When the College of Health Sciences at the University of Kentucky went through an upgrade, Bam Sutardjo, Director of Technology Services, saw an opportunity. “Communication has always been a primary issue here,” he says. “I wanted something more efficient than printing and distributing flyers all the time.” He decided that AxisTV digital signage software from Visix was just the thing he needed. He got approval from the Dean and implemented the system. “You really can’t beat the cost for putting this system in place,” he says.
The college is utilizing two displays – one in the main lobby and a second in the student lounge. “While faculty and staff notice it as well, it’s primarily for the students,” says Nick Basham, Public Relations & Marketing Coordinator. Information comes into his office from many different sources. “I grab what might be good to display, tease it down to our 15-second window and publish.” He reinforces his message by including items in a weekly web newsletter and, twice a year, a printed alumni newsletter.
Despite what could seem like an overwhelming amount of information to sift though, Basham gets it done with “two-and-a-half people. There’s me, my director, and a part-time intern.” The web-based nature of the Visix system makes it easy to divide up the work. They create content with Photoshop and InDesign, then import into AxisTV as jpegs. “The scheduling ability is great,” says Sutardjo. “Once it’s up, we don’t have to touch it again.”
They’ve had a lot of feedback from their target audience, so they know their efforts are being noticed and appreciated. “The leadership of UK HealthCare is on the third floor, so they stay up to date on the content we’re showing. Other departments have asked us to share slides with them so they can put them up on their systems as well,” says Basham.
Recently, the Office of Student Affairs sent out surveys to students about on-campus communications, and the AxisTV digital signage software system was frequently mentioned. “Students show up more often to events that are posted on the system,” Basham tells us. “We also support the digital messages with table-top displays; we try to hit them from as many angles as possible.” Sutardjo also mentions that, “word-of-mouth is also important. People see something and they share it.”
“What I love is the expandability of the system,” Basham tells us. “It’s centrally controlled and that makes it easier for non-technical users to learn it quickly. We got our intern up to speed very quickly.” As for the technical side of things, Sutardjo is consistently impressed with AxisTV. “If we need to know how to do something, or something goes a bit wrong, we can usually handle it with our staff,” he says. “But Visix responds quickly if we need them. We really are very happy with all aspects of AxisTV.”