexibility to make changes when you need to. It s easier to change the displays than the player once the investment is made. Screens don t have to be big to work effectively. We are all used to the viewing distance in our living rooms and the readability of titles and credits. These apply in the digital signage world too. If you want someone to read a price or telephone number on screen from afar, the screen choice and content design will need to take this into account. Just because you have a bigger screen does not mean you can pack it with more information, it has to be readable at the intended viewing distance. The main choices for digital displays are LED for the stadium and auditoriums, Plasma type screens for shops, office, waiting rooms and PC flat screens (also called LCD or TFT ) for lift lobbies, wayfinding, and end of aisle type applications. You may also want to consider projectors for larger displays, and plasma over LCD where static images are prominent. The key here is to look at the overall picture and take into account the various options required to build a system that meets your needs AND your budget.
Typical Uses: What s out there now, who s using digital signage and why:
Who needs Digital signage and why? contd. There is no typical use for digital signage. Every implementation is as creative or diverse as the next, however here are a few examples and ideas. There is a lot happening in the out of home advertising markets, we see screens in just about any location where people visit or wait while out shopping, travelling or waiting. In today s world it makes sense to have digital signage solutions to control, update and measure the performance of your content. Digital signage is also used to enhance visitor experiences, this could be in the form of entrance information, way finding within premises, health and safety messages etc. This information can be easily localized so that information in reception would be different to that displayed to people about to go into the board room. The key here is to make sure the info people need is available, up to date, and strategically placed to make visiting and navigating their premises easier and more enjoyable. Keeping staff properly informed on day to day business matters has become a key element for any successful business today. Traditionally this was the Memo, which relied on a slow transfer of information from one person to another, all done by hand. We then moved to email which relies on people being at their desk. In today s modern office neither of these can fulfill the needs. Digital signage offers staff information away from desk and while on the move throughout the building.
Benefits: Benefits: What makes digital signage a good choice compared to traditional media?
Keeping up appearances? It all boils down to money at the end of the day, be it from increased profitability- why show one or two paid adverts on a billboard when you can show an endless stream? or from reduced cost- offset the cost of designing, printing, distributing and fitting posters and billboards every month against the one-off cost of a digital signage solution and you ll see what we mean. for example: The easy one first is the Out of Home advertising model. In essence, you put a digital signage solution into operation with the least amount of investment, sell the advertising space on the screens for the maximum and the rest is simple maths. On the visitor experience side the justification is a little less simple, but just as compelling. A business will spend a lot of time and effort in keeping staff/visitors informed, be it health and safety, branding, performance reports and so on. With digital signage, staff and visitors alike have the information on hand even when away from their desks or in seating areas. The result here is increased productivity, better continuity of procedure, less absenteeism around major sporting events, and a more efficient communications model, finally putting to rest the phrase didn t you get the memo? Also, imagine if you will, a last minute change needs to be made to an important schedule, or advert for an event, affecting multiple people or multiple sites. would you rather call each person or site individually? rely on a department-wide email and hope word of mouth will catch people who are away from their desks? or would you rather update a few fields in a web or software based portal, click save, and be confident that the vital message you need to convey is being displayed on prominent info screens company-wide, right from the moment you make the change?
The same technology used in home cinema systems, this is a common type of display. Plasma Screen sharper and longer lasting than plasma, this is a popular choice for informationbased signage L.C.D display often used on frosted glass shop fronts, projectors offer versatility with no need for a large bulky screen. Projector LED displays are most common for larger applicationsstadiums, road signs, concerts etc. L.E.D display at the very cutting edge of technology, OLED systems are energy efficient, wafer thin, and flexible.. literally. O.L.E.D display low voltage, wireless micro electronics allow nofuss price changes in real-time for fast efficient retailing. Shelf edge label What, Where, and Why? What is digital signage, how does it work and what can it do for me?.
What are my options? There is a lot of display hardware on the market to use in your digital signage solution, some older established technology, some more cutting edge solutions. What do i need? is the golden question, and the answer is dependant on a lot of factors. There are some more obvious choices determined by the limits and benefits of each technology, for example if you need a 50 metre high billboard, you might want to consider L.E.D signage, since it s the most common option for huge applications (although we can suggest a few alternatives if you like.) If you need to display a lot of small, crisp, clear text, for example wayfinding, information kiosks etc, then LCD is probably the best option in terms of price, high-definition clarity, and availability. Plasma screens are the most common for basic digital signage, adverts, slideshows etc- times when the image is easily recognisable and there isn t a lot of small detailed text. If you want a large area to create a big impact, but space is at a premium, or even needs to be used for other things, such as a shop window, and a huge screen isn t practical, then projectors could be the way to go. The most important place to start is with the actual digital signage solution you choose, the hardware and software bundle that makes it all work. Ideally in a fast-moving technological world, you want something as versatile and compatible as possible, so when your needs change, you can throw any file format, display type, or information source you like at it and know without a doubt it will be ready to meet the ever-changing demands of users in a technology driven marketplace.
Why DigiSHOW? Why should you choose DigiSHOW over the competition?
Why choose us? Future Software has a long history of delivering high quality software and services for the Microsoft Windows platform to a diverse range of clients. Our DigiSHOW product range has been designed with over 10 years of client input to meet the high demands of digital signage users. The client base includes retail, TV, satellite, hotel, banking, leisure, government, education, military, corporate, and healthcare sectors, as you d expect with a company offering a 10 year history of proven solutions. As part of the service delivery Future Software are able to supply consultancy, design services, video and media, and product training along with ongoing support, which is all provided from in-house expertise, with no outsourcing. Future Software with our years of experience are the right choice for your complete end-to-end digital signage needs. Contact can be made here: Future Software Ltd Unit 20 Grove Park Waltham Road White Waltham Berks SL6 3LW Tel: +44 (0)1628 829 811 Web: www.future-software.co.uk Email: sales@future-software.co.uk Kind regards, Chris Fulton Managing Director