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Whether it's a hospital waiting room, a government office, or a busy retail store, one common experience can define customer satisfaction: the queue. Waiting in line, or simply not knowing how long a wait will be, can frustrate even the most patient of visitors. That’s where queue management systems (QMS) come in.

While queue management systems are nothing new, it's now easier and more affordable than ever to manage your customer expectations with digital signage.

A queue management system is exactly what it sounds like: a solution to help manage an orderly queue often in a busy public space. Typically queue displays are found government offices, hospitals or even in places like train and bus station ticket offices.

Software based queue management usually connects to a ticketing dashboard. The customer might be required to sign-in, or they might simply register and get a number assigned to them. A display screen will display things such as ticket numbers, estimated wait times and sometimes messages to help speed things along (or entertain).

The idea is to use a combination of technology and processes to help manage customer flow and reduce waiting times. At its core, it helps organize the way people line up for services, whether physically, virtually, or through scheduled appointments, and provides tools to improve the efficiency, visibility, and fairness of the experience.

But modern QMS platforms do much more than just manage queues; They offer analytics, notifications, remote check-in, real-time updates, and integration with digital signage, turning what used to be a passive wait into an informed, controlled journey.

The Benefits of Using a Queue Management System

In a busy location such as a hospital, a well managed Queue Management System (QMS) can improve the entire process for everyone involved, including staff and of course the customer experience.

The most tangible benefits of queue management include:

With clear communication and automated management, QMS software reduces both actual wait and perceived wait times. This has been backed up by various studies looking at the psychology of queuing, and how good queue management can reduced perceived waiting times.

Whenever people need to wait, they appreciate clarity and control. This is especially true in high stress locations such as healthcare waiting areas. A queue management system that gives estimated wait times, clear updates - either on screen or via their devices, and a clear calling process helps reduce frustration and improves the overall experience.

Well managed queues also help business and staff performance. In fact, by monitoring queues in real time, managers can reallocate staff, open new counters, or spot bottlenecks quickly. Analytics tools within QMS software can help to identify trends and inform long-term resource planning.

Reducing friction with the waiting experience goes a long way to keeping people in line - literally. With mobile alerts, estimated wait times, and flexible check-in options, customers are less likely to abandon their place in line.

Another important part of queuing is feeling like there is a fair process behind it. Queue systems help ensure everyone is treated fairly (or at least feels as if they are), with first-come, first-served logic, multilingual interfaces, and accessible kiosk or mobile options.

Not all queues are the same — and neither are the systems that manage them. Here’s a breakdown of the most common types:

This is the traditional “take a number and wait” approach, often supported by ticket dispensers and LED signage. It’s common in post offices and government agencies.

Best for: Simple, single-service environments where people are comfortable waiting in person.

Customers join the queue remotely via mobile, QR code, or a web portal. They can wait nearby or offsite and are notified when it’s nearly their turn.

Best for: Clinics, service centers, or any location where comfort and flexibility matter.

Customers book time slots in advance, either online or on-site, and the system coordinates scheduled arrivals with walk-in traffic.

Best for: Healthcare, banking, or regulated services where pre-planned visits reduce overcrowding.

New arrivals can register on a touchscreen kiosk and be given their ticket number for queuing. This might not require an appointment and is the modern version of the ticket-based queuing system.

Best for: Drop in locations such as healthcare facilities, transport booking offices and drop-in centers.

These combine appointments, walk-ins, and virtual queues into a single interface — allowing organizations to offer flexible access while maintaining control over capacity and staffing.

Best for: Busy locations with multiple customer touchpoints like government buildings or universities.

Sometimes everyone is in the queue and being kept informed is the best way to manage it. An example of this is airport boarding gates, where people appreciate being kept updated about delays or potential disruption. 

Best for: Airports and train/bus stations might not offer turn-based queueing, but information about gate changes or delays can help passengers.

Wherever you need to form an orderly queue, or ensure customers wait with minimal stress, you'll find an opportunity to integrate a queue management system. These are the most common location for QMS displays to be found.

1. Healthcare Providers (Hospitals and Clinics)

Manage patient check-ins for walk-ins and appointments via reception or self-service kiosk

Route patients to correct departments or providers

Display real-time wait times and queue updates in doctor or hospital waiting rooms

Handle queues for licensing, passport services, tax offices, or local council appointments

Improves fairness and transparency and reduces stress

Streamline foot traffic and reduce congestion

Manage customer service desks or repair counters via automated queueing

Allow shoppers to browse while retaining their queue position

Reduce perceived wait times through entertainment or promotions on screen

Organize queues for administrative services, financial aid, career advice or registration

Help students manage time effectively during peak enrollment periods

Integrate useful information into education digital displays while students are waiting

Ensure customer data is handled securely during check-in

Allow prioritization based on service type (e.g., deposits vs. mortgage advice)

Display room availability on meeting room screens for private consultations or meetings

How Digital Signage Enhances Queue Management

Digital signage has rapidly become a powerful tool for sharing useful communications and information. With screens installed in high visibility locations such as waiting rooms and receptions, customers can quickly and easily see critical information, including queueing information.

Whatever the Queue Management Software your business is using, integrating this into display screens is actually quite simple, as we shall see.

When it comes to displaying your queuing information on screen, the benefits are clear:

Screens can display current queue numbers, estimated wait times, or the next ticket being called. This reduces confusion and keeps foot traffic organized.

Signage can guide customers to specific counters, rooms, or service areas — especially important in large venues like hospitals or government offices.

Even for those who joined a virtual queue, in-venue signage provides reassurance and a visual cue of their place in line.

Rather than staring at walls or phones, visitors can watch informative or entertaining content, such as health advice, service information, or branded videos, further helping reduce perceived wait time.

Digital signage can cycle between languages and offer audio/visual formats to accommodate a diverse customer base.

In the event of technical issues, delays, or emergencies, signage can instantly broadcast alerts across locations.

Integrating QMS and Digital Signage: Best Practices

Most digital queue management software will plug into your screens. But by using digital signage to manage your displays, you can significantly enhance both the employee and customer experience.

Here's how and why to integrate queue management software with your digital signage displays:

Centralize content and queue data: Use a digital signage CMS (like ScreenCloud) that integrates directly with your QMS to automate updates.

Use zones and wayfinding: In larger spaces, zone signage by service type (e.g., triage, pharmacy, billing) with clear directional arrows.

Include mobile syncing: Let mobile users track queue status on screens and phones for consistency.

Rotate content: Don’t just show ticket numbers — intersperse queue updates with useful, branded, or calming content.

Train your staff: Ensure frontline staff know how to interpret and update queue and signage tools if needed.

Test and optimize: Monitor queue analytics, signage dwell times, and feedback to refine content and placements.

Better Customer Experience with ScreenCloud

Yes, waiting might be inevitable... But dissatisfaction doesn’t have to be. A well-designed queue management system, paired with dynamic digital signage, doesn’t just improve flow - it creates transparency, improves communication, and shows respect for your customers’ time.

So if you need to make sure your customer waiting experience is a smooth as possible, try ScreenCloud and display your digital queue system on screens.

Try ScreenCloud for free or book a demo today.

Queue management systems (QMS) are nothing new, it's now easier and more affordable than ever to manage your customer expectations with digital signage.

Queue Management Systems: Better Service with Digital Signage

How Red Commerce Ltd uses ScreenCloud to keep everyone in the business informed, ensuring the connection between company and employees, in an immediate and friendly way. 

Red Commerce Limited - Customer Story

Red Commerce Ltd is an expert at sourcing and placing systems applications and products (SAP) professionals worldwide. The company has six offices globally and provides recruitment and advisory services, contract and freelance solutions. They needed a digital signage solution that would make it easy to get appealing content onto their digital signage screens. 

Save time in the IT department by not having to manually update screens in different offices

Find a system that can be managed by different department heads

Make internal communication more friendly

Here, we speak to Wayne Evans, Service Desk Supervisor at Red Commerce Ltd, on his experience using ScreenCloud digital signage.

When I started working at Red Commerce Ltd, there was an on-premise digital signage system in place. This meant that every time we wanted to change anything on our display system, I had to go to each screen, log into the PC that powered it and manually drag and drop in the content that we needed. It was painfully time-consuming and difficult because I’d also be managing screens remotely for our overseas offices in languages that I don’t speak! 

It became such a time drain that I started searching for a better digital signage solution to help me manage all of our screens.  

Amongst all the different solutions that I found, ScreenCloud stood out as the most cost-effective and user friendly so I set up a trial, and I’ve never looked back. 

We now have 24 screens across our six offices and because ScreenCloud is web-based, I only need to log into one computer – my own, from the comfort of my desk to allow me to manage my screens and change content easily. 

The great thing about ScreenCloud is how easy it is to use. This means that the people creating the content can also put it onto the screens themselves, rather than having to send me content to upload. We have 11 users company-wide who can now access and manage their screens.

The digital signage solution has been particularly popular with the HR department and the Marketing team, who use the screens for their internal communications, for example to welcome new starters, or to announce new incentives. 

Because of its capabilities, ScreenCloud has also really opened up the possibilities for what we’re able to put on our screens and ultimately, how we use our digital signage. We can now share things like JPEGs, videos and websites, which we couldn’t do before and this has enhanced the content on display and made it more compelling and engaging. 

ScreenCloud has made it possible for us to up our game in our internal communications strategy.

It’s enabled us to have a more flashy, interactive, and user-friendly approach to keeping the whole company informed, meaning the interaction between the company and our employees is more immediate and friendly. 

I’ve found ScreenCloud to be a robust, simple, cost-effective, and innovative system. The decision to use it was a no-brainer. 

How ScreenCloud helped Red Commerce Ltd keep their employees up-to-date on internal news through friendly and engaging digital signage content.

“ScreenCloud has given us a flashy, interactive and user-friendly way to keep the whole company informed. It’s made the interaction between the company and our employees more immediate and friendly.”

Red Global - Improving Company Communication with Digital Signage

HackerOne - Customer Story

How HackerOne uses ScreenCloud for internal communication to bring their different teams together by keeping everyone informed. 

HackerOne is a security company that connects its customers with a group of over 400,000 hackers, who receive payment for finding security vulnerabilities. The hackers help the customers as well as make the internet overall a safer place. They needed a digital signage solution to make their different teams feel more connected and informed.

Improve internal communication within teams

Create a feeling of togetherness within the company

Find a system that has an easy-to-use CMS with an easy-to-set-up platform

Here, we speak to Aaron Zander, Head of IT at HackerOne, on his experience using ScreenCloud digital signage.

I've been trying for years to solve the problem of how to easily get content onto screens. I was looking for a digital signage tool that really married an easy-to-use CMS with an easy-to-set-up platform. 

We wanted to use screens across our office to give important internal information more prominence, making it much easier for people to keep an eye on.

We use ScreenCloud to share important internal messages and statistics with the different teams. It’s so much easier to keep on top of all that information when it’s so visible. Before, it was only available on people’s laptops and desktops, so sometimes it was forgotten. 

I adopted ScreenCloud really quickly because it solved the problem of getting content onto our screens simply.

ScreenCloud has enabled us to massively improve our internal communication, making sure nothing goes unnoticed or is forgotten. We feel that sharing information in this way has also helped everyone feel much more connected to each other in the company. The sharing of information in this way brings us together. 

I would recommend ScreenCloud to anyone looking for signage. There are lots of free tools out there, but it's worth the money to pay for something that works really well. ScreenCloud makes things so easy, and they’re very affordable. 

How ScreenCloud helps HackerOne use digital signage screens throughout their offices for internal communication and the sharing of information that was previously hidden on laptops and desktops.

“HackerOne uses ScreenCloud across the office to help everyone feel more connected by seeing information that was previously hard to keep an eye on from laptops.”

HackerOne - Improving Internal Communication with ScreenCloud

Anaplan - Customer Story

How Anaplan use ScreenCloud to power up their internal communications effectively, using existing screens. 

Anaplan is a cloud-based planning software company that helps companies connect departments, to make internal planning more effective. They wanted to take advantage of all the unused screens left by the old tenants in their new office and turn them into digital signage. 

Turn unused screens into powerful digital signs

Improve and simplify internal communications 

Be able to easily manage multiple screens throughout an office, on multiple floors

Here, we speak to Manny Cabrera, IT Support Technician at Anaplan on his experience using ScreenCloud digital signage.

When we moved into our new office, the previous company had left lots of screens on the walls, probably assuming we’d get rid of them on their behalf. But instead, we thought we should use the TVs for something and a brainstorming session led us to the idea of digital signage. I then went away and researched digital signage options and ScreenCloud was the easiest to use. 

There are lots of small teams in the company doing lots of different things. Using ScreenCloud to manage our digital signs helps us to communicate the company messages with everyone easily. We use ScreenCloud to share branded security messages like ‘Remember to change your password every 90 days!’ or ‘Don’t forget to switch your computer off before you go home!’. ScreenCloud makes sure everyone sees them and they're easy to update and change when we need to. 

Figuring out how to use ScreenCloud's cloud-based software was the simplest thing. You just choose a picture, upload it and set a schedule. It’s intuitive and simple.

ScreenCloud makes it very simple to push out digital messaging internally to end-users. It’s a great way for us to make sure that all the different teams here see the same important information. It’s completely solved our internal communication problem.

How ScreenCloud helped Anaplan turn unused screens into a powerful internal communication tool.

"ScreenCloud was simple and intuitive and has completely solved our internal communication problem.”

How Fast-Growing Software Company Anaplan Turned Unused Screens into a Powerful Internal Communications Tool 

How ScreenCloud digital signage improved both client and internal communications for this London agency. 

Thin Martian is a leading interface design agency based in the heart of London. With core services spanning UX and IA, UI and frontend build, for clients such as the BBC, Microsoft, British Airways and Tepilo, Thin Martian are keen to impress at every level. Set in fashionable Old Street, Thin Martian wanted to pair its recent rebrand and launch with an office that embodied its key values.

Create new office screens as a means for communications and meeting management

Use screens as the focal point of contact with potential clients - able to showcase up-to-the-minute Thin Martian designs

 Be able to easily switch between content and change playlists depending on who is visiting the office at that time

Here we speak to Rachel Wilde, Managing Director at Thin Martian, to discuss how and why they chose ScreenCloud digital signage.

Many digital signage offerings we have tried in the past have either been expensive or clunky and not easy enough for any member of the team to use. We wanted anyone -from intern to CTO- to be able to change the screen content and for it to be showing within minutes. We often have last minute meetings, presentations and pitches so we needed a system that could adapt just as quickly. The ScreenCloud interface made this work - with a dashboard which allowed us to add new images, videos and URLs to new projects in seconds. The cost at $20 per screen, per month is affordable and I liked the idea that if a screen isn’t working for you, you can simply take it off and not be charged or forced to stay in a contract.

At Thin Martian we already owned two Samsung office screens, which we decided to keep and use alongside two Amazon Fire TV Sticks. After speaking to ScreenCloud, we decided the TV sticks would be our best player of choice. At $40 each, the sticks could easily play the images, videos and HTML content we wanted while remaining cost effect and simple to set up.

Being a design and UI agency, we were able to create a series of image and video showreels in house. However, we also use many of the apps in the ScreenCloud App Store - Twitter, YouTube, TechCrunch and BBC News mainly, which helps our team stay up to date with what’s going on in the world and our industry. Our total cost was a one-off fee of $80 for the sticks, the screens we already owned and the $20 per month for ScreenCloud. Definitely affordable, even with us being a smaller agency.

As designers we expect the products we use to be both beautiful and functional - ScreenCloud delivers on both aspects. Our team are all enthusiastic about using it and our clients are definitely noticing a difference when they come into our offices - plus we get to show off a little on what we’re working on! Everyone loves seeing their work on the big screen and we’ve also made them a focal point for meetings, using ScreenCloud’s apps to show our latest statistics or reports. Considering they’re just two screens they’ve completely changed the look and feel of our office and a lot of that is down to ScreenCloud. Thank you!

Thin Martian discusses how ScreenCloud has created a sophisticated office digital signage network to showcase social media, customer testimonials and more.

"As designers we expect the products we use to be both beautiful and functional - ScreenCloud delivers on both. Our team are enthusiastic about using it and our clients are noticing a difference when they come into our offices".

How Design Agency Thin Martian Use Digital Signage to Showcase Their Latest Work to Impress Visiting Clients

Services

Queue Management Systems: Better Service with Digital Signage

Red Global - Improving Company Communication with Digital Signage

HackerOne - Improving Internal Communication with ScreenCloud

How Fast-Growing Software Company Anaplan Turned Unused Screens into a Powerful Internal Communications Tool

How Design Agency Thin Martian Use Digital Signage to Showcase Their Latest Work to Impress Visiting Clients