Back in 2009, the largest international association for facility management professionals, IFMA (the International Facility Management Association) interviewed professionals from 62 countries to identify 11 core competencies of facility management. They are:
- Communication
- Leadership & Strategy
- Finance & Business
- Quality
- Technology
- Operations & Maintenance
- Human Factors
- Emergency Preparedness & Business Continuity
- Real Estate & Property Management
- Project Management
- Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability
Digital signage helps with Communications to all stakeholders – facility staff, the public, customers, senior management – even the board of directors. With displays placed in high traffic areas, no other method can get your messages out to as many people as quickly. And it’s easy to display differentiated content for each audience segment – screens in the lobby and public corridors can show messages targeting the public, while back office break rooms and meeting spaces show messages designed for staff and management.
An enterprise content management system for your digital signs give you a centralized system that makes updating fast and efficient as well. This shows your Leadership by implementing a modern communications strategy that can be updated almost instantly.
You also want to consider all your options when looking at things from a Finance perspective. Include space for digital signage in when planning for your budget. Consider site licenses, hosted cloud and subscription models, and support subscriptions for software updates. Think about the long term, and factor in possible expansion and growth of your digital signage system over the next few years.
Digital signage can help improve Quality by displaying benchmarks for performance metrics and progress towards goals on screens for your staff. This lets them see where they are in the grander scheme of things, and push just a bit harder to reach targets. Digital signage can also be part of your quality measurements – show QR tags or short URLs to online surveys or other feedback prompts to get direct input from your workers, or satisfaction metrics from the public and customers.
You also want to make sure that everyone is complying with policies, codes and regulations, and adhering to internal standards. Short, visually attractive reminder messages displayed on screens are a lot more effective than simply handing people a large document that just sits in a desk drawer.
Digital signage also helps with workplace productivity by saving time and improving workflows. Instead of sending an email to dozens of people (which they might not open or read) or printing memos, people can show the same message several times throughout the day on screens to make sure everyone sees it. Digital room signs are another operational advantage. They let you more efficiently manage your meeting spaces, and save time for meeting participants since they can find their room quickly. They communicate directly with your calendaring system, and some allow booking right there at the sign, saving even more time.
Screens don’t have to be static. You can use interactive touchscreens with directories and wayfinding, improving the visitor experience by allowing a lot of information to be accessed quickly and easily. Digital signage can also integrate your calendars, webpages, social media feeds, dashboards, and systems for queuing and reservations. That’s leveraging modern Technology.
Occupant services can also benefit from digital displays, which can be a value add for your facility. Screens can advertise tenant directories, parking, food and concierge services, security, helpdesks and other aspects of Operations. Interactive kiosks or touchscreens can be used to browse through offers at cafes and order right there on the screen, streamlining the entire process and reducing wait times. The same technology can augment or even replace front desk or reception staff, freeing those people up to give more personalized attention to visitors.
Studies show that digital signage is a key factor in motivating and engaging employees. Motivated workers are more productive, and stay with a company longer. Another way to develop the Human Factor is letting people know they are being looked after with kudos, safety notices and reminders on screens.
A comprehensive Emergency Preparedness plan can also be extended to include your digital signage. You can override screens manually, or CAP triggers that tie into your system can trigger warnings and publish instructions. Because digital signage gives you a central interface, you can override selected screens with alerts – whether in a single building, across campus or at completely different physical locations.
If you want to extend digital signage to all of your Property Management assets, web-based signage software lets anyone with an internet connection update messages and playlists. You can use Active Directory authentication to allow different levels of access, so a single person can manage multiple locations or people at all of your locations can contribute. You can even mix and match what shows up on screens, showing messages from headquarters everywhere, with local messages only showing at that particular site.
For both your own team and different teams in your organization, digital signage can help with Project Management. You can show progress towards goals and upcoming tasks, display SharePoint pages for project teams, and even pull in data from Excel sheets. Everyone sees the same information everywhere, so everyone is one the same page.
And digital signage fits into your Sustainability initiatives. You can save money, paper and waste by moving from printed notices and signs to digital screens. There are many low-energy displays available these days to help minimize your ecological footprint, and your messages can further your aims. Show energy dashboards that display current levels of utility usage in real time, and show reminders for people to recycle, turn off lights in unused rooms, and so on.
>> Download our white paper to learn more about how digital signage can Simplify Facility Management