TAKE A TOUR
SUCCESS IN EVERY ENVIRONMENT
INTERACTIVE
DIGITAL SIGNAGE
USE CASES TO MASTER
INTRODUCTION
As the overall digital signage industry continues
its incredible growth—some research estimates
that it is expanding by about $1.8 billion in sales
a year—the interactive segment is becoming a
key part of the market’s success. For solution
providers that offer digital signage technologies,
the interactive segment holds significant potential
to create strong business growth for years to
come.
Due to its many benefits, interactive technology
is used in a variety of applications. From the
restaurant and hospitality industries to retail
locations, corporate offices and event venues,
today interactive technology is everywhere. It is
also becoming popular in many different digital
signage devices: super-sized video walls, seethrough displays, tabletop tablets and everything
in between.
The main goal of any interactive digital signage
installation is to provide seamless, engaging
communication between a digital signage system
and its audience. Interactive technology seeks
to create an immersive, user-friendly experience,
one that is much more involved than an end user
simply viewing a digital display.
For solution providers that master interactive
technology, this specialized type of digital
signage can be one key to success in a wide
range of verticals—but only if you stay up to
date on the best ways to leverage this engaging
technology. In this eBook, we will take a closer
look at some of the challenges that solution
providers face when installing interactive digital
signage, as well as the ways in which becoming
familiar with the most common scenarios for the
technology can benefit your business.
Of course, the immersive nature of interactive
technologies is just one of its many benefits.
It has also been shown to maximize brand
recognition and information retention in end
users, while also improving their perception of the
company represented. Interactive signage and
information kiosks also help provide a high level
of customer service while keeping costs low. The
technology can even create greater insights into
consumer shopping and browsing habits, helping
a company optimize its marketing and customer
service initiatives.
© 2016 Ingram Micro Inc. All rights reserved. Ingram Micro and the Ingram Micro logo are trademarks used
under license by Ingram Micro Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies.
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THE CHALLENGES
OF INTERACTIVE
TECHNOLOGY
Despite its many benefits and enormous
potential, interactive digital signage can
present a unique set of challenges for
solution providers.
For example, because interactive
technology is a relatively new and
emerging one, it can be difficult to
manage customer expectations. Some
may expect an interactive solution to
offer features that simply aren’t feasible,
while others may be surprised by the
price of certain technologies.
In addition, you might encounter unique
installation challenges with interactive
technology that may not have been an
issue with traditional digital signage,
such as incompatible technology
systems, physical limitations within the
facility itself or unfamiliar networking
requirements. These types of obstacles
can be difficult to plan for when starting
out in interactive technology.
Finally, the interactive segment is a
fast-moving and very dynamic niche
of the digital signage industry. For
individual solution providers, it can
be difficult to stay up to date on the
newest innovations and trends and then
strategically apply them to your own
business and your unique market.
POSITION YOURSELF
FOR SUCCESS
One of the best ways to tackle these common
challenges is to learn about the most successful uses
of interactive digital signage technology and then
apply them to your own projects. Known as “use
cases,” these core examples show you some of the
best ways to leverage interactive technology, even in
challenging environments. By understanding some
of the best practices for using interactive technology,
you’ll gain new ideas that can be applied to your own
installations.
Seeking out successful use cases helps bolster your
ongoing education of the digital signage industry.
This market moves quickly, and there is a need for
continued innovation in order to keep up with the
competition. Use cases can help you build a deeper
understanding of new interactive digital signage
products. This makes you better equipped to handle
every install, while also empowering you to innovate
when necessary.
Use cases are especially beneficial for fully
understanding your client’s needs. Instead of being
overly focused on the details of a project, a use case
can help you see the bigger picture. Remember:
Interactive digital signage is a tool for improving
communication. Keep that end goal in mind and take
the time to get to know each client’s objectives for
their installation.
Be sure to ask a lot of questions so that you know how
to best apply a use case to each project. For example,
with each new client, be sure to ask the following:
• What are your objectives?
• What level of engagement do you require?
• What are your existing resources?
• What is the surrounding environment like? How
much space do you have for this installation?
• Where do you plan to acquire your content?
Getting a handle on your client’s goals, resources and
content plan will help you determine which type of
interactive installation is best. Then you can reference
the various use cases below in order to apply their
tactics to your own customers.
© 2016 Ingram Micro Inc. All rights reserved. Ingram Micro and the Ingram Micro logo are trademarks used
under license by Ingram Micro Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies.
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INTERACTIVE DIGITAL SIGNAGE USE
CASES TO MASTER
The following are six categories of interactive digital signage applications, with several key use cases for
each. These are excellent points of reference to apply to your own system designs:
1. TOUCHSCREEN INFORMATION SERVICES
2. CONTENT CREATION AND MANAGEMENT
One of the leading uses of interactive digital
signage is in touchscreen information service
applications. Thanks to the interactive nature of
the signage, it is a natural fit for informational
applications, providing information to the end
user in a self-paced, easy-to-follow way. There
are several key ways to leverage touchscreen
displays in order to provide information to
customers, visitors and other end users,
including digital directories, product catalogs
and wayfinding for event venues and corporate
headquarters.
Sourcing high-quality content and managing it
over time have become leading concerns for
digital signage customers in general. Content
creation and management can often require
a significant time investment—particularly
for highly engaging interactive displays. It’s
no wonder a growing number of interactive
customers are looking to their solution
providers in order to help them with content.
For example, Wacker Chemie AG, a leading
global chemical manufacturer, is using
interactive digital signage in its corporate
headquarters in Germany in order to promote
its brand image and improve customer
interactions. In turn, this helps bolster the
public’s perception of the company and
influence sales growth.
Touchscreen information kiosks are also
a great fit for tourism, because tourists
frequently need a variety of information,
including transportation details, wayfinding,
and event and attraction information. For
example, Geneva, Switzerland, has installed
interactive kiosks throughout the city in order
to cater to tourists. The kiosks provide tourism
information, maps, train schedules and other
details in a variety of languages. The end user
can even choose to print the information for
future reference, which makes wayfinding and
transportation quick and convenient.
If you decide to add content creation and
management to your service offering, you
create an exciting opportunity for your solutionprovider business. As interactive digital signage
continues to grow, customers are going to
require more fresh and high-quality content
with every passing year. It creates a chance for
stable long-term revenue, while also continuing
the solution provider–customer relationship
well beyond the initial installation.
Your business can offer content creation and
management itself, or you can partner with
a third-party company for these services.
Today there are content suppliers that provide
professional-grade video, audio, text and
branded content for very reasonable fees,
which makes adding this service to your
business easy.
© 2016 Ingram Micro Inc. All rights reserved. Ingram Micro and the Ingram Micro logo are trademarks used
under license by Ingram Micro Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies.
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3. CUSTOMER SERVICE
Envision a retail shop that enables selfcheck-out or a drive-through restaurant with
interactive video ordering. Today even banks
are adopting interactive digital signage, both in
their branches and in their drive-through lanes.
In customer-service applications, the
technology provides a face-to-face experience
for the consumer, which improves his or
her perception of the service that he or she
receives and simplifies communication. For
your clients, these systems help reduce wait
time and streamline staffing requirements,
which bolsters the bottom line.
One interesting example of interactive
customer service is Tim Hortons, the Canadabased restaurant chain. The company has
installed interactive digital signage—complete
with a video feed—in its drive-through lanes.
Customers are able to see high-quality visuals
of menu items, which speeds up the ordering
process, while the interactive nature of the
video feed provides a human element. Best of
all, order mistakes are all but eliminated thanks
to the two-way video, which helps optimize the
customer experience.
Interactive digital signage is also useful for
providing detailed information on higherend purchases, such as vehicles. In car and
truck showrooms, many customers require
a great amount of detail on a given vehicle,
which makes touchscreen signage an ideal fit:
Customers can choose to explore as much
information as they want, at their own pace.
This approach is working well at the Toyota
Belgium headquarters, where desktop
touchscreen displays complement the facility’s
larger digital signage screens. The desktop
displays are installed in the dealers’ waiting
room, providing information on specific
vehicles and accessories, Toyota warranties
and more. Customers can peruse the
information themselves, or dealers can use
the displays as reinforcement for their own
presentations.
Similarly, farm-equipment manufacturer John
Deere leveraged interactive digital signage
in several of its showrooms as part of a
nine-month pilot program. The interactive
touchscreens included a virtual catalog of the
company’s products, enabling customers to
browse product features, compare various
models, watch videos of products in action
and listen to detailed voice-overs, providing
as much supplementary information as the
customer needs.
Tim Hortons uses interactive menu
boards in order to improve customer
service in its drive-through lanes.
Photo credit: Frank Coheley, Ingram Micro.
© 2016 Ingram Micro Inc. All rights reserved. Ingram Micro and the Ingram Micro logo are trademarks used
under license by Ingram Micro Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies.
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4. VENDING
5. TRAFFIC INFORMATION SERVICES
Interactive vending technology not only
displays product information, but also allows
the end user to make purchases. These
devices are growing in popularity around the
world because of the incredible flexibility that
they offer clients.
Interactive signage can also be invaluable in
the world of traffic management, particularly
for cities, large event venues, amusement
parks and other areas that are prone to traffic
congestion. Working with traffic management
and analytics systems, roadside interactive
signage can help drivers understand the
best route during heavy traffic, emergency
situations, special events and more. Displays
throughout the transportation network—at
bus stops or in subways—can help keep
commuters up to date. In addition, newer
technologies can even interact with drivers’
mobile devices in order to gather traffic
data and push notifications to warn of traffic
problems on their route and recommend
alternatives.
In verticals such as retail, gaming and
hospitality, interactive vending technology
offers several important benefits, including
faster check-out and improved customer
service. Many digital vending machines can
even tailor their products according to the time
of day, special promotions or even customers
themselves.
Today’s vending kiosks can also be used as
loyalty-program portals or can even interact
with a shopper’s social media accounts for
improved engagement. In some applications,
the technology features a camera that detects
the customer’s gender and age, enabling the
device to display the most relevant products
based on key demographic data. Intelligent
vending machines are network-enabled,
a feature that allows your clients to take
advantage of data analytics, cloud-based
features and new business opportunities in
order to fine-tune their product offering even
more.
Within a traffic control center, interactive
signage is also extremely useful. New
technologies gather data from highway
sensors, vehicle GPS systems and other
intelligent devices and display it on interactive
digital signage within the control center. By
leveraging this technology, traffic control
officials are able to gain a more detailed view
of what is happening, which empowers them
to make swift decisions in order to remedy
emerging traffic problems.
As interactive vending
machines become more
popular, intelligent vending
machines and those with
multi-use features will be a
strong selling point for clients
in a wide range of industries.
© 2016 Ingram Micro Inc. All rights reserved. Ingram Micro and the Ingram Micro logo are trademarks used
under license by Ingram Micro Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies.
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6. DISASTER INFORMATION SERVICES
Similar to its role in traffic information
management, interactive technology is also
a great fit for disaster information services,
due to its ability to be updated in real time. In
malls, transportation facilities, event venues
and other locations, interactive digital signage
can serve many roles: Day to day, it can display
wayfinding information, ads and product
details. But during an emergency, the display
can automatically switch over to disaster
information, displaying evacuation routes,
barrier-free routes for persons with disabilities,
updates on the emergency, first-aid tips and
other relevant content, with narration in sign
language if necessary.
In addition, digital signage displays can
provide telephone service for individuals who
discover an emergency so that they can make
an emergency call that could, in turn, trigger
other digital signs in the network to display
the emergency information. These displays
are also helpful for first responders such as
police and medical personnel. For example,
a digital signage monitor in the disaster area
might be fitted with sensing devices, such as a
thermometer or a camera, in order to provide
valuable information to first responders.
© 2016 Ingram Micro Inc. All rights reserved. Ingram Micro and the Ingram Micro logo are trademarks used
under license by Ingram Micro Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies.
GO INTERACTIVE
Interactive digital signage offers a wide
range of benefits for solution providers,
their customers and end users. Once
you have familiarized yourself with the
technology and its most common use
cases, you stand to establish a strong
and growing business, as the interactive
market continues to grow rapidly.
If you are considering starting out in
the interactive digital signage industry,
consider partnering with a technology
distributor in order to help get established.
A partner can help you with system
design, product procurement, service and
support, and more, while also keeping you
up to date on the latest innovations in this
dynamic market.
With the right partnership, your business
will be better positioned to drive sales,
grow profitability and increase customer
entanglement, both now and throughout
the future of the pro AV industry.
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ABOUT ABOUT INGRAM
MICRO INC.
Irvine, Calif.–based Ingram Micro Inc. is the
leading technology distributor within the pro AV
and digital signage market, offering a unified
line card that features the most comprehensive
portfolio of in-demand and emerging pro AV and
digital signage products and solutions. Ingram
Micro’s Pro AV and Digital Signage business unit
offers channel partners, AV professionals and
vendors specialized partner support and business
enablement resources, as well as access to
a dedicated team of seasoned marketing,
sales, business-development and technology
professionals.
Subject Matter Expert: Tom Jones, Sr TSE
(Technology Solution Engineer) for Ingram Micro
© 2016 Ingram Micro Inc. All rights reserved. Ingram Micro and the Ingram Micro logo are trademarks used
under license by Ingram Micro Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies.
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