Digital Signage in IT 2021

IT companies are not the first to adopt and use digital signage to its full potential. The marketing and promotional industry has been riding that pony for years. However, now that IT companies have a more mobile and fluid feel to them and now that cubicles are mostly relegated to the past, we are seeing more digital signage in IT companies. Digital signage management software such as Kitcast is also becoming far more popular.

What Are IT Companies Using Digital Signage For?

The primary use is to engage and inform their teams. Signs are often placed in congregation areas, from canteens to board rooms. There is an odd transition away from traditional placements. For example, in the old days, you may see staff information bulletins in the coat rooms, next to the water cooler, and in the smoking area whereas these days, you see them in canteens, board rooms, casual areas, TV rooms, and reception rooms. Here is how modern IT companies use digital signage.

• Press releases and business news
• Social media prompts
• Intra-office or intra-company news
• Business KPIs and deadlines

Some companies use digital signage like an old-fashioned billboard. Instead of distributing a newsletter, or putting up signs, the company has them remain static on a digital sign or has them rotate from one to the other a little like a PowerPoint presentation.

Motivational Tools – Be They Good or Bad

Call centers have been using digital signs for years. They have been using them as motivational tools, but there is a bit of debate as to if they are actually useful. Having a target bearing down on a team all day can be detrimental to morale, especially if an individual in a team doesn’t have the ability to change the outcome. In that sense, it can be very disheartening.

On the other hand, some IT companies are able to use a similar premise to good effect. This is especially true when targets depend partially on outsourced services. Staff members can see how far along a project is, which helps them decide which task to take on next. Where they may have to keep checking on the outsourced service, they simply look up from their desks to see the progress.

Team-Collaborative Efforts

Most IT workers are familiar with collaborative software. People are given tasks and they tick them off within full view of other workers. Quite often, the completion of one task (on time) dictates what other staff members do with their time. For example, a programmer cannot start until a storyboard is finished, and a character designer cannot start until the programmer is finished, and so forth. Again, your staff could keep checking a piece of software on their computer to see if they should start their next task yet, or they can look up from their screen to see what is posted on the digital sign.

Some IT Companies Enjoy the Broader Benefits of Digital Signs

There is no rule that says an IT company has to utilize digital signage any differently than other office/service companies. There are many benefits to digital signs that have a broad appeal, in that they appeal to more than just IT companies. Here are a few benefits to digital signage.

• Double up as a form of staff entertainment
• Reducing the cost of broad communication by eliminating printing
• Reducing perceived wait times and/or wait-time tracking lulls
• Helps reduce workplace injuries with suitable warnings
• Can be used to increase sales by tracking KPIs
• Increases interest and eventual attendance to company events
• Improve brand awareness internally and externally
• Makes companies look more modern and high-tech
• Showcase dynamic content rather than static content to improve retention
• Real-time messaging and keep audiences informed at all times
• Can be used to increase employee productivity
• It can increase footfall in offline stores
• Affect a customers’ decision-making process to boost sales
• Improving internal communication and vary it between different departments
• Boost impulse purchases for most types of retail business
• Adds an aesthetic and decorative element to a building

Saving Money Over the Long Term

Instead of putting up signs and bulletin boards in a company, they may simply use digital signs. In the short and long terms, there are obvious savings on paper, printing, and so forth. There is also staff hours savings since whatever purpose the digital sign fulfills, it removes work that a human would have had to do. For example, instead of creating a newsletter and handing it around, a digital sign may do all the work, ergo saving money in staff hours. Also, do not ignore the savings that the digital sign’s use inherently holds, be it using KPIs to motivate staff, or be it reminders about staff meetings whereby productivity is lost if staff members do not attend.