CASE STUDY SEEBERGER
Digital signage at Seeberger:
Reaching all employees with digital information boards
The Company
“Who hasn‘t heard of Seeberger snacks?” The brand has stood for enjoyment and variety since 1844, and offers its consumers a wide range of different products. As a small snack between meals, as an energy boost or for on the go – with over 100 products, there is the right product for every situation. This makes Seeberger the leading brand in the nuts and dried fruit sector in Europe and can also be found in 60 countries worldwide. Seeberger is also one of the oldest coffee roasting companies in Germany and offers modern solutions for hot drinks, vending machines, and payment systems for catering and corporate customers. Together with the Genusswelt at the Ulm site, the family-owned company generates a turnover of over 300 million euros with around 1000 employees.
Initial Setting & Targets
The Seeberger Group‘s head office, including production, is located in Ulm. As part of the introduction of Microsoft 365, a new intranet based on SharePoint online was made available to employees. From the outset, the content for colleagues in production was also designed, structured and organised thematically.
Once the new intranet was established in a short period of time, another important topic was tackled. The aim was to supplement the physical notice boards that were hanging in production or in the stairwell, for example, with modern solutions and at the same time create more attention for content on the intranet without imposing too much extra work on the editors. Together, we developed a clear and easy-to-implement digital signage solution. The first step was to purchase two large monitors without a touch function.
The project
During the conceptualisation phase, the content for the first expansion stage was defined. In addition to company news, this included the current menu and, as a special highlight, a dashboard showing current production and company key figures.
The database and data storage for all information takes place on the intranet in SharePoint online. As these requirements could not be realised in the standard system, corresponding extensions were programmed for the existing intranet display elements. The connection to SharePoint is a decisive advantage: editors do not have to learn another system and can control the information for the monitors directly in the workflow.
The modern and attractive screen design was developed step by step in parallel with the conceptualisation, prior to the programmatic implementation began.
On the customer side, the project was managed by the trusted tandem of corporate communications and the IT department, which also had regular feedback with the
editors. Overall, the project was successfully realised in 4 months and within budget.
The solution
Important information is prominently displayed by a feed at the bottom of the monitor.
The monitors not only show employees important company news or information – the staff restaurant‘s menu is also automatically integrated from its merchandise management system via an interface.
From the editor‘s point of view, there are now more control options for company news. In addition to the normal settings for display on the intranet, you can also decide for each message whether it should also be displayed on the monitors. If this is the case, additional settings are activated for the monitors. The headline, teaser text and QR code are customised. And the whole thing is even AI-supported, as the teaser text is automatically generated and suggested from the detailed message text on the intranet.
In addition, important messages can be displayed only on the monitors or simultaneously on the intranet. The administrator also has the option of integrating any RSS feed –
currently the daily news feed is used – as a ticker message.
The content is published as slides in a continuous loop. A progress bar is displayed so that the users of the monitors know whether it is worth waiting for the next message or how much content there is at all – permanently displayed for each slide and for the entire content.
In the case of company news, the QR code enables mobile access to the entire message on the intranet, which is often used for complex topics.
The next expansion stage is a slide with key figures. Here, employees can quickly see the current status of various key figures from production and logistics as well as the photovoltaic output from the roofs of the various buildings. Particular emphasis was placed on the clear icon language during development to ensure quick comprehension even when walking past. Technically, the data is automatically transferred to a SharePoint list, from where it is read and displayed.
Challenges & Outlook
The skilful placement of the monitors is, of course, always a challenge in such projects. In the best case scenario, the content is so exciting for the readers that they stop and wait for a complete run-through of the slides. Of course, this must not be in the danger or safety zone and must not hinder production processes. Then there is the legibility of the lettering, the background noise, the lighting conditions, the temperature or dust levels in the hall, necessary infrastructure connections … all good solutions, but not as quick as they might seem at first glance.
To make the right decision here, it helped to take a very pragmatic approach. The team on site examined possible locations for the monitors according to the above criteria – directly in production, at different times of day. In the end, the decision was made to place the monitors in the break rooms and at the entrances to the staff restaurant. Various font sizes were tested for legibility and the backgrounds were adapted to the actual lighting conditions at the respective locations.
Conclusion
The solution is live, the monitors are installed in the company, and they are being used. The feedback from employees has been very positive. And the editors are also coping well with content maintenance. The teaser texts provide the most important information of the entire text and the headlines are already meaningful in terms of content.
Maintaining the flow of information in production is a strong, and positive signal from the company to its employees. That is well received!