Digital Signage

Digital Signage can be defined as a centrally controlled, content distribution platform used to disseminate dynamic messages via an electronic display, across one or multiple screens.

Used to inform, communicate and advertise, signage is a hugely powerful tool and becoming increasingly important in today’s digital world – especially in the healthcare industry where the use of digital displays is transforming the way healthcare facilities communicate with both patients and staff.

Healthcare environments are typically multi-faceted in nature and require numerous types of communication to multiple audiences. With this in mind, the flexibility and dynamic nature of signage is a crucial tool in the improvement of the patient, visitor and employee experience.

Features

Wait-Time Management

Long waiting times are a characteristic of the healthcare industry and can frustrate patients, exacerbating anxiety levels and tension.   Signage can alleviate stress levels by communicating waiting times and managing expectations, – whilst also announcing appointments, reducing operational requirements.

Signage can also be used to entertain patients and reduce time perception – news tickers, television feeds and video content can be incorporated into wait-time management software – or scheduled to run on different screens on the same central network.

An interesting method of relaxing patients is the use of “slow TV”, a genre of television that captures a particular scene, typically restful in nature, and broadcasts it over the course of several hours – this effectively turns a signage scene into a dynamic picture frame.  Examples of restful slow TV feeds include beaches, rivers and landscape/wildlife scenes.

Wayfinding

Hospitals with multiple floors and corridors can be maze-like in nature; digital wayfinding systems assist a patient’s journey from A to B and are especially useful when notifying both staff and patients of room changes, special events etc.

Patient Engagement

Replacing static signage and print literature, digital signage is an engaging and operationally efficient method of educating patients and residents.

The use of signage as a medium is likely to better educate patients, reducing the number of questions in consultations and increasing the likelihood of patients taking ownership of their health (hopefully reducing readmissions in line with better education).

A Connected Experience

Efficiently deployed signage can integrate with a hospital’s electronic health records system, interacting with portable devices such as tablets and even smartphones. Cloud-based technology works in tandem to provide a truly connected and dynamic method of disseminating and processing multiple types of information.

Self-Service Kiosks

Enable a patient to check-in and complete a number of pre-appointment tasks whilst also informing of wait-times, room numbers etc.  Kiosks enhance operational efficiency by reducing the workload of a receptionist.

Advertising

Advertising on digital signage is most often seen in the retail environment but can also be a useful revenue generator in the healthcare industry.  Deals with local businesses such as restaurants and taxi companies provide an ongoing source of revenue whilst providing a useful source of information for patients and residents.

How can Airwave help?

Content Management Systems

Digital signage software controls the display of content such as images, video and other data on a display. As such, it needs to be stable, responsive and most importantly, intuitive.  Airwave’s portfolio of signage software needs to fulfil all these categories, enabling the efficient and seamless scheduling and monitoring of content. 

With ease of use as a founding principle, Airwave provide a powerful, customer centric signage software platform, via partner Otrum.

Managed entirely in the cloud, your content is always securely stored. With scalable storage you don’t even need to worry about large graphics and videos.

Of course, you want full control over where and when your content is shown. With our calendar feature and playlist bundles, you can effortlessly plan the order of images, videos and texts and define how long they should be shown.

Because people don’t stay put, you can access our screen and content manager via a web browser on any of your devices – from wherever you are!

Make use of the (almost) infinite supply of quality content on YouTube with Otrum’s YouTube integration tool.

As screens are getting larger, you may have a huge visual area to cover. With Otrum Signage you can segment those larger areas into smaller content zones at the push of a button.

Templates built to make your brand shine. Customise them by dragging and dropping to create eye-catching and unique templates that strengthen your brand identity.

Update your customers on news, weather, flights and trains. A simple one-off set-up lets you create a dynamic template that keeps them up to speed.

FAQ's

Firstly, signage should not be solely seen as a capital investment, but an opportunity to reduce operating costs, and increase revenue streams.

And whilst initial investment on signage equipment is likely to be more expensive than equivalent printed material, once a network is established, content can be changed or refreshed at the click of a button – no further material, printing or delivery costs are necessary.

In short, digital signage will be a more expensive short-term investment but is likely to reduce costs on a long-term basis. Perhaps most relevant however, are the additional revenue streams created by digital signage.  An intelligently deployed digital signage system should pay for itself multiple times over.

If the initial capital expenditure of a signage system does prove problematic, Airwave offer an in-house finance and leasing model. Click here for more details.

The complexity of a signage system depends very much on what it’s being used for, however most systems boast intuitive drag and drop management software, designed for the “everyday” user.  For the most advanced of systems, Airwave provide a comprehensive training programme and ongoing technical support.

Theoretically, it is possible to loop (very basic content) on some TV screens and on occasions, this may be a viable option – if this is the case, Airwave will recommend accordingly.

However, the vast majority of cases will require specifically manufactured signage screens that have been designed for heavy usage – often 24/7 – and offer features such as wifi, content scheduling, picture-in-picture and interactive touch-screens.

Airwave offer an end-to end signage solution including: system design, installation & networking, content creation & management, analytics (deployment, data collection and implementation), remote networking & diagnostics and training & after sales support.

This “one-stop-shop” service allows our customers to streamline costs and maximise continuity of communication across what can often be, a complicated project.

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