EPISODE 180 | Guest: Debbie DeWitt, marketing communications manager for Visix
Hybrid work presents unique challenges, with communication being the biggest hurdle. This episode dives into how digital signage systems are more relevant than ever for keeping a dispersed workforce connected and engaged. The discussion focuses less on the technology itself and more on specific, actionable content ideas that digital signage managers can implement to foster a shared sense of purpose and belonging, regardless of an employee’s location.
We explore innovative ways to address common hybrid challenges like information silos, collaboration gaps, and culture drift. Additionally, we discuss the rapidly growing application of digital signage for seamless workspace management, including room and desk reservations, to improve the overall in-office experience.
- Discover content for engaging remote employees, like spotlights and user-generated social feeds.
- Understand key hybrid work challenges: information silos and culture drift.
- Explore how to use signage for real-time workspace management and wayfinding.
- Get tips on using visual content to boost company culture and motivation.
- Hear why consistent messaging across all digital platforms is vital.
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Transcript
Derek DeWitt: Hybrid work has changed the dynamics of office communications, and digital signage is playing a bigger role than ever. Today we’re gonna talk about how companies can use digital signage systems to keep both in-office and remote employees connected to improve space reservations and scheduling, and reinforce company culture. And yeah, I know we’ve talked about this a bit before, but we really want to focus on specific content ideas for your audiences. And to do that, I’m joined by Debbie DeWitt, marketing communications manager for Visix. Hi Debbie. Thanks for talking to me today.
Debbie DeWitt: Hi, Derek. Thanks for having me here.
Derek DeWitt: Of course. And thank you everybody out there for listening. I remind you, you can subscribe and review and all that jazz, and you can follow along with a transcript on the Visix website.
What do you think are the biggest challenges companies face now with hybrid work?
Debbie DeWitt: The biggest challenge hands down is communication. It just is. There are a lot of logistics and business systems and that kind of thing, but communication is still number one. And I think one of the biggest challenges facing digital signage managers in all settings is, you know, what do I put on screen?
Derek DeWitt: Yeah.
Debbie DeWitt: I think in the hybrid setting especially, it’s not just about pushing out information, it’s really about trying to create or foster that sense of belonging and a shared purpose.
Derek DeWitt: Yeah! When you have sort of a mix of remote employees and in-office employees on any given day, obviously traditional communication methods are not gonna do it. They’re gonna fall short very often, and it could become harder to build those sort of informal connections that, so we say, are crucial for team cohesion (though I, personally, I don’t actually know if that’s true).
Debbie DeWitt: There are studies that prove it’s true.
Derek DeWitt: All right. So, there you go. Not for me, but I’m weird and antisocial. What are some of the specific challenges, do you think, for communicators?
Debbie DeWitt: I think, if we look at just a few major ones, the first one is information silos. You know, remote employees often feel like they’re missing out on those key updates that people in the office are getting. And that can cause another big one, which is collaboration gaps. It’s harder to coordinate when employees don’t know who’s in the office on a given day, and not everybody is, you know, sitting at their computer ready for you to call them on Teams or whatever it is.
Another major one is culture drift. You know, without the day-to-day in-office experiences, company cultures can weaken over time. And we’ve seen a lot of studies that have shown this. And yes, it, like with you, it does depend on the person, but that can be a little bit of a culture drift.
And then I think another big one is space management. This is a big one that we’re seeing a lot right now, which is, you know, people sharing desks and offices. So, that experience has to be seamless or people are gonna get super frustrated.
Derek DeWitt: Yeah. And I think this really is an important topic, which is why we’re kind of, again, going over it to some extent. Hybrid work is here to stay, yet a lot of companies are still trying to figure out the best ways to keep people feeling connected and keep their staff engaged.
Debbie DeWitt: Yep. Your employees are not gonna be all in the same space at the same time. You know, that’s always been the case, but you know, those numbers are growing in terms of how many are not in office. So, keeping that information visible, keeping your engagement high, and keeping your culture strong really requires some new approaches. Digital signage is a powerful tool, you know, for hybrid communications, and I think a lot of organizations aren’t really fully utilizing that yet.
Derek DeWitt: Okay. So how can digital signage help bridge that gap and, and create a more cohesive and maybe inclusive environment?
Debbie DeWitt: Well, not to sound simplistic, but digital signage software is a content management system, right? So it’s all about content. And all of your content, all your visual communications are in one place. So, your digital signage system can act as a central communication hub. And, you know, since that content could be played on anything with a screen, whether it’s the displays that are in your office or on your intranet and desktops at home, or even on smartphones, you know, it’s a way to broadcast that essential information. You can celebrate successes, reinforce company values. It’s, again, it’s about creating that shared experience for everyone regardless of where they are.
Derek DeWitt: Right. And it’s, we’ve said this many times, visual and dynamic, and the content can be tailored to reach certain specific audiences within the company.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. You know, and again, to be simple, it’s digital; digital’s everywhere these days. You know, employees expect their home and work office to present kind of a seamless digital experience, no matter where they’re working.
Derek DeWitt: Now, one of the biggest hybrid workplace challenges is keeping remote employees engaged. As you’ve said, we have studies on all sorts of things, this is another one where we have studies that show that this is still an issue. What are some ways that digital signage, which is essentially an on-premise product, bridge that gap?
Debbie DeWitt: Well, I mean, first I’ll say it’s also a cloud product. Most of the time it’s a cloud product now. So, you know, again, cloud thinking, just changing your mind in terms of don’t think of your digital signage as that screen on the wall, think of it as that system that’s in the cloud.
And I’d say there are three key ways that digital signage can help to bridge this gap. And one big one, when we talk about this a lot, employee spotlights and employee recognition. You know, you wanna feature both in-office and remote employees in something like, you know, a weekly employee spotlight. Get to know Phil, you know? Include a photo and a short video to make it more engaging.
Derek DeWitt: You could even get people who are working remotely more often than not, maybe, to submit their own spotlights. That might make them feel more, I don’t know, valued and included.
Debbie DeWitt: To feel seen. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I mean, anytime you can get people involved in creating your content, it not only takes off some of your workload, but you know, they’re more invested in it. Another thing on this topic is I’d recognize any kind of product promotions or, you know, offerings you’re doing. Definitely do your anniversaries and birthdays and project wins, you know, regardless, again, of the work location.
Derek DeWitt: And I think not just product promotions, but employee promotions also, you know? Somebody now they’re the senior director or senior manager. Like that’s a big deal.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah, absolutely. Actually, that’s, that’s even better since we’re talking about employees. Yeah. Definitely recognize any kind of certification, promotion. You know, even if someone just, you know, went to a trade show where they attended some conferences or had a professional development session, that’s really great to put up there.
So, the second one I would say is user-generated content. You know, we just talked about this. So, social feeds are a big way to do that. You know, encouraging those employees to submit content on their own. One thing that I’ve seen people do, and we even did it ourselves at Visix, is, you know, show photos of your home office setup. You know, share your favorite, like, scheduling or productivity hacks. Honestly, one of our most popular ever, share pet photos.
Derek DeWitt: Yeah. People love to show their pets
Debbie DeWitt: Absolutely.
Derek DeWitt: But you can also display Teams highlights or Slack highlights, which can also help make remote voices more visible to everybody.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah, yeah. Those are online sort of mini-events, why not share something about those? Which is an excellent segue into the third one, which is hybrid meetings and live events.
Derek DeWitt: Right. Obviously, normally I think we know we display schedules for company-wide meetings, maybe Q&A sessions that occur afterwards. And we know that this is popular, because showing schedules is the most popular thing that people use digital signs for.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. And follow up on those events, you know, post that meeting summary, do some screenshots, you know, if it was your Halloween, you know, town hall, show everybody in costume, or just put up some key highlights. And again, that’s all to keep remote employees engaged.
Derek DeWitt: Right, right. Yeah. So like you said, hey, show us how you dressed up for Halloween, or show us your Christmas tree or whatever holiday decorations you have and so on, and also even kind of more formalized social events, team building activities, online game nights. I’ve even heard of some places doing kind of hybrid or remote coffee breaks where people just get together online for 15 minutes and chat.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. Those are all great virtual events that work great for hybrid settings. And again, the whole point of this episode is, you know, put those on your digital signage. You know, you wanna promote those things. You might want to put up a link to register or join it, and then definitely show like a countdown to build excitement.
Derek DeWitt: Yeah, yeah. Those actually are super effective. And then after the event, if there are any videos or photos or something like that, you can share those. If it was some kind of a competition or a game, you know, congratulate the winners on the signage. All these things help reinforce that sense of community.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah, absolutely. And we all know that, you know, any kind of public recognition, most people really like, and especially if it’s like, you’re a winner. So it’s about creating this…
Derek DeWitt: I am!
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. …this continuous loop of connection. If people aren’t physically together, they’re virtually together, and you can keep promoting that on screens.
Oh, and I’d also say real quick, don’t forget about, like, the more formal communication, you know? Digital signage has always been used to share company news, updates, important announcements. You know, you wanna reinforce your mission, your values, and any top-level strategies that you’re tackling. All of that can go on digital signs as well.
Derek DeWitt: Though I would caution make sure your messaging is consistent across all your platforms. I think sometimes if you know, company A, the bosses tend to favor email, that’s the one that gets a certain voice, and then things like intranet or digital signage are kind of maybe not treated with the same weight, and the messaging can get confused. I think regardless, whether you personally like it or not, if you’re using certain communications methods and channels, you have to make sure that all your messaging is consistent, so that every person who’s receiving your communications is getting the right message.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, consistency not only in your designs, the content of the message, you know, the frequency with when you send them out. Definitely the timing of when you send that out. Don’t put up a digital signage message and then wait, you know, two weeks to send that email or put it on your intranet. People are gonna be asking questions.
Derek DeWitt: Yeah, that’s true.
Debbie DeWitt: And I would say since the people working from home are usually the ones that are feeling a little less included, you definitely wanna make a point to highlight how those specific employees are contributing to your recent successes. You know, it’s crucial to acknowledge everyone’s contributions, but maybe just make sure you’re not forgetting about that person who works from home, you know, 100% of the time.
Derek DeWitt: Right! You’re not out there all by yourself there, Joe. I know we do this a lot on VisixTV, which is what we call our own internal digital signage system.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. We do a lot of recognition with what we call shoutouts, and it’s a simple web form on the internet where one employee can just give kudos to another employee that goes up both on the intranet and on our screens.
Derek DeWitt: And awards. To toot our own horn a little bit, Visix does tend to win some awards, especially the creative team.
Debbie DeWitt: Yes.
Derek DeWitt: Those get up there. Obviously, like you said, anniversaries, birthdays, I mean, that’s just easy content. You can get all that information, if you don’t already have it, and you can just plan out your whole year’s worth of those messages in one go and schedule them.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. I’m actually the one who does that, and I schedule like three, four months in advance. It’s actually, it’s excellent. Another thing that we do is for events, you know, we promote our monthly town halls. We have online bingo. We’ve done some trivia, like guess who, with little facts about employees, where you have to guess which employee it is. We have a fun run in the fall. And we have a bunch of events throughout the year that, you know, we make sure that there’s both an in-office and online component. And we try to do one activity maybe per month.
Derek DeWitt: I also love the idea of user-generated content. Like you said, people are more engaged when content sort of turns into a dialogue, and when it’s not coming from the communications department or what have you. It’s already starting that process.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. Yeah. And as I’ve mentioned here, you know, we’ve had people share photos of their pets and those are hugely popular. You know, we have that costume contest at Halloween where we put up pictures and then we vote on who wins the costume contest and somebody gets a gift card. We also have had people put up either photos or videos of their home offices. A couple people did, like, rocking videos that, like, a whole walkthrough, that were very cool.
Derek DeWitt: And all this gets stuck up on digital signs that are in the office, on-prem, and on the intranet, so everybody can see it.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. Yeah. We do promos on the big screens at the office. And then that playlist also shows up on the intranet as an HTML5 feed. And then when we do an intranet post where people can share their images and comments, you know, ’cause you having that commenting feature is pretty good. And we get a lot of engagement, especially from those people who are working from home.
Derek DeWitt: Now, another thing you mentioned was workspace management. This is another big challenge. How can digital signage make space reservations and space scheduling easier?
Debbie DeWitt: This is where we’re seeing a kind of sea change in the whole digital signage ecosystem. You know, Visix was one of the first digital signage companies that added room signs into our mix, and they’ve really ballooned with hybrid becoming the norm. We have a lot of companies that have moved to, like, a unified workplace platform or an occupancy platform, and space management is a key component. So room and desk signs have become a huge part of that.
Derek DeWitt: Right. Because people are sharing their spaces more often. They need to know where do they go and when. Nowadays, very often, not everyone has their own desk or weekly meeting room to use or what have you. So, scheduling has really become a major, major issue. Otherwise, you get people who show up for two days a week and then it’s just a scrum. It’s just a free for all, you know? In my mind’s eye, I just see people, you know, fighting for that desk by the window.
Debbie DeWitt: It’s true. We all know, like, even though sharing desks is the point, people wanna sit in that same place every time they go there, and so…
Derek DeWitt: Or I don’t know if they want to, they just tend to. If the system allows them to do it, they will.
Debbie DeWitt: Right, right. And so, the problem you’ve got, like you said with the scrum is if two people happen to go to the same desk habitually…
Derek DeWitt: I got here first. Back off!
Debbie DeWitt: Right. And maybe you have a scheduling system in place, and Aparna uses this desk Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the other person, I don’t know, I’ll go back to Phil, normally does Monday, Wednesday, Friday. But he decides to come in on a Tuesday. So, you know, that can cause frustration.
The workplace experience is hugely impacted by how people can find, reserve, and use those workspaces that they need. So, you need to have a good reservation system in place. And the point of the room and desk signs is you have to display those reservations, because otherwise, you know, people have to, like, pull up their phone or go to a computer to see, wait, where did I book? So, you wanna make sure that transition from home office to in-office is really effortless.
Derek DeWitt: Especially as more and more companies, even though studies show this isn’t something that they need to be doing, but a lot of companies are just saying, hey, you need to come into the office more often. You know, maybe before they were like, we need you once, maybe twice a week. And now a lot of companies are mandating three or even four. And if you are mandating this and you also then make it difficult, wow, talk about workplace experience; that’s super negative.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah, people won’t come back to your office. I’m sorry.
Derek DeWitt: Well, or they will, but they’ll do it begrudgingly because otherwise, you know, they’ll get fired or whatever, or they’re worried about it. But since we’re focused on digital signage content, what things can we show that help with space management?
Debbie DeWitt: Well, we already talked about desk and room signs, so definitely publishing those reservations on those is a big way it can help. Because again, think about what’s a digital sign. Sometimes people put room signs in a different bucket, but it’s really just another endpoint.
Derek DeWitt: Yeah.
Debbie DeWitt: So, the big screens are great for visualizing availability in real time, because no matter what you’re showing it on, the CMS just pulls in your schedules and your reservations from your own platform. You know, and that might be like Exchange or Google Calendar or CollegeNET. There’re about a dozen that we use.
Derek DeWitt: Especially, like, try and imagine, you’ve taken the time to drive into the office, which the average American commute is 45 minutes one way. You haven’t been there for a week, forgot where, where can I park? And then, you know that you have to meet with some people, but you need to know where have they chosen? So you need to make sure that like, not just the day and the time, but, like, the location is on the schedule or else, you know, you drove all the way in, and then you’re just wandering around like a dope, looking for your meeting.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah, definitely. When you’re showing event schedules on the big screens, the best thing to do is have time, room, what’s the meeting. It’s that simple. It’s just a grid. It’s very easy. I think a really cool new tool for hybrid offices is using those big screens to show a list of who’s in the office today. Again, you can pull this from your calendar app. It’s just showing any in-office space that’s reserved with the name of the person and when they’re gonna be there.
Derek DeWitt: Right. Which I think is a lot easier than, what I know, say two years ago, a lot of companies were doing, which is listing who’s out of the office. But nowadays, if you’re a decent-sized organization, I think you’re probably gonna have more people on the out-of-the-office list than on the in-the-office list.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah, definitely. It used to just be people on vacation, who are out sick, that kind of stuff. But now it’s, hey, 80% of our workforce is not here today.
Derek DeWitt: Right.
Debbie DeWitt: So, if you’ve got who’s in the office on your screens, you come into work and you can see if someone’s there, if you wanna sit near them, or like your team needs to coordinate. You know, sometimes people use something called neighborhoods for booking, so that everybody can be near each other. It’s just a nice way to make it very easy. As soon as you walk in, you go, oh, that’s where we’re at.
Derek DeWitt: I mean, it’s really just a directory. I mean, right? It’s a name, where the person’s sitting, maybe what team or department they’re in. That’s it. You don’t need to write a paragraph per person.
Debbie DeWitt: No. I mean, you can choose what you wanna show. It could be just as simple as a list of names of these people are here today. You know, maybe you have a smaller office. You don’t need to list it. You don’t have multiple floors, you know, it’s an open floor plan. You can see Burt over in the corner, you know? So, it could just be a list of names.
Derek DeWitt: He does like that corner, Burt.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. And, you know, it may sound silly, well, if I can see everybody in that open plan, why do I need to put it on screens? Well, again, that same message can go out to the intranet or to a Teams chat or something like that. So people at home know that Burt’s in the office.
Derek DeWitt: Right. And just like you can show a directory or a list of who’s in the office, you can also list out the spaces that are in the office and available.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. I think you could show all the open spaces or all of the booked ones. It’s whichever is shorter, honestly.
Derek DeWitt: Right, exactly. Yeah. Now what about interactive wayfinding for, like, hoteling and hot desking?
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. This is absolutely a fast growing application for digital signs, especially in hybrid offices. Generally, if everybody’s there, everybody knows where they sit, you don’t need it. But showing floor maps with booking status can help those hybrid employees easily find, again, that person they’re looking for who’s in the office, or they wanna find a space where they can work or where they can have a meeting.
Derek DeWitt: Yeah. I think this is very helpful for hybrid employees who aren’t in the office very often, they spend most of their time remotely. Or maybe aren’t familiar with the layout. You know, a lot of the conversation about this has been about transitioning people to a new way of thinking about things. But this has been going on now for, I mean, gosh, what are we talking about? Four years? Now, you’ve got new hires who have never known your organization when it wasn’t hybrid. They don’t have any bad habits to break. This is always the way it’s been.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. And also, you know, this conversation of hybrid has really turned into a real estate conversation.
Derek DeWitt: Yeah.
Debbie DeWitt: You know, again, we’re talking about generally larger companies when we talk about using, like, wayfinding. But some of those companies are, we’re building a new building with fewer spaces or whatever, so it’s your first time there. Or we have a new booking system, or we’ve renamed the rooms because we repurposed those three meeting rooms we don’t need anymore. Or that area of desks. Well, that’s now a gym.
Derek DeWitt: Right.
Debbie DeWitt: So, you know, labeling changes, things like that. But…well, let me say this. We have something we call workspace wayfinding, which it’s an interactive screen that lists everyone in the office, it shows you a visual map of where they’re sitting, and then it also lets you touch a workspace on there to see if it’s booked or not. And sometimes you can literally just have them be green or red, and then that’s a visual cue whether they’re open or not. But you can just touch on a, say, a desk or a room or whatever, you touch on your workspace and they’re the QR code that pops up and you just scan it to book it. So, that’s the kind of thing that we’re talking about.
Derek DeWitt: And that particular system you’re talking about uses Choros, which is the appless smartphone booking system we have.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. Yeah. Let’s any smartphone book a space. You just pop up in your camera, scan a QR code. There’s no app, there’s no login. It just works with your phone automatically. But it ties into your own calendar. But I will say, even if you don’t use our product Choros, you can still have a QR open up the calendar or whatever occupancy platform that you’re using.
Derek DeWitt: And when it comes to the room signs being stuck different places, I mean, they’re always being fed by your digital signage CMS, so you can at least show desk reservations or room reservations on those.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah, definitely. We have both interactive room signs, you know, and there are a couple different options there, whether you wanna show just schedules or more, but our ePaper signs, that is blowing up because these things are wireless and they’re battery powered and they’re easy to install, so they’ve really…
Derek DeWitt: They’re cheaper.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah, they’re cheaper, you know, not only just to buy, but to install. And you can put them outside rooms to show schedules, or we have these really adorable little desk signs to show your desk reservations
Derek DeWitt: And, you know, if they’re not interactive, then you can still use QR codes, and then they become kind of interactive. That allows you to do quick booking right there. It’s just one more step.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. That’s something I would say as a general rule for digital signs. If you don’t have interactivity or touchscreens available, a QR code makes it interactive, and it makes it interactive with the screen that everybody already knows quite intimately, which is their own phone.
Derek DeWitt: Right. Yeah, that’s true. Now going back to the big screens, you said culture is crucial, but it can be harder to maintain in that hybrid world. But what are some of the ways that digital signage can help reinforce company culture? Specifically, what kind of content can boost motivation and productivity?
Debbie DeWitt: Think culture, think mood, think setting. So, display things like inspirational quotes, again, that employee recognition we’ve talked about, even things like health and wellness tips, and certainly if, especially like in a manufacturing or healthcare facility, you want to show, like, safety information.
Derek DeWitt: I mean, honestly, even just small gestures can make an enormous difference in morale.
Debbie DeWitt: Definitely. And with our data integration tools, you can show some data visualizations on screen so you can show your team or company performance metrics basically, that just sort of shows you progress to goals and fosters a sense of sort of shared purpose and achievement.
Derek DeWitt: Yeah. I like to say it’s creating a “we” instead of a bunch of separate “I”s.
Debbie DeWitt: Nice. There’s no “i” in “we”.
So, lastly, I will also say don’t forget about like training and development. You know, use digital signs to promote internal training programs, workshops, online resources. Again, we talked about, you know, is there a chance to go to a conference, even online? Again, hit those hybrid employees. You know, is there a chance for a certification or, or any kind of course. Even if someone just goes on and takes a free, you know, LinkedIn course on Excel, you know, shout out for that.
Derek DeWitt: Yeah. And here’s the thing, showing that you are behind this stuff, that you’re supporting them, shows everybody that you are invested in their growth and their development. It doesn’t matter whether people take you up on it or not. It’s available, and I think people just appreciate the option.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah, definitely. And that’s a hiring attractor, you know, you want your employees on Glassdoor or whatever you want them saying, you know, even if they never took it, I had a ton of PD, you know, options.
Derek DeWitt: Yeah, yeah. Okay. Any other content ideas that help bridge the in-office/at-home gap?
Debbie DeWitt: “Any other”? I always have content ideas. Company news and leadership messages. You know, you wanna display updates from your C-suite, keep everyone in the loop. And I would say though, like, you know, keep this to weekly, maybe even monthly.
Derek DeWitt: And, you know, think about using little video snippets, with or without sound, once in a while. It kind of creates a more engaging, more human connection. Again, it can be informal. People out there, you don’t need to get a bunch of professional lighting equipment and, you know, a professional piece of filming equipment. Just use your smartphone. It’s fine.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. And I also think everybody’s used to it, and it’s almost a little more like, like you said, like more human.
Derek DeWitt: It’s way more informal.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. Yeah. I would also say use gamification and engagement campaigns on your screens. You wanna run company-wide challenges, you know, like your step count competitions or some trivia, you know, do some question/answer messages. Those work great on digital signs. And again, this all publishes great to both desktops and in the office. And it involves everyone.
Derek DeWitt: Yeah. Especially if it’s not work related. You know, it could just be, I mean, sports, a lot of people love sports or general knowledge stuff. It could be stuff about your city or community. Lots of possibilities out there. Everything that goes on your screens doesn’t necessarily need to be specifically about work.
Debbie DeWitt: No, I would say it’s actually very helpful not to do that. If you wanna create a sense of community, feature, like, Spotify playlists that employees curate for office music.
Derek DeWitt: “This is my music!”
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah, yeah. You know, have people share recipes, have them put those pet photos or baby photos or whatever. Around Halloween we had like a, what was it, a Harry Potter trivia night around here. That’s an easy thing to do. Or find out, you know, have a poll and find out what’s everybody’s favorite movies, and then ask trivia from that. It’s just all fun.
Derek DeWitt: If you have a lot of men in the office, it’ll be The Godfather or Apocalypse Now.
Debbie DeWitt: Oof. “Could you explain that to me again?”
Derek DeWitt: Yeah, right. It’s funny, we’re talking about this stuff and, I don’t know, am I taking crazy pills or something, because I swear to God we’ve said these same things possibly in a different order, like, I don’t know a hundred times in the past?
Debbie DeWitt: I don’t know the exact count, but I think you might be low. But yeah, yeah, we have. So, I’m just gonna say, I think when it comes to hybrid, it’s about sharing more of this content versus reinventing the wheel. It’s about a mindset change to remember that some of these people aren’t gonna see the big screen in the lobby or in your break room. Remember that when you design it and things like that. You have to think about all those endpoints. And it’s gonna be about looking at your content strategy, and really marrying the needs and preferences of both groups, both, you know, in-office and home workers.
Derek DeWitt: Right. Now we’ve talked about content strategy before, but why not repeat some of the best practices for implementing a successful strategy in a hybrid context?
Debbie DeWitt: So, keeping it really short and sweet, ’cause again, we have done this before. It’s first off, have a clear content strategy. You know, you need to have one. Define those goals, know your target audience and create a content calendar.
Derek DeWitt: And plan that content out in advance and make sure it aligns with your overall communication strategy. That is not to say that you can’t suddenly get a brain wave and go, oh, hey, what about this? That’s fine. But having that structure makes the whole thing make sense.
Debbie DeWitt: Absolutely. The other thing is keep the content concise. Keep it visually appealing and keep it relevant to employees. And then my last one, I bet you can guess…
Derek DeWitt: ROI and trackable calls to action, right?
Debbie DeWitt: You know it!
Derek DeWitt: Like, seriously, just do it, man if you’re not doing it. It’s so easy. Just do it.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. You need to get those success measures in place to make better decisions, and that’ll help you make better content.
Derek DeWitt: Now, like you said, Deb, a lot of it is just kind of a mindshift, which will then slightly alter what you put out there and how you put it out there. What about people who haven’t done that yet, who are still just thinking in-office, in-office, in-office, and anything that is focused on the at-home or remote workers, audience, that’s just secondary? What are some things that people are not doing that they could and should be doing?
Debbie DeWitt: That’s a great question. I think first off, and I’ve mentioned this, but if you aren’t showing your digital signage content on your intranet or on Teams or some other platform that at-home employees can see, you need to correct that immediately.
Derek DeWitt: Right. No wonder at home workers feel like they’re being left out, because well, they are.
Debbie DeWitt: Right. Or worse, you’re creating everything twice. You know? Maybe you are actually, oh, I’m taking the same information, putting it in an email or on the intranet. Don’t do that. Just publish an HTML5 playlist right out of your CMS. Also, if you’re not taking advantage of our data integration features, certainly using AxisTV Signage Suite software, I would definitely explore that.
Derek DeWitt: Yeah. There’s a lot of content that you can automate, which again, we’ve talked about in the past, but, you know, who’s in the office, which spaces are open or booked, event schedules, KPIs, data visualizations, countdowns; all that stuff can be automated. You don’t have to do all this bespoke and by hand.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah, absolutely. And we also have content feeds and subscriptions, if you’re just looking for like those inspirational quotes and things. But I would say another good idea, if you have the time and the bandwidth, is to A/B test different types of content. You know, you wanna see what works best for both in-office and at-home workers. They may be different things. But you need to understand both of those.
Derek DeWitt: And the way you do that is by soliciting feedback from everybody, regularly, so that you can make sure that your content’s meeting their needs. Getting this feedback is an ongoing process, because the same people, six months or a year down the line, might answer the same questions differently, because they’re not the same people they were.
Debbie DeWitt: Always think process, never think project.
Derek DeWitt: Ooh, I like that. Now, obviously we’ve seen this change a lot and very rapidly in the last couple of years. What do you think is gonna shape the future of hybrid workspace and workplace digital signage?
Debbie DeWitt: I think the big one that’s changing everything in everyone’s life is AI-powered personalization.
Derek DeWitt: It’s so scary!
Debbie DeWitt: It’s awesome. So, you could have digital signage playlists that show customized content based on things like the location or different, you know, roles like different teams or different, you know, job titles, things like that. Or based on their preferences.
Derek DeWitt: Oh, okay. I get it. So, the AI is taking your content design and then kind of automatically adjusting it for, like, the in-office person or doesn’t show the in-office stuff for people who are working remotely, like please clean out the break room fridge. If I’m at home, I don’t need to see that. So, it’s kind of a form of automation really.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah, I think so. You know, right now you can use AI to help with your message creation and, you know, that can already streamline content creation. But I think it’s gonna get more and more robust in actually helping managers and that strategy. If you could create user roles or viewer roles or audience roles, things like that, the AI, I think, in the future will be able to, number one, be able to know what content should go to them and when, when it’s most effective. And then the other thing is those ROI measures, it could be doing that and adjusting or A/B testing for you.
Derek DeWitt: In the background.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. I mean, digital signage managers, please do not freak out. I’m not saying I want you to lose your job. That’ll never ever, ever, ever happen. You always need human oversight and creativity and understanding of your audience. But I think AI could be a really powerful tool in the future. And I think the same thing could happen with sort of deeper workplace app integrations. You know, we already have a ton of data sources that you can show on your digital signs, you know, visualizations or just a listing. But I think you can expect even tighter connections with more data sources in the future.
Derek DeWitt: And like you said, space reservation systems are really taking off, EPS especially. I wonder if we’re gonna see more integration between these reservation systems and workplace platforms, but all tailored towards the hybrid workplace. Because, I mean we’re almost at the point now where even using the term hybrid workplace is kind of silly because it’s just workplace now. This is just what it is.
Debbie DeWitt: Right, right. That’s true. It’s just, it is a workplace now. And yeah. And I think that that’s true. When you talked about the space management platforms. I mean, what people are experiencing now, you know, we had this huge bubble right after the pandemic of everybody had to get some sort of unified communications platform to talk to people at home. And people put all these layers in and they messed around with things. And then now you still have companies who are like, well, we’ve got one thing for space management, we’ve got one thing for accounting, we’ve got this thing for CRM, you know. But I think you’re gonna see those sort of be able to either be under one umbrella, whether it be a single product or, you know, more likely you’re just gonna see AI and other things like that sort of bridge those together more and be able to pull them more together more logically, I guess?
I also think you’re gonna see more interaction. I mean, we know this, you know, everybody loves their phones, so we’re gonna see more touchscreens, we’re gonna see more QR codes and whatever’s next after QRs. Remember when no one knew what a QR code was? And, I think, voice-controlled signage. You know, we’re already all learning to speak to our screens. If you’re talking to Copilot or ChatGPT, talking is better than typing. So, I think voice interaction’s gonna get really big.
Derek DeWitt: Right. And you might think, well, voice-controlled digital signs, that’s just for people who are physically in the office. But a lot of OSs, Windows for example, when you install a new version of Windows or you buy a new computer, it’s really trying to push, don’t you want Cortana to do everything? Don’t you want to talk to your computer? I mean, they’re already pushing this, and I think some people are doing it. Some people are at home used to talking to their devices instead of typing things in. So, why not have that in-office experience mirror that? I think the interesting thing is that a lot of the habits and technological hacks and tools that people are using at home are driving what can happen in the office instead of the other way around.
Debbie DeWitt: Ah, that’s very interesting. I’m gonna blow your mind. You ready? ‘Cause we’re talking about the future of digital signage…
Derek DeWitt: The future!
Debbie DeWitt: The future! But no, you can do that now with wayfinding. You can talk to it. We’ve offered that for a few years. And it actually does just use Windows OS tools. It doesn’t use Cortana, so you don’t have to have that thing popping up. But you literally just have a responsive wayfinding project that’s out there on the web, and you can talk to it at the screen, you know, as long as you got a microphone there, using the basic Windows OS stuff, tools. And if that’s online and people have that enabled at home, they can do it right now.
Derek DeWitt: Wow. So then you have it, lots of ideas for content to engage your hybrid employees. But before we go, do you have any final advice for companies looking to improve their hybrid workplace communications?
Debbie DeWitt: Most importantly, you know, make it inclusive. That word means different things to different people. But what I’m talking about right now is in-office, out-of-office, everybody under the same umbrella.
Derek DeWitt: We’re all one company here.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. Stop thinking about digital signage as the screens on the wall. And think of it as any screen, anywhere. And you know, the best solutions always engage employees. You know, they build culture and you bring those teams together no matter where they are.
Derek DeWitt: Digital signage is a powerful, versatile, and cost-effective tool for creating a connected, engaged, and productive hybrid workplace. By focusing on clear communication and providing practical solutions, you can build a thriving culture where everyone feels valued, informed, and connected regardless of their location. Location doesn’t matter anymore.
Debbie DeWitt: No. As you said, it’s just a workplace.
Derek DeWitt: It’s just a workplace; that’s how it is. I’d like to thank my guest today, Debbie DeWitt, she is marketing communications manager for Visix, for kind of doing a little snapshot as to where we are in the whole hybrid thing.
Debbie DeWitt: Yeah. Thanks for having me, Derek!
Derek DeWitt: And again, thank you everybody out there for listening.