Is digital signage an internal communication technology?

Many businesses are now asking the question ‘is digital signage an internal communication technology?’ and as digital signage experts with extensive experience in using it for internal communication, we thought we were pretty well placed to answer it. 

When you think of digital signage, chances are that you’ll think of it showing advertisements or animated restaurant/bar menus, but a growing number of businesses with large sites or multiple sites (or both!) now use it to improve their internal communications too.

Cutting through the noise

Modern workplaces (especially offices!) are ‘noisy’. Employees are bombarded with information all day long from more channels than ever before: email, instant messaging, phone calls, text messages, intranets, video calls… the list goes on.

Research by Gartner found that 27% of employees feel overwhelmed by all the info, and that number rises to 38% of managers. People need some breathing room.

Digital signage is a great solution. It’s less intrusive than most communication channels – there are no notifications making you feel like you’re running behind. It puts your messaging in places that staff are likely to view repeatedly whilst doing their day-to-day duties in an easily digestible format. It allows everyone to be kept on the same page, in real-time, without people feeling bombarded with information/instructions.

Who should use digital signage for internal communications

Is it appropriate for every business to use digital signage? In short, no. It involves a reasonable investment to purchase the hardware and ongoing expenditure to pay for content management system software licencing and for content creation. If you’re a micro SME with a small team of staff in a small location, the business case is unlikely to stack up.

For big businesses with large sites and lots of staff and separate departments, effective communication is difficult so installing digital displays purely for communicating with staff will probably make good financial sense.

However, the size of an organisation isn’t the key factor in deciding whether to use internal communications digital signage. The most important thing is to understand the value of a communication problem to a business. If staff fail to follow best practice and it causes problems that cost a business  hundreds of thousands of pounds, investing in digital signage could be considered a low cost solution to the problem.

For businesses that already use digital signage within their premises for communicating with customers, it’s probably a ‘no-brainer’. Screens that are used to show customer-facing materials most of the time can be switched to show content to communicate with staff when their premises close to customers, at very little cost.

What to show on internal communications digital signage displays

Digital signage creates a vast amount of screen time so the possibilities for the types of content you can show are almost endless.

Consider all the different issues that affect your organisation and whether increased awareness or staff communication could alleviate them.

Issues that can be tackled using digital signage include: operational efficiency, staff motivation, customer service, staff turnover, cyber security, silo-working, sustainability.

Content can be used to highlight information and to educate and motivate staff. Typical internal communications content includes:

Best practice

• Reminders about hazards/issues (e.g. cyber security, H&S)
• Training videos to educate and reinforce desired behaviours
• Notifications about procedural changes

Operational efficiency

• Business updates from different departments/locations to reduce silo working
• Performance data to continuously motivate staff
• New product/service updates
• Relevant industry news

Staff retention/motivation

• Recognition for staff who hit their targets (e.g. employee of the month)
• Company achievements (e.g. award wins, accreditation)
• HR updates (new internal job vacancies to fill, reminders about staff benefits packages)
• Funny and interesting staff social media posts

Where to put digital signage

Knowing where to put digital signage for internal communications is half the battle to getting good awareness and engagement from your workforce.

Ideally your internal communications displays shouldn’t make your staff feel like they’re being bombarded with even more messages whilst at their desk – though performance dashboards would be the obvious exception to this.

Think about where large numbers of your staff are likely to be waiting around for 10 seconds or more. Common locations for internal communications displays are:

• Lobby/reception areas
• Break room/staff room
• Coffee/tea making facilities or by a watercooler
• Canteen/kitchen
• Lift lobbies

Find Out More

Ready to boost your internal comms engagement and motivate your workforce to deliver new levels of productivity? Get in touch today to find out how Saturn can help or read more of our latest insights.