Top 5 Suggestions when taking on a digital signage system - part1

If you need to implement a digital signage system for the workplace, then here's a list which may help you in deciding which to go for.

1. Make sure it works on your platform
For corporate digital signage to work, there have to be users (people) and players (hardware devices) who will use the system. There are support teams who will have to support the system.

Look at the common denominator in your corporate systems. What is your platform made up of ? Is it Windows XP, Linux, IIS

How to make sure a digital signage system will work for you
Here's a simple test link which will let you know if your platform is up to the job.

Try the following link
hopgood.eu test channel

If you see something like this

(live TV and news feed)

Then you're system is ready to create and view digital signage, with no further modifications. The sample provided is from a Software as a Service digital signage offering.

Software as a Service means that you don't have to set up servers or maintain the system, everything is done for you.


This is part 1 of a top 5 tips on using digital signage in the workplace by Mark Hopgood (c)2008 Mark Hopgood, all rights reserved. Please contact mark@hopgood.eu if you are interested in reproducing any of the content in this article or are interested in using Mark's services to create a digital signage solution.

Delivering bottom line benefits that appeal to the FD

When considering digital signage for the workspace, how can you convince the budget holder or decision maker that it is worth 'investing' in your solution?

With any new business solution an essential part of the roll out is training. Only by explaining and making sure everybody understands the value of the new system can you really say your new solution has been successfully adopted.

OK, so you could use digital signage to give users hints, tips and links. This would ensure that they see the links, but how do you measure and justify this from a business benefits position and make sure you know whether the team has acted on what they have seen..

At Plasmanet we're undertaking discovery programs with our customers. This gives us the opportunity to ...

• Identify the communications challenges
• Measure KPIs against these challenges
• Run a communications campaign
• Measure the difference
• Demonstrate the saving / benefit

Which might mean (in real world practicality) for a particular company

• we know that a lot of our support and training is associated with getting to grips with company wiki
• we identify how many calls and emails we get asking for support. We know the percentage of adoption of wiki.
• we run a campaign, communicating the importance, guidelines and links to wiki (using screens, text, email, blackberry etc.)
• we measure the number of calls / emails to support and the number of unique users of wiki
• we show how successful the campaign was and how adoption has changed and what mediums were most successful in attracting new users and how the profile of support calls changed

Using a tool such as plasmanet V8 you get to display the message, send it and measure the team's response. This allows you to measure how many of the team and who acted upon the message. By taking this approach you can match up who needs training, who has had training and how many support calls are taken and what level of training course is being demanded.

With a reduction of training and support costs, you have your bottom line benefit. By utilising plasmanet, AV, digital signage or any communication system can now be justified in bottom line benefits that should appeal to the FD and the business.

But, what about home workers - do they get the message.

Well, no! They could do though. In my next blog I'll talk about the home worker environment, and then the opportunities that an office based business can benefit from home worker infrastructure.

connecting onelan to call switches, live data and beyond

Plasmanet call switch and live data connectors for onelan
I'm pleased to announce a set of connectors which work in close collaboration with Onelan and their net top box. The connectors cover a wide range of call switches (the popular ones and some not so popular). In addition, the data connectors give you live access to popular databases and most systems that don't support any connectivity.

Who's using
The connectors are in use by companies such as JD WIlliams, Chelsea Building Society, bp, edf trading, coca-cola enterprises and more. You can be assured that these are robust and have been in place since 2001.

Getting started
If you are interested in discussing how you, your team or company could benefit from the plasmanet connectors for onelan net top box, please contact me, mark hopgood (mark.hopgood at plasmanet-uk.com) and my experienced team will be able to advise you on the best course of action.

History
When, David from Onelan first talked to me about producing his net top box in 2001, I was interested because my signage system, plasmanet, had been a software only solution. It had to be - PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the company I was consulting with, needed a solution that would work with existing hardware.

Over the years, David's model has changed. After a few years, he realised that it was too costly to produce your own hardware and today his linux based box uses mini itx components.

Convergence
I continued to pursue the software route and as a result our specialism has developed into real time data connection to databases and call switches and of course web 2.0.

Avaya - the case for home workers

Avaya (1) have published a white paper discussing the reasons for having home workers.

As the MD of Plasmanet and owner of Hopgood Consulting, I'm happy to employ people offsite to assist with the expansion and growth of my businesses.

The 2 main questions for me are,

1. how do i measure performance

2. as a positive leader, I want to include my team - how can I do that if my team is offsite?

Well the answer to number 1 is clear. The performance of my call center team is recorded using the call switch I have deployed, be it Avaya, Nortel, whatever.

The main challenge is in letting the team know constantly what is needed of them and how they are doing.

The ERIC report (2) about goal setting research, concluded that

a. Feedback increased productivity substantially
b. Goal setting increased productivity further
c. Incentives did not add anything in productivity when combined with the above 2

Well how best to get this information to them?

In the workplace, corporate digital signage systems such as SignageStar and Plasmanet can show data on screens, but installing dedicated plasma screens in the home may not be considered cost effective.

A cost effective and appropriate alternative is to have a desktop channel. A view of a corporate digital signage channel, showing Incentive, Feedback and Team Goals and info would be possible, filtering data for the individual and team.

Corporate Digital signage systems which show exactly the same content on a web browser as on screens, would need minimal reconfiguration of content for application for home workers.

Plasmanet and SignageStar from Hopgood Consulting Ltd offers this functionality.

References:
(1) Avaya - home worker paper
Contact Center Costs: The Case for Telecommuting Agents
http://www.avaya.com/master-usa/en-us/resource/assets/whitepapers/gcc3211.pdf

(2) ERIC - Feedback, Goal Setting, and Incentives Effects on Organizational Productivity.
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED283963&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED283963

Hopgood Consulting Celebrates its 14th year

Hopgood Consulting Ltd (HCL), the company behind business digital signage software, Plasmanet is celebrating its 14th Year.

Incorporated in 1994, HCL has enjoyed success with the following companies in consulting with and implementing applications that help teams to communicate and share information:

Allied Domecq / Baskin Robbins
European Space Agency
IBM
Lotus
BP
Chevron Texaco
Chelsea Building Society
Kuwait Chamber of commerce
EHN Sport
Oracle
Computer Associates
JP Morgan
European Project Consultants
Enron
London Metal Exchange
Unilever
Price Waterhouse Coopers

If you would like to benefit from the services offered, please contact me, Mark Hopgood (mark at hopgood dot eu)

B2B Marketing – Digital Signage for Business

B2B Marketing – Digital Signage
Comment from Technical Director at Plasmanet, Mark Hopgood

Question 1
Q: With the arrival of flat panel TV technology more retail outlets seem to be using this technology to entertain and inform their customers. The B2B market is also now using this technology. Could you outline how and where you think the best digital signage is being used today in the B2B sector?

A: Within the B2B market, businesses are increasingly using digital signage for internal and external communications. It is important to recognise that both applications would require front-end support rather than a simple screen (e.g. linked to a PC displaying a PowerPoint presentation or video, which is a common application in the retail or B2C space).

By leveraging the power of corporate intranets for internal B2B communications and extranets for communication with other companies, suppliers, partners, customers etc, companies are able to keep those receiving the messages or content displayed by the signage fully informed and engaged. With the right platform and infrastructure (i.e. networked screens across a broadband connection), internal B2B communications can include multiple sites, business unit to business unit or even country to country.

A good working example of how this has been applied internally would be the trading floor, where enterprise digital signage combines market data (e.g. from a business news service such as Reuters) with live television (e.g. BBC News 24) to assist traders in making critical decisions. Or perhaps even consider a large UK supermarket chain that has employed digital signage in employee areas with high footfall, incorporating content from internal sources, such as goals and targets, alongside order information from partners or external suppliers.

Question 8
Q: Digital signage needs to have an infrastructure behind it to update the messages it displays. Networked signs that are connected over the Internet can offer this easily. What key features should a company in the B2B sector looking to use digital signage for the first time look for in the back office support for the digital signage solution they are thinking of buying?

The most important considerations to make before implementing a digital signage solution for B2B are the front-end applications and of course solid remote back office support for rapid resolution of issues. Though widely used in B2C or retail, employing traditional digital signage (i.e. one-way communication relaying the same information through a front-end application such as PowerPoint) provides little or no return on investment for many B2B companies. In order to maximise the benefits, communications teams need to ensure that the front end will support each of the key areas of content (for either internal or external communications applications), which can be categorised into six main areas of messaging: systems (real-time data from existing business applications, such as calls waiting in a call centre); team (team-specific messaging, e.g. weekly rotas); response (alerts for teams or individuals if systems data matches a certain pre-set parameter, e.g. if service levels dropping below 80%, the display turns amber); improvement (live performance figures, e.g. sales conversion rates for field teams); project (status, progress change and completion of a campaign or project) and enterprise (targeting and tailoring of corporate messaging, sometimes depending on location, e.g. CEO address or regionalised target figures).

Any business considering a digital signage solution for B2B use should ensure that all these areas are carefully addressed when creating and distributing content, to maximise efficiency and return on investment.

The future of AV as suggested by Peter Lloyd

When I met Peter Lloyd at the launch of the screen (a forum aimed at retail advertising on screens) in 2004, my company Plasmanet was already engaged in corporate digital signage.
We discussed the future of screen advertising and talked about evolution in terms of digital signage to corporates.

In the January 2008 edition, Peter is still echoing the ideas we discussed in that the value of the traditional AV markets (shifting tin) is declining and more and more the a-v industry is growing in the following areas associated with business:

audio, systems, digital signage, video conferencing and event production

All of these demand technical experience as a-v becomes more business critical.

The STRIPE terminology, helps digital signage to become a tool for business use and following the success of Plasmanet in the corporate digital signage arena in 2007, I'm projecting a healthy year for business critical A-V.

If you are interested in any of the ideas in this blog, please consider contacting me, mark.hopgood@plasmanet-uk.com