Automation is not a futuristic word, it is just another way of ensuring your digital signs take as little effort as possible. It can work in several different ways.
For example, you could have a live feed of information that displays information based on whatever program is running. You could have the sort of automation that tells people when their next appointment is due or when their next bus is due.
Even things like having your content run on a schedule is considered automation, and it too should be part of your digital signage strategy.
In Store Stock Levels
The 2020 pandemic and subsequent computer chip shortage really brought this benefit to the front of people’s minds. There are people walking into stores asking is they have a GPU or a PlayStation 5, and companies are wasting hours telling people they don’t have them.
However, when they have digital signs giving their stock levels, then it works in two ways. It keeps away people who wouldn’t have bought anyway, and it brings in people who are looking for the items you have in stock.
You probably have computerized stock levels anyway, so it won’t take much rigging to tie those numbers into your digital signage software.
That Darn Pandemic
We didn’t need more examples of how digital signs can help a business, but the 2020 pandemic really highlighted some of the lesser known uses. Companies have gone all out trying to find ways to lower human interactions within their stores and businesses.
They are doing this because the Covid virus is still lingering, and because companies want to make themselves future proof from the next pandemic (or pandemic scare).
Therefore, companies are using digital signs for everything from giving people a visual menu to telling people which changing room is currently free to use.
What’s more, most of these functions are automated. The waiting rooms are monitored by lasers (and/or cameras), and menus work themselves and push the orders through to the kitchen.
It is easy, it saves on human staff hours, and it makes a company appear more considerate of its customer’s health.
Look At Hair Salons and Beauty Salons
Most are intimate affairs, and in the old days you may have people reading magazines and chatting. These days, people drop in and leave like it were a McDonalds drive through.
Most people are on their phones. Automating the process is a good idea simple because it fits in with modern sensibilities. When people use Kitcast for beauty salons, they often automate things like waiting times and waiting lists.
People can see on the board who is before them and how long they have to wait. Alternatively, they can be called on the screen for their next appointment as if they were in a drop-in doctor’s office.
It is important that automation and digital signs do not get in the way of the traditional experience. You are not trying to force an experience narrative, you are simply giving people a streamlined automated experience if they want one.
Automation Can Be Done Gradually
Your digital signs do not have to go full AI the moment you get them. You can start small with something like putting your content on a schedule.
Perhaps you could link your adverts to your stock levels so that you don’t run adverts for things that you don’t have in stock.
Maybe you could tie your content to the weather or to the time of day so that different content appears that appeals to different demographics.
You could even go a little more specific and time some of your kid friendly stuff to when the schools in your area let their kids out. It is fairly easy to start small and then work in more automation as you go.
