How Mercedes-Benz Deployed Pickcel On-Premise for Secure Internal Communication
Mercedes-Benz needed a digital signage platform that could run entirely on-premise at its Berlin office, installed and configured without a single on-site visit.
This corporate internal communication digital signage case study covers how Mercedes-Benz, the German luxury automotive manufacturer with more than 173,000 employees worldwide, needed a platform for its Berlin corporate office. Strict data-security protocols ruled out a cloud-hosted deployment, and the existing Raspberry Pi hardware had to be retained rather than replaced. Pickcel delivered a fully on-premise installation, configured remotely through temporary VPN access with no on-site vendor visit, and added custom Manager, Editor, and Operator roles to control who could publish content. The rollout is now used for daily internal communication, including the company's “One of Us” employee branding initiative; Mercedes-Benz asked that quantified performance results not be disclosed, a request Pickcel has honored.
Industry
Automotive (luxury manufacturing)
Company
173,000+ employees worldwide, HQ Stuttgart, Germany
Deployment
On-premise, Berlin corporate office
Hardware
Raspberry Pi (pre-existing, retained)
Access control
Manager, Editor, Operator roles
Installation
Remote via temporary VPN access, no on-site visit
Security protocols that ruled out every cloud-first vendor
On-premise only. Existing hardware retained. Granular access control from day one.
Cloud-hosted software ruled out by data-security protocols
Before deploying Pickcel, Mercedes-Benz managed internal communication at its Berlin corporate office under data-security protocols that ruled out cloud-hosted software entirely. As a company with more than 173,000 employees worldwide, its IT and security teams required a signage platform that could be installed and operated entirely within its own network, with no dependency on an external cloud provider. This kind of requirement is common among German and EU-headquartered enterprises evaluating vendors based outside the EU, where the question of where content, logs, and access records are hosted can matter as much as the security controls themselves.
Existing Raspberry Pi hardware had to be retained
The office already ran Raspberry Pi devices as its display hardware. Any new platform had to work with this existing setup rather than force a hardware refresh across the deployment. Most digital signage vendors are built cloud-first, which left Mercedes-Benz evaluating whether a credible platform existed that could meet both the on-premise requirement and the hardware constraint without compromise.
Granular access control for a security-conscious deployment
Access control added a second layer of difficulty. A large, security-conscious deployment needed defined roles so that not every user with system access could publish content network-wide, a control most out-of-the-box signage tools do not offer at a granular level.
“For a company of Mercedes-Benz's scale, the stakes of an internal-display security gap are not abstract. Screens carrying employee announcements, recognition content, or executive messaging sit on the same network segment as far more sensitive systems if access controls are loose, and a cloud-first vendor with broad standing account permissions can be exactly that exposure. That risk calculus, more than vendor preference, is what narrows the field to platforms able to run fully within a customer's own network.”
A Fully On-Premise Deployment, Installed Remotely via VPN
Pickcel was brought in to deliver a fully on-premise digital signage deployment for the Berlin office, installed on Mercedes-Benz's own infrastructure rather than through Pickcel's cloud servers.
Fully on-premise deployment, configured remotely
Pickcel was brought in to deliver a fully on-premise digital signage deployment for the Berlin office, installed on Mercedes-Benz's own infrastructure rather than through Pickcel's cloud servers. The entire setup, from installation to configuration, was completed remotely through temporary VPN access granted to Pickcel's deployment team, with no site visit required at any stage. Once installation was verified and handed over, that VPN access was revoked. Pickcel retains no standing remote connection into Mercedes-Benz's network, addressing the exact concern that had ruled out cloud-first vendors during evaluation.
Existing Raspberry Pi hardware retained
The deployment worked with the existing Raspberry Pi hardware already in place, avoiding a hardware replacement cycle. Pickcel's digital signage software was configured to run within Mercedes-Benz's network boundary, satisfying the security protocol that had ruled out cloud-hosted alternatives from the outset.
Three-tier custom user roles
To manage who could control content, Pickcel set up three custom user roles: Manager, Editor, and Operator, each with defined access rights. Managers hold account-level configuration rights, Editors build and schedule content, and Operators handle day-to-day publishing and display-level checks, a three-tier split that keeps strategic sign-off separate from routine execution, and separate again from whoever is troubleshooting an individual screen. This structure let Mercedes-Benz separate strategic content oversight from day-to-day publishing, keeping the deployment aligned with its internal governance requirements.
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Talk to Sales →Active daily use for internal communication, with no return visit required
The on-premise rollout is now used for daily internal communication at the Berlin office, including the company's “One of Us” employee branding initiative launched in 2019. Content publishing is managed through the Manager, Editor, and Operator roles set up during deployment, giving Mercedes-Benz's internal communications team ongoing control without depending on Pickcel for day-to-day changes. That division of labor also answers the original security brief directly: none of it depends on standing access from Pickcel, which is what the data-security protocols required from the outset.
Mercedes-Benz asked that quantified performance data from this deployment not be shared publicly, citing internal privacy policy. Pickcel is not disclosing usage figures, satisfaction scores, or engagement metrics for this case study at the client's request. What can be confirmed is that the deployment has remained active and in use for internal communication since installation, with no reported need for a return site visit.
Pickcel is a cloud-based digital signage software platform trusted by 9,000+ businesses across 70+ countries, managing 150,000+ screens. Certified ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II. Beyond cloud deployments, Pickcel supports on-premise installations for security-constrained enterprises, including corporate internal-communication rollouts in automotive and manufacturing settings similar to Mercedes-Benz.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Pickcel's digital signage software be deployed on-premise instead of cloud-hosted?+
Yes. Pickcel supports full on-premise deployment for organizations with data-security requirements that rule out cloud hosting, as demonstrated in the Mercedes-Benz Berlin office rollout, which runs entirely within the client's own network.
What hardware does Pickcel support for on-premise deployments?+
Pickcel works with existing third-party hardware, including Raspberry Pi devices, so customers do not need to replace displays already in place. Support extends across 50+ device types for both cloud and on-premise setups.
Does Pickcel's remote-install VPN access reach beyond the digital signage network segment?+
No. Pickcel's remote-install access is provisioned by the client's own IT team on their VPN infrastructure and scoped to the signage network segment only, not the client's broader corporate network. For Mercedes-Benz, this meant Pickcel's deployment team could reach the Raspberry Pi displays and signage configuration during the install window without visibility into other systems on the network.
If a staff member's responsibilities change, can their Manager, Editor, or Operator role be reassigned without contacting Pickcel?+
Yes. Role assignments are self-service on Mercedes-Benz's side: the internal communications team can move a staff member between Manager, Editor, and Operator, or revoke their access entirely, using the same admin console used for day-to-day publishing. No support ticket or remote session with Pickcel is needed to make the change, keeping personnel-level access decisions inside the client's own security process.
What kind of content is typically shown on corporate internal-communication displays?+
Corporate displays commonly show internal announcements, employee recognition content, culture and branding initiatives, and operational updates. Mercedes-Benz uses its deployment for internal communication, including its "One of Us" employee branding initiative.
If Mercedes-Benz needs to add more displays later, does that require another remote installation visit?+
No. Once temporary VPN access establishes the on-premise network connection, Pickcel's deployment team can configure additional Raspberry Pi or other supported displays within that same remote session. Large-scale additions are typically scheduled as one remote visit rather than a separate access request for each new device.
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