6.8.2016

The courtship of Digital Signage and the Internet of Things

We're not even halfway through 2016 and the Internet of Things is truly beginning to flex its muscles. It sends email alerts when coffee makers need new filters and when lightbulbs go out in warehouses. It also learned how to make friends with virtual reality technology. And while Silicon Valley is learning how to develop more enterprising applications, two industries are already making headway: retail and healthcare.

Retail: the early adopter

As we noted in previous articles, the retail sectors are already coming up with creative ways to use digital signage and technology. With mobile apps, WiFi, software, and digital signage, customer interaction is already more like the moving paintings in Hogwarts than the stilted oil paintings of yesterday. As the Internet of Things (IoT) becomes more accessible and prevalent, customer experience ventures into bold frontiers.

But healthcare signage is also making incredible strides

Healthcare technology is picking up the pace, along both sides of the patient / doctor experience. There are the new and improved ways the technology tracks devices such as RFID tags; and thanks to EHRs (Electronic Health Records), individuals, clients, and patients now quickly work in tandem with care teams throughout the world. A doctor in Palo Alto can conference into a consultation for a patient three time zones away in Boston via digital screens, and access all the vitals and health updates from the patients, their equipment, and the other available resources, thanks to the IoT giving instant status reports and inventory.

In a scenario more closely related to outdoor digital signage, if epidemics or outbreaks occur, hospitals will be able to instantly provide the latest information, procedures, or availability and wait times in real-time. This information quickly informs patients, families, and emergency personnel.

A more-common scenario: having a surgery list similar to airplane flight status boards that tells you how much longer your wait time is, depending on the status reports of the procedures ahead of you in the queue. "What's taking so long?" HIPAA and other patient privacy laws may not mean you'll know the precise reason your surgery is behind schedule, but now you'll know (or at least, have a better guess) how much longer it'll be, without hassling overworked nurses.

Learn more about the "Thing" part of the Internet of Things

The lines are really starting to fuse between digital marketing, internet technology, and outdoor signs. The reason comes down to the many incredible experiences these areas create when they work together.

Learn how to prepare your business signage for the pending IoT movement

We're all just learning how all-the-more incredible outdoor and digital signage is when it works together with the Internet of Things. It's truly become a complete experiential event for customers that entice, delight, and satisfy customers from all walks of life.

To learn how to work your signage to take full advantage of the Internet of Things, contact us today.