Who should own the internal communication platform?
Digital Signage networks are often used as internal communication platforms. It is simple to deploy, easy to use, and even the costs are dropping due to the drops in the H/W prices and increasing penetration of cloud-based software. Many organizations are deploying digital signage to make sure their employees are well updated and notified, engaged and informed by all aspects: business, HR, security and safety and even with generic infotainment content.
In small organization it is simple, the small management team delegates the managers to own the digital display content, and anyhow everyone knows what’s going on and it is easy to manage the digital content and keep coherent and relevant messaging policy. it becomes a digital workplace.
The challenge starts in organizations that are bigger, and especially if these are multi-sited. The question who owns the signage platform, who defines the internal communication policy, is becoming an issue. HR, marketing and IT can all claim they need to own it. HR for employee achievements, personal messages, educational content and other “human related” content. The marketing can claim it is theirs: business performance indicators, market changes, new deals, wins and losses and so on valuable intimation. IT can claim — We manage the system, we need to own it. send us the content, we’ll manage it.
So, who is right? All and none ;-)
As a digital signage software provider, we obviously recommend the IT to own it technically, but the content must be managed by the relevant continent “owners”. We would recommend a mutual ownership by a committee that contains HR and Marketing with IT representative as the technical adviser (messaging timing, size and type of content, etc.). Both IT and HR can agree on the right way to split the digital display, it can be time or screen division. I believe time division is more effective, most modern digital signage software and CMS allow this option.
Good luck in building the right content and… don’t fight — there is enough signage for all!
Gadi.
