The Ultimate Guide to Digital Building Directory Systems

Transcription

1 The Ultimate Guide to Digital Building Directory Systems

2 What You ll Learn The Ultimate Guide to Digital Building Directories The following guide is meant to lay out the options to consider when shopping for a digital building directory. If you consume the information contained in this ebook, you ll be well-equipped to shop for and purchase a digital building directory solution that fits your needs, budgets, and means as an organization. The Benefits of a Digital Building Directory Desirable Digital Directory Features The Custom Design Process Components of a Digital Directory Other Uses for Digital Signs Total Cost of Ownership Best in Class Solutions & Support

3 The Benefits of a Digital Building Directory Digital directories can serve two critical purposes: advertising and driving sales of your products and services and sharing your most critical bulletins and notifications with your customers and employees. Digital Directories can come in two flavors: standard and touch-enabled. Standard (non-touch) signage is generally the more affordable option as it requires a less expensive display and less-technical design and programming. Standard (non-touch) digital directories off a plethora of useful features including: property leasing or rental information, enhanced corporate branding opportunities, scrolling news and stock tickers, image and video galleries. Touch-enabled digital directories offer some more advanced functionality such as interactive facility maps and wayfinding, and the opportunity to collect visitor input via on-screen keyboards and forms. Additional Benefits of Digital Building Directory Systems: List Available Properties and Leasing Options Enhances Your Company Branding and Perception Helps Visitors and Customers Find Their Destination Easy On-the-Fly Updates via Smartphone or the Web Communicate Important Notifications to Employees Display Your Products and Services to Customers Promote Local and On-Facility Events Collect Feedback from Customers In Your Lobby Generate Revenue with Digital Advertising Inventory Display Local Weather, News, and Traffic The U.S. Small Business Administration reveals that businesses that choose to enhance their signage with an electronic message display, the owners typically see an increase in business of 15% to 150%. 1 The Ultimate Guide to Digital Building Directories 3

4 Desireable Digital Directory Features Building Your Digital Building Directory System Your digital building directory should be custom-built to help achieve the goals of your business. For some, this may be as simple as clearly displaying company branding and points of interest through your facility. But perhaps you want to take it further, offering rich information about your property and leasing availability. Perhaps you have a restaurant on-campus and advertising the weekly specials of seasonal menu items is a priority. About Us (Company Info) Promotions, Advertising, & Sales Social Media Feed Integrations Amenities, Accommodations & Services Emergency Notifications & Alerts Flight Information & Times Background Images / Videos Company Announcements Events & Meeting Calendars Media & Imagery Gallery Points of Interest Map Property, Suite, and Office Directory 22Miles is an industry-leading software company who will work with you to build a customize digital directory, or any other type of digital sign. Their capabilities span standard and touch-enabled content, with extensive experience in digital builing directory, digital menu boards, digital wayfinding, and standard corporate communications packages. Digital Menu Corporate Communication Messages Personalize Custom Welcome Messages Company Logo & Custom Design Local Time, Date, Weather & News 3rd Party Feeds (ESPN, Reuters) The slick, modern design has never failed to impress our guests. We have had many compliments about the kiosk in our lobby. The information is very helpful to those who are, looking for that meeting, looking for that flight information, or just looking for somewhere to eat, it is extremely guest friendly. Sandra S. Embassy Suite by Hilton 63% of Respondants Report that Digital Signage Catches Their Attention 2 The Ultimate Guide to Digital Building Directories 4

5 The Custom Design Process Not a fan of cookie-cutter templates? Finding a content creation partner that will custom design your digital building directory is probably your best bet. We recommend 22Miles, an industry-leading company who ships turnkey digital building directory systems that ship ready-to use and are: non-technical, easy-to-update and bring a new level of sophisticatoin to your building lobby, hallways, or meeting rooms. 22Miles has developed a creative process for their clients that has exceeds expectations. If you decide to work with 22Miles, here is what you can expect: Step 1: Needs Analysis After placing your order, the team at 22Miles will send you a web link to a Built Your Own Directory form. Upon completion, you ll receive an invitation for a creative discovery call to go into more detail with the design team and fill in any gaps. Step 2: Creative Discovery Call On your call, you ll review your digital directory project in depth to clearly understand your objectives, preferences, brand requirements, logo, colors etc. Within 6-9 business days of this call, we will send you a first draft of your digital directory content for your review. You will be ed a design-collaboration website link, where you can review the mockup and provide feedback. Step 3: Revisions and Review Within 10 business days, adjustments based on your feedback will be incorporated into your digital directory content design. The updated mockups will be delivered to you for review and feedback. Examples of feedback could include: a change of colors, adding a news feed, or enlarging the directory listing. Step 4: Final Revisions, Review and Sign-Off Within 10 business days, additional adjustments based on your feedback will be incorporated into your digital directory content design. We ll work with you until you re completely satisifed with your custom-branded digital directory. We ll give you up to (2) weeks to review your content with company stakeholders before requesting final adjustments and project sign-off. Upon sign-off, 22Miles will ship your complete, ready to plug-in and use digital building directory. The Ultimate Guide to Digital Building Directories 5

6 Components of a Digital Directory Before investing in a single digital sign or a more robust network of digital signs, understand that the full solution includes more than just the digital sign and the content you ll display on it. Use the outline below as a preparation checklist: Digital Display Selecting a digital sign one of the most critical aspects of building our a system that fits your needs and budget. The three questions to ask yourself about your digital sign are: 1. Does it need to be touch-enabled? 2. What size is appropriate for my space? 3. Do I need commercial-grade quality and warranty? Content Software Digital Signage software allows you to create and schedule the messages, graphics, and feeds that will display on your digital sign. These software packages often include pre-built templates that you can customize as well as widgets (think: weather, news, sports) that you can drag-and-drop into your zones or established sections within a digital sign that you ve delineated for a specific use. If you don t have the ability to set up the design yourself, find a solution provider that will work with you to create a turnkey ready-to-use solution. Media Player The media player is a small computer that houses the content software and controls the schedule and playing of the content on your digital sign. This is where your content creation software will be installed and also the way you ll connect to the Internet. There are currently two options when it comes to media players: external media players and system on chip (SoC). Display Mount Lastly, you ll want to research mounting solutions that will give you the functional and aesthetic benefits you re after. Do you need to be able to adjust the angle of your sign? Will you be combining several digital signs into a seamless wall or menu board? Naturally, you ll want to consider things such as: cost, support, reputation for quality, and ease of installation when evaluating mounting solutions. Final Considerations These may seem obvious, but are worth mentioning. Before you can deploy your beautiful new digital building directory, you ll want to make sure you have an internet connection available. Your digital directory can be hardwired or connected via WiFi. You ll also want to find an ideal place for your sign. The Ultimate Guide to Digital Building Directories 6

7 Other Ways to Use Digital Signs Building Directory Type of Sign: Standard and Touch-Enabled Wayfinding Type of Sign: Standard and Touch-Enabled Directories can be executed in standard and interactive forms; allowing visitors to your building to find their way from Point A to Point B. Often used in medical & corporate offices, apartment complexes, and college campuses. Window Displays Type of Sign: Standard Wayfinding has a number of uses across corporate offices, healthcare facilities, college campuses, and shopping malls. Their primary objective is to help get a person from point A to point B in their journey and typically includes a You are Here indicator. Video Wall Type of Sign: Standard The stopping power of digital signage positioned strategically within the window display of a building holds the power to influencing actions taken by passersby. It helps provide foot traffic into your store as well as increases promotional awareness. Self-Service / Check-In Kiosk Type of Sign: Standard or Touch-Enabled A video wall is created by combining several individual digital signs into one larger unit. Video walls can seamlessly display on piece of content or be divided into zones by display similar to a single unit. Their impact is unmatched in attracting customer attention. Lobby Concierge Type of Sign: Touch-Enabled Directories can be executed in standard and interactive forms; allowing visitors to your building to find their way from Point A to Point B. Often used in medical & corporate offices, apartment complexes, and college campuses. A digital lobby concierge takes on many of the same takes a human concierge would, including disseminating information about hotel/facility restaurant information, local attractions, news, weather, and the ability to check-in to your reservation. The Ultimate Guide to Digital Building Directories 7

8 Total Cost of Ownership You should consider the following elements when analyzing total cost of ownership (TOC) of digital signage solutions: Cost of Hardware Cost of Content Creation (initial and ongoing) Cost of Installation / Implementation Ongoing Support and Training Equipment replacement Capital Expenditure or Operational Expenditure 1. Cost of Hardware Your cost of hardware will depend heavily on the requirements of your implementation. A strong recommendation is to consider a commercial-grade display that can handle being on 24/7 and also comes with full warranties in case anything malfunctions, minimizing disruptions to your business. 2. Cost of Content Creation Digital signs solutions are useless without quality content. Your calculations here should take into consideration either: salary cost for the full-time or freelance resource who will create content or the cost of working to have the content developed by your digital signage software vendor. Custom content creation is a service offered by many of the companies who develop do it yourself digital signage content software. 3. Cost of Installation / Implementation You ll want to ask yourself how you ll bring everything together. Are you working with a hardware/software integrator who will handle deploying your content, mounting your sign and ensuring network connectivity? If not, nclude these estimated costs. Considering the DIY route? Take account of the expected time required to get your sign up-and-running. 4. Ongoing Support and Training Many digital signage hardware/software integrators will include some kind of service and support plan as part of your cost. Be clear on the length of this agreement and have a plan in place for ongoing support and training (as needed). If this is an internal resource, calculate what percentage of their time will be allocated to troubleshooting and on-boarding new internal resources to the digital signage content creation and deployment work flow. 6. CapEx or OpEx? Lastly, you ll want to consider what type of pricing model works best for your organization. Financing the solution (hardware, software and all support plans included) might be a route worth considering as it has the distinct advantage of spreading the cost out over time. Conversely, you can decide to purchase your solution as a capital expenditure, buying all components outright if security considerations or the way you receive funding dictates this. The Ultimate Guide to Digital Building Directories 8

9 Best-in-Class Solution Digital Building Directory Bundle Display Options: Display Manufacturer: Software: Media Player: 40, 49, or 55 Edge-Lit LED Samsung AdSlide by 22Miles 22Miles Description: Building directory bundle perfect for lobbies, hallways, meetings rooms. Learn More Some Optional Features: - Property Rental, Lease, and Purchase Information - Multi-Floor Suite and Office Listing - Scrolling News Feed - Photo & Media Slide Show - Company Branding - Events & Meeting Calendar - Announcements / News - Facility Map - Website Integration - Locate Date/TIme/Weather - Stock Ticker Included Support & Training Training 120-minute training session occurs after the installation of the digital sign 24/7 Month Support Answering service will take your call, create and submit tickets or training requests Account Specialist Unlimited direct access to a support specialist located in the United States The Ultimate Guide to Digital Building Directories 9

10 About Appware Solutions Appware Solutions is a free service that connects businesses with technology solutions. We know that technology can make a business better. How we help: We simplify the research and selection process with our free, comprehensive directory of hardware, software, and bundled solutions for popular applications like point of sale, digital signage, asset tracking, inventory control, mobility, and payment processing We provide free resources including articles, ebooks, and guides that are designed to help educate and inform technology buyers. We do the product research to identify proven solutions that have been tested, certified, and can be bundled to provide best of breed solutions that integrate seamlessly. We help find technology providers that offer local sales, service, and support through our nationwide network of certified partners. Learn more at Sources 1 Electronic Message Centres (EMCs) - The U.S. Small Business Administration and the Signage Foundation for Communication Excellence, Inc key stats accelerating digital signage adoption, Digital Signage Today,July