"Clever, customizable interface that is user-friendly and offers a wide variety of apps to bring a wealth of information to your messaging strategy. Customer service is top-notch, and they work hard to make sure their clients know how to use it and feel comfortable with creating custom messaging. We use it in our medical office waiting room and our patients love it. I highly recommend this as a solution for customized, eye-catching messaging across your organization's network." Paul Dressel, Director, Medical Illustration and Media, University at Buffalo Neurosurgery

I recently sat down with Paul Dressel, UBNS Director of Medical Illustration and Media, to discuss how UBNS is utilizing digital signage to create timely, relevant messaging to both patients and staff at their office. 

Tell us a little about how your digital signage journey started and what were some of the challenges you faced prior to switching to Industry Weapon?

I have an office in a brand-new state of the art facility that was built about seven or eight years ago. 

It's a medical innovation center and we wanted to use a digital signage package at our entrance monitor as well as in our collaborative break area where we have multiple LED monitors showing a variety of TV programming. However, we also wanted one of the monitors to be dedicated exclusively to convey our digital messaging. 

We evaluated different solutions and ultimately chose one we felt would best serve our needs. After implementation, we uploaded up our content which included static images, looping whiteboard and promotional videos and a crawl at the bottom of the screen. 

Unfortunately, not long after implementation, we started running into problems with the system’s performance. Even with my background and familiarity with graphics and imaging platforms, I struggled mightily with this particular software as it was cumbersome to use and very problematic. 

With my selected content running, I would leave for the day, return the next morning and all of the screens would be frozen. After rebooting everything, the content would run for 2-3 days and then freeze again. It was very frustrating, so we removed the looping videos and just went with static images. 

But why bother having digital signage if all you can run are static images and not your showcase material?

How did you come to find out about Industry Weapon?

We built a brand-new medical office that opened this summer and I wanted to make sure the patient waiting area was both inviting and calming for our patients. We wanted to provide our patients with an informative and visually pleasing digital signage experience, but we wanted to learn from past mistakes and make sure we had a platform that we could rely on – one that could handle our robust content and informational needs. 

Our CEO looked at packages and wanted a solution that would allow us to not only provide timely, relevant content, but also have the ability to stream neurosurgical and chiropractic educational­­­­­­ videos. We wanted the ability to seamlessly run all of our content as well as have the ability to update and make changes on the fly with minimal effort. 

After several meetings evaluating various digital signage solutions with myself, our CEO, the physicians and our IT team, we finally chose Industry Weapon and have been more than pleased with the results of this decision. 

How are you currently using Industry Weapon for your digital signage communication?

As I mentioned earlier, we wanted the waiting room to be a calming and inviting experience so one thing we did NOT want to do was stream any news stations. We were also cognizant of the fact that content can get stale very fast and that is something we really wanted to avoid. 

Fortunately, the Industry Weapon platform and CMS (Content Management System) made it easy for us to create and publish a wealth of information that is aligned with our communication strategy. 

Here are just a few examples of the content we are displaying. The image rotation and timing, along with the templates that were created, are aligned with the Industry Weapon Audience Engagement Framework. 

Welcome Message

Patient Education

Organization Information

Employee Engagement

Tell us about your experience working with the Industry Weapon team.

Learning a new CMS system can take a lot of valuable time and we needed to get up and running quickly. Industry Weapon was aware of this and got us on-boarded and running in a very short period of time. Our Account Manager was extremely responsive to our needs and made sure all the right resources were aligned to help us get started. 

One of the biggest differentiators between Industry Weapon and other providers is the focus and attention to detail with regards to content. They took the time to listen to what I wanted to do, address my challenges, and find a way to bring our messages to life. I struggled a bit early on when adding content to the system. With one phone call, I was on the line with their content production team who quickly showed me how navigate some of the functionality. But even more impressive was their proactive approach to provide me with a custom-branded, working template that I could use that allowed me to quickly populate my messaging and desired content. 

We’re big on customer service for our patients at UBNS and it’s clear that Industry Weapon also shares our passion for creating the best experience for customers. I love the fact that I can be on my laptop controlling the messaging from anywhere and then know that in five minutes, it's going to be showing to our waiting patients right then and there.

Because I move between two offices, when I'm at the new location, I can actually sit on a couch in front of one of our big TVs, manipulate/update the content, wait a minute, then watch it in the cycle. So, I really like that. It’s extremely dependable and has not failed in its performance in any way, shape or form. 

If I need to plug in a video, I don’t have to ask for any additional help; it’s very intuitive. It’s like having all of the ingredients for a recipe and then working with a chef to bring it all together into something really wonderful. 

We have aggressive growth plans and I am confident the Industry Weapon platform, combined with unparalleled service and support, will be our long-term solution for all of our digital signage needs. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to elevate their digital signage communication to a new level.

About University at Buffalo Neurosurgery, Inc.
University at Buffalo Neurosurgery, Inc. (UBNS) is an academic neurosurgical group committed to excellence in education, patient care, and research.

The threefold mission of UBNS is to improve the human condition through compassionate clinical care, prepare the next generation of clinicians in academics and community neurosurgery and explore evolving knowledge through impactful research.