When it comes to digital signage, there isn’t an industry on earth that can’t be served well by recent technological advances. Whether it’s used for in-house functions or for customer-facing communications, digital signage offers a cost-effective way to increase efficiency. Although each of the following seven industries use the technology in different ways, you can see how it greatly adds to efficient operations.
1. Retail
One of the most common ways retail stores use digital signage is in customer service. Many of the larger supermarkets and department stores have interactive digital signs to expedite services like product pickup and returns. The actual signs are often freestanding on the floor and customers can walk up and enter fields stating their purpose for being there. If it’s a return they can enter the receipt number so that the clerk can have everything pulled up to authenticate the purchase before flagging the sign that their turn is up. From posting digital signs through the store, they can advertise lightning specials and sometimes scroll seasonal messages across the screen. It’s actually amazing to see how sales jump when price markdowns are entered remotely with proprietary cloud based digital signage software.
2. Transportation
We’ve all been to an airport or a train station where arrival and departure times are posted on digital signs. These are much more effective than announcements being made over the intercom system because invariably a dozen people couldn’t make out what was coming across the speakers through all the noise around them. They would then need to queue up in a customer service line. The rep would need to look up what the announcement time is, for example, which keeps them from other duties such as ticketing customers ready to depart.
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3. Manufacturing
In the manufacturing industry, digital signage is used in a number of ways. Sometimes production orders are placed on the signs and other times the signs announce a line that is down or parts that are running low. Instead of the line foreman taking a call and then talking to the crew, they can be ready to be reassigned on another job or production line. It’s amazingly efficient, especially when a rush job is pushed ahead of the next scheduled product to be assembled.
4. Warehousing
Often warehousing digital signage is used to announce orders to be readied for shipping or pickup. These signs can be as simple as the order number which can be referenced on a warehouse computer terminal and other times the complete order can be seen if the entry lines don’t exceed the space on a single screen. Again, this is an efficient way of communicating with workers who is ready to pull an order. Interactive terminals allow the worker to ‘tick off’ the order they are pulling, negating the need for a foreman to personally walk around seeking someone who will be ready to do the next pull.
5. Banks
Most often you will see a marquee outside a bank announcing such things as current interest rates and special new customer offers. Some banks and financial institutions will post business hours and bank holidays in which the institution will be closed. Inside interactive digital signage allows customers entering the bank to queue up for the next customer service person. Instead of standing in a line or taking a number, they can enter a few details regarding the reason for their visit and when their turn comes up, they will be sent to the appropriate desk of the rep handling the particular type of account in question.
6. Healthcare
Digital signage for healthcare functions much the same as it does in retail and banks. This type of signage can be interactive so that patients can check in upon arrival. This is one industry/service that was served well during the height of the pandemic. By signing in without the need for human interaction it was easier for them to distance themselves from staff and other patients. It’s rather difficult following the distancing restriction if you are shoulder to shoulder in a patient line.
7. Restaurants
Some restaurants have outside digital signage to announce daily specials while placing one inside to allow guests to sign in for the next appropriately sized table to become available. Sometimes a table for two is ready prior to the table for a party of eight to be cleaned and set up. With a keyboard at the terminal, they can type in their name and the number in their party. In fact, many large chain restaurants have digital signage in the drive thru.
It is plain to see that digital signage serves many functions, but the ultimate purpose is for efficient communications. This reduces the workload on staff which in turn allows for faster services and/or business operations.
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