Imagine walking into your workplace and immediately seeing the company's latest achievements displayed on vibrant screens. Customer wins scroll across break room displays. Team milestones shine in the cafeteria. Real-time performance metrics update on the production floor. This isn’t a future concept—it’s already happening in workplaces using digital signage for internal communications.
The modern workplace faces a communication crisis. With employee engagement at a 10-year low of just 31% and disengaged employees costing the global economy $8.8 trillion annually, organizations can't afford to rely on email alone. Digital signage offers a solution: visual, timely, and impossible to ignore—especially for the millions of frontline workers who don't sit at desks all day.
Discover how Poppulo enables effective digital signage for internal communications here.
Key Takeaway
- Digital signage cuts through inbox clutter by delivering critical messages where employees actually see them—without adding to email overload
- Visual communication drives 25% higher productivity and helps companies communicate 4x more effectively than those without digital displays
- Real-time KPI dashboards and employee recognition content create a culture of transparency, accountability, and shared success
- Digital signage works best as part of an omnichannel strategy, complementing email, mobile, and intranet channels to reach every employee
- Poppulo Digital Signage enables teams to automate content, target by location, and measure engagement at scale across thousands of screens
Communicate Clearly in a Digital World
Take a moment to imagine the workplace of the future. It’s a connected, highly visual environment—filled with video walls and touchscreens—where employees collaborate seamlessly and real-time data is visible throughout the space. Powered by digital signage, these experiences help inform, align, and empower employees while driving stronger performance across the organization. Every day, businesses around the world lose thousands of hours of productivity and, in turn, millions of dollars in profits due to disengaged and disconnected workforces. According to recent research, only about 23% of employees worldwide are actively engaged at work, while around 59% are disengaged—merely going through the motions rather than contributing their best. This lack of engagement is linked to $8.8 trillion in lost productivity globally, showing just how much performance and profitability are tied to engagement levels. Companies with highly engaged employees also report up to 23% higher profitability, underscoring the business value of strong internal communication and culture. For this reason, organizations are searching far and wide for a solution. One such solution is digital signage.
The benefits of utilizing digital signage for internal communications are too numerous to count, but the three key areas where visual communications networks particularly stand out are employee collaboration, worker engagement, and performance management.
Employee Communication and Collaboration
Very few employees—especially Millennials—enjoy being bombarded with work-related emails. In fact, these emails often do more harm than good, creating a stressed-out workforce, which can lead to a lack of focus and productivity. Using digital signage instead of force-feeding an endless stream of emails to your employees helps alleviate this common challenge.
By publishing relevant, timely, and engaging content across your visual communications network, you can inform employees of vital information about upcoming events or industry news without needlessly overwhelming them—all they need to do is glance up at one of the screens.
Despite constant encouragement to communicate through dedicated company messaging systems, workers still strongly prefer to communicate over social media, opting for the familiarity of communication mediums used in their personal lives. Don’t waste your time fighting a losing battle. Instead, embrace the fact that employees are choosing these platforms to communicate and use your screens to display your company's social media feeds.
What to display for collaboration
Strategic announcements: Upcoming events, policy changes, and organizational updates that affect multiple teams or locations.
Team alignment: Shared goals, project milestones, and cross-functional initiatives that require coordination.
Quick access points: QR codes linking to detailed resources, training materials, or feedback forms—bridging physical displays with digital workflows.
Event reminders: Town halls, benefits deadlines, volunteer opportunities, and social gatherings that build community.
Industry news: Market trends, competitor updates, and sector developments that contextualize your organization's strategy.
The key is relevance. Tailor content by location and audience so manufacturing floor displays show production updates while corporate office screens highlight strategic initiatives.
Worker Engagement
As mentioned above, a disengaged workforce is an all too common problem facing businesses today. As Millennials begin to dominate the workforce, they increasingly demand a stimulating, collaborative, comfortable, and stress-free company culture. No longer can companies excel by doing the bare minimum when it comes to engaging employees. According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2025 report, global employee engagement slipped from 23% to 21% in 2024, and this decline in engagement cost the world economy an estimated $438 billion in lost productivity—highlighting how disengaged workforces directly impact performance and profits. One surefire way to overcome these productivity losses is by leveraging a digital signage network to improve internal communications and effectively engage your workforce.
Most successful organizations never have a shortage of activities, meetings, workshops, and other opportunities to promote. Shift away from email announcements—instead, boost attendance by showcasing the information across your smart digital signage network. But don’t stop there. Post big events like promotions, retirements, birthdays, and anniversaries on your employee-facing corporate digital signage display network.
Engagement Content Ideas That Work
Employee Recognition: Celebrate work anniversaries, promotions, new hires, and team achievements to build a culture of appreciation.
Customer Wins: Share testimonials, success stories, and positive feedback that remind employees their work matters.
Cultural Moments: Highlight company values in action, community involvement, diversity initiatives, and team celebrations.
Leadership Visibility: Feature brief executive updates, strategic messages, and "day in the life" content that humanizes leadership.
Interactive Elements: Display poll results, survey findings, or questions that invite two-way dialogue and show employees their voices are heard.
Safety Spotlights: Recognize teams with strong safety records, share near-miss learnings, and reinforce protocols in high-risk environments.
The formula is simple: content that makes people feel valued drives engagement. Hilton San Francisco Union Square generated 60% ROI on digital signage while seeing a 40% increase in branded package sales, proving that engagement delivers measurable business results.
Performance Management
Digital signage makes performance management more effective in two key ways: it puts data at the center of decision-making, and it presents that information through engaging visuals rather than static reports. So what better way to increase performance than by using high-definition screens throughout your workplace to highlight real-time metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs)? Few solutions are as effective as digital signage.
Using Poppulo’s customizable dashboards, you can share real-time results with your entire workforce. Using a simple touch interface, you can drill down to reveal valuable performance-based information, including employee performance rankings, quarterly sales targets, and other vital performance numbers. Our Integration Framework also allows you to display specific departmental performance indicators and align your whole workforce around specific goals for their respective teams. Finally, Poppulo’s purpose-built manufacturing and call center dashboards ensure that every employee in your workforce knows what they need to contribute on a daily basis, maintaining your company’s success.
By making data and performance goals visible to employees, you remove guesswork and enable more informed, data-driven decision-making across the organization.
KPI Examples to Show on Screens
Sales Metrics: Daily/weekly revenue, deals closed, pipeline health, and individual or team rankings against quotas.
Service Levels: Customer satisfaction scores, response times, resolution rates, and support ticket backlogs.
Production Targets: Units manufactured, quality metrics, downtime incidents, and efficiency ratios.
Safety Performance: Days without incidents, near-miss reports, compliance rates, and safety training completion.
Department Dashboards: Finance burn rates, HR hiring pipelines, marketing campaign performance, or IT ticket resolution times.
Custom Applications: Purpose-built displays for call centers, warehouses, healthcare facilities, or retail locations with industry-specific KPIs.
The power lies in transparency. When everyone knows the score, performance becomes a team sport rather than an individual burden.
Digital Signage Works Best as Part of an Omnichannel Employee Comms Plan
Digital signage isn't a silver bullet—it's one channel in a comprehensive communications strategy. Understanding when to use screens versus email, mobile apps, or intranet ensures each message reaches employees through the most effective medium.
Use digital signage for:
- Time-sensitive alerts requiring immediate visibility (safety, weather, emergencies)
- High-frequency messages that need repetition (reminders, deadlines, cultural reinforcement)
- Visual content best consumed at a glance (dashboards, recognition, event promotions)
- Reaching non-desk employees who don't regularly check email (manufacturing, healthcare, retail, hospitality)
- Creating ambient awareness of company performance, values, and culture
Use email for:
- Detailed information requiring action or response
- Individual or small group communications
- Content employees need to save or reference later
- Messages with attachments, links, or complex instructions
Use mobile apps or SMS for:
- Personal notifications and alerts
- Two-way communication and feedback
- Content employees need access to while away from facilities
Use intranet for:
- Policy documentation, procedures, and resources
- Searchable knowledge bases and training materials
- Long-form content and archival information
According to Poppulo research, digital signage works best as part of a multi-channel content strategy. The same announcement might appear on screens for visibility, arrive via email for detail, and get posted on the intranet for reference—each channel serving its purpose.
Station Casinos' Richard Van Rhyn noted, "With Poppulo, I can better enable non-programmer contributors to add and change out digital signage content at a moment's notice and I have greater visibility to the condition of the entire system." This agility allows content teams to coordinate across channels without technical bottlenecks.
How Poppulo Helps Teams Scale Digital Signage for Internal Communications
Internal signage succeeds when content is easy to update, targeted by location and audience, and consistently governed across the organization. One-off displays quickly become outdated or ignored. Sustainable digital signage programs require automation, integration, and centralized management.
Poppulo digital signage helps teams manage workplace screens at enterprise scale. Communicators can create branded templates once, schedule recurring content automatically, and deploy updates across thousands of screens from a single dashboard. Role-based permissions let departments manage their own displays while IT maintains governance and security.
The platform integrates with HR systems, business intelligence tools, and collaboration platforms—pulling data directly from source systems so screens always show current information. When a new employee joins, their photo automatically appears in welcome content. When quarterly results update, dashboards refresh instantly. This automation eliminates manual work while ensuring accuracy.
Ferguson manages 1,400 locations using Poppulo's location-specific content contribution system, enabling local teams to update their screens while maintaining global brand consistency. SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications ensure security across all endpoints, critical for enterprises handling sensitive data.
Analytics transform signage from static to strategic. Track which content resonates, measure dwell time, and adjust based on engagement data rather than assumptions. Poppulo customers achieve a 3-year ROI of 467% according to a Forrester study, with 40+ Fortune 100 companies relying on the platform daily.
Conclusion
Digital signage improves internal communications by reducing inbox noise, increasing message visibility, and making engagement and performance part of everyday work. When screens display recognition, real-time metrics, and cultural moments, they transform passive communication into active connection.
The organizations seeing the strongest results treat digital signage strategically—not as a replacement for email, but as a complementary channel that reaches employees where traditional tools fall short. Combined with thoughtful content, automated workflows, and analytics-driven optimization, workplace displays become catalysts for alignment, transparency, and engagement.
FAQ
What is digital signage for internal communications?
Digital signage for internal communications refers to screens placed in physical spaces to display real-time updates, KPIs, recognition, and more—helping employees stay informed without inbox overload.
What should companies display on internal digital signage screens?
Useful content includes company news, event reminders, KPIs, employee recognition, safety alerts, and QR links to deeper resources.
How does digital signage improve employee engagement?
Screens make achievements and culture moments visible, boost belonging, and provide interactive touchpoints that reinforce positive behavior.
Where should internal digital signage screens be placed?
High-traffic areas like lobbies, breakrooms, hallways, and team hubs maximize visibility and engagement.
How do you measure ROI of digital signage for internal communications?
Measure ROI by tracking engagement (surveys, behavior), productivity changes, event attendance, and performance metric improvements tied to screen content.