One of the screens was installed in front of the training area theater that has a high traffic area. When we finished installing the screen, one of the training sessions also ended and within just a few minutes some of the visitors walked up to the screen and made some interesting comments. Most of asked us if they can take the screen home and how much it would cost. We responded that the screen was commercial and it wasn’t something they would want for their home.

The other interesting comment was can they watch TV. Being a commercial grade screen it didn’t come with a TV Tuner, so simply the answer was NO… and once again it’s a commercial grade screen. I guess from this, we realised how most people are not educated about the difference between residential and commercial grade screen. But what was more interesting is the fact that quite a number of people noticed the screen… it actually grabbed the visitors attention.

Now this was the same case when we installed the second screen at the student lobby area. Most of them were students and they too asked whether they can watch TV on this screen, unfortunately NO. What we did notice is that after 30 minutes of installing the screens students gathered around the digital signage screen and talked about some of the images that were displaying… that’s the power of digital signage and how it can be used to grab peoples attention and it really works.

digital signage student area

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Post tags: 30 Minutes, Ares, Communication Tool, digital signage, Few Minutes, Images, Liverpool Hospital, New South Wales, Proof, Realised, screens, Sessions, Signage Implementation, Signage System, Student Areas, Student Lobby, Theaters, Traffic Area, Tv Tuner, Two Areas, University Of New South Wales

After all digital signage is a communication tool and what better way to communicate with each other by using Skype. Here’s an example of what needs to be done and can be achieved:

1. Install a digital touch screen at a booth (maybe at a busy shopping centre)

2. Install the advertise me digital signage solution

3. Design the relevant templates and content

4. Install a web cam and connect this to your digital signage solution

5. Install the skype application

6. Install an internet connection

7. Develop the digital signage application which lists companies customer call centres

How to use it?

8. You look for Advertise Me (for example) in the directory list because you want to speak to a sales representative about a product you are about to purchase

9. You touch the “call Advertise Me” button and the system starts establishing a skype session to Advertise Me

10. A representative at Advertise Me receives the call and you have a video conference and start chatting away about the products. The Advertise Me representative may even show you how the product can be used etc and directs you to the nearest retail store.

11. Once you end the session, the digital signage application plays relevant content (product info, sales, discounts) from company you just dialed. Or this can also be displayed during the video call.

12. After a certain idle period of time, the digital signage application defaults back to a playlist displaying ads etc.

So there you go, that’s an idea I just came up with. Maybe if we have time we can actually make this happen, or if you want it straight away we can make this happen for you.Obviously we’ll need to get permission from Skype but I’m sure they too would want this to happen as well.

What do you think about this idea?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2010. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Application Defaults, Call Centres, Communication Tool, Computer Application, Content Product, Digital Communication, digital signage, Integrating Digital, Internet Connection, Period Of Time, playlist, Plays, Retail Store, Sales Representative, Shopping Centre, Signage Design, Signage Solution, Skype, Templates, touch screen, Video Call, Video Conference, Web Cam

If I understand how google wave works correctly, it would mean that updating content will be easier than before and it may also  mean that a CMS (Content Management Server) may no longer be needed. I’ll stop here and keep pondering and brainstorming.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2009. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Account Members, advertise, Cms Content, Communication Tool, Content Management Server, digital signage, Google, New Communication, Poll Id, Wave System

Well, you may be thinking “What is Sharepoint?”. Sharepoint is actually a Microsoft Content Management System which allows business to collaborate and share information quickly and easily. Think of it as a website portal which can be used to store files, events, contacts, tasks, forms and most importantly information. Here’s a video tour of Sharepoint:

Now some companies may want to use digital signage as a communication tool and target information to staff and if this information is already centralised in the one location, SHAREPOINT, then how would you integrate your digital signage solution with this?

From our experience and based on products we have used in the past, if your digital signage player/software is able to display RSS compatible feeds then you have a system that is able to be integrated with Sharepoint – in particular the latest version 2007. With Sharepoint 2007, there is a neat feature which allows content, events, contacts, tasks and information to be displayed as an RSS feed. This is particularly useful as you don’t want to manually update the content on your digital signage player. Once you have the RSS feed, you can easily modify and display this information on the digital signage screens.

For the more advanced digital signage players and software, if your system is able to connect to the Microsoft SQL server that stores all the data, then your solution will be able to connect to the database and grab the relevant data to be displayed on the screen. As an example, if one of your clients used Sharepoint to schedule company outings and important company events then we would be able to deploy a digital signage solution which dynamically uses the RSS feed from the Sharepoint server and display this on the digital signage screen located in the main foyer. This will help remind employees of upcoming company events.

Hopefully this post has provided you with better ways on how to integrate existing systems with digital signage.

Have you seen any innovative digital signage integrations?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments |
Post tags: Communication Tool, Company Outings, Content Management System, Digital Communication, digital signage player, Important Company, Insurance Company, Integrating Digital, microsoft, Microsoft Content Management System, Microsoft Server, Microsoft Sql Server, Neat Feature, Player Software, Relevant Data, screens, Sharepoint 2007, Sharepoint Server, Signage Solution, Target, Website Portal