EDIT: And here is the moment when André Koitzsch, MDS Sales Director DACH, Baltics & Scandinavia, took over the prize! Pictures are taken from invidis.de website, pls see them at their source

Project Summary
Although Heritage Valley strives to be uniquely connected to its community, with a large employee base of over 4,300 and two main hospitals 17 miles apart, it was often difficult to make sure everyone received information in a timely manner.

Carlotta Morgan, interactive media coordinator for the health system, remembers having to go to one location to deliver communication and then having to travel to the other location to do the same thing. “Of course,” she adds, “nobody gets the information at the same time.”

Having a central spot for displaying information would help, the hospital administrators decided. Initially, they tried using an LED display in the Sewickley hospital lobby to provide information, but the static display didn’t meet their needs. Heritage Valley wanted a system that could be expanded and used for two audiences: consumers and employees. Mrs. Morgan also wanted to be able to create a more dynamic display.

At first, Heritage Valley evaluated LCD digital displays that could be completely customized. They also considered buying a more encompassing subscription program, but found that those options often had features that weren’t needed and that were to expensive.

The Solution
Eventually, Heritage Valley selected Rise Display. The digital signs allow them to display live data, text, photos, animations, TV programs and videos from a computer and view it on the display screen.

“We used it out of the box,” Mrs. Morgan says. “Rise customized a template that met our branding standards, but other than that, it’s an out of the box solution.”

Heritage Valley bought four LCD displays to use in the main lobbies and cafeterias of the two hospitals. Since that initial investment three years ago, they have purchased four more units. In addition to installing one more display at each hospital, the have put two in their walk-in clinics, located in area Walmart stores.

As with any technological product, parts occasionally wear out. When that happened, Mrs. Morgan was extremely impressed with the customer service she received from Rise.
“They drop-shipped me the unit and I had it the next day. They were there to help me with all the configurations,” Mrs. Morgan recalls. She adds: “I love Rise.”

Heritage Valley anticipates using the Rise displays as an integral part of the hospital’s communication tools. Even now, Mrs. Morgan posts teasers on the displays directing viewers to information available on the hospital website. She looks forward to using the displays to provide real- time wait times at the various locations so patients can determine where they may receive care faster.

“That’s the ease of this,” she says. “Getting (information) down quickly and getting it up quickly.”

Project Summary
Until recently, they did not have a very efficient way to communicate the menu to the students and building staff. “We would post a small 8″×10″ sign board on the wall in several spots, with the full week’s menu. The students would have to walk to the sign, check to see what was being served in each line and then go to that line. This caused crowding at the cashier stands and delays in the lines.”

What they needed was a better way to display the menus to the students to avoid crowding. Their solution to this problem was to hang a large digital menu board on the wall where all of the students could see the menus without blocking any of the busy lunchtime traffic. “We needed to convey the daily menu for each of the lunch lines, and we also wanted to be able to reach the students at the Senior High School in a ‘techie’ way that they could relate to.”

The Solution
The department selected Rise Display to supply them with everything that they required to implement their plan. “Rise had what we needed and it didn’t look too complicated to run or set up or change,” said Ms. Maas. “To piece together a solution by myself was just not feasible — time-wise, product-wise or content-wise.” The display solution that Rise provided to Wayzata High School included not only the large LCD screen itself, but also the user-friendly Display Wire software that lets Ms. Maas change the menus herself from day to day.

Results
“We are very pleased with both the sign and its content. The district maintenance staff installed the screens, the district electrician installed the Rise engine and the district carpenter built a box around each screen to match the wood in the rest of the building. The whole setup looks very sharp. One major advantage is that there are no visible buttons. We have received many compliments on the set up.”

And the Display Wire software they use to run the sign? “Once everything was up and running, it all ran smoothly. It has been great. It’s very easy to learn and maintain.”

According to Ms. Maas, their new LCD display is a huge hit with both staff and students. “The staff loved the high school signs. Now the kids don’t crowd around the cashier stands to look at the menus — they can look above the lines and tell very quickly what is being served on each line. Some start looking as they are coming down the hall.”

“And best of all, the kids are constantly commenting on how cool the signs are.”

The College William & Mary might be the second oldest in the nation, but it is still a cutting-edge research university. The college is highly selective, but also public, offering a world-class education without the sticker shock.

The college is known as a “Public Ivy” — one of only eight in the nation. That means the college offers a superior education that’s accessible to everyone. Situated in Williamsburg and the amazing Commonwealth of Virginia, the college is proud to be one of the reasons for the economic success of their hometown.

Project Summary

John Merrick, an associate professor of business at The College of William & Mary’s Mason School of Business, has had a diverse career in both academics and Wall Street. That was why, when he first came to the college in 2005, he was asked to provide a vision for how the school’s then- new Acuff Financial Markets Center could be developed.

“I had had some experience teaching in a trading room,” says Professor Merrick, “and wanted a room that would serve as a financial market lab and, at the same time, and really foremost, as a superior, technology-enhanced lecture space. I think that’s the difference in our room versus other layouts that I’ve seen: It is first and foremost a lecture space.”

The Acuff Financial Markets Center now holds MBA classes in corporate finance and financial markets. In addition, it is where the school’s Career Acceleration Modules are held. To simulate a live markets environment, the room has nine Bloomberg terminals for students to share, as well as eleven state-of-the-art Samsung LCD displays.

“I knew that Rise Display was the premium provider of these displays because I saw how things had worked out at Baruch College, [where I formerly taught],” Professor Merrick explains. “I had also caught up with [Rise] at an academic conference … so I introduced them to our building team … to see if they agreed with the decision.”

They did, and the results of the installation, says Professor Merrick, have been phenomenal.

The Final Result

“In terms of teaching in that [room], what you end up with is a very exciting environment,” he says. “You’re getting [students] to work in an environment of routine visual distraction … where they have to learn how to absorb what’s coming in and only be attracted by the important stuff, rather than distracted by the changing displays. The second part of [the benefits],” Professor Merrick adds, “is being able to put data into our playlist that’s relevant for the topics we’re teaching that day.”

Among the information presented on the two video walls lining one side wall, and the two LCDs flanking the front of the room, are live TV feeds, stock and bond market graphs, foreign currency exchange rates, and historical stock and bond market graphs.

“Everybody loves [the digital displays],” says Professor Merrick. “Not only our students, but our alumni who come back, especially those who are connected to Wall Street, are incredibly impressed. Some of our alumni are a little bit jealous,” he adds with a laugh. “They wish they had had these facilities when they were here.”

Competition is high for telecommunications businesses with customers shopping around for best price, best service and best experience. Türk Telekom recognized that its retail stores provided a primary point for the brand to talk to customers and differentiate itself from the competition by demonstrating its value, customer proposition and innovative qualities in a tangible manner.

Türk Telekom also recognized that delivering this value instore meant upgrading store design, enhancing customer service levels and using the store to demonstrate the brand’s innovative qualities.

The Challenge
The challenge was to create an enhanced retail environment where customers would be able to quickly find the products and services they were looking for as
well as access the best deals available to them, with or without one-to-one customer service support.

The Marketing Solution
Türk Telekom turned to Kiosk Innova to develop a digital signage system capable of delivering high-quality product, price, service and brand messaging to stores to support the sales process, improve the high-tech image of the stores, and educate customers about product features and benefits.

In order for the retail network to reach customers across the store, LCD screens were installed within a Türk Telekom branded bezel, which sits behind the customer service counter of each store. This location provides customers the opportunity to view “big and bold” branded messaging from across the store and while queuing.

This “big and bold” concept conveys key messages to customers quickly and impactfully. The content includes way-finding guides, product information, latest handset, tariff and bundle details, as well as branded content from Türk Telekom, currently repurposed television and Web content created internally by Türk Telekom’s marketing department and various advertising agencies. Türk Telekom also uses the network to deliver key training, news and sales information to dealers before and after the stores are open to customers.

All content is managed remotely by Türk Telekom with support from Kiosk Innova, which in turn specified and uses Scala to power the content management system that drives the Türk Telekom network. This “remote control” allows a user with the appropriate authorization to control the broadcast, add or delete content, and update prices quickly and efficiently through a password-protected Web portal anytime, from anywhere.

The Technical Solution
As the full-service provider, Kiosk Innova provides channel design and content management services, procurement, installation, integration, ongoing network support and staff training to Türk Telekom.

While in the short-term, one channel of content is being broadcasted to all stores, in time the number of channels will increase to accommodate dealer- or region-specific requirements. Consequently the network has been designed with individual store addressability in mind, thanks to Kiosk Innova’s decision to integrate Scala as the management software. Scala’s flexibility ensures that as the network develops, the core functionality of the system is equally able to scale up to accommodate increasingly complex demands.

Scala’s functionality is part of an embedded solution designed by Kiosk Innova. HP servers located at Türk Telekom’s network operations center in Ankara use the Scala software platform to provide content play-out scheduling, store grouping, asset auditing and network health monitoring services to all stores across Turkey, which use local HP machines to store and forward content to the screens when required by the system’s playlist.

The Benefits
While the system is primarily designed to drive sales of advertised products and services, it also provides operational efficiencies that help offset traditional (paper and postage) costs such as the ability to inform and educate staff, provide a new corporate news channel and ensure compliance levels are met. Additionally, Türk Telekom dealers and franchisees do not pay for the network, as it is considered a core part of the retail store marketing proposition and, as such, is controlled and funded by Türk Telekom’s marketing department. Scala has also enabled Kiosk Innova to provide remote control networking, leading to lower operational costs, and an efficient upgrade and update process. Scala is able to turn screens and audio output on and off according to store opening times, reducing power consumption and extending screen life. Other systems including network health monitoring are used, which saves costs by eliminating unnecessary, costly maintenance visits.

The Future
The installation of such a large network will take time. By the end of 2009, 100 systems were installed across Turkey, with the balance of 1,100 being installed by the end of 2010.

As rollout continues, and as stores report performance, it is likely that the network will become more sophisticated in terms of the type of content and number of channels created to best reflect customer needs for specific groups of stores.

Source: Scala

The Blake School is a private, college preparatory, coeducational school serving approximately 1,370 students in grades pre-K–12. It is often described as one of the most prestigious prep schools in the Midwest with alumni providing leadership in a number of fields including service, business, medicine, education, entertainment, politics.

The Blake School is spread across three campuses throughout the Minneapolis metropolitan area, making technology a crucial factor for staying connected with staff, students, and families.

Project Summary

Desiring to further improve internal communications, The school first began looking into digital signage in 2006.

“We had been looking at methods to provide more information to both students and parents on campus,” says Cathy McLane, director of marketing and communications. “It started with a desire to promote our programs but quickly built with every conversation.”

At the time, Ms. McLane says that she envisioned a television or computer monitor. But when she came in contact with Rise Display at a local trade show, she realized how much more digital signage could offer.

“When I saw the size, quality and programmability of digital signage, I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh — this is something we would like to look at with an eye to the future,’” Ms. McLane recalls.

The Solution

Several factors contributed to The Blake School opting to move forward with Rise Display. Most importantly was the vision for the school to eventually have multiple LCDs across all three campuses including at least three displays in the main lobbies and, ideally, several in areas such as the cafeteria and performing arts center. Without a large staff, the ability to manage multiple LCDs from one location would be important.

“We looked at several vendors in the Twin Cities,” Ms. McLane says. “Rise was the one and only subscription-based option. We also appreciated the automatic upgrades. Knowing that we could one-stop-shop with Rise was a big plus.”

The school worked closely with Rise Display’s creative team to customize the digital signage. The final display boasts four content areas: an automatic weather feed, a ticker that scrolls news for and about all grade levels, a calendar displaying campus-specific events, and a campus-specific news stream.

The Final Result

In the fall of 2009, a 46-inch Samsung LCD was installed in the newly renovated lobby of The Blake School’s Hopkins campus.

“The digital display is very welcoming because it’s dynamic,” says Ms. McLane. “Also, we are a school that really embraces technology, and the digital display better reflects this than a traditional monitor would have.”

Ms. McLane is currently the system’s primary programmer. “The content management system is very user-friendly, very easy to manage,” she says. “We had a very positive experience with the Rise creative team, and the training was excellent.”

Though The Blake School has no timeline as yet regarding additional displays, Ms. McLane says, “We’re set up. We know exactly what we need and how to do it. I really think this is a great product for schools,” she adds. “It may not make sense for everybody, but we’re just delighted with it.”

Bentley University is one of the nation’s leading business schools, dedicated to preparing a new kind of business leader and one with the deep technical skills, the broad global perspective and the high ethical standards required to make a difference in an ever-changing world. As one of the first business schools in the country to establish a trading room for its students, Bentley University has quite a reputation to maintain. That means (among other things) making sure that the 4,300 undergraduate and 1,200 graduate students have fast and reliable access to the information they need to manage their financial portfolios.

The University prides itself on preparing its students “for the new realities of doing business in an information-driven, technology-rich global marketplace” and advertises “firsthand experience with the same high-tech tools that companies use every day.”

Project Summary

According to Richard Gibble, manager of the University’s Hughey Center for Financial Services, turning to digital signage to get that data is a natural choice. “We needed large amounts of varied financial data in real-time, and our previous solution relied on out-of-date LED wallboard technology.” Mr. Gibble is responsible for integrating the trading room into Bentley University’s finance curriculum at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He also develops and delivers content for the University’s nationally renowned ‘Wall Street 101’ program.

“The Hughey Center for Financial Services is a cornerstone of the Bentley University educational experience,” he explained, “and it is imperative that the Center be fully functional at all times. We can’t risk having inaccurate data— or no data at all — on our display boards. ”

Before the start of the fall 2008 semester the University decided to update their more than 10-year old LED wallboard technology with new state-of-the-art LCD video walls. Each video wall consists of eight 46″ LCD displays in a 4×2 configuration and is powered by a computer utilizing two Matrox 4 output video cards to run each display at its native resolution while allowing content to stream from screen to screen.

In addition to upgrading to the video walls, the outdated single-color LED tickers were upgraded to tri-color tickers. The graphic interface ability allows logos to be shown with the stock symbols.

During the spring 2010 semester, the University added two interactive LCD screens for their Corporate Immersion program to recognize their valuable donors and business partners.

The Final Result

“The new LCD video walls get the attention of everyone who passes by the trading room,” said Mr. Gibble. “They display real-time information to our students in a manner that allows them to synthesize news and the effects of the news on

various securities and markets, as the events unfold.”

Mr. Gibble says the University is happy with the final result. “We needed a fresh look and more dynamic control of the information presented on our displays. Feedback related to the displays has been very good.”

Hardware, software, live data, and installation for this project was provided by Rise Display.

With five branches throughout the state, Alabama Teachers Credit Union (ATCU) is a not-for-profit financial institution existing to provide safe, affordable and personal financial services to its members. As an innovative, service-driven financial  institution, ATCU is committed to building member relationships by focusing on exceptional member service supported by reasonably priced quality products.

In addition to offering financial services like debit/ credit cards, loans and online banking, ATCU has many additional services geared towards the community. Current promotions include the Savasaurus Club, which helps teach children under 7 the fundamentals of saving while offering prizes as incentives; and The Bridal Registry, which allows people to make deposits directly into a couple’s account.

Project Summary

In March 2009, ATCU began looking into digital signage. “We wanted another avenue in which to display our print promotion ads,” says Emily Bogle, who works in ATCU’s marketing department. “We thought they were crowding up our lobby. We wanted another way to get our message across to members.”

Mrs. Bogle, along with ATCU’s marketing director and research and development coordinator, spent significant time researching different vendors and digital signage options. “We looked at other financial institutions that had digital signage,” says Ms. Bogle. “One in particular used the Rise Display program. We liked what we saw — a complete package with web-based software allowing us to update content from anywhere.”

The Final Result

Today, each branch has an LCD screen located either behind the teller line or directly beside it. Each screen relates information ranging from marketing promotions, to products and services, to regulations. According to Ms. Bogle, ATCU is also using the digital signage to “reach out to our community and offer assistance by getting word out about . . . non-profit organizations that are having community events, different things like that. We’ve gotten a great response.”

Another benefit of the digital signage is that members are more comfortable as they wait to process transactions. “We have found that people are drawn to television,” says Ms. Bogle. “So, members are standing in line and making their transactions and they don’t notice the wait time because they’re drawn to the look of the LCD.”

ATCU related that the digital signage has “cleaned up” ATCU’s various lobbies by removing the need for as many paper ads. “We’ve had several comments that the LCDs look professional and add a lot to the lobby,” says Ms. Bogle. “I absolutely love it. Any credit union looking for something like this, we would recommend Rise Display.”

The Challenge

The Solution
Bobcat Vision is the name of digital signage network. It consists of 18 32’’ and three 42’ high-definition displays, which are mounted in various campus areas. The network is powered by Scala, and installed with the help of Capital Signs.

To run the network, GCSU obtained 12 licenses for Scala players, designer, content manager and template composed EX module. Capital Signs designed all of the graphics and templates stored in Scala content manager. Scala designer is available in the student activities center, and it is used by the system administrator (a student) to build new templates and graphics for all users of the digital signage network.
Scala content manager software is available to any authorized student with internet access. This gives the ability to add messages from off-campus housing, as well as from computer labs and dormitories.

ROI

• Student organizations are no longer burdened by the cost of paper, printing, and recycling campus posters
• time costs have decreased too, as groups no longer need to design advertisements on various mediums to reach students
• greatly improved student awareness of campus events

Read “Keeping Students and Organizations connected at Georgia College” Case Study in detail.

Source: SCALA

Read about it in detail here