Hammond Communications Group is a high-definition video production and web design company based in Lexington, Kentucky and a certified Scala partner. We recently spoke with their vice president of interactive media Craig Miller about the company’s approach to digital signage.
RC: Hammond Communications has a broad background in delivering multi-media communication solutions. How does this expertise help you in addressing customers’ digital signage needs?
CM: Our multimedia production capabilities have definitely had a major impact on our ability to deliver comprehensive, cost-effective, customized digital signage solutions. We’ve been creating and delivering content for more than 33 years and our unique experience and skill sets were ideal for launching and building our digital signage department—as many of the services necessary to offer comprehensive, turnkey digital signage solutions are the same as we have been providing for other mediums.
RC: Your company services a range of markets, including equine, sports, corporate, health and government. Can you discuss for our readers how Scala software enables you to address such diverse industries?
CM: Out of the box, Scala’s platform is remarkably flexible. It has everything you need to operate a simple network, yet it is also ideal for larger, far more sophisticated networks. It also offers advanced customization, meaning we can easily integrate third party data into our solutions, such as POS integration into menu boards for restaurants, AS400 / financial data into interactive touchscreen solutions for horse sales companies, or parsing and formatting XML data from a hospital’s existing schedule of events system. The fact that Scala is so flexible, and that we can now also utilize Scala’s web services for additional integration with the Scala platform, there really isn’t anything you can’t do with the Scala platform.
RC: Let’s look a little deeper at your healthcare presence. Can you share the ways healthcare providers are using digital signage?
CM: We’ve partnered with savvy healthcare facilities, such as Cincinnati Children’s, Christina Care and Holzer Clinic, to utilize digital signage as a means of improving their communications with all audiences on their campuses. Their marketing departments are utilizing digital signage in lobbies, waiting areas, and outpatient satellite locations. Food and Nutrition Services are promoting wellness, highlighting healthy menu choices and providing nutritional information on items offered within their cafeterias. Internal Communication Departments are providing hospital staff with time-sensitive, important information, and patient education is now vastly improved via interactive touchscreens within patient rooms where patients, nurses and doctors have access to assets (e.g., video) that are germane to each individual patient. Basically it’s all about the right message, at the right time, to the right audience.