Rather than leave your TV on standby with a blank and boring screen when you’re not presenting, you can use the Airtame Cloud apps to display custom content and jazz up your workplace or school. You can customize Airtame’s Homescreen through Airtame Cloud, our device management tool you can access from your web browser.

We designed Airtame Cloud to make an IT admin’s job as easy as possible. One way is by giving them the option to assign user roles on Airtame Cloud to people in your organization.

That means an IT admin can safely assign your company’s marketing manager, for example, the role of “user.” This role gives them access to our Homescreen apps with no risk of the device settings being tinkered with. Assigning user roles opens up a whole world of signage possibilities with little effort.

To give you and your colleagues some inspiration, we want to show you just a few reasons why your organization needs to start using Homescreen apps.

Keep track of different time zones

Our World Clock app is our most simple app integration, which makes it an excellent app to start with if you’re new to custom digital signage. The idea is simple: display up to three clocks from different time zones on your screen.

When you have team members who work in a different timezone, keeping multiple clocks presented helps bring them a little bit closer, because it helps you envision their daily routine. In our case, it helps our Copenhagen team remember when the North America team is waking up, so we know when we can count on them to help with customer support.

Sync with your team

If you’re unfamiliar with Trello, it is a fresh way of organizing your projects with highly visual boards lined up in columns. For a  boost of efficiency, use the Trello app on Airtame’s Homescreen to display your Trello boards on a shared TV screen for everyone on your team to see.

Trello’s column design makes it easy to track your project’s progress at a glance. Not only is it nice to look at, but it also saves you the time spent trudging through spreadsheets. Let’s face it, spreadsheets are useful for tracking project results, but not very inspirational to look at.

Displaying a Trello board on a shared screen seems like a small thing, but keeping your team up to date with the latest activities on a project is a powerful way to stay aligned, especially for cross-team projects.

If the “Done” column on the Trello board looks a bit empty, it could help light a fire under your team to buckle down and get to work. And when everyone sees the “Done” column full, you can celebrate your hard work together.

Read more on how to use Trello.

Create an inspiring environment

We think workplace environment has a significant impact on productivity. People want to feel inspired when they come to work and if their office is drab, then they won’t feel energized to do great work.

Placing art on the walls creates a feeling in the room that was not there before. It’s the reason why even a doctor’s office is filled with calming pictures. With the Unsplash app on Airtame’s Homescreen, you can choose from a growing collection of stunning photography. It helps set the mood in your office so that your TV screens reflect your company’s values.

At Airtame, we have a screen by the coffee machine with a collection of coffee photography. It helps create a relaxed environment so that people can enjoy a quick break with their coffee before powering up for the next meeting.

With the Unsplash app integrated into Airtame’s Homescreen, just type in a keyword into the search function and choose from Unsplash’s many photo collections. You can even choose how often the images rotate through, from every 5 seconds to every 10 minutes.

Share team news

Our most used app is Google Slides. It’s simply the easiest way to display information in a fast, yet eye-catching way. At Airtame, we use Google Slides on the TV by our entrance in a handful of different ways.

When we have new team members, for instance, we use Google Slides to introduce them to the rest of the company with a quick picture and some fun facts about them. Other times, we share some group pictures from a photoshoot for our website, which makes for a nice conversation starter for people walking by.

The true beauty of this use case is that anyone can create a Google Slides slideshow. If you’ve already made a slideshow, it’s simply a matter of logging in with your Google account and selecting your presentation. It’s easy enough that you can change it up as often as you want.

Check out this article for more tips on spicing up your Google presentations.

What’s coming up next?

Airtame is a living product, which means we’re updating what you and your team can do with it all the time. This extends to Homescreen. In addition to the apps listed in this post, we have more amazing apps soon to be released in beta for you to try out.

The apps we have up our sleeve include Homescreen Preview, a meeting room app that would let you see whether the room is free or booked. We will also add a OneDrive integration, similar to our current Dropbox app, and a Power BI integration, which lets you display top-notch business reports and dashboards.

How to customize your Homescreen

You can find all our apps and integrations in the Homescreen tab on Airtame Cloud. Simply follow the instructions to sync the apps with your accounts.

Have a cool app or integration idea that you want to see on your Homescreens? Let us know! Fill out our survey on Homescreen usage.

Take our Homescreen apps for a spin! Sign up for Airtame Cloud and start spicing up your screens

The post 4 ways to spice up your screens with Airtame Cloud apps appeared first on Airtame.

Trello is a great organizational tool that can help you record and prioritize work. In this article, we’ll go through basic Trello features as well as additional hacks and integrations to take your Trello game to the next level.

What is Trello?

You know that satisfaction you get when crossing an item off of a scribbled to-do list? Trello lets you experience the same thing but within an application. It’s an online platform that can help you stay on track with multiple projects.

We all worry about reaching our professional goals and can feel guilty after a seemingly unproductive day. That’s where Trello can be of great help; it’s used by individuals and teams to manage tasks and projects.

Breaking down goals and projects into baby steps can really help relieve stress. Ultimately, every achievement is a culmination of bite-sized efforts, and you should give yourself credit for everyday wins. Trello helps you set goals and track your progress so you can focus your energy on getting the work done.

Airtame has an official Trello integration, so you can showcase your project boards as digital signage on your screens. Airtame and Trello both seek to make work more efficient, and that’s why we see them as an ideal match for each other.

10 basics to help you get started with Trello

If you’d like to test out the features explained below, why not go ahead and set up a free Trello account so that you can follow along?

1. Boards

With Trello, life can be organized into boards. A board can represent a project (e.g. new website) or a period of time (e.g. March to-do list). There is no limit to the number of boards you can have within your account. When you log in to Trello, you’ll initially see an overview of all of your boards, including the option to create a new one.

Consider your board as a category to be broken down into sub-categories or “lists”.

2. Lists

Lists within a board can offer an overview of your progress by labeling them as “To-do”, “Doing” and “Done”.

This depends on what works best for you though. If you work in HR, maybe instead you’d want each list to represent a candidate for hire. A list could be labeled with a candidate’s name, with respective cards displaying their photo, LinkedIn profile link, and a list of questions to cover during a tentative interview.

There’s no limit to the number of boards, lists or cards that you can have in your Trello account.

3. Cards

Cards often represent specific tasks within a list, such as “set-up a meeting with John” or “Finish March payroll”. Cards can also represent concepts behind an artistic project or specific research sources that you’ll need to refer back to.

A card can be easily dragged and dropped between lists depending on where it best fits at a given time. Moving cards from the “Doing” to “Done” list never ceases to award a sense of achievement.

4. Menu items

Menu items within cards offer you the possibility to add a member, a checklist, due date, attachment, etc. You can use one or as many of the available features as you’d like, depending on what makes the most sense. If you’ve made a card with a checklist for improving specific skills, you would perhaps want to add links to guides and video tutorials.

You can attach files of up to 10MB from your computer, Google Drive, Dropbox and/or OneDrive account. The only stipulation is that you have the correct “Power-Up” enabled (more on that further down).  

If you’re the kind of person who enjoys using different colored sticky notes to mark textbooks, then you may enjoy the “Labels” menu feature. This lets you color-code your cards based on your very own system.

5. Teams

Creating a team is an option within your “Home” page, and it offers an additional level to organizing work accordingly. You may be a content writer who helps write blog posts for the marketing team but also proofreads support guides for the customer success team. The style and goal of your work, as well as who you’re working with, may vary between these different projects and the teams you’re a part of.

6. Starring

To “star” a board is to mark it as a high priority. “Starred” boards appear at the top of your “Home” and “Boards” page. This helps you easily find the most pressing tasks without having to scroll through everything.

You can star (and unstar) a board when on the “Home” page, the “Boards“ page and while you have a specific board open. There is no limit to the number of boards that you can star, but remember that “less is more”. Trello is supposed to help you concentrate by breaking work down into manageable tasks. So it’s counterproductive to make everything a priority.  

7. Home page

When you click on the house icon in the top left corner, you will be taken back to the home page where you can choose to view “Boards” or “Home”. The “Boards” section lets you view your boards according to categories (ones you’ve starred, personal boards, etc.).

The “Home” section shows you what’s “Up Next”, which is useful for seeing which cards should be prioritized according to their deadline. Your home page will also show “Highlights” in addition to links to your starred and recently viewed boards. You can filter what you see to show “Highlights” from a specific team. Otherwise, this section will list cards that you have been mentioned in. Simply click the “reply” button to respond to a colleague.

8. Archiving and deleting

Archiving and deleting items is necessary if you want to keep your work organized. If a task is complete, or if you won’t be able to get to it until a much later date, you can click the “Archive Card” option. This does not delete the card but rather moves it to “Archived Items” (found within the “Show Menu” list in the top right).

Archived cards will remain archived indefinitely unless you choose to delete them. After you’ve archived a card, a “Delete” button will appear in the bottom right-hand corner. Once deleted, there’s no way to retrieve a card.  

9. Visibility

Managing visibility refers to who can see and edit what within Trello. A board can be either “private”, “team”, “organization” or “public”. Personally, I’ve found that having at least one board all to myself is great for staying on top of even the smallest duties (like watering your desk plant).

10. Assigning cards

Assigning cards to dedicated members makes sense if you’re collaborating with others on a task or project. You may need to pass a card onto someone like a baton depending on which stage things are at. Within a card, you use the “Members” option in the menu to add the people who are responsible.  You can remove yourself at any time from a card.

Trello is all about making work easier for yourself and others. Make sure that each person you assign a card to understands what is expected of them.

Trello Hacks

The term “hack” can be thrown around in different contexts. For this article, think of hacks in terms of keyboard shortcuts and similar tips for making use of the basics. Being able to use keyboard shortcuts while having Trello sync with other applications will give you that extra support in staying on top of your professional life.

Using keyboard shortcuts

Some people enjoy using hacks even if it saves just a microsecond. Keep in mind though that you don’t need to use every hack in order for Trello to help you; just go at your own pace.

• Pressing “enter” when your mouse is hovering over a card will make it open.
• Pressing “c” when hovering over a card will archive it,
• Pressing “/” opens the search box where you can enter a keyword such as “proofreading” in order find related cards.  
• Pressing “f” opens the filter dialog box. From here you can filter out cards by keywords, labels, members, or due dates. Anything that doesn’t match your criteria will be hidden until you remove the filters.
• Pressing  “x” clears all filters, taking you back to the full view of everything in your board.

For the full list of Trello keyboard shortcuts, click here.

Creating cards from URLs

Another “hack” is to copy and paste a website’s URL into the “Add Card” field within a list. What will happen is that Trello will generate the card’s title based on the content within the link. When you open the card you’ll see the original link, and there’ll be individual attachments for each image from that specific page. If you’re doing any kind of research, this is a great way to keep track of inspiring content.

Creating cards from spreadsheets

You can also copy and paste a number of cells from a spreadsheet. This could be anything from a to-do list to notes from a board meeting. Just like when pasting in a URL, Trello knows where the information is coming from. When you paste from a spreadsheet, you’ll have the choice to create one card for everything or a specific card for each cell.

Creating cards from emails

A third way to create a card is to forward an email on to your customized Trello email. Open a board and then click on “Show Menu”, “More”, “Email-to-board Settings” and then copying your dedicated email for that specific board.

Once you forward an email to this address, a card will be automatically generated, appearing on the bottom of the left-most list in that board. The card’s title is generated from the original email’s subject and the description from the body and any attachments will also be visible.

Using Markdown for text formatting

Trello uses Markdown, the same syntax that Airtame relies on for editing its Homescreen overlay text. If you’d like a deep dive into using Markdown with Trello, feel free to check out this guide. Otherwise, here are the basics:

• To make text bold, add two asterisks on either side: **bold**
• To make text italic, add an underscore on either side:  _italic_
• To make text very big, add one pound key (or “hashtag”) before it:  #Header 1.

You can add two or three pound keys to make text various sizes: ##Header 2, ###Header 3. Changing the font size in this way only works for the description of a card; not the title or items within a checklist.

Trello integrations

An integration, or “Power-Up” in Trello lingo, is about syncing Trello with other professional applications. You can use Power-Ups in order to pull files from online storage accounts such as Dropbox.

To activate and test out a Power-Up, navigate to a specific board within your Trello account, click on  “Show Menu”, then “Power-Ups”, then scroll down the list until you find your favorite tool and press “Enable.” 

The following are our favorite integrations.

Trello and Slack

Both Trello and Slack are great tools to help you organize your work and stay up to speed on relevant news. You can use Slack to send a direct message or follow relevant threads within particular channels of communication.

While ‘Slacking’ is great for day-to-day communication, aligning on the general strategy and keeping abreast of significant announcements, Trello can give you a better step-by-step view of how to complete an assignment (in the form of a card) as part of a larger project (in the form of board).

Trello and Slack together offer several features such as sending reminders from Trello to a specific teammate or an entire channel in Slack. You can also attach Trello cards to Slack conversations so that people can easily understand which task you’re referring to or link Slack conversations in Trello.

Trello and Jira

Jira is a software development tool that, among other uses, is great for planning and tracking software releases as well as fixing known bugs.

There are several benefits of using the Trello Power-Up with Jira You can link Jira issues to Trello cards so that people outside of the development team can keep an eye on the progress. This is especially beneficial to colleagues offering customer support, which sometimes includes reassuring an end user that a bug fix is coming soon. With Trello, you can easily see which Jira issues have been solved and which are pending. You can also create an issue report in Jira based on info sent from Trello, meaning communication is possible both ways.

Trello and Airtame

In case you didn’t already know, Airtame is a device for wireless screen sharing and digital signage. Airtame’s mission is to help people use screens better—meaning screens should be used as complementary tools to your work.

When your Airtame-enabled screen is not being used for wireless screen sharing, it can be used as a digital signage tool. When you enable Airtame’s Homescreen in the Cloud, you can choose from a variety of different digital signage integrations, such as Room Overview, Dropbox Gallery, Dropbox or a world clock. Read more about all the Homescreen app integrations here.  

Trello is one of the Homescreen apps we offer. Once you’ve enabled Homescreen in Airtame Cloud, you simply input your Trello login credentials and choose up to five lists to display on your Airtame-equipped monitor. Click here for a brief guide to our Trello app.

May the productivity be with you

I love post-it notes as much as the next stationary enthusiast, but it’s 2019 and time to ditch the paper clutter. You don’t really want notebooks and scraps strewn around your desk. If you get to use both Trello and Airtame, that’s a double whammy—getting rid of cables and paper clutter! Marie Kondo would be proud.

Are you a fan of Trello too? Let us know why you love it (or perhaps why you don’t)!

The post How to use Trello   appeared first on Airtame.

There are countless examples like these, and they are all, in some form, digital signage. It’s everywhere, integrated with many different businesses and needs. In fact, the digital signage industry accounted for 19.6 billion USD in 2016. In 2032, it’s expected to reach more than 32 billion USD. It’s a rapidly growing industry with enormous potential.

As we grow more accustomed to a digitalized world, digital signage assumes a more significant role for enterprises. Workforces distributed across multiple locations benefit from a centrally controlled content distribution platform and old communication tools get replaced by new, smarter technology. That’s what digital signage represents – a solution that delivers timely information.

Airtame focuses on getting the most out of screens and projectors through best in class wireless presentation technology. With our platform-agnostic product, users have previously been able to mirror their screens, stream or set up static content. As our mission to unlock the power of professional displays develops, both the product and our focus are naturally moving in the direction of digital signage. With newly set up applications, users can integrate the Airtame Homescreen with dashboard services, beautiful backgrounds or simple tools like a world clock, inspiring imagery from Unsplash, Google Slides, and Trello boards.

In this article, we’re going to explore where digital signage came from, how it has evolved, and what the benefits are. Short on time? Jump to the chapter you need:

1. What is digital signage
2. How it all began
3. The birth of digital signage
4. Digital signage use today
5. Digital signage for schools
6. Digital signage for business
7. What will the future hold?
8. Should you care about digital signage?
9. How Airtame delivers digital signage

What is digital signage?

The term digital signage is very broad. It’s connected to digital screens that can display content and information in any space, but there is much more to it than that.

As a term, it’s often connected with the screens themselves, but the screens or the size of them is not what makes digital signage a game-changer for engaging audiences. It’s a sea of possibilities, not just for retailers but all businesses, big and small.

There are endless ways to explore the power of digital signage and how it makes the daily flow of information more interactive, responsive, and user-friendly.

But before we get to the use cases and many interesting ways digital signage can be deployed, let’s try to fit the term into a box.

More than a flash in the pan

Digital signage means a centrally controlled content distribution platform that can be used to broadcast many different messages. Today, it’s typically some type of screen that displays meaningful content to a specific audience.

It can be found in both public and private domains, and we’re already experiencing it in all kinds of environments. Digital signage is in many instances a replacement or an alternative to analog signage. It’s the small changes we’re not paying attention to, like the poster with the schedule by the bus stop that’s been replaced by a screen, or the digital noticeboard at the airport indicating gate and takeoff info.

A lot of the time, you might not even notice that you’re being targeted through digital signage. It could be a billboard changing based on the search history of a by-passer or ads changing per real-time updates such as the weather.

Even though we don’t always notice it as a marketing tool, digital signage is immensely popular. Because the dynamic content engages an audience better than regular, static messages, the value of deploying it is higher. Up-to-date, relevant content, moving images and changing graphics make sure the message is always on point.

Both cost-efficient and eco-friendly

The setup varies from the most basic and simple to complex and diverse, ranging from one screen to multiple. The different screens may show the same or alternative content, giving the sender an abundance of choices to display the most valuable data.

Let’s go back to the menu kiosks we mentioned in the beginning. It’s a touchscreen that allows the consumer to interact, and in this case, place an order. It’s a great example of how digital signage can guide the customer journey. Oftentimes, the customer journey isn’t a part of the decision when people put up digital screens, which is a big loss.

Many think of digital signage as a means to display information around a venue but no more than that. Besides attracting attention however, digital signage allows you to promote or advertise your product or business, provide in-store entertainment, offer a personalized experience or talk directly to the customer, employee or visitor.

One thing that makes many types of digital signage differ from analog signage is the ability to not only display dynamic content but to be interactive as well. In the instances where interactive displays such as touchscreen are used, digital signage becomes even more user-friendly.

It’s cost-efficient and a step in an eco-friendly direction. Imagine a restaurant that rotates menu items as the seasons change or a promotional campaign for which thousands of copies are needed. After the season or the campaign is over, all that paper material is thrown out because it’s no longer relevant. With digital signage, all it takes is an update in the CMS, and the content displayed is again up-to-date.

Dystopian Orwell or user-centric tech wonder?

Signage has been a part of human communication for as long as we know, and now digital signage is taking the marketing industry, office spaces, and public displays by storm.

We went from primitive pointers to customized content with real-time updates – some even GPS-controlled and tailored to each user. The latter sounds very Minority Report, but it’s not even a future scenario.

The technology is here, and chances are you’ve been exposed to it already. To some, it might sound a bit scary, like a scene out of Orwell’s universe, but rather than an ominous Big Brother breathing down your neck, you should look at it as a useful tool with multiple benefits.

Burger King and McDonald’s have been using digital menus for years, and recently, menu kiosks from which you can order your meals have also become available. Both burger chain conglomerates use a digital signage system to repurpose images and menu items and even combine them with trends, targeted ads, and demographics. At Build-A-Bear, kids can put together their plush animals via an interactive touchscreen tool that serves both an advertisement and selection purpose.

Besides retailers and eateries, digital signage makes a difference for common areas that can otherwise be confusing. In hospitals, banks or just the average office space, digital signage provides a clear and consistent message that can direct and inform staff and visitors.

More than that, digital signage can improve productivity at an office by providing easy access to information. Digital signage deployment within workspaces is an often neglected opportunity to communicate directly with staff but can make internal communication more accessible and effective.

Attention-grabbing content is a game-changer

When administrators need to communicate directly with a large number of staff or students, how can they do so with an immediate effect? Digital signage in schools and office environments can be used to display automated content such as event listing, cafeteria menus, wayfinding or customizable welcome messages.

An overlooked function in both corporate and educational facilities is to utilize digital signage as an emergency alert system. Digital displays can notify employees and students of emergencies like weather conditions, safety hazards or violent situations. Strategically placed displays will help inform what actions they need to take and how to stay safe.

Digital signage is the most efficient and affordable method for getting a message out, whether it’s a meeting room agenda, communication protocols or inspirational visuals.

To understand where we are today, and where we could end up in the future, let’s go back in time and explore the history of signage.

How it all began

Intelligent forms of communication have always been part of humanity and with that, we’ve found ways of instructing others. We’ve needed it to warn of danger, help kindred spirits or signal our strength. Thus, signage is nothing new. Dating all the way back to the Paleolithic Age, around 18,000 BC, cave and rock paintings were used not only to offer directions or information but a ritualistic perspective as well.

Ancient Egyptians would cut stone to indicate religious sites or carve out historical events, and their inscriptions with hieroglyphs are some of the first written accounts we’ve come across.  The word “sign” is derived from the Latin “signum”, which means mark or token. While the Romans were not the first to use signs, they were the first to introduce a road system, and with the road system proper signage as well.

In 1393, King Richard II passed an act stating that all alehouses must post a sign. Thus, pub and inn signs became a popular advertising statement. Supposedly, the first poster ad in English was placed on a London church door in 1472. When trade and commerce picked up some centuries later, and Gutenberg invented the printing press, communication became even more intricate.

The industrial revolution sparked a new technological era

In the mid-1800s, the production of newspapers, flyers, magazines, and catalogs picked up. As often before, communicative means coincided with the evolution of technology, and the same era experienced remarkable inventions such as gas lighting, cars, and electric bulbs. It completely changed the news industry and workspace area because all these new products needed actual advertising. In 1890, the first advertising agency was established.

The Bauhaus Movement, which started at the beginning of the 20th century, pushed signage in the direction of art. Eventually, signage was not only a practical issue but one of aesthetic as well. Design, typography, and color were suddenly an integral part of signage.

As signage evolved, so did technology. In time, they merged. An American car salesman ordered the first ever neon sign in 1929, shortly thereafter making it in high demand. One can only imagine the joy of shop owners as they could finally display specific messages such as “open” or “closed”.

Other industries started taking advantage of advertising opportunities on the sides of buildings and in newspapers. Promotional content and tailored messages could be experienced everywhere, but the content still came from a product-centric state of mind rather than user-centric.

The birth of digital signage

The term “digital signage” first saw light of day in early 1992 in a UK shopping center, where a security guard – not knowing the appropriate term – apparently first referred to a network of video walls as digital signage. In the early days, VHS and DVD content was displayed on old tube televisions we used to have before flatpanels were a thing.

When thinner television models became more affordable in the early 00s, retailers began using them for promotional value – just as they did in the 70s when the VCR hit the market. Flatpanels became a norm in many stores and public spaces, replacing banner ads and paper posters. High-quality ads streaming in-store was an impressive sight, wowing customers and influencing sales.

But the content displayed was still of a more static nature, either a looping ad, still images or simple slideshows.

Dynamic content = better engagement

When computer-based media players became available, it opened up for more dynamic content that could be easily updated and controlled centrally. These media players were originally small computers, born at the same time computers were. They talk to servers, which direct content via the internet.

The display network’s content is managed with software, called Content Management System (CMS). Some only use CMS as a central platform to manage content, whereas others use it to build and create from scratch.

Networking media players to screens took off in the 70s with VCRs (VCRs connected to TVs is not considered digital signage however), and soon thereafter came various digital signage software types.

Yet the software is nothing without the screens on which to display it. As with other types of technology, the evolution of screens has been fast-scaling and incredible. Hardware display screens could be either LCD, LED or even projection, but interactive displays are also on the uprise. As prices went down on flatpanel technology, the impact of the content displayed began to decrease as well. People wanted more storytelling and further innovation to keep them engaged, and that brings us to where we are today.

Digital signage use today

Digital signage is already very user-centered and user-friendly today, opening up for interaction and cross-platform integration.

With screens being an integral part of so many businesses, public spaces, and organizations, it should be something to consider for everyone. It very well could be that someone is not taking full advantage of the options to promote and improve their business because they simply haven’t heard all the benefits. More companies and organizations are allowed to penetrate the market because prices on both hardware and software are plummeting. In short, we are moving away from the typical “Times Square style” digital signage at a rapid pace, and the opportunity for smaller, more cost-effective deployments of digital signage is on the rise.

The sub-segments of digital signage

There are many different uses of digital signage today, and it’s hard to categorize every single one of them. Let’s try with a grand overview of the most common applications anyway:

• Internal information: There is considerable potential in aiding employees, students or visitors on-site. Proper digital signage can convey important news or corporate messages, display real-time health and safety information, meeting room updates or calendar events.
• Public information: If you’ve ever been stuck in traffic and wondering if a different route is more manageable, digital signage could help you out. Traffic information, news items or even directions could help you on your journey.
• Product information: Displaying marketing messaging associated with the product or service can be very helpful to the user. It could be pricing, nutritional value, ingredients, and suggested usage.

• Advertising: Great digital signage advertising can be used to direct the customers’ attention and promote services. With third-party advertising, owners of digital signage boards can give the option to bid for the signage space to promote a product or brand.

• Branding: Tailored brand messaging or illustrative graphics can be used to raise brand awareness.

• Enhancing the customer experience: Whether you’re walking around in a supermarket, airport, museum, zoo, park or any other cultural attraction, digital signage can be used to help aid understanding, provide demonstrations or list perceived wait time.

• Influencing decision-making: Digital signage can be used to increase dwell time at specific items or areas, impulse purchases by displaying marketing messages or persuading customers through discounts or offers.

• Navigation: Dynamic wayfinding through digital signage is upping the game of regular wayfinding. Think interactive roadmaps and footprints that might even be GPS-controlled.

• Digital menus: Being able to change signage easily is very beneficial to many restaurants, eateries or retailers since menu items and products fluctuate throughout the seasons. Digital menu boards would also allow users to reserve a meeting room in an organization or even a table at a restaurant. It could be used to book a resource or for a chance to upsell at the time of purchase.

• Entertainment: This category could fall under several of the others since entertainment can help attract the user’s attention. It could be a native video wall, promotional videos or even mini-games.

Digital signage for schools

Schools often have to rely on smaller budgets and thus don’t have the same opportunities regarding buying expensive, state-of-the-art digital signage solutions. Moreover, screens in education institutions come with different requirements than those of the retail industry or corporate venues. Rather than aesthetics, screens need to be sturdy, easy to navigate and perhaps even a set size.

But that doesn’t mean school environments should skip on digital signage altogether. By adding informative and interactive screens, education institutions can upgrade the learning experience. Digital signage can certainly be tweaked to fit school information and streamline communication.

Instead of relying on complicated email systems and paper notices, digital signage is an opportunity to keep students up to date with events, news or real-time changes. Because corridors and common areas in schools are often crowded areas, it’s the perfect place to display and share information.

School announcement, image and video content, lunch menus and welcome messages. Students today are used to getting important information from digital displays, therefore making digital signage a perfect solution.

Learning environments call for an effortless solution that’s easy to maintain both in regards to software and hardware. Because content shifts so often, it’s a must to find a solution that can be controlled centrally, preferably even remotely, to take off some of the strain on janitors and IT admins.

The perfect match will help schools, colleges and universities relay and publish information that is optimized to the space and the time. While static signage is difficult and costly to update, digital signage can be helpful to the students and at the same time give them a learning environment that isn’t only focused on a still-sitting teacher-centric environment where all information comes from an authority. Digital signage is a way to keep students updated with content that matters to them, in a way that matches their thinking.

Digital signage for business

Members of staff or students are more likely to pay attention to visually-driven content in work areas than text-heavy emails and paper notes. Internal communication can thus be improved by sharing vital information on digital screens, creating better engagement and removing inbox clutter and lost memos. If there’s no other info to share, you can utilize the screens to present beautiful imagery or artwork that might boost employee engagement and positivity.

Internal digital signage is often overlooked but holds the potential to increase productivity at the office or even serve as a lifesaver. In the event of an acute emergency, it can be difficult to alert the entire staff no matter how meticulously outlined the emergency plans are. With digital signage, you can relay essential emergency messages to all members of the faculty. This will allow you to communicate directly with staff, students and visitors in the event of a fire, chemical spill, bad weather or any other safety threat.

Focus on the audience, not the product

Small businesses use digital signage to share sales; quick service restaurants use digital signage to make ordering easier while schools and corporate offices go from closed-off communities to open dialogue.

Besides using screens for sharing important messages internally, digital signage invites the user in and creates a dialogue. Through interactive displays with touchscreen technology, the audience can search for a specific product or service, look up features or design their customer journey that could unlock rewards, games or extra information.

The incentive behind interactive touchscreen technology is huge because the interaction between user and content becomes more memorable and entertaining instead of informative and narrow. To the user, the interaction is now a simulated two-way conversation rather than an overload of information to digest.

Another kind of live interaction comes from social network integration. Real-time Twitter conversations could be displayed to show a political climate or quality of a service, just as selfies or comments could help boost the feeling of dialogue. Social media synced screens can help bring the online brand into the real world and help the consumer feel valued, even courted.

Communicating with the individual user is key to successful signage. We’re already experiencing examples of content tailored to the target group, a specific location or even the weather. Since digital signage content can automatically adjust to match the right updates, it’s ideal for sharing weather updates or other real-time updates.

What will the future hold?

It’s a good question, with an answer we can only speculate. As more and more companies embrace digitalization, the digital signage industry is sure to pick up on new trends. We think these might include:

Increased personalization: Interactivity will get even more individualized. Responsive and automated content could be directed from sensors or data flows that improve the point of contact. Real-time updates will be tailored to real-world conditions and the exact consumer in question. We’re already experiencing examples of this with ads that change according to weather such as umbrella ads when it’s raining and ads for sunglasses or outdoor activities when it’s sunny.

Demographics will be used to tailor the user experience. Through open sources or private devices, personal information such as age, preferences, job position, and income may be used to guide users to their specific taste preferences.

Recognition: Sensors, cameras, and voice recognition can be used to aid the user further. With the right amount of accuracy, users can be greeted by name and offered services that suit their needs.

Since sensors will be able to connect with data flows, AI can tailor the digital signage shown and when it should be shown. If you’re browsing the vegetable section in the supermarket, screens can show you recipes that match the vegetables you’re looking at and deals on similar items.

Digital signage and AI: With more accuracy and data processing comes a better understanding of the users. Smart digital signage could even end up replacing human-to-human interactions altogether. It’s already happening in the restaurant industry, but soon other areas of the service industry could follow suit. Corporate offices, banks, hospitals and many other places would most likely benefit from an increase in intelligent digital signage.

Amazon Go has already introduced a shopping experience with no personnel, lines or checkout. Via advanced technology and a smart app, you will be shown the best product for you, similar products you might like or discounts applied to the suggested items. As you take the items and leave the store, you automatically pay for them via the app.

As we get more and more comfortable with AI solutions that target us, a more personalized experience probably isn’t far off. Facial recognition and content triggered by our preferences is something we might be able to experience very soon.

To infinity and beyond?

Before electronic signage, we would use primitive drawings and wayfinding tricks to help guide ourselves and others. With the industrial revolution, many types of work were replaced by machines, in turn, giving us more free time to use on all the goods produced by technological advancements.

And no great product truly lives without great advertising, so sketches, drawings, and soon photographs too would aid us in choosing the right products. With the boom of the internet and computers, we were suddenly even more interlinked, and we started to understand the power of commercial display and engagement reach.

The pace of development in the digital signage industry is impressive and fast, regarding both hardware and software. Whatever the future holds, it looks bright, exciting, and more inclusive – for businesses and consumers alike.

Should you care about digital signage?

To make it in the digitalized, fast-paced world of today, companies big and small need to check off these two things:

1. Sell more products
2. Increase productivity (in employees and students)

Effective use of digital signage can help achieve both goals by engaging with both employees and customers.

Digital signage doesn’t have to be overly complicated or difficult to manage, and since it’s more affordable and accessible than ever, even smaller organizations with limited staff or resources can take advantage of it too.

With each new development in the field, the bar is raised, producing more stable, secure and versatile solutions. Open-source technology and platform-agnostic solutions mean that more and more businesses are able to set up digital signage efforts.

The audience has been given much more power than the one-way flow of information from before. They’re now encouraged to explore an experience tailored to their specific needs from a device of their choosing. It’s a golden opportunity to communicate directly with them, collect valuable information or provide an even better service.

Bottom line is…

As we’ve outlined in the previous chapters, digital signage solutions come with a wide variety of benefits. Digital signage solutions are:

Cost-efficient: Change and update content at no additional cost.

Informative: Inform your target audience with relevant content. Use it to relay internal messages or to communicate with external parties such as visitors, clients or customers.

Effective: Control your content from a central platform and update it with no more than a few clicks, no matter where your screens are located.

Engaging: Engage your audience via games, videos or interactive content to create a memorable and entertaining experience.

Branding: Digital signage allows you to send a relevant message that aligns company values or branding ideas and use it to add promotional value.

When employees are in sync with the organization’s mission, they become more productive. They waste less time if company information is shared with them directly and if the message is consistent and available.

The answer to this chapter’s question is two-sided but clear. On the one hand, digital signage can help you sell more products by providing an effective and entertaining medium for advertising. On the other hand, digital signage engages the audience by sending relevant, updated information that saves time and minimizes errors. Both sides have one overall benefit that can hardly be overlooked: the increase in your bottom line.

How Airtame delivers digital signage

Airtame is not only a screen sharing device, it’s also a package of innovative solutions for digital signage and artful content that are easy to set up and use. In Airtame Cloud, where you manage and monitor your devices, we offer several applications and ways to turn your screens into digital signage.

One of the simplest forms of digital signage with Airtame is to set a custom background. Show stock images, your company logo or pretty images.

For a more detailed display of information, we suggest setting up a 3rd party dashboard service that shows your KPI metrics, goals or social media engagement. There are many dashboard providers out there, but we’ve compiled a list of the top KPI dashboards that work with Airtame. This signage option was particularly effective for the folks at the shared economy car rental company GoMore as it outlined them to present real-time performance results across their workspace.

Airtame is customizable for every organization, occasion or idea. Besides setting your own background image, you can change the overlay, text and on-screen instructions to best suit your needs. If you own several devices, you can tailor each screen connected to a device to show exactly the kind of content that’s most effective in its environment. Meeting room digital signage is not the same as waiting area digital signage, and you shouldn’t treat them equally.

Our integrated digital signage

We’ve integrated a set of applications, with more to come in the future, so you get the most out of every device in every room. Besides a simple URL or background image, these applications can make everyday team collaborations easier and more seamless. You can also adjust the orientation of your content to match the screen’s and optimize the viewer’s experience. So far, you can set up your Airtame Homescreen with these helpful apps:

Trello: Trello is no stranger to corporate culture. Those who already use Trello know how appealing it is to see plans, projects, and ideas visualized and neatly structured. For those unfamiliar with Trello, it’s a project management tool that keeps track of joint tasks. The Airtame integration means you can set up sprint boards and shared projects. You can choose to show several columns on each screen or spread them across several.

Unsplash: Artful content is known to increase productivity and create a more positive work environment. The online photography haven Unsplash is a wonderland of free, beautiful images. Choose between thousands of photos and pick your favorites to display on Airtame when no one is streaming to it.

World Clock: Many businesses have foreign branches where they speak a different language and go by a different time zone. That makes it difficult to keep up with other teams’ work, but we’ve made it possible to set up to three different clocks to keep track of times in other areas.

Google Slides: Google Slides is the king of online presentations. Several people may work on the same slideshow simultaneously, which makes editing a breeze. Digital signage on Airtame with Google Slides is not just presentations though. You can show updated calendars, lunch menus, agendas and personalized content. When you make changes to the slideshow, your displayed content is automatically updated as well.

Corporate offices, schools, and many other organizations need a simple digital signage tool that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. They want an effective way to share information and engage their audience, and they’re looking for something that’s easy to maintain and update on a daily basis.

We’re constantly working on upgrading the Airtame experience, and with the aforementioned app integrations, users will now be one step closer to communication smarter and more effectively.

The post Digital signage: Everything you need to know appeared first on Airtame.

Highlights:

• New apps: We’re introducing the first few apps. Cross-team collaboration with Trello, awe-inspiring photography from Unsplash for daily inspiration, integrated clocks for seamless teamwork, Google Slides to improve display of information, OneDrive and Dropbox for displaying image galleries, and Homescreen app, a sneak peek of our newly redesigned Homescreen.

• All in public beta: There’s no out-of-pocket expense with the launch of these apps. Homescreen is still in public beta, meaning you can try them out and take full advantage of their benefits.

• Your first step into digital signage: We’re working on more awesome things at the moment, all leading towards unlocking the power of digital signage. These apps are just the first baby beta steps, so stay tuned for more updates
• Download the new 3.2.3 firmware and get started!

Digital signage is popping up in more and more places, and with these four apps, you’ll be able to see the magic too. Digital signage means centrally controlled, customized content distribution to one or more screens. Turn blank screens into eye-catching, relevant content sharing surfaces right away. Start communication with customers, students, employees or visitors.

Sharing the right information at the right time can be a challenge – unless you have the right tools. With the right tools, you’ll be able to share calendars, notify staff about events, the lunch menu, upcoming visitors, birthdays or display mind-blowing photography to captivate passer-bys.

Schools, hospitals, banks, corporate offices and many more organizations are all looking for a simple and effective way to share information with their audiences. With a seamless experience, employee morale is boosted and productivity increases.

With our latest additions to the Airtame Cloud and firmware version 3.2.3, we’re pleased to now offer a smarter and more effective way of utilizing digital screens. Through Airtame’s Homescreen product, users will now be able to use Trello, Unsplash, World Clock, and Google Slides as the first few apps of many.

Our new apps

Trello

Trello is a web-based project management tool. It provides a platform for planning and organizing projects, and it’s a useful way to keep track of updates and ideas.

If you already use Trello in your workplace, you can now showcase the content on screens via Airtame. Set up sprint boards for your office space, shared to-do lists or weekly digests. You can choose what columns to show on each TV or let the board spread across multiple screens. It gives you a much better workflow, especially because you’re able to change the size of the text and how many details to show.

Unsplash

Unsplash provides beautiful, high quality, free images, and photos. Visual stimulation is proven to have significant, positive impact on your work environment, for increasing creativity, and serving as daily inspiration to both employees, clients, and visitors. In fact, in an office with art, employees worked approximately 15% faster than those in the lean office.

With our Unsplash app, you can set up amazing backgrounds for general inspiration, to celebrate, create good vibes or simply because it looks good. Set the mood with the right images and use your screens to the fullest when you’re not streaming to them.

\

World Clock

Keeping track of time is essential for any organization, especially if you have colleagues or customers in different time zones. With our World Clock app, you can set up to 3 clocks to stay in tune with the time in the timezones of your teams and clients.

Google Slides

Google Slides lets you create and edit amazing online presentations, for free. It lets you work effortlessly with other people since more than one person can access the presentation at the same time and make changes. But there are several other ways to use Google Slides. Format a slide show to present an updated calendar, the agenda of today’s meeting or a rotation of fun pictures.

Digital signage with Google Slides offers a lot of benefits for your organization. Welcome your clients, share company calendars, set up dashboards or even use it for displaying the lunch menu. Slides are updated automatically when edits have been made.

Airtame’s Google Slides app within Homescreen makes picking and changing presentations easier than ever. You’ll be sure to find many exciting use cases that turn your screen into an easy digital signage solution.

Homescreen

The new Homescreen app lets you preview our completely redesigned Homescreen.

Not only does it have a sleek new look and feel, the Homescreen app also has new functionalities. Use the conveniently placed clock to keep track of time. Or sync your meeting room calendar so you know at a glance if the room has been booked or not.

Dropbox Gallery 

Dropbox is one of the most popular cloud storage services for business and personal use. It is a central place to store and share files with your teams. 

With Dropbox Gallery, select a whole gallery of images from a Dropbox folder, and make them stand out with our styling options.

OneDrive Gallery

OneDrive is another popular cloud storage service for business and personal use. As a part of Microsoft’s Office 365 suite, it is a favorite among enterprise-level companies.

With OneDrive Gallery, select any OneDrive folder to display a gallery of images. It’s that easy.

Free to use in public beta

Homescreen will continue to be in public beta and unpaid at the moment, giving you the opportunity to explore these apps in their raw form without having to pay a dime. Our goal is to unleash the magic that professional screens hold, and to help you get accustomed to the power of digital signage. Besides Trello, Unsplash, World Clock, Google Slides, Dropbox Gallery, OneDrive Gallery and Homescreen Preview, we also have Website and Image listed as apps. With them, you can showcase simple websites and custom background images. You might want to use it to show a static site, dashboard or wallpaper.

A step into the future

We recently won a substantial grant from the European Union, which will go towards developing an open integration platform for professional displays. That means we’ll be launching many more apps in the foreseeable future, so stay tuned for more product updates.

We also want to hear what apps you think we should build next. Find out more info right about the technical setup.

It could be a platform you’re already using at work that you want to see integrated to your screen automatically. Or it could be a “so-crazy-it-might-work” partnership that would change the way your workforce use and think about screens. Let us know here.

The post Start using screens better with the brand new Homescreen apps appeared first on Airtame.