HealthCare Digital Signage

I had the pleasure (?) of heading to my local urgent care due to the ankle of my oldest. While there look what was in the corner. (Even kids know when I am going to take a picture.) The interesting thing is we just had a meeting with an potential partner about this very subject. The objective was xxxxx fold.

1) Improve the patient (customer) experience

2) Educate the audience about health related issues

3) Generate revenue through the selling of ad space

The issue is can we do it?

Well the entire family participated in the "Quick Quizes" that came up. (Did you know you have move bones as a new born than as a teenager? I got that one wrong)

By drinking water you can not only hydrate your body, but improve your digestion. (There was a little more detail about this - but I think I will leave those pieces of information off my blog.)

I saw ads by multiple drug companies and consumer product good (CPG) companies.

So it appears that yes you can do it all.

But why stop there? The exam room was full of paper on the walls. Wouldn't it make sense to put an interactive screen to entertain and inform as well. Entertain the patient while waiting - but also inform when the doctor comes in.

Let's say you sprain your ankle (as my oldest did). The doctor or nurse can pull up the "Sprained Ankle" diagrams and demonstrate what happens during the spraining process vs. a break. Or what a host of other procedures are. All "approved" demonstrations about injuries/conditions so there is no communication confusion (aka liability) for a mis-communication.

Call CTI Solutions (913-831-3700) today to find out more.

www.cti-kc.com

The Good, The Bad and....Part II

Sometimes knowing where you need to be is more important than where you are going ... especially in an airport. Here are three photos that attest to this theory.

The three photos are all in the same airport. The first one is in the main corridor. The 2nd and 3rd pictures are basically the same display - displaying the next flight and departure gate - at the departure gate.

So the first photo gets you to the gate - and the others educate you while you are ate the gate.

Simple - Clean - Effective.....

It is all about information. Ask us how we can help.

www.cti-kc.com

The Good, The Bad and....Part II

Sometimes knowing where you need to be is more important than where you are going ... especially in an airport. Here are three photos that attest to this theory.

The three photos are all in the same airport. The first one is in the main corridor. The 2nd and 3rd pictures are basically the same display - displaying the next flight and departure gate - at the departure gate.

So the first photo gets y

ou to the gate - and the others educate you while you are ate the gate.

Simple - Clean - Effective.....

It is all about information. Ask us how we can help.

www.cti-kc.com

The Good, The Bad and....Part I

Airports are great....If you are not in a rush.

But the flow of information is important. This blog will focus on the retail climate of Airports.

I recently traveled and in two airports witnessed basic digital signage.

The first one is the local store in the airport. It is just a simple screen - but it is still a wrong

deployment. It was showing a news channel. No product placement, no information about the airport, no weather/sports ticker information. It just showed the news. What was it's relation to the products around it? Zero. Did it help consumers? No. Was it to enhance customer experience? Not sure.

The second display was right on the money. The display was at the end of a cook's ladle. It

was focused on the products surrounding the cook. No bad news, but no weather or sports information. It contained about a 10 minute loop of information about the products, how to use them

and what the end product would look like. It was all related to cooking. This was a great display. Eye catching. Different. Related to the products.

So if you want to invest in Dynamic Digital Signage - contact CTI Solutions at www.cti-kc.com. Or just comment on this blog.

Next post will be about the arrivals, departures and delays at the Airports.

No - We did not do that ->>> But....

CTI Solutions ( www.cti-kc.com ) does a lot with Dynamic Digital Signage. In fact if you know were to look in this photograph you can see a kiosk with a screen supplied by CTI Solutions. This is one of the largest screens in the world. It is in Kansas City at the stadium the Royals play in.

While this screen is impressive - it is the hundreds of screens around the stadium that accomplish the following;

- Allow ticket holders to make customized baseball cards through touch screen technology.

- Show the game live to those waiting in line for hotdogs. (Also the frames are there with a crawl for current scores around the league and Royal's product placement.)

- News feed (Cable News) to the luxury boxes.

- Broadcasting live feeds around the stadium during the breaks between the innings

A large screen is awesome. The other screens are all about business. How is your business benefiting from Dynamic Digital Signage?

www.cti-kc.com

sales@cti-kc.com

A Place Like No Other

Ok - I've found it.

Everywhere I look I can find a use for Digital Signage. Retail, Corporate, Hospitals, Digital Menu Boards, BillBoards on the side of the road, Mass Markets, niche markets, customer education, education, banking, outdoor, indoor, gaspumps, wayfinding, malls, outdoor malls, universities, basketball arenas, churches..... you get the point.

But I can not think of one reason I need it here.

If you can let me know.

www.cti-kc.com

Sometimes Bad is Just Bad

Right Above that Red Stripe at the top of the photo is a strip of lights that is suppose to be digital signage.

This is what gives Digital Signage a bad name. First it was broken. Two the "ticker tape" like display was about 40 characters wide. This would give the viewer little time to digest the message. You have a captive audience - I was in line waiting to deposit a check. All I could think was what a waste of money. Now if I speak with this bank all I will get is "We tried Digital Signage and it didn't work."

Let me repeat - this is not digital signage - this is a waste of money.

Now here is a display that works. A simple monitor that displays a "commercial" about BBQ supplies and then it would have product placement for the products in front of the display and in the display.

Contact CTI Solutions today to find out how we can maximize your spend.

www.cti-kc.com

donj@cti-kc.com

Digital Signage at Work - Part II

For those who remember;

http://ctiimpact.blogspot.com/2010/01/digital-signage-at-work.html

Well - Here it is again - Digital Signage at Work - Part II

At an event with the family this weekend - and came across a family complete digital signage install at a Convention Center. Rear projecting film for an impact visual for general information, flat screens displays related to the specific events occurring in the different halls and of course one of my favorites - Digital Menu Board.

The first picture here is a sheet of rear projection glass - suspended from the ceiling with cables - and about 12 feet behind is the projector - I circled it the first photo. The way the deployment is it was not apparent how the glass was light. Very Cool!

The second picture shows it more in context - the 4x8 sheet is just hanging there and it provides different content related to events at the convention center, ads for local businesses, and ads for the co-located hotel.

Now the convention center has two levels with about 4 very large conference rooms/exhibit halls per level. Each room can be broken down into smaller rooms if need be. So the large Rear Projection Film welcomed every one to the multiple events going on and provided direction. In addition to the ads (product placement) the content was designed to improve the attendees' experience at the convention center.

The second install I would like to talk about were the 50" screens that not only had information about the exhibit halls nearby, but product placement as well. The event information helped me out - so not a bad thing. But the product videos were great from a visual standpoint. I believe this reduced/replaced convention center staff by providing information to attendees so they did not have to ask anyone. (Which is always a good thing.)


The last install I want to talk about is the Digital Menu Board. The lower banner was customized to the events occurring. "Welcome Dancers - Try an Energy Bar" with the logo the host of the event. (It was a dance event for my 12 year old daughter.)

I just believe if you have multiple location restaurant you need digital menu boards. Change prices - customize it for local events and remove the cost of Print and Distribution of menus. Keep the content fresh and current. Remember when Tomatoes were in short supply - with Digital Menu Boards you can adjust for emergency changes.

It is amazing what you can find when you look for it. Digital Signage at Work - I wonder when Part III will come along.

www.cti-kc.com - Contact Us for More Information.

Leaning on Partners

Oh Boy!

I am working with a marketing company right now. Their efforts are being funded by IBM.
The CTI Solutions sales rep has marketing going on in the Oakland area - funded by Toshiba.
CTI attended 4 trade shows in February - Scala funded a lot of the effort.
Microsoft is funding an effort for KC and Oakland.
.....getting the picture yet.

Why?

IBM, Microsoft, Toshiba, and Scala are all providing dollars to CTI Solutions. They do this because of business. CTI Solutions works with our clients to provide the solutions that work for the client - not our partners. As a result we sell a lot of our partner's products and services.

Why?

Our clients know we are partner neutral. Our vendor list is all the manufactures of laptops and PC based software tools. Our vendor list is a who's who of the Digital Signage industry.

Big Deal Right?

Well the money for marketing is excellent - but when your partners dedicate time as well you CTI Solutions must be delivering. Toshiba is regularly at the CTI offices in Denver, Dallas and KC. Ingram Micro (have not mentioned them yet) is on the conference calls with our team and our clients. Citrix (another one not mentioned yet) assists us with client needs and designing solutions. Magenta Research provides hardware and support for our Digital Signage showroom.

Our sales reps lean on Samsung, HP, Scala, Dell, Harris and especially Toshiba.

Why?

Simple - to know what the best solution is for our client's budget. Our clients our more important than our partners. After all who "Leans on their clients?"

So?

Learn more about CTI Solutions and what we can do for you. www.cti-kc.com

After all - these companies don't just give us money and time just because we are nice.

New Re-Launches - 30 Years in the Making

Wow - 1st Quarter In the Books.

1. Digital Signage - Sales and Consulting
2. Laptops - Sales and Service
3. Desktops - Sales and Service
4. Desktop Virtualization
5. .....

There is a lot going on at CTI Solutions. Within the Current 4 our verticals are education, insurance, retail, government and medical facilities. - Wait a minute? Where is healthcare? Is not everyone in the healthcare or support of healthcare business?

The "medical facilites" is our healthcare vertical. We are not in healthcare - we do not know a stint from a brace - But our clients are the IT and Business Development offices within the medical facilites. IT for the Laptops, Desktops and Virtualizations projects. Business Development offices talk to CTI Solutions due to our Digital Signage expertese. After all it is a special school they send you to to learn how to design a hospital. (If you believe that one......)

The difference with CTI Solutions is we deliver. The 1st Qtr of 2010 was an interesting one. We went to 4 large trade shows in 4 different states. The difference was we Re-Launched into medical facilities. Our education vertical improved, Retail keeps getting better for us and Hospitality will be our 2nd QTR re-launch. The benefit is with 30 Years of Experience - we have been their before - and we are there again.

Find out how we can help you. Contact Us.

www.cti-kc.com

Not all Technology is Good Technology (or Omission Sales Force)

Bear with me on this one.

Had a client come to me because the previous vendor was not honest with them. (Omission Sales Force)

If I need to manage arrival times of airplanes with aircrews at a busy airport – a basic accounting program cannot help me. If I need to run a home based business – a SCADA program cannot help me. Software needs to be applied correctly. How important is the right tool for the right job. Well….

There is an article about software in Baseline Magazine about the issue. “‘We Really Did Screw Up’ - Kaiser Permanente Kidney Transplant Program” is the article. (Google it) It shows how the greatest intentions, the best of systems – if applied wrong can have dire consequences.

Technology (Software and/or Hardware) used for the wrong reason will fail. Our lead products assist companies with their technology infrastructure (See last post) and Digital Signage needs – but don’t ask it to manage an airport, or logistics.

At CTI Solutions we focus on what we do well. Hertz does not do oil changes in the aftermarket and Jiffy Lube doesn’t rent cars. We focus on what we do well. The issue isn’t companies that engage large houses for IT projects get it wrong – the sales force of the large technology companies and digital signage companies are effective. They don’t tell you what you want to hear – they let you believe what you want and don’t correct you. They don’t commit anything wrong – their level of omission is exceptional. This is the “Omission Sales Force”. If you are a potential client – ASK QUESTIONS! Don’t assume. The "Large Well Known" sales team will let you believe what you want – so ask the questions…….

At CTI Solutions our solutions performs. Am I sold on CTI? You bet. I didn’t CTI Solutions because “it is a job” – this is a company that is looking to grow and everybody wears multiple hats. I took it because I believed in the ownership and company.

Is our technology products and service all things to all people – no. But when our sales team tells you something - believe it. 30 Years of Success - Making Technology Your Advantage.

www.cti-kc.com

Digital Signage + Laptops + VDI = More Money for You

Digital Signage is an important componet to any new construction
Laptops are important to individuals who work with clients at client sites
VDI is important to lower costs for employees who never work at the client site

To say what we do is important is a stretch. What are clients do is important. Hospitals, Visiting Nurses, Engineers and Lawyers are some of the professionals that come through our doors. Why? Because they use laptops and tablet PCs. Something we not only sell but we service as well. Allowing them to work - save people and help people, projects and the public. (Did I mention how many schools we work with?)

Retail Also - Important? Well if they are publicly traded - Yes! Performance matters - and we provide the support so they can perform. If you are a large retail outfit and you have a lift in Same Store Sales - Does the "Street" care? Yes. The uptick on the stock provides leverage to hire, expand and grow. Digital Signage can provide a mechinism to lift sales.

Insurance Also - Important? Well if they are spending too much money on infrastructure - It kills their performance. With VDI we can lower that cost - again providing leverage.

Business are in the business to provide service - we are no difference. We provide a service. We provide products. And just like your business - we charge for these products and services. We know that an interruption in business (cash flow) will impact the business. You need partners you can trust to deliver every time you call them.

For 30 Years CTI Solutions has been saving our clients money. Yes I know you have to spend money with us to save money. But at the end of the day you will have to buy what we are selling. Why wait?

www.cti-kc.com

What Did He Do Different?

In 1950 in the small town of Bentonville AR Sam Walton opened a store - a Five and Dime. I was there last week. This store - about 3000 SqFt - is the beginning of Walmart. Now Bentonville is a small town today - in 1950 - I sure the entire town did not have phones or TVs. Not to insult Bentonville - which looks like a great small town today - but Northwest Arkansas is rural.



So what did he do different? Great question. Very complex answer.


He used information - he collected the data on what he sold - and promoted those items. (According to a CNBC show done about Walmart they sell Strawberry Pop-Tarts in larger than expected quanities prior to a tropical storm or hurricane showing up - Why? who knows why but Walmart tracks that.)


On the way from this Retail Giant Birthplace to Kansas City (check the map - not metro) I stopped for gas. The gas pumps had touch screen digital screens promoting products for sale in the convience store. One could go back or forth to view a particular ad of a product of interest.


Digital Signage is all about promotion. Promote employee education along with retail pushes to lift sales. Find out how we can promote what you have.

www.cti-kc.com

Location, Location, Location

Went to a Fast Food (or Fast Casual) Restaurant over the weekend. They had a Digital Signage deployment. My clue was video on the drive thru.

Yes - Video on the Drive Thru! The Digital Menu Board had dynamic content and was upselling items. (Question: Do you think they were low margin or high margin items?)

We went in there - My wife and my two kids and I was the most excited going into fast food restaurant - and was I disappointed. Yes - let down.

Video on the drive thru is high end. No question about it. A Digital Menu Board not only has the ability to upsell and cross sell - but changes in the menu can be done quickly - and pricing can be adjusted daily. And if you are a franchise operator you can control all your Digital Menu Boards from one location. Imagine that - 10 locations - all the same menu - or all different - but under one control - no worry about print and distribution or errors. Great forethought by the leadership of this operator who installed this DMB outside.

Then I had to go inside. A flat screen promoting the latest product mix right inside the door, and a flat screen in the sitting area promoting as well. When it came time to order - the menu board was the same-old same-old. You could see the plastic channels and the print ads.

Nothing at the point of sale to sell me. Product promotion in the the dinning room is too late, at the front door it is too early - need to get me at the Point of Purchase.

If you need to get information about this - contact CTI Solutions today.

http://www.cti-kc.com/

Paper Paper Everywhere

It does not make sense.

I went to the Digital Signage Expo (www.digitalsignageexpo.net) 2010 in Las Vegas. Great show - but I came back with brochures -paper. I understand the need to have it but would it not make sense to provide business cards and thumbdrives?

There are some cutting edge display technologies - if you are in retail and not looking at Micro Tiles for displays, or if you are in fast food and not looking at Digital Menu Boards, and if you want the latest and greatest technologies - well GestureTek and ProVision have the latest. Now as far as software goes we have our favorites. (Scala and Harris)

But why paper?

Digital Menu Boards takes out the cost of print and distribution - and allows upsell at the point of order. (Order just a sandwich and get prompted for a "meal". Order a meal - get prompted for a dessert.)

Retail - do not update a store or a campaign unless you think lifting your sales by department 7% to 28% is not important. Or how about Sales Lift by product type of 7% to 18% - and this is over a large population - not just a spot deployment. 18 Months of data at a large retail store.

www.cti-kc.com

Call Us - Let us Help you.

Trade Show In Denver

Now back to regular programming......

Prior to going to that honky tonk I wrote about in the previous post CTI Solutions took on two trade shows last week. SOS for education in Dallas, and "3 Shows In 1" in Denver, CO. Here is a picture of our trade show booth from Denver. We featured Scala (http://www.scala.com/) our software partner at this trade show. The two screens conveyed the message to attendees - C-store owners, restaurants owners and nightclub/entertainment venue owners.

It was interesting trade show in Denver. The Dallas show was education based so we focused not only on digital signage - but on our Toshiba capabilities as well. Denver had an diverse group their asking what Digital Signage could do for them. I wish I had been to JNJ's Honky Tonk prior to the show. Not only would I have mentioned the "property owner" of a national high end hotel chain that believes in the power of Digital Signage through the results she gets with it - but also the "paint-less" bar with Digital Signage as well. (The hotel property controls Food and Beverage inventory through product placements - ask me more about it at donj@cti-kc.com )

Digital Signage will soon be at your place of work, house of worship, hospital/medical clinic, grocery store, any retail store you go into and any entertainment venue you visit. If you have one of these locations or are responsible for it - contact CTI Solutions today to see how we can help you with your digital signage solutions.

http://www.cti-kc.com/

Side Note - Must Read

This is not a typical post.....but there is a point.


I went out this Saturday night with my wife and another couple. Now the bar we went to was about 1000 sq ft. Not a painted section except for one 10x5 area behind the bar. The floor was uneven, the parking lot unpaved. The only glass around was the beer bottles. Tattoos, chew and boots - all a requirement to come in the door. A big sign "Bikers Welcome" above the door. "Middle of NoWhere - Next to Nothing" is its motto. A true honky tonk - A Roadhouse prior to Patrick Swayze showing up w/o the drugs and fights.

So why do I bring this up? Right by the beer neon sign, and right above next to the door to the kitchen - Digital Signage was in full use. It had pictures of previous events, promoted upcoming events and listed menu items as well.

If a "No Paint, Smoking Allowed, 1000 SqFt, Honky Tonk in the middle of Missouri" has a digital signage working for them - Why do you not have it?

http://www.cti-kc.com/

Trade Show Month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CTI Solutions is hitting the trade show circuit this month. 4 trade shows between now and the end of the month. Here are the what, the vertical and the location.

• SOS - Education - Dallas TX
• 3 in 1 Show - Retail / Entertainment - Denver CO
• NAIS - Education - San Francisco CA
• DSE - Digital Signage - Las Vegas NV

The why is to get our name out there. For 30 Years CTI Solutions has been delivering to companies across the Nation. Phones, Laptops, Desktops and Digital Signage has been the products we deliver - nothing special

Except it is the Service that sets CTI Solutions apart from its competition.
Follow us on twitter and stop by and visit us at one of these trade shows.

Find out why companies engage CTI Solutions and continue to re-engage with us.

http://www.cti-kc.com/

Emergency Broadcast Messaging

Digital Signage For Emergency Broadcast Messaging

Communication has been the downfall of so many enterprises. Let me correct that statement. Bad Communication has been the downfall of so many enterprises.

In normal day-to-day operations communication has to be clear, concise and complete. Throw a crisis into the mix and it has to be fast.

Fast, Clear, Concise and Complete.

If you have a facility, a school, a campus, a plant, a building and you need to get a message out to possibly save lives - Use Digital Signage. Google It - there are a cases out there - read them.

www.cti-kc.com

We are Digital Signage.

4G Roll Out

Our customer is spending a lot of money to roll out the network for 4G. The latest in the push for greater bandwidth in the wireless world. Having seen it in action I would have to agree that those who use 4G will benefit from its incredible speed. And those who know about these things also know that 4G rollout support IPv6 - which is great since addresses on IPv4 are running out. Of course our customer will not benefit from it unless they can sell the 4G service to their customers. This is where CTI Solutions and our team came into play.

With an aggressive time line CTI Solutions was asked design a solution, acquire the hardware, configure it, image it and get it to the stores in time for consumers to start buying the 4G devices.

300 + Stores roll-out 40 days after the first sit down with our client. A netbook, a laptop, a 22 inch display, a ROKU box, a PC and an "easy" button. Of course the imaged software, net nanny, configuration with the video server, set up in the data center to host the material and custom programming for the "easy" button.

Now we are in ongoing support for the now 400+ stores - all managed from our Kansas City office. Which is a benefit due to the central time zone - we can support stores easily east coast to west coast.

Contact us today to find out what we can do for you.

http://www.cti-kc.com/

Video Queue

Communication

This is what Digital Signage is all about. With it you can influence consumer behavior with a display at the Point of Sale. With it you can broadcast emergency messages across an facility instantly. And with it you can let your most frustrated customer know what is going on.

And that is what a Video Queue does.

When you need to get your most "at-risk" customer information quickly - use digital signage. People on this list are in your store for a reason - service. In addition one can use special identifing tags on the customers name or ID to identify those customers that are loyal.

Sales can be effective - but exceptional service keeps the customer churn low - Something CTI Solutions knows - And communication when the customer is at a service center is critical to overall success of the experience of the customer.

http://www.cti-kc.com/

Contact CTI Solutions today to find out how we can help you communicate with your customers.

Trade Show Package - Success!

CTI Solutions over the last 4 days deployed our Trade Show Package. The client was Smoke n' Fire located in Overland Park, KS. See this terrible video;

But the amazing part was the amount of people just looking at the displays - and then asking about the information on the screen.

• Digital Signage Gets Traffic!
• Digital Signage Gets Attraction!
• Digital Signage Influences Consumer Behavior!

Why are you at a Trade Show to Begin With?

Signage Works

www.cti-kc.com

Digital Signage at Work

24/7/365 - All Day, Every Day

The Amazing Part about Digital Signage is it works - Every change of the screen attracks the consumer and influences their behavior.

This film was shot on January 1st 2010 in a hotel. It switched every few seconds and was integrated with 5 other displays within the lobby, front desk and elevator area of the hotel. Each area promoted different items and a few ads were run on all 6 displays.

The lobby promoted restaurants and drinks. This elevator position promoted menus of restaurants located in the hotel. The amazing part was everytime I saw the ad switch - people looked at it. I also noticed some people just watching it as well.

www.cti-kc.com