Digital Signage for Government: How and Why to Use it

Government agencies need to be (or should be) efficient and effective in everything they do. After all, they're accountable to the tax paying public and any perceived money wasting or ineffectiveness reflects badly.

With government institutions often being large, multi-site and fragmented organizations, using digital signage to improve communications can have a massive impact.

Whether it's sharing information - both internal and external, community-related content, promoting public safety and health initiatives through PSAs, promoting events or queue management. The use cases for government digital signage are many and varied - as we're about to find out.

Why do government agencies need digital signage?

Whether it's keeping people informed while waiting in line, or sharing critical information between staff members in city hall, digital signage offers a variety of benefits.

1. Improved internal communication

Keeping everyone on the same page can be a challenge in a large government office; passing information without watching the original message change can be just as difficult.

Digital signage helps here by allowing for instant updates and announcements, ensuring that all employees receive critical information in a timely fashion. Engaging visual communications can display important messages and alerts in government offices and empower staff.

Internal messages can also circulate quickly, as soon as IT staff publish the slides in the digital signage CMS.

2. Better external communication

Many government buildings serve as public-facing spaces, which is another opportunity for digital signage to improve communication. Screens can engage and inform the public about services, events, and important notices and even share emergency alerts when the need arises.

You can also integrate queue management systems or live announcements into digital displays.

3. More accessibility options

Digital signage can help diverse individuals access information quickly and effortlessly. IT staff can create content in multiple languages using a tool like Google Translate. They can then make the content available on different slides, and enable end-users to access information in their preferred language.

This will work best with interactive screens that allow people to switch between different slides. But if it is executed properly, everyone can receive the necessary updates without looking for a translator or getting left behind.

With the proper hardware, signage screens can also help accessibility compliance - for example ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) - providing accessible information to staff or visitors with disabilities through features like audio support and high-contrast visuals.

3. Better cost savings

Printing costs, time spent manually updating signage and the impact of outdated messages all add up.

Statistics show that about one-third of all US government printing is wasted, which is about $440 million annually. Traditional printed materials are costly and environmentally unfriendly.

Here, digital signage plays a cost-saving role where it can reduce the need for paper, cutting costs and saving money.

4. Training and education

Government offices frequently need to train and educate their staff on new policies, procedures, and technologies. Digital signage software can be an effective tool here, as it can help deliver training materials and educational content. 

We’ve already seen widespread adoption in corporate offices, where digital signage is used for employee training, engagement, and presentations. The government could tap into this resource and optimize how it delivers training.

5. Wayfinding and navigation

Large government institutions can be difficult to navigate, with the many departments, levels, and corridors. Digital signage can help direct foot traffic by providing interactive wayfinding systems that offer directions, maps, and other helpful information.

How to use digital signage for public sector workplaces

We've seen some of the benefits of using digital signage for government institutions. So how can you put this into action?

Once digital signage solutions are set up across your sites, they can be used for a variety of applications, including:

Announcements and bulletins

Displays can be used to display content like daily announcements, important policy updates, and bulletins. A system like this would be very useful for getting information out fast, and so the screens should be set up in common areas like 

• Lobbies 
• Break rooms
• Meeting rooms and conference areas
• Hallways

Bear in mind also that digital signage can be segmented into zones, so you can create content for public areas and staff areas easily.

Public information displays

Even though it has many communication applications, digital signage can also help disseminate public information. Well-placed screens can tell visitors about services, office hours, and events. Local government entities can use screens to share information about the local community, cultural events, charity initiatives, public transportation schedules, and public health initiatives.

Screens can also help with crowd control and other visitor management tasks that make staff’s job easier. A good example is helping reduce perceived wait times by displaying updates on queues.

On the dockets

This use case is related to courthouses where screens can update people on upcoming cases and court appearance times. Court can be stressful, for obvious reasons, but properly configured digital signage screens can make that easier to bear.

It might be communication between departments or simply displaying that a room is in session and not accessible to the public.

Navigational signs

There are many ways to execute office wayfinding signs with digital signage, from simple directional messages with arrows to elaborate maps and even QR codes that lead to online interactive floor plans.

The beauty of using digital signage for navigation is that you can use the screen to share other kinds of information, whether bulletins for the general public, important updates on office hours, or even a simple welcome message.

Staff recognition

Digital signage is being used in the corporate sector to boost staff morale through recognition boards, and the approach can be just as effective for civil servants.

Use office digital signage to recognize staff birthdays, anniversaries, achievements, and unique accomplishments. You can even take this one step further by displaying the results of staff-led community initiatives on public-facing screens to show the general public their good work.

Health and safety information

Getting information out quickly and efficiently is critical when it comes to health and safety. Using digital signage in appropriate offices for this purpose can help ensure people don’t miss a beat.

The announcements could include regular reminders like hygiene practices or updates on seasonal illnesses like the flu. Buildings that would benefit the most from this government digital signage use case are:

• Hospitals
• Courthouses
• Educational institutions like public schools
• Parks and recreation offices
• Public service centers like social service offices

Emergency alerts

Digital screens can also play a huge role in sharing emergency alerts. They could display content on the nature of the emergency, urge people to stay calm and show directions to the nearest exit.

One way to make this even more effective is to prepare the content beforehand. That way, IT staff can quickly log in to the CMS and send the slides to all the relevant screens during an emergency.

Meeting room management

Digital signage screens can be very helpful when you have a sought-after meeting room. Integrate your screens with booking systems, and you can display meeting schedules and availability outside conference rooms. That way, everyone easily knows when a room is available, and general confusion can be reduced.

Live data feeds

Some apps let you display real-time data on your digital signage for employees and visitors to follow and plan their days accordingly.

Here’s a short list of live feed apps available on ScreenCloud:

• Live News: News updates in real-time
• Business and Finance News: Get the latest updates in the finance sector
• Sports News: Display written news headlines on the latest sports developments
• Local Traffic: Share visual data about traffic and congestion.
• Local Transport: Display bus, train, or metro information at a glance.

Training and development

Perhaps one of the more obvious uses of digital signage is as a presentation tool. This means you can use it to deliver training videos, tutorials, and e-learning content to staff – really useful for mandatory training sessions and ongoing professional development.

Digital signage can also be used for ongoing training, delivering information in bite-sized pieces that employees can interact with throughout the day. 

How to implement government digital signage solutions

Launching digital signage in government facilities may require planning, deliberating, and consulting higher-ups. After all, you may not be able to make unilateral changes for the entire building or agency.

So, here are some things to keep in mind to increase your chances of success and make the installation process as smooth as possible.

1. Perform a needs assessment

Decide what the goals are for your new digital signage system by meeting with department heads, facility managers, and the staff who’ll interact with the screens on a day-to-day basis. 

Usually, the primary objective is to improve internal communications, but maybe your office has other needs. Or maybe you're looking to improve information flow in a specific way.

2. Secure budget and funding

This may involve developing a budget proposal, justifying the digital signage ROI and Return on Objectives (ROO) and seeking approval from the finance department and senior management. It might help to include details on the digital signage hardware, digital signage software solution, and specific goals the system will meet.

3. Choose the right digital signage software

The digital signage solution you adopt needs to be tailored for a government organization. That includes core capabilities like:

• Robust security features
• Scalability
• Compatibility with existing government IT infrastructure

That’s, of course, in addition to simple digital signage features like:

• Content templates
• Ease-of-use
• Remote device management
• Playlist scheduling
• Multi-location screen support

Tip: Learn more about choosing and rolling out signage hardware in our free eBook, The IT Team’s Guide to Signage.

4. Plan the installation process

Once you’ve settled on a solution, procure the digital signage hardware and decide where they’ll be installed. Places to consider include lobbies, employee break rooms, meeting rooms, and reception areas

5. Train staff and develop a strategy

The content on your government digital signage screen can make it engaging or easier to ignore. That’s why it’s important to create a strategy around engaging, informative content that caters to the needs of your audience.

One of the huge benefits of using ScreenCloud for public sector digital signage is that it is user friendly. This means that getting members of your team up to speed with creating quality content takes minimal time, with no special skills needed.

Tip: Learn more about creating the Ultimate Digital Signage Playlist.

6. Test and optimize

Even though it’s not always feasible, launching your digital signage on a small scale with a few screens can help identify problems. This, plus feedback, lets you optimize the deployment and work out the kinks before a large scale roll out.

Try ScreenCloud’s government digital signage solution

ScreenCloud’s digital signage solution is perfect for government agencies that have stringent security requirements, but also need screens that can improve internal comms without ballooning costs.

In fact, ScreenCloud is designed for high scalability and large screen deployments. Plus, with our suite of 70+ apps and premium integrations, you can easily incorporate your existing IT infrastructure including communication apps, management software and more.

Find out why ScreenCloud is the choice of an increasingly wide range of public and private sector organizations.

Sign up for a free trial, or book a demo to find out more.