- A PUBLICATION OF ABIERTO NETWORKS -

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1 - A PUBLICATION OF ABIERTO NETWORKS -

2 L e t s f a c e i t - e m p l o y e e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s c a n b e b o r i n g HR Memos How do you make sure your field team is engaged? The task is difficult. It s even tougher for businesses like C-store chain Sheetz, where the majority of employees work in consumerfacing roles at over 550 store locations in six Mid-Atlantic states. Sheetz store employees are always busy helping their customers and do not have access to their personal technology while at work, making it difficult for the communications team to reach employees directly to provide valuable information on a timely basis.

3 Sheetz is a family-owned and -operated business that started as a dairy store and is now a chain of more than 550 convenience, food service, and fuel stores. The company has worked hard to build a unique and exciting culture as it has grown. With more than 17,000 employees in six states, providing actionable and helpful information to empower store employees can be a challenge. TITLE OF THIS CHAPTER SHALL GO HERE We realize that communication is important in keeping our employees engaged with our brand and culture. We re open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. We rely on our employees to deliver our brand promise to our customers every day, so we must commit to communicating with them in a way that can actually happen during their busy work day. - Michele Delaney, Manager of Internal Communications

4 S t o r e e m p l o y e e s r a r e l y s t a y i n o n e p l a c e. They are ALWAYS on the move. In the past, store managers would print out communications sent via and post them on over-crowded bulletin boards for everyone to see and read. This process proved to be ineffective in delivering important information to employees. Communicating via text was out, because employees must keep their phones in their lockers while they are at work. Sending communications to stores via isn t effective since the store employee audience is not sitting at a desk on a regular basis. Sheetz initially partnered with Abierto Networks to deploy a customerfacing digital menu board and advertising solution throughout its footprint of stores. The customer-facing digital screens were presenting dynamic branded content for our customers we realized we could leverage this same technology internally, to communicate with our employees, says Delaney. We wanted to have an engaging way to share information and deliver branded content with our employees at the store that fit with their busy work day.

5 Developing a customized engagement interface requires creativity and vision. We were fortunate to work with the team at Sheetz to conceptualize this product and to meet tangible performance and financial targets like pricing, bandwidth use, longevity, ease of update, and remote monitoring capabilities. - Rick Sales, President of Abierto Networks. After piloting a couple of iterations, the team finalized on a purpose-built system that runs a customized Linux operating system, on commercialgrade hardware that can handle heavy usage. It features a H7 hardness capacitive glass with 16-inch touch-screen that doesn t scratch or wear from continued use. As of October 2016, Sheetz has installed kiosks in all of its stores.

6 The kiosks are wall-mounted and networked to Abierto s Content Management Server, which stores all of the sitespecific content. Status information and remote control of devices is managed by a second Abierto server. For security reasons, both Abierto servers are deployed in Sheetz s secure data center. While video is the most popular content, it can strain network capacity in an environment where most stores have bandwidth constraints. The Abierto solution works because everything is downloaded to the kiosk before it plays, says Medairy. We trickle down content at night and it plays all day. In addition to meeting Sheetz s price point, the kiosks have been very reliable. We have had very few failures, so I am happy that I am not out in the stores replacing gear, says Medairy.

7 Abierto partnered with industrial and commercial hardware manufacturer Aaeon to source a high quality, purpose-built device for all Sheetz stores. A reliable and consistent device at all stores allows us to build a repeatable interactive experience for all users at all locations, says Dan Maftei, manager of software engineering at Abierto, who points out that using commercial hardware turned out to be very important to the success of the project. Consumer-grade hardware is filled with crapware that uses memory and wastes processing power. By selecting a commercial device and installing our own customized software we were able to deliver the reliability and uptime required for this project.

8 Abierto team members Dan Marston and Hannah Betit oversaw the configuration, deployment, and installation of the kiosks at all Sheetz store locations. The project, originally expected to take close to year to deploy, was actually completed in three months. Sheetz s internal communications requirements drove the need to deploy fast and bring the whole network of stores into the platform, says Dan Marston, operations manager for Abierto. Hannah Betit, Abierto s buyer/planner, adds, While our team worked very hard to deploy the kiosks in a compressed schedule, we would be remiss if we did not give credit to Joe Becker, Sheetz s project manager, and his team as well as our installation team from ASCC. Thanks to Joe s leadership and ASCC s high-quality installation, we deployed and activated the kiosk platform without a hitch.

9 Sheetz leverages its internal graphic design team to create content that includes videos on in-store promotions, employee benefit information such as scholarship programs and education reimbursement, employee recognition for anniversaries, and more. Abierto s creative team supports their efforts by providing performance testing and compression services for Sheetz content. Gage Ommundsen, senior designer at Abierto, explains, Graphic design used for digital communications is not just about making pretty pictures. Digital content needs to run flawlessly on its targeted playback device. Our creative team melds design with technical knowledge to build or optimize content a skill set not generally available in traditional design shops.

10 The collaboration was a win for Sheetz The collaboration between IT and communications, plus the partnership with Abierto, was a win for Sheetz. The project was a lot of fun, and we ve found a new way to communicate with our employees. We know they are looking at the kiosks because they are asking for more. It makes us feel good that we did this project. says Medairy. Management likes the pre-formatted templates which are automatically populated to acknowledge an employee s birthday or anniversary, and can be updated manually to list an open shift, and more. It s easy to reach employees, because the kiosk is located in a well-trafficked area. When an employee walks through the back room they can catch several messages quickly as they pass by the kiosk, and they can also check out our commercials when they have more time, says Delaney.

11 The kiosk videos communicate Sheetz culture in a fun, interactive way. By empowering the customer-facing team with a better understanding of Sheetz culture and products, the team is overall more enthusiastic and informed when interacting with customers. In turn, the consumer benefits by encountering friendly, knowledgeable staff and by having the same great experience no matter the Sheetz location. The employees are the foundation of the company. Sheetz cares about their team, and they go above and beyond to teach, encourage, and recognize valuable team members. The videos have been a great avenue to deliver these messages based on the feedback. They love the videos! says Delaney. We know people are watching the content, because when we talk to the district, regional, and store managers, they are always asking for more ways to use the kiosk, says Medairy. We are gathering requirements for future ideas.

12 The employees love the videos they see graphics, and get reminders about company-wide events and don t have to rely on word-of-mouth. We are working on a functionality and performance roadmap for the platform, says Medairy. Many ideas including interactive services are also on the wish list, as well as expansion to other areas in the company. We have other non-desk employees in other areas of our business who could benefit from enhanced access to company information, says Delaney. I d like to get kiosks in those locations throughout the organization. Our use of the Abierto kiosks will continue to evolve, but the technology fits our innovative culture, and everyone likes the direct access to messaging the kiosks provide, says Delaney. The kiosks help deliver branded content directly to an audience who has been hard to reach with traditional communication vehicles. The ability to share content across the company contributes to a positive work environment and helps to connect our employees across the organization.

13 Contact Abierto Networks to discuss the benefits of Employee Engagement Kiosks and find out ways to use them in your store! S P E A K W I T H U S!