The role of digital signage integrators

Why integrators are crucial to the success of your workplace digital solution

The age of digital comms has arrived, and with the industry growing quickly, businesses not investing in digital signage campaigns may soon find themselves left behind. Now is the time to seriously think about using digital signage campaigns to create experiences that influence the way people interact with your business and to innovate your marketing.

Statistics show that 8/10 customers have entered a store because of a digital sign*, and with more businesses adopting this approach, there is a greater need for integrators to support brands branching into digital. Whether you’re competing for retail, communicating vital messaging to your employees, or carrying out health and safety briefings, digital signs are proven to be one of the most effective ways to communicate.

But digital signage is so much more than just mounting a screen on a wall; there is a lot of planning, creativity, software knowledge and technical expertise put into executing a successful campaign that provides a strong return on investment. This is where the role of the digital signage integrators become crucial. 

Beyond Digital Solutions fulfil this role by delivering full-service solutions and support to our clients at every stage. Find out more about the role of BDS as digital signage integrators below…

Why are digital signage integrators essential?

User behaviour is changing, with people consuming more on-screen content that ever before, and attention spans continuing to get shorter (down from 12 seconds 8 years ago to just 6 seconds in 2019 — beating the goldfish, which clocks in at 9 seconds), the need to grab instant attention has never been more important.

The future is experience driven, and digital integrators are the ones making this happen. As the way people consume products, messages and information has changed, the way we reach those people has adapted. We often refer to this as ‘the Experiential Era’, and almost every industry is embracing this shift in their own unique way.

We understand that the audience has a much more active role in the customer journey – they need to feel that they are being talked to, rather than talked at. Experience must be placed at the centre of all communications, and digital integrators are the ones who build these experiences.

It is important to remember that audiences now behave in the following ways:

• They don’t just watch – they participate 
• They need connection (whether emotional or otherwise) for a brand to be memorable
• They value personalisation; brands need to be there in the right moment

What is a digital signage integrator?

We’re the experts. In short, we make everything come together. We do this by designing solutions that are tailored to yours, and your customer needs.

The role of the digital signage integrator is to be the strategic partner who oversees and manages the multiple moving parts of your signage campaign. We bring your solutions together to make it work seamlessly.

Integrators have to know everything and also be able to put the right measures in place to do all of it. From the objectives you want to achieve and the audience you want to connect with, integrators shape how the content will look, sound and function. We combine creative design, content knowledge and technological expertise with strategy to achieve your goals, identifying where your campaign should be seen, as well as when, where and how it should be experienced.

We also work with you to determine how your content can be managed and measured in backend systems, as well as what technical and logistic elements that will need to be in place. With a 360 degree view of your project, a digital integration provider can place your messaging front and centre, getting it in front of the right people, at the right place and time.

What digital signage integrators do

At Beyond Digital Solutions, we cover many aspects and layers of digital signage campaigns, working closely with our clients to bring these elements together through our expertise. This includes:

• Creative Content – Engaging content should be ever-evolving and its effectiveness relies on keeping this updated and fresh. We adapt and develop your content to change with time, user behaviour and the evolution of your brand, providing planning, scheduling and ongoing content management.
• Project Management – We provide a point of contact to communicate, collaborate and liaise with your team, outlining the strategy and tactics being undertaken, as well as ensuring everything is delivered on time.
• Hardware – We handle both the bigger picture and the minutiae of hardware sourcing and installation, including brackets, signal distribution, cabling, location and comms considerations. This also includes managing the maintenance and repair of equipment.
• Software – We have specialist knowledge for implementation of the systems needed for content management and distribution. This encompasses everything from scheduling and bandwidth throttling to interactivity, data integration, wayfinding and analytic monitoring. If you have multiple locations, these elements are essential.
• Content Management – We design tailor-made content that’s scalable, secure and engaging. More importantly, we ensure it can be easily monitored, measured and managed by us and your team. We carefully consider your brand guidelines and can build corporate governance documentation to maintain standards.  
• Hosting & Security – We certify that your data and systems are both secure and compliant with the leading anti-virus software within a Data Centre environment. Equally important, is ensuring that the scale of your system can grow with your business and be effectively monitored.
• Installation – We work with architects, engineers, shop-fitters and IT teams to get your hardware installed with a professional, premium finish that bets reflects your brand. Our Safe Contractor standard guarantees our high standards.
• Ongoing Support – We continue to collaborate with your teams to resolve technical issues, monitor and maintain your campaign and adapt your approach where needed. We operate a 24/7 service portal, a dedicated help-desk and field based support within an SLA should you need it.  

What to look for in a digital integration partner

There are a number of key things that great strategic partners will do to help your campaign succeed. How do we adopt the qualities of world-leading integrators?

• Honesty – We have your best interests in mind, and will guide you to the right solutions balancing cost and quality whatever your budget 
• Clarity – We will outline exactly what we are going to do, when and how, so you don’t have to worry about the details
• Problem solvers – This is at the heart of any strategy – tell us about your challenges and we’ll find a way to resolve them
• Expertise – We know our industry inside out and we embrace the challenge of keeping up to date with technology. We know what works for customers from creative thinking, to content strategy, our team can do it all
• Results-focused – The value of what we do is reflected in results. We use tracking and analytics to monitor campaigns alongside footfall, conversions and sales.
• Innovation – A successful project does not end at the flick of a switch. We build on our partnerships with clients and continue to support them with tech, content, creative ideas to build on success, and create bigger and better experiences.

Why use a Digital Integrator?

We make the complex simple.

We have worked with clients across multiple industries and sectors to craft experiences that change the way people think and feel.

A piece published in 2020 revealed that the adoption of digital signage solution is on a steady rise, with 60% of enterprises planning to invest in the technology within the next two years. Another source shows that 68% of people agreed that digital advertising would influence their decision to buy advertised products.

We want to help brands achieve success using the right messaging and technology. We also want to make the complex process of building a campaign both simple and straightforward for our clients.

Want to know more?

Digital signage has the ability to generate incredible results under the guidance of the right agency. However we understand that projects of this scale can take time to get going and require a lot of guidance. Which is why we invite all clients to our demo suite — so we can give them the full digital experience, talk them through the process and share some of our success stories.

We’re always happy to discuss new projects so if you have something in mind or just need a bit more information then get in touch here or call us on 0191 484 1056.