Opinion


Digital signage software and the changing needs of business during a pandemic


With 46% of UK employees working from home during the ongoing pandemic (according to the Office of National Statistics*), digital sig- nage software providers have had to adapt to assist companies to communicate with their teams beyond the digital displays on office walls and meeting rooms.


When the spread of COVID-19 led to a lockdown of UK offices and those employees that were not furloughed were asked to work from home, we spoke with our customers and asked them what would help them main- tain a channel of communica- tion beyond the use of email, video meetings and messaging platforms? The most popular response was the


ability to


replicate the visual experience on their office displays, on the laptops, tablets and mobiles that their employees were us- ing for work, at home. We took on board the feed- back from our customers and rapidly developed a new use case for Signagelive, where publishing digital signage lay-


a range of free COVID relat- ed images and videos avail- able in our Marketplace that echoed the guidelines being provided by the World Health Organisation and Governments throughout the world. One of our customers who were early adopters of the Broadcast Play- er to augment their Signagelive digital signage network used for workplace communications was Bespak.


Bespak is a global market leader in the design, develop- ment and manufacture of drug delivery devices, providing in- haler, autoinjector and nasal technologies, as well as de- velopment and manufacturing services.


At the point of lockdown, Be-


considered appeared to be eas- ier to get going out of the box initially, but they found that they soon outgrew their capa- bilities.


Customer response


In an interview with Rhiannon Moore, from the Marketing team at Bespak, she explained how they had used Signagelive to communicate with their em- ployees both in the offices and those working from home.


“What were the reasons for implementing a digital sig- nage network?”


outs and content to large-for- mat displays could be extend- ed to publish to a web browser, viewable by remote employees on their home working comput- er and mobile devices.


New product


The resulting product is the Signagelive Broadcast Player which we launched in April at no cost to our customers through to the end of 2020, allowing our customers to com- municate with their remote employees without having to find a budget during a period of uncertainty and enforced changes for many businesses. In addition to launching the Broadcast Player, we created


spak was using Signagelive to broadcast and communicate in- formation to 19 screens across 3 of our UK sites. Signagelive is used to display communica- tions such as health and safety, and quality messages, which are two of the primary commu- nication focus areas as well as giving Bespaks’ employees the chance to display their social messages such as birthdays or the birth of a new baby.. Bespak chose Signagelive because it offered the gran- ular enterprise features they required. They wanted to be able to drill down into user permissions, schedule content and have complete control over layouts and design. Other digi- tal signage platforms they had


Using e-mail for mass commu- nication was something that had become heavily relied on within our business, and quite frankly, people were bored with it. Communications sent out via email were often brushed over or dismissed, and people began to stop seeing the in- formation as important. It was clear to us that we needed a new, exciting way of getting our messages across. The dig- ital signage network was part of a whole new host of inter- nal communications methods being introduced across the business. We wanted to ensure there was a way people could receive relevant, inviting con- tent without getting bored or seeing it as unimportant.


“How were these objectives being met previously?”


Communications objectives were mainly being met via email, but this was by no means the most effective way of communication. As previ- ously stated, messages became boring and unimportant fast, often being deleted before be- ing read.


“How did you build a busi-


Signagelive, although we may have faced some hurdles in the very beginning, it soon became easy to use and had very little complication. This is some- thing we find extremely useful as it means signage can be up- dated quickly and efficiently, without having to spend hours playing with content.


“Did you face any challeng-


ness case internally for Sig- nagelive?”


We ran a proof of concept with a low-cost signage platform to demonstrate why a digital sig- nage platform was required. We then conducted research us- ing case studies and Gartner’s magic quadrant to shortlist three products. [1] [2] We ran a feature assessment against all three products and scored them. We presented our find- ings and recommendations to our Operating Board who agreed with our recommenda- tion, set the budget and gave us a “wish list” of features to deliver now and into the future.


“The usability of the plat- form?”


At first, when you are learning a new piece of software, it can seem complicated and hard to ‘get the hang of’. However, with


es during any part of your project implementation? How were these resolved?”


We did face some challeng- es along the way, specifically surrounding our templates for content. We use different co- lour schemes depending on what department/area of the business information is com- ing from, and to begin with, we made and laid out our own set of templates for them to use. However, as a couple of weeks


nagelive offer?”


The ability to communicate quickly and effectively. You can choose how often your screens refresh, and this means if you have an urgent piece of content that needs to be published in- stantaneously this is not an is- sue. As well as this, the ability to be able to choose where cer- tain pieces of content play. One of our sites has nine buildings and not every building wants to see the same content, so being able to tailor this to suit their needs is a big advantage for us. Overall, Signagelive has given our business the opportunity to become more engaging within our communications and offer us a solution better and more effective than email. It is some- thing that we are enjoying us- ing and will continue to use in the future.


Conclusion


went past the feedback on these was average, and we realised we were not happy with them. To resolve this, we brought in the design team from Signage- live and asked them to make a new set of these for us. This set is now used daily on our screens.


“How has business im- proved since using Signage- live?”


Our communications process has become a lot smoother since using Signagelive. Col- leagues are now aware of our process of adding content to screens, and for those working off-site, the Broadcast Player allows us to publish a chan- nel of content that is viewable in a web browser on mobile or laptop instead of sending out communications via site-wide emails.[3] [4] Across one of our smaller sites, we have also seen a rise in engagement to- wards communications, with them really enjoying being able to use the screens for their so- cial content such as birthdays and good luck messages.


“What advantages does Sig-


Bespak is an excellent example of how having a well thought through digital signage strat- egy can lead to effective com- munication and increased en- gagement across a workforce, especially during the ongoing pandemic where many of the team are working remotely. Bespak adopted


a rigorous


digital signage software selec- tion process and through util- ising Signagelive services and embracing available features and products such as the Sig- nagelive Broadcast Player they are now able to communicate quickly and effectively with their workforce whether onsite or at home.


* ONS Coronavirus and homeworking in the UK: April 2020


signagelive Broadcast Play- er - https://signagelive.com/ broadcast/


Bespak case study - https:// signagelive.com/be-


spak-use-signagelive-to-com- municate-and-broadcast-to-em- ployees-across-several-uk-sites


AV News October 2020 P17


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