Whose responsibility is digital signage, really? (And why it matters)

Summary:

Digital signage is often seen as an IT product, but it’s actually a communication channel. When IT leads the project alone, the focus shifts to technology instead of the communication needs, value, and impact organizations want and need from their digital signage provider.

The result? Handing over from IT to operations risks creating disconnection in service selection, exclusion from decisions, and an uphill battle from day one. The solution is to let the communications department own the project from day one, with IT in a supporting role.

The most common mistake i see

After all these years at PLAYipp, I see the same pattern over and over again. An organization decides to invest in digital screens. Someone needs to take responsibility for the project. And because it involves screens and technology, it lands with the IT department.

Sounds logical, right?

But here’s the thing: the need for digital signage doesn’t come from IT. It comes either from within the organization facing a clear challenge with spreading information—or from the need for concrete value-creating impact. It’s a communicative and strategic question about how to reach employees or visitors with valuable information that delivers the desired effect through digital screens as an information channel. And the right way to get there is by involving the people who do this best—the people responsible for communication.

When the IT department gets sole responsibility for purchasing digital signage, they focus on technical aspects like screens, security, and integrations. But they often miss the whole point of why the organization wants digital screens in the first place.

Management wants a certain type of impact. They want to reach different target groups better. They want to simplify information flows. And these needs aren’t understood as well by IT as they are by the people who actually work with communication daily.

What happens when a digital signage project falls “between the cracks”

Let me paint two real scenarios we see all the time.

Scenario 1: The Company with many department heads

It starts with several department heads having the same need. They want to reach their teams and communicate better via digital screens. The need is raised in the organization and lands with IT to “solve the technology.”

IT comes up with a solution. Then the different department heads start ordering this solution and building their own little islands. Each finds their own way to solve the problem with the technical product they’ve been given.

The result? A completely decentralized and fragmented solution. Some users succeed better than others. It becomes a cost without good impact. And no one has oversight of the whole picture.

Scenario 2: The organization with 40-50 separate solutions

In large organizations, this is even more common. Operations don’t want to wait for IT to prioritize digital screens. So they start buying their own solutions on the market.

A concrete example is DB Schenker before they centralized their digital signage with PLAYipp. They had 40-50 separate operations running their own solutions. Each unit had its own designs, its own brand language, its own ways of communicating. No guidelines. Some had a passionate champion driving it, but when that person left, the screen remained with old information.

As Victor Oblitey, former service manager at Global Infrastructure at DB Schenker, describes it: “There were a variety of different users and accounts, which made it difficult to maintain consistent information sharing.”

It becomes a very inefficient and unprofessional channel. Both for meeting external visitors and internal employees.

The fundamental problem in both cases

When IT solves a technical product but lacks ownership structure and governance, it becomes chaos…

And here’s the obvious truth: most people don’t want chaos. Most people want a clear product that solves the problems they have. It becomes both efficient and reassuring to know what you can and can’t do. But most importantly, it removes the burden of having to become an expert on the technology. Instead, you can focus on what you actually want to do: reach your target audience with the right information in a simple way.

When should you establish ownership? (Spoiler: from day one)

This is something we at PLAYipp are very clear about today when we advise customers. You need to decide who will be the service owner as early as possible.

Why?

Because the risk otherwise is that the people who will manage and own the screens don’t get to influence what you’re looking at. We’ve seen projects that led all the way to decisions before those who will actually use the platform get it in their hands.

Think about how that feels for them. They feel excluded. They’re not comfortable with what’s been chosen. They haven’t gotten to have a say. They feel no connection to the decision.

It’s a very bad start. Both for us as a provider, but especially for the end users and service owners.

And for every part of the purchasing process that goes by without the service owners being involved, the further away you get from how it should have been.

What a functioning digital signage team looks like

Digital signage is a communication platform that solves communication problems and creates communication impact. So it’s not strange to say that ownership lies with communications, or similar roles within HR or marketing.

These are people who need to communicate information to their target groups. It could be employees, visitors, customers, students, or patients. These people need to be involved in influencing which service it becomes and how it’s used.

How many IT departments do you think have day-to-day work communicating/informing internal or external target groups via digital screens?

IT still has an important role

With the above question laid out, IT still has an important role in this. It is also a technical product. There are digital screens to be set up. There are users to be registered and managed. There may be third-party services to be connected from Microsoft 365, Google, or social media.

But IT is more of an enabler and support than actual service owners and decision-makers.

The three key roles

1. Communications manager
   This person looks at what impact you want to achieve, what needs and challenges you have today, and maps how the needs can be solved with digital signage.
   
2. IT representative
   Validates how technology and security match between the organization’s requirements and the provider’s products.
   
3. Local editors (when relevant)
   For organizations working with local editors, you need to understand their expectations of the platform. You can have a smaller editorial board that gets to describe their needs and how they would like to work.
   
   It creates engagement and willingness to embrace the new communication channel when it reaches out into the organization.

What about organizations without an IT department?

Not all organizations have an IT department. How do you tackle the technical parts then?

The important thing is to understand what kind of organization is looking at a digital signage solution. Whether you’re a large enterprise or a smaller company with a couple of locations, the problem is often the same. They have challenges with their communication, they don’t reach employees or visitors effectively.

What differs is that larger organizations have greater vulnerability and higher security thinking. They have internal structures we need to respect and follow.

But both the smaller company and the enterprise can easily get started. PLAYipp has a very simple setup with good standard security when it comes to user management, personal data, and deployment.

I don’t think we should discourage smaller organizations with lots of heavy technical questions. It’s no more difficult than installing a smart TV if you break it down to what it actually is.

Help is available

We at PLAYipp surround ourselves with competent IT and AV specialists who help companies throughout the Nordics succeed with their IT. They can be brought in from the start to look at technical parts.

How to involve forgotten stakeholders

A question I often get is how to best involve local editors. This is something that comes at a later stage in the project. First you need to understand:

1. What needs do we have and what impact are we seeking?
2. Does that map to what PLAYipp can offer?
3. What would the solution look like with PLAYipp’s product components?

When you know this, you can start asking quite targeted questions to local editors about how they would like to work. You map that against what setups you can create in PLAYipp.

The best way is to test different theories together with the local editors. That creates both engagement and the feeling of being consulted. This can happen later in the process. The main thing is that it happens.

My best advice to you at the starting line

If you’re at the starting line for purchasing digital signage, this is my most important advice:

Understand internally and discuss which department or person should own this service.

Just the other day I met a new customer where the IT manager reached out. After we talked about what they were looking for and how we view this type of process, he was very relieved. He understood that this isn’t something he should manage. He can involve marketing and communications who had actually ordered this from him.

I think there’s an image or fear that digital signage is a very technically complex product. But it’s really about very basic technical parts.

It requires much more strategy, planning, and understanding around the communicative aspects to get the full impact from this channel.

So my tip is: start by distributing this internally to the people who actually work with communication. Because that’s what it’s about. It’s communication via digital screens.

Summary: Three things to remember

1. Digital signage isn’t an IT product, it’s a communication channel
   Treat it that way from day one.
   
2. Decide on a service owner as early as possible
   Preferably before you even start looking at providers. Those who will own the platform must get to influence the choice.
   
3. IT should support, not manage
   IT has an important role with security, technology, and integrations. But the communications department should be in the driver’s seat.
   
   When you get this right from the start, you avoid decentralized inefficient solutions, wasted resources, and frustration. Instead, you get a structured communication channel that actually delivers the impact you’re seeking.

Want to learn more? Check out Åsas 5 tips for screen design!