5 Benefits of Using Digital Signage in the Public Sector

We’ve all sat waiting to see a Doctor in the past, bored by the lack of entertainment. Don’t get me wrong, hospitals, police stations and so on are not there for our sole entertainment. But, there does seem to be a disparity between the information we’re served in public locations and the information that could be served. Retail, hospitality and restaurants are all great examples of where digital signage is used to improve communications, add value and bring feedback into focus. 

In public sector communications and by that I mean hospitals, government offices, local councils, prison services, job centres, military training facilities and so on, the opposite is true. 

The answer is digital signage. 

This is the process of using digital screens and TV monitors to deliver timely, relevant and interesting content to those in high footfall waiting areas i.e. hospital waiting rooms, police stations, council offices and so on. There’s huge potential to take what works for the public in one sense and make it work in other environments. 

Some of the benefits of using digital signage in these traditional public sector spaces include:

• Ease of communication - change the display at any time and update information unlike static signs
• Improve internal communication by making information available to all
• Transparency - one communication for all visitors, patients and staff members
• Connect with the public by providing relevant information
• Wayfinding and emergency information 
• Timely messaging (e.g. Christmas, holidays or other peak periods)

With that in mind, here are five of our top tips to consider when thinking about using digital signs within this space.

1. Assist and inform

When you land at London Heathrow airport now and queue up at customs, there are a ton of digital screens that play the same video on loop. This video explains about the electronic passport gates and how to use them correctly. This means that by the time the passenger gets to the front of the queue they should, in theory, know exactly the right way to place their passport, where to look and how to step through.

The benefit? Passengers know how to use the machines, can get through more quickly and don’t have to feel stupid by getting it wrong! At the same time, the electronic gates work more quickly, saving staff time and allowing the queue to flow more easily.

This is just one use case. There are a ton of others to show how you can use digital signs to assist, provide information and generally help your visitors have a better experience.

2. One consistent message

In 2012, when Hurricane Sandy hit New York, hotels that had digital signage used them to keep guests up to date with what was happening, the affected areas and emergency numbers. This may have been fed in direct from the news or other live streams but it was seriously effective and made sure that everyone was receiving the same consistent message.

The trouble with many communication strategies is that different messages are fed from different sources. Social media, word of mouth and live broadcasts all feed in different messages and the output can be confusing.

In emergency situations, digital signage provides the public sector with a single hub through which one consistent message can be fed. 

3. Scale to any size

The great thing about modern digital signage systems is that they’re incredibly scalable at any level. Most public sector areas operate in networks. Creating an individual setup, strategy and cost sheet for each could get time consuming. But with a system like ScreenCloud, you can add as many digital signage screens as you like to your account and manage them all from one central interface.

This means you could create one standard playlist of content for all of the police stations in a specific state or county, but then add in individual touches for each by simply dropping a slide in for that specific screen.

This would allow you to add regional phone numbers or updates and ensure that each line of communication is personalized for each area.

Genious!

4. Improve internal communications

Public sector organizations need speed and the ability to deliver internal information quickly and easily. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.

How many times have you sat in day-long email chains, or lengthy phone calls where half of the information is irrelevant to you? Digital signage displays are incredibly visible. We’re wired to look at screens! According to studies, digital media in public venues reaches more customers than videos on the Internet or Facebook. That’s huge!

Old fashioned memos and emails just don’t reach everyone they’re supposed to. Sure you can send them out this way first, but why not remind staff about the training meeting or fire drill time, by displaying it on a digital sign for everyone to see?

Digital signage improves communication in the public sector and helps deliver messages that people want to read. 

5. Wayfinding

If you ask your staff what’s the most asked question at reception how many of them would say; ‘where are the toilets’ or similar? People who enter council offices, hospitals and so on can often find it difficult to navigate to where they need to be.

So what do we do? We add more staff to help them. As great as this is, it’s an expensive way of creating some signs pointing to the cafeteria or toilet. Even if you have physical signs printed, how long before these change and become out of date?

Digital signage can double up as your wayfinding guide to help visitors get to where they need to be more effectively. There’s nothing nicer than arriving somewhere and being able to work out where you need to go, without having to ask for help or look lost.

Digital signs help do that and can even provide dynamic interactive displays that allows visitors to search, view maps and more. 

If you’d like to give digital signage a go, take a glance at our 14-day free trial of ScreenCloud. It’s super simple, easy-to-use and it makes great content look easy.