Netkey is a market-leading provider of applications, management software, and turnkey solutions for the creation, monitoring, management and control and operation of kiosks and digital signs. Recognized as a pioneer in the self-service industry, Netkey is a trusted partner to organizations including Avery Dennison, Bank of America, Circuit City, Disney, Fidelity Investments, Healthy Advice Networks, The Home Depot, JC Penney, Nationwide Insurance, Pfizer, Swift Transportation, Target, Toys R Us/Babies R Us, the U.S. Postal Service and others who count on Netkey to deliver reliable, scalable, and secure kiosk and digital signage systems for customer and employees that increase sales and reduce costs.

Netkey Software Platform for Self-Service Kiosks and Digital Signage
Unlike generic development tools and network management software, Netkey provides a comprehensive software platform that is purpose-built for the operation of self-service and digital merchandising technologies, and is designed to address the unique issues encountered in these customer and employee-facing deployments. Building on this robust technology foundation, Netkey leverages its years of best-practice experience and customer success to provide:

* Packaged Applications
* User Interface Design and Authoring
* Security
* Peripheral Integration
* Transaction Enablement
* Remote Device Monitoring
* Content Scheduling, Delivery and Management
* Reporting and Analytics
* Project Management Services
* Hardware Configuration Services
* Consulting Services
* Turnkey Solutions

Netkey Applications for Self-Service Kiosks and Digital Signage
Netkey drives measurable value and creates a sustainable competitive advantage for businesses by providing feature-rich self-service kiosk and digital signage applications for retail, brand marketing and digital merchandising, human resources and banking and financial services. Netkey applications are built on the market-proven Netkey software platform foundation and are the embodiment of over 20 years of experience delivering results to the world’s leading businesses. Packaged applications from Netkey include:

* Gift Registry
* Credit Application and Authorization
* Product Information and E-Commerce Kiosk
* Food and QSR Self-Order
* Online Banking Kiosk
* Bill Payment Kiosk
* Digital Signage
* Employee Human Resources and Recruitment

Netkey Hosted ASP Services
Get to market faster and at a lower up-front cost by leveraging the hosted ASP software services options available from Netkey. With little investment in hardware infrastructure, you can quickly get your self-service kiosk or digital signage network up and running using the market-proven Netkey software platform delivered via our Web-based hosted management service. Our hosted service is collocated at a top-tier facility that meets stringent Fortune 500 IT requirements for performance, security, reliability and disaster recovery.

* Increased speed to market
* Fast and cost-effective pilots and proofs-of-concept
* Tailored support for migration from pilot to full deployment
* Flexible subscription-based services
* Rapid deployment with reduced hardware investment
* Full-featured content optimization, reporting, and remote monitoring
* World-class security and reliability

Netkey Professional Services and Turnkey Solutions
Netkey offers the most comprehensive portfolio of professional services capabilities in the self-service kiosk and digital signage industry. Our consultants and project managers are available to help you implement, customize, enhance and extend your Netkey solution for immediate return on investment.

With years of experience, industry best practices and a rich knowledge base, the Netkey professional services team provides unparalleled strategic insight and expertise. Our proven Netkey 4D Methodology reduces risk and helps you optimize your self-service and digital signage initiative to avoid costly and time-consuming pitfalls.
Benefits of Working with Netkey:

* Comprehensive software, world-class experience and market-proven best practices reduces project risk
* Trusted partner to Fortune 1000 enterprises
* IT proven – meets the demanding requirements of sophisticated technology organizations
* Unparalleled scale – more 1,000+ device projects run on Netkey than all other kiosk and digital signage software products combined
* Modular application and management software approach that can expand as your business needs grow
* Common software platform supports multiple kiosk and digital signage applications and devices in the enterprise for ease of maintenance and extensibility
* Rapid deployment for faster time-to-market and increased ROI
* Purpose-built to address the critical needs and unique requirements of self-service and digital signage
* Market-proven, packaged and supported software for reliability, flexibility and peace-of-mind
* Complete control over all aspects of your kiosk and digital signage systems for maximum operational efficiency and reduced IT burden

Unlock the Power of Self-Service and Digital Signage. Contact Netkey today at: 800-443-7924 or via e-mail at info@netkey.com.

Learn how Netkey can help. Watch our movie: http://www.netkey.com/movie/movie.htm.

From Self Service World.com comes this very informative article about how self-service and digital signage can help the bottom line:

The question has always been asked, but as the economy continues to worsen, it has become more pronounced: How will self-service and digital signage help the bottom line?

It is a question organizers of KioskCom Self-Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show plan to answer when the show convenes May 6-7 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. As businesses look to cut costs in a shrinking economy, executives have to be more focused than ever on efficient and effective ways to communicate with customers, employees, patients, and students.

“The real question businesses face is how does this address and solve a problem they have,” said Lawrence Dvorchik, general manager of the event. “It’s kind of always been there, but I think people are more openly focused on it than they would admit to before.

“Now it’s front and center. Granted, it’s cool technology, but it needs to be more than that. It needs to make their operations, communication and overall business better. That’s one of the reasons for our success, it’s the laser-beam focus of how this technology solves a problem for businesses. It’s been proven that when they work, they really work.”

Last year, the show floor saw more than 300 exhibitors and about 3,000 attendants. Dvorchik said he thought the conference would draw close to those numbers this year, if not more. To entice attendees, he said he is providing free full conference passes — as opposed to exhibit hall-only passes — which last year cost up to $1,500.

Attendees can hear a host of customer-facing technology users from many different industries talk about the challenges they’ve faced and the solutions they’ve discovered.

Experts will talk about maximizing existing data and on-screen content production to be used across multiple platforms and giving advice on the next logical step for first-time deployers — do you add content, invest in additional machines or try digital signage or handheld speakers?

“I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all for any of these solutions,” Dvorchik said. “There are many options to choose from, and people need to really understand the value of these options and select what works best in their situation.”

One scheduled speaker is Robert Fort, chief information officer and vice president of information technology with Virgin Entertainment Group, who will talk about how his in-store digital signage network pushes customers to listening stations that are tied to loyalty programs, blending all the components together to create a sales lift and enhance the customer experience. The company recently announced that it is closing all its stores, but that business deal does not impact the lessons attendees can learn from the store’s programs, Dvorchik said.

“You can imagine there’s quite a bit of noise in that kind of store,” he said. “He’s very in tune with it being something customers pay attention to, rather than something they’ll ignore.”

And Ron Potesky, a corporate communications executive for Ricoh Americas Corp., will speak about why his company chose to use wind- and solar-powered digital signage in New York City. The 35,000-pound sign will be 55 feet off the ground, and it will go dark if it doesn’t get enough power, as a message to consumers and other companies that resources are important.

“It’s about their program that they launched of eco-friendly digital signage, and why they went green,” Dvorchik said. “It’s easy to put up a digital sign, which uses a lot of energy. There’s always a risk with (solar-powered) digital signage that on a dark day it’ll go out, and they’ve got it up in Times Square. Ron and his group weighed the options, and chose this route. It will be exciting to hear from him why they made that decision, and how it impacted their brand and their strategy.”

Other education sessions include a discussion of how digital out-of-home media is reviewed, analyzed and purchased by advertisers. The discussion will be led by former NIKE digital signage expert Pat Hellberg, ConAgra vice president of marketing and communications Gerald Johnson, and Ray Rotolo, senior vice president and managing director of Schering Plough DOOH agency Chrysalis.

There will also be a session on employing digital signage on a limited budget, with tips on choosing low-cost but effective software, for example.

“People are looking at every item within their businesses and how effective and efficient they are,” Dvorchik said. “Those that are not are being replaced with alternative ideas. Getting the best practices of successful — and sometimes unsuccessful — projects first-hand helps to further that process. Coming face-to-face with the solutions that can help allows organizations to test drive the technology and ensure that they work with a company that meets their every need — from understanding their strategy to their deployment timeline to the cultures working well together. All these factors contribute to an organization’s success, and we want to do everything in our power to make sure they have access to the tips, tools and techniques for success.”