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COVID-19 and the Rise of the Engaging Workplace : Part Three

This is the third of three entries where I’ve shared Creating Margin’s experience with the COVID-19 pandemic, the worldwide shift to Work from Home, and how these dynamics may forever change our expectations of the workplace.

In the first entry, I shared about Creating Margin and our experience moving the team to work from home in response to COVID-19.

In the second entry I shared some insights into the global shift to Work from Home, and discussed modern concepts of the workplace including the failed Open Office and the more popular Activity Based Workspace.

The Rise of the Engaging Workplace

On a visit to OtterBox in Fort Collins Colorado around 2012, I was impressed that they had installed a steel slide for staff and visitors to get from the second floor office spaces down to the lobby of the building. We learned that OtterBox used flexible meeting spaces, digital signage, meeting room signs for quick booking, and even booking apps on their cell phones. They had a kitchen and coffee shop in the office, and opportunities to get outside for a refresher while walking between buildings.

Otterbox was one of my first visits to what I’ll call an “engaging workplace”. The visit helped me realize that workplaces could be genuinely fun, exploratory, technologically “easy to use”, comfort zone-stretching places. In the corporate world, seated behind a desk for most of the day, we’ve all grown up a little too fast.

Otterbox was one of my first visits to what I’ll call an “engaging workplace.” The visit helped me realize that workplaces could be genuinely fun, exploratory, technologically “easy to use”, comfort zone-stretching places.

Many companies understand the opportunity. On a recent visit with Humana in Louisville, Kentucky we had another example of an engaging workplace. They were serving gourmet food in the cafeteria. We had meetings in a variety of room types (a recording studio and the executive boardrooms stood out). We learned that the treadmill desks on the second floor are nearly always in use. Visiting with Humana, I understood a clear purpose to each space and an overall design vision geared towards encouraging collaboration.

While Humana’s scale and business challenges are entirely different than Otterbox’s – and my visits were over eight years apart – I sense that the solution to “bringing people back into work” after COVID-19 will look similar for most companies today.

Five Defining Features of An Engaging Workplace

I recently watched an interview with Senator Lindsey Graham concerning the economic stimulus package addressing COVID-19. Graham was concerned that with this relief bill, laid-off workers will receive more money than what they were making at work. Graham predicted that this may end up deterring people from returning to work.

While the majority of office workers are salaried (US Bureau of Labor Statistics), Graham’s concerns about whether those who have lost their jobs will return to work may apply to white collar workers. With wide ranging layoffs now impacting Corporate America, workplaces designed around engaging concepts will be more successful convincing staff that it’s worth it to return to work.

Let’s define what an Engaging workplace might look like. As we do this, I’d like to consider how two of the technologies that Creating Margin has specialized in now for over six years – digital signage and workplace management/booking systems – might play a part in this shift.

Here are five features of the Engaging Workplace.

Provide Ready Access to Important Data and Information

An Engaging Workplace will provide ready access to relevant and updated data and information across devices.

Content Management Systems (CMS) and digital signage networks can help facilitate this ready access. In a CMS, content updates can be made by staff, a third party, or feed from a database. Content can be created and sent to specific screen or group of screens.

The placement of digital signage displays is important, and in our experience, customers will choose heavily trafficked areas. That said, management often requests multizone dashboards to summarize KPIs and allow for what has been called visual management.

In order to share data widely, one must collect it. A meeting management solution like Pronestor can be helpful in tracking different types of meetings, equipment, and catering bookings. Pronestor’s Insights tool allows for data about workspace and technology use to be summarized. Using digital signage, dashboards can be shared across the organization.

Allow for Flexibility and Team Building Activities

Engaging Workspaces will allow for flexibility of seating and unusual team building activities, and foster culture in the process.

Activity Based Workspaces are known for their flexibility. In an ABW, teams can blend and management often sits among their team in the same space. In his book Team of Teams, General Stanley McChrystal argues that organizations will look to teams made up of members of different teams to improve communications and efficiency. Helping blended teams to form while remaining connected to their department will play a big part in the Engaging Workplace.

But let’s take this a step further. How can our workspaces also encourage team building activities? I think about the ropes course that I visited with a project team during my IMBA program. Or the trust fall exercise where you fall back and depend on team members to catch you. An Engaging Workplace could allow for activities like these to foster connection and learn about team members’ strengths and weaknesses. What are other examples of what this looks like? Open spaces in the office, fitness equipment, or encouraging employees to take breaks and engage in activities.

Some of the word “Engaging” speaks to company culture, and this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Companies who are concerned about culture will make sure that the workplace aligns with that vision.

Digital signage can make the use of flexible spaces more efficient. If a huddle area isn’t in use, why not repurpose the screen to show announcements and pertinent info? Live-streaming company addresses is a common use of digital signage tools.

It takes advanced software technologies to keep flexible workspaces from becoming a free for all. Pronestor is what we recommend for this advanced technology suite. Pronestor allows for spontaneous booking of defined rooms and hot desking. Using the simple user interface (UI), even complex meetings can be created or updated.

Blend the Physical and Virtual Worlds

Engaging workplaces will find creative ways to blend the physical and virtual worlds.

The physical and virtual worlds can be blend in a variety of ways. This video wall in Netflix’s Los Angeles headquarters is an example. Standing in the room surrounded by screens, you can be placed in a different world as the content changes.

Consider too the idea of a “virtual office” with digital meeting rooms which can be occupied by Avatars of employees. We might call this the “context aware workplace” where staff may be distant but can still feel connected in a digital space made to look and feel like an office. This would be a sort of Second Life for Business.

Digital signage can play a part here as well. What if a screen on the wall could also play host to meeting participants’ Avatars? This would allow staff who are in the office to observe the meeting as if outside the meeting room. Adding a tangible element to a virtual meeting would improve the physical office’s energy, provide evidence of productivity, and help accountability for meetings.

Pronestor’s Planner software is built around the process of booking meetings and managing both physical and virtual resources.

Hardware Testing Areas

The engaging workplace has a dedicated space for testing solutions before they are delivered to customers.

One of the most useful areas in Creating Margin’s office here in Boise Idaho is our hardware lab. In the hardware lab we can take software applications and test on the hardware that we’ll in the field. Our emphasis on the QA process is important to confirm that the solutions we are providing are stable.

We test digital signage in our hardware lab. Staff can track an order of priority for application testing, and myriad other tasks.

Incorporate Showrooms for Demonstrating Real World Applications

Engaging workplaces will allow for real-world applications to be installed and running, so that visitors can see technology in action.

Using the office as a showroom to wow potential customers must be as old as the office itself. I’m sure that business owners on the early manufacturing floors would proudly show how efficiently the business was running. I’ve seen these “customer experience centers” (CECs), across industries and in both B2B and B2C companies. Even A/V Integrator companies are now implementing showrooms. This shows how valuable the “showroom as a sales tool” can be.

Concluding Thought

In conclusion, I want to encourage you. There is much to be hopeful about in this time despite the prevailing bad news. Society continues to advance, despite the lives lost to COVID-19. Companies will come out of this crisis with better awareness of the importance of the office space.

Overall, I challenge you to take COVID-19 as an opportunity to return to your workplace re-energized, open to ideas of how to upgrade it to achieve its full potential.

I challenge you to take COVID-19 as an opportunity to return to your workplace re-energized, open to ideas of how to upgrade it to achieve its full potential.

The Golden Age of Software (Over)Development

You’ve heard it said that “it’s the golden age of software development”. It truly is. Technologies and their accompanying software tools continue to make our lives easier and our days more productive.

But there is a less discussed side to this golden age of software development. Never have so many software developers employed by competing businesses worked on software tools boasting all the same features. This is particularly evident in our digital signage world. Need a multi-zone presentation? Yep, we can do that. Easy to use software user interface? Sure, we’ve got that nailed. Wayfinding? Yes, we support several ways to do that. Interactivity? I’ll show you how that is done. There are countless digital signage software products out there, and if you set most of them side by side, their capabilities are indistinguishable.

Pricing: A Race to the Bottom

What does this trend of feature parity among digital signage software tools equate to?

First, increasing competition in software pricing: as tools move to feature parity, buyers can more easily drive down prices. The technologies used to update digital signage are basic, and this leaves incumbent products vulnerable to new entrants. The laws of Supply and Demand take hold, and discerning buyers will use the oversupply to their advantage. At Creating Margin, we see this more and more often in competitive situations.

Replaceability: Don’t let the door hit you on the way out

Second, parity among competitive digital signage software feature allows customers to easily jettison their incumbent solution. Sure, like any technology, digital signage software might as well be a foreign language to some people. But for those self-starting technologists out there, learning digital signage software is a relatively painless exercise. From there on, learning a new digital signage software is like getting a new toothbrush – other options might be a different color or a different brand name, but they work the same way. In our ‘what have you done for me lately’ culture, if a customer discovers a soft spot within the Support processes of an organization, a replacement option is only a Google search away. It’s hard to blame the customer for exploring other options, particularly when recurring software fees can appear unnecessary, and in some cases exorbitant (like where an expensive, feature-rich software is never used, and content is not being updated).

Expertise: Focus on Applications, help your Reps do the same

Third, feature parity shines a spotlight on the competencies that organizations have with specific industries. All things being equal, a prospect is even more likely to go with the spokesperson who “speaks the language” of that industry and has the references to prove it. This is an interesting conundrum for digital signage software. In an industry where software products have the same features, why not sell them to any buyer that comes along? It’s tempting to “take every comer” – to try to be everything to everyone – but we must resist this temptation and learn to say no if the fit isn’t obvious. In Polonius’ Advice to Laertes, Shakespeare once said that if you’re true to yourself, you can’t be false to anyone, and decision-makers can likely see through salesmanship to determine if a company is good at what they do.

Creating Margin Creates Content, Not Software

What does it mean to be a software company in this golden age of software development? From what I can tell, many software companies will dedicate themselves to the task of “we are going to try and do every last thing better than the next guy.” Even if this means redeveloping the wheel, companies will hack away at that stone – asking for capital along the way – to create an object that will roll no matter how many companies are on the same path. The more difficult proposition has always been to partner with other companies and to diligently fill gaps, taking incremental steps to build a durable organization.

Providing incredible value by partnering with industry leaders has been key to our success since I founded Creating Margin in 2014. On our About Us page, you can start to learn more about Creating Margin. We have a broad offering across two spaces – workplace management, and digital signage solutions. We always tailor our recommendations to your needs and provide and feature-rich solutions. We’re proud of our partnerships with Pronestor ApS of Denmark and BrightSign LLC of California USA and our own capabilities in content creation, digital signage IT consulting, and training developed over a decade of experience in these industries.

While it’s tempting to get caught up in the excitement of racing other teams in code-a-thons, our approach is instead to develop applications where we can provide unique value, while focusing on our strengths in content creation and professional services.

Effectively scheduled Digital Signage content

Scheduled digital signage content is most effective by being on-time. By ‘on-time’ content, we mean scheduled content such as videos, promotional items, ideas, and images. Nothing is better than having catered content served up to your customers at the perfect time. Ah, sheer bliss. You know your hard work has paid off at this point. Users are engaged, presenters benefit, and your brand image skyrockets.

But how do you get there? Maybe it’s easier than it sounds. Here’s what we’ve learned over time as we’ve scheduled content out.

The location determines the timing.

Where is your screen located? If it’s located in a university hallway, consider displaying information for classes, announcements, or maps at key times during the day. If you want your screen to be useful, make sure that it’s timed to fit a need of your user. Students may need to be able to see upcoming events during break times from classes. New visitors to a hospital might need maps available to look at. Anyone from potential customers, new visitors, or loyal fans, can be your user.

Keep content relevant and up to date.

There’s nothing worse than Christmas banners and events still showing up on a hallway screen in February. Remember to update your content at least once a month. Your users will see the signage as a reliable source of information for this frequency. Plus, they’ll keep coming back to check for events or information that might appeal to them.

Time multiple regions on one screen to match up thematically.

Use this to your advantage! You may have one screen that can play videos, and show promotional information at the same time. You might even have a ticker at the bottom to show additional feeds. Theming each region to match up with one promotion, can create an additional ‘wow’ factor for your viewer.

Content doesn’t need to play for 24 hours a day.

Lastly, we recommend leaving the screen off for an hour or two every night when there aren’t any people around. This helps give the screen a break and prevent content burn-in from damaging the screen. So feel free to turn off the screen for a little while. Your hardware will thank you (and possibly your IT team as well).

Keep scheduled digital signage content relevant for the viewer, practical for the time, and simple for the user.

Content Creation For Digital Signage

In the new age of digital signage, content can make or break the experience you create for your customers. Whether a company invests in cutting edge equipment or not, they may miss the mark…is their content taking full advantage of its capabilities, or did they simply throw their funds at an absurdly expensive digital screen? They would probably under-utilize it anyway… Perhaps the business could better serve and impress its clients with the assistance of a consultant with years of experience and knowledge in digital signage content creation.

Right Content At The Right Time

Once they’ve found the right combination of equipment and a plan to utilize content in an optimal fashion, an expert team will help determine whether this content should change according to a set schedule or not. This is known as Scheduled Digital Signage Content, and the link provided leads one to excellent examples of how a business can use it most effectively.

Digital Signage Training

In order to efficiently use its scheduled content, a company may enlist a portion of its employees to take Digital Signage Training. A wise consultant will help select the best training package and tailor it to a company’s needs. Within a short time, they can create new content for digital maps, video walls, visitor management systems, wayfinding solutions, and much more.

Custom Content Creation

However, the long term strategy of training employees to create and update content may not be optimal for each business. Instead, a consultant may recommend content packages that may offer five to ten customized updates per month. Ideally, one may opt to train employees while they utilize such a package. The company will no longer need to pay the higher cost of these monthly content updates once the trainees learn to take over.

Conclusion

Whether your company needs to select the best combination of digital signage equipment, train its employees to utilize the gear, or invest in a package with immediate custom content, Creating Margin will exceed your expectations.

Why wait? Schedule our Digital Signage Needs Assessment Services and discusses the digital signage possibilities for your business, employees, and clients.

Digital Wayfinding Options

Digital wayfinding has been one of the most popular developments in digital signage in the last 6 years when we saw a noticeable uptake in customers evaluating solutions based on support for “wayfinding,” in general- driving rapid growth for several digital signage software leaders, including the San Jose-based 22Miles and Montreal-based X2O/Barco.

Leading digital wayfinding signage systems tout the ability to take an image of a map (often enhanced from a basic CAD file to highlight particular areas of a building or campus, with clearly labeled rooms and points-of-interest) and make it interactive, for zooming and such. In many cases, animated paths can be drawn from the “You Are Here” location (the kiosk) to a destination the user has selected from a list.

This type of wayfinding has come to be called “interactive pathfinding”. But it’s not the only type of wayfinding you can use for digital signage. In fact, in certain cases interactive pathfinding may be unnecessary, and end up being under-utilized (the worst possible fate for your technology investment). At Creating Margin, drawing from over 10 years of experience implementing wayfinding systems of all kinds, we have identified different types of digital wayfinding which we’ll explain below.

If you have questions about how different digital wayfinding signage systems might work for your business, send us a note using the contact form below.

Non-Interactive Options

STATIC WAYFINDING – MAP ONLY

Static Wayfinding

Static Wayfinding is helpful if you’re looking to start with the basics. It doesn’t always need to be interactive to help people navigate!

STATIC WAYFINDING – WITH LEGEND 

Static Wayfinding with Key

Wayfinding with icons and a key are very helpful for large facilities. Especially airports, hospitals, universities and more.

DYNAMIC BEACON WAYFINDING 

Showing an events list, that shows the location of the event on the map, is also a valuable form of wayfinding. This could be great for large corporate offices.

Events List Wayfinding Digital Signage

Interactive Options

INTERACTIVE PATHFINDING 

Interactive Wayfinding can be as simple as a tap. If the user tapped the event on the right side, an animated path would appear on the left.

TURN BY TURN DIRECTIONS 

Wayfinding Turn Instructions

Even with the animated path, it’s also helpful if wayfinding includes instructions on how to get to the next point. Consider adding steps into your wayfinding.

INTERACTIVE MAP WITH POP-UPS 

Ever seen this in the lobby of a hotel? They might have popular things to do listed on a page, and have it open up to a Google Maps page on a large screen for you to look at.

Mobile Wayfinding

GPS “MAPS” 

Google Maps UI

Yes, another form of wayfinding is something we use every day; GPS systems! Google Maps, Waze, and i-Maps are all examples of these.

BLUETOOTH ENABLED WAYFINDING

Wayfinding outside on your phone.

With a dynamic wayfinding beacon, users can connect to the beacon using their smartphone. This allows them to navigate from wherever they are, rather than needing to be in front of a kiosk.

ROOM BOOKING APPS

Wayfinding Book a Room App

Finally, dynamic wayfinding can even include apps that help the user book a room for a meeting, all while using Bluetooth.

What’s your favorite type of digital wayfinding? Share with us below on a way you use this for your office, store, or your building. With the digital signage constantly improving, it’s great to hear how wayfinding affects your lifestyle.