Not every employee opens, let alone reads, company email announcements in their inbox or notices signs posted in break rooms. For Wausau Financial Services, a leading provider of payment processing solutions worldwide, finding a more effective way to keep their employees (referred to as associates) informed about the latest company news was critical. Recently sold, Wausau was making many enhancements to processes companywide; therefore, effective employee communications was more important than ever. Wausau turned to Becker Communications—a fully integrated marketing and communications company based in Wausau, Wisconsin—to help. Bryan Piepenburg, media services manager at Becker, recalled how the project started. “We’ve been using a digital signage solution from Focus Enhancements to display custom welcome messages for clients visiting our office. When Wausau saw their welcome message, they asked how we were doing it. Three months later, we rolled out Wausau’s own visual communications implementation using the same technology.”

 

Becker Communications used digital signage to provide a more compelling and effective way of delivering corporate messaging. At the Wausau home office in Mosinee, Wisconsin, seven displays were strategically placed throughout the building—each providing updated content that includes major sales initiatives, associate performance awards, customer wins, process changes, and more. “For example, let’s say an associate goes into the break room to heat up microwave popcorn. Wausau can now give her two to three minutes of information while she is standing there,” said Bryan.

 

Firefly MC from Focus Enhancements drives Wausau’s internally branded Corporate Televised Communications, or CTC. The unit incorporates four-channel MPEG-2 playback in a compact 1RU form factor. Becker installed a Firefly at Wausau headquarters, as well as at the company’s five other offices located in Weston and Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Kirkland, Washington; and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Although the same content is delivered to all displays, the four-channel support provided by Firefly enables Wausau to target different areas with site-specific information.

 

Bryan also credited the reliability of Firefly in their decision. “We’ve been working with the player and product line for several years now, and we know that it’s a very stable product,” he said. Mona commented on the product’s ease of use. “Confidence in building and posting playlists via the Firefly software was gained quickly through training provided before implementation and supportive onsite step-by-step coaching from a dedicated Becker resource.”

 

“We have been pleased with the system. In just a few short months since implementation, communication with our associates has increased, awareness has improved, and recognition is now more visible to all associates,” stated Mona Fox, executive vice president of marketing and corporate communications for Wausau. “As we continue to grow and add offices, we foresee the CTC becoming an automatic fixture in each location and a natural extension of our communication with each office.”

 

According to Bryan at Becker Communications, the ability to control multiple locations over the network was one of the main reasons for choosing Firefly. Despite having offices dispersed across the country, Wausau can easily manage content for each location. “They just need to upload content to an FTP server at the main office,” said Bryan. “The rest works unattended. The players can log in to the server themselves and get updates on a daily basis.” Since Wausau is in the service industry, Bryan and Becker communications understood that versatility was crucial. For example, the players update content during off-peak hours. In addition, Firefly gives Wausau the ability to readily disseminate system wide information in the event of an emergency. The company is now prepared to communicate emergency plans and procedures affecting mission-critical operations in any of its remote locations. With its digital signage solution, Wausau can now send service outage alerts and other critical, time-sensitive alerts for their associates.

 

Wausau may also utilize the Firefly installation as a cost-effective alternative for their companywide meetings. In order to bring together the 250 associates located at their headquarters alone, Wausau currently needs to rent an offsite facility. Rental fees are compounded by the logistical issues and inefficiencies of bringing all associates offsite for an hour-long meeting.  Using the Firefly MC live video feed, Wausau can play a livecast of the CEO’s presentation on each display panel at headquarters and then upload the video for distribution to the company’s five other sites.

Since 1974, Wausau Financial Services has been the leader in enterprise transaction processing, providing the software, hardware, and services that businesses need to be successful and profitable. With input and direction from the company’s vast customer base, industry leaders, and strong partners, Wausau is focused on the future of payment processing and all related areas of an enterprise with scalable, flexible, and proven solutions.

 

Becker Communications, Inc. has the distinct ability to utilize any combination of in-house resources—graphic designers, photographers, exhibit designers, videographers, web developers—to create unique and effective marketing strategies that help businesses and organizations prosper.

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With scheduled content delivery on up to four channels, the Firefly MC Multi-Channel Digital Media Player is an extremely versatile player. The integrated SmartCard reader provides enhanced security and makes it easy to add options such as Dolby Digital™ down-mixed audio and genlocked external AV input. Content updating is available via automated FTP, HTTP, CD/DVD, or multicast.