By Alan C. Brawn CTS, ISF-C, DSCE, DSDE, DCME, DSNE, DSSP

When most people think of digital signage it is on flat panel displays with some type of advertising on them. Over the years it has moved beyond retail advertising and come into its own as a full featured communication medium with a multiplicity of uses. While ad-based networks are certainly the largest segments, some of the fastest growing applications are in corporations, education, municipalities, and healthcare with employee and/or student facing networks. We will address the benefits in both ad-based and information-based systems for the viewers and the network managers.

There are benefits common to all forms of digital signage. Overall, it is intended as an experience enhancer and behavior modification medium. The medium is also intended to facilitate and promote a call-to-action message delivered on the signs. After looking at a digital sign, it asks you to do something and prompts you to take that action. It may be building brand awareness or an advertisement prompting you to buy something at a location. It may also be to give you information that will prompt you toward further awareness and/or involvement of a situation or condition. The concept is to add something of value to a venue and their viewers.

As we engage with digital signage it is the images on screen that stand out but the largest parts reside beneath the surface.  The viewers see the results but as intended, they do not see all the planning, implementation, and work that went into the system. This article is for the insiders or those that want to join the community of digital signage.

The Benefits for Ad-based Systems:

Let’s begin with some interesting statistics related to ad-based systems. 60% of a shopper’s purchasing decisions are made at the point of sale. Digital displays capture 400% more views than static signs. Not only do they capture more views, but their recall rate is 82%—significantly higher than any traditional media. One in three people make an unplanned purchase when digital signage is displayed. Plus, over 80% of brands that use digital signage displays see increased in sales of >30%. Looking at giant digital billboard signs, 83% of people recalled at least one ad they were shown over the past 30 days. 65% recalled 2 and nearly half recalled 3. Over 80% of the populations see digital signage every day.

According to a recent study on checkout lines, 69% of shoppers said long lines were the most irritating part of shopping. That beat out high prices (66%) and inventory being out of stock (65%). 84% of those customers said watching digital displays helped them pass the time while they waited.

Ultimately it is about the buying experience and the perception of good customer service. Research shows that if the experience is not good then 56% will never return to the company. 25% will tell their friends not to give them their business and 20% will post an online review while 14% will share their experience on social media.  

The following list of benefits is born out of research by subject matter experts over the last 5 years and collecting real-world data on ad-based systems.

The following is a partial list of benefits in ad-based digital signage systems from a customer engagement, sales promotion, and loyalty generation perspective:

The following is a partial list benefits in a digital signage from a system management perspective:

Before moving on, I want to address the all-important issue of analytics. This is the missing link that tells a store whether the digital signage system is achieving their stated objectives. With analytics software and a tiny video camera anonymously recording activity, a multitude of data points can be collected and then use that to maximize the effectiveness of the system. You can record foot traffic and dwell time at the screen. You can quantify and qualify their facial expressions, what they looked at and for how long. Furthermore, analytics can also be used to improve the content and length of play. For example, you might find that most shoppers only stick around for about 10 seconds of the 20-second video clip. If that’s the case, you either need a more compelling video or it’s time to create a shorter version. If your system has interactivity you can see what they searched for and how long. You can also request comments and reviews that provide one to one feedback. The point is that analytics are necessary to know how your system truly performs.

The Benefits for Information-based systems:

There are obvious differences in the two most common digital signage business models. Ad-based systems rely on hard dollars invested and hard dollars in return. Information-based systems rely on hard investment dollars spent and soft returns that can’t directly be rung up on a cash register. The soft returns are less tangible but no less valuable. The key objective is the dissemination of information and matching the investment to the ascribed value of what is being shown. We will use employee facing networks as our prime example of information-based systems but many of the benefits port over to applications in education, municipalities, and healthcare.

Corporate communication systems uses various methods for management to convey policies, guidelines and other information to employees, vendors, and stakeholders in the enterprise. Let’s face it, the old company bulletin board is inadequate and digital signage is the ideal solution. The challenge is to place displays where people congregate in individual departments, break rooms and staff cafeterias or in strategic locations as people go about their daily tasks.  Digital signage is a highly visible internal communication platform to share information and keep your stationary or mobile workforce in-the-know. The result? A well-informed and more productive team.

Digital signs can be used in any organization—large or small. Digital signage is both scalable and flexible. As digital signage hardware becomes more affordable and scalable, it’s attractiveness to corporate IT managers and other decision-makers increases. As technology, application, and prices have converged it makes it more likely that digital signage solutions in the corporate space will become more prevalent. With the inclusion of mobile, it allows the message to be accessed by the employee wherever they are.

The following is a partial list of digital signage benefits from an employee focus perspective:

The following is a partial list of digital signage benefits from an overall management perspective:

1. Clear, Convenient group messaging in real time
2. Schedule content in advance, so they can change and update automatically without supervision
3. Display calendars, schedules, and upcoming events to keep viewers informed.
4. Design new content with templates without hiring a graphic designer to help
5. Digital signage allows you to display multiple forms of content at once.
6. Connected to the internet, allows real-time internal and external information “feeds
7. Visibility for your mobile workforce
8. Ability to overcome spatial limitations by fitting more content onto one sign
9. Provide directions and interactive wayfinding options for people in large facilities
10. Staff can be trained more efficiently during or after business hours.
11. Digital signs allow you to display content 24/7
12. Improved workplace safety and emergency notifications in real time

The CMS Tool

The benefits of digital signage are significant. From a cost benefit analysis digital signage pays its own way. It goes beyond the obvious “eye candy” of colorful displays which unto themselves do not provide a benefit other than being a vehicle for good content. Great content is a necessity but the unsung hero is the content management system (CMS).  This is the operation epicenter that makes it possible to get the work of digital signage done. Think in terms of the operation system on your computer. It facilitates what you are trying to accomplish. If the digital signage system is a pain to use, then you will not receive all the benefits. Many of the features will never become benefits. Selecting the proper CMS operation system for your application is a make-or-break proposition.

Most CMS provider’s do similar things but they do them in different ways. At the top-level, content is created. This is followed by the importation and aggregation of content in the system. There is the storage and distribution of content. The management control separates who gets what and when. Along with that there is also delegation of authority of who is allowed to manage and change content and, in many cases, there is reporting.  It is those different ways things are done that makes all the difference. It becomes all about the tools available to you and the user interface.

A colleague of mine when asked nearly any question about digital signage answers, “It Depends”. This is especially apropos when asked about the “best” content management system. There is no single best for every application. If you have a small network, then a full featured system may not be for you. A feature is only valuable if it is a real benefit to you and your objectives. On the other hand, if you have a lot of data to work with or there is a complexity requirement to your system then one CMS may work better for you than another. Here are a few suggestions that may help you decide what CMS to use.

1. Begin with understanding what do you want your digital signage to do.
2. What types of content will you be using?
3. Who will be supplying the content?
4. How often will it need to be refreshed?
5. Will the same content be displayed on all screens?
6. Will there be levels of management required?
7. Will reporting be required and in what format?
8. Do I need the CMS to monitor my network “health”?
9. Is SaaS or on premise the desired format?
10. What level of complexity can you tolerate?
11. What level of support will be necessary?
12. What are the implications of cost for the CMS?
13. Is a “free” CMS adequate for me?
14. Is there a benefit of buying a media player and CMS combination?
15. Is there a benefit of buying a CMS provided by a display manufacturer?

As you asses the value of deploying digital signage for your application refer to the all the proven benefits, we have noted for both viewers and managers alike and use those expectations as the “umbrella” of your plan. Design with those goals in mind. Once it becomes clear what the objective is for your digital signage system then focus on two major issues: The creation of great content and dedication to keeping it current and relevant and the selection of a CMS software package and vendor partner that will work with you to effectively and efficiently manage and update the entire process. Let proper planning be your guide and your friend!

By Alan C. Brawn CTS, ISF-C, DSCE, DSDE, DSNE, DCME, DSSP

Simply hearing the word “change” is unsettling. Something we are used to is about to become (at some level) unfamiliar.  The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus taught that “the only constant in life is change”. Benjamin Franklin put a much finer point on it when he noted that “When you are finished changing, you are finished”. This does not portend well for those mired in an unchanging paradigm.

Part of change is a biological evolution at a genetic level, but part of change relates to elements outside of the body. Evolution is certainly part innate nature, but also part nurture. Relating to nurture, Merriam-Webster provides a definition of evolution that many of us can relate to: “A process of continuous change from a lower, simpler, or worse state to a higher, more complex, or better state.” In AV and digital signage, we are evolving and changing from a “simpler state to one that is more complex” and (although some might disagree) better. The changes require a paradigm shift in our thinking and approach (sales) and is centered on the concept of providing the “experience”.  Experience is an easy word to say, but not so easy to understand and accomplish. Allow me to explain.

Recognizing the need to change the focus of an entire industry, the AV industry association is now known as the Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association (AVIXA). Dave Labuskes the Executive Director and CEO of the newly named AVIXA said at the time “As of today, we’re something more. This is a name that marries the tradition of what we do with what we create. It’s who we’ve been, who we are and who we hope to be.” Naysayers will disagree but the fact is that we are something more than we were before. We know where we have been and where we are, but the focus needs to be on where we are going.  Clients no longer respond to conventional and traditional sales techniques, and they are no longer as impressed as they once were with what I call “Ooh! Shiny!”. Whether they say it this way or not, they are seeking and demanding something more. We can call it “added value” or whatever you prefer… but it boils down to that (sometimes-elusive) emotion we call an experience.

Experience is the process through which people perceive the world around them. We have all heard the phrase that perception is reality. It would be more accurate to say that a person’s perception is their reality. Experiences can be an active awareness on the part of the person having the experience, but they often go deeper and are more cerebral than a basic reaction. For our purposes, experience consists of observation, sensation, and perception.

One psychologist noted that “In everyday usage, the word “experience” may refer, somewhat ambiguously, to both unprocessed, immediately perceived events (such as “the experience of looking out the window”), and to the purported knowledge gained from these events or from reflection on previous events”.  There is an observation and immediate sensory experience, and it may stop there (remember “Ooh! Shiny!) but if we do our jobs right as AV professionals, we plant the seeds of personal reflection helping elevate the first sensory experience to something more profound. The focus needs to be guiding the perception… their perception.

Perception comes from your sensory receptors constantly collecting information. It involves signals that go through the nervous system, which in turn result from physical or chemical stimulation of the sensory system. For example, vision involves light striking the retina of the eye; smell is mediated by odor molecules; and hearing involves pressure waves.  A noted psychologist specializing in the science of perception (yes, it is a branch) pointed out that “Perception refers to the way sensory information is organized, interpreted, and consciously experienced. Perception involves both bottom-up and top-down processing. Bottom-up processing refers to the fact that perceptions are built from sensory input. On the other hand, how we interpret those sensations is influenced by our available knowledge, our experiences, and our thoughts. This is called top-down processing. One way to think of this concept is that sensation is a physical process, whereas perception is psychological.”

Be aware that not all sensations result in perception. For elements in our environment that tend not to change, we often do not perceive a stimulus. Psychologists call this sensory adaptation. To illustrate the concept, here is an example. “Imagine entering a classroom with an old analog clock. Upon first entering the room, you can hear the ticking of the clock; as you begin to engage in conversation with classmates or listen to your professor greet the class, you are no longer aware of the ticking. The clock is still ticking, and that information is still affecting sensory receptors of the auditory system. The fact that you no longer perceive the sound demonstrates sensory adaptation and shows that while closely associated, sensation and perception are different.” From this we can see that what you sense and what you perceive may be two different things.

The remaining ingredients in the process of perception are attention and motivation. Attention is the act of becoming and being aware. The Oxford dictionary defines it as “notice taken of someone or something as interesting or important.” For our purposes, attention is not enough. It is the motivation (read that emotion) that ends up being the behavior modification we are seeking. This is where the challenge lies in realizing the “experience” that AVIXA promises.

In the most basic of terms, motivation can be broken down into two types: Extrinsic are those things that arise from the outside, and Intrinsic are those that arise from within the individual. The three major components of motivation are:

• Activation of a decision to act, to do something.
• Persistence is staying the course to completion.
• Intensity is the amount of concentration and energy you invest.

In our industry we must change the way many of us present our solutions, because our customers have themselves changed. Research from a Harvard Business survey shows that 50-90% of the buyer’s journey is complete before a buyer reaches out to a salesperson. Creating the experience thus takes on a new and more urgent meaning. This necessitates a clear understanding of the elements that go into the experience. It is made up of our client’s observations, sensations, and perceptions. We need to address each of these elements.  The experience is going to be as different as the people we are addressing i.e., our clients. Just as a site survey tells us that the existing physical elements of a system that need to be addressed, a “client survey” is also required. We must find ways to direct the observation. We need to amplify the sensations, and we need to help “paint” their perception. It ultimately boils down to gaining their attention and most important of all, understanding what motivates them both externally and internally.

Buyer motivation is the set of psychological factors behind a decision to make a particular purchase. What exactly is motivation? Motivation is an urge to behave or act in a way that will satisfy certain conditions, such as wishes, desires, or goals. Psychologists believe that motivation is rooted in a basic impulse to optimize well-being, minimize physical pain, and maximize pleasure. In a more granular sense, psychological research shows there are the 8 most encountered motivations:

1.            Need

2.            Acceptance

3.            Fear

4.            Health

5.            Impulse

6.            Pleasure

7.            Financial Gain

8.            Aspiration

The experience needs to address more than one of these motivations. Of course, this begs the need to discover the motivations. Do not assume you know… Find out! What this tells us is that we “need to walk a mile in the moccasins” of others, but with modern complexities. The experience is not about you. It is about them, and “if for just one hour, you could find a way to see through his eyes” and not your own sets up a positive paradigm shift that can take place. One of my favorite quotes is from Neil Rackham the author of SPIN Selling, “People do not buy from salespeople because they understand their products, but because they felt the salesperson understood their problems.” If we come to know the client and their motivations (extrinsically and intrinsically) and if we employ a healthy dose of empathy touching on their motivations, we can then help create the bespoke experience to address them as individuals. The result? A more accomplished you and a more satisfied them. How? By providing the experience.

By Alan C. Brawn CTS, ISF-C, DSCE, DSDE, DSNE, DCME, DSSP

We are in the midst of a new and rapidly evolving decade. This is not just one year morphing into the next. We are on a fast-moving ride.  If you think about a comparison with the previous decade, it somehow feels different today and it definitely looks different. This is especially true for those of us involved in IT, AV, and especially those of us in digital signage. Let’s explore a snapshot of what’s ahead.

Digital signage began as an advertising medium in retail with a nod to applications in airports. Fast forward two decades, and digital signage has become a mainstream communication medium across a diverse group of vertical markets. Retail still dominates but information-based applications in corporate, education, and healthcare are growing in double digits. Digital signage is an active participant in the new world of unified communications… and unified communications and collaboration is where many opportunities reside.

The most visible part of digital signage is obviously the display. Displays sizes will continue to grow with 55” to 65” now being the mainstream and 85” is not uncommon. System on a chip (SoC) technologies built into displays will continue to evolve and, in many cases, have become the media players of choice. Videowalls will proliferate even further in hopes of capturing more of a viewer’s attention. For display fans out there, direct view LED will encompass increased market share in spite of higher cost – primarily due to image impact (color, contrast, and brightness), not to mention being seamless.

With no disrespect to any other technological advances, this not where the new frontiers will be. I recently wrote about the internet of things (aka IoT) and the era of Big Data. For digital signage, the new frontiers will involve both concepts. IoT is about connectivity and the ability to communicate with and among devices. Big Data is the information that flows between devices. Both IoT and Big Data are growing exponentially… hence the mention of our fast-moving ride, and this is central to digital signage applications, design, and usage and how we will need to approach it.

For anyone who has launched a digital signage network, you already know that screens, mounts, media players, and connectivity are a given. The biggest variable continues to be content, and at the top of this consideration is what “work” the content is intended to do. Once the content objective is decided upon the next most significant factor is to understand the effectiveness of the content, relative to your objectives. This is a moving target, to say the least. While many employ the trial-and-error method to see what seems to work and what doesn’t, this approach (or lack thereof) is fraught with landmines. What if you guess wrong? What if you base your actions on opinions or emotion and not facts and data? The entire investment in the digital signage network then becomes at risk. Keep in mind that digital signage is a business for the end user. All business investment is about return on investment and the mitigation and reduction of risk to that end. This is where digital signage analytics comes into the picture (pun intended). It provides us facts and data on which to base our next moves. This is at the core of the new digital signage frontier.

Early analytics began with a simple customer counter. It answered the question of how many people entered a store and how many viewed a screen and perhaps for how long. This limited amount of data was all that we had. As we enter this new decade, device connectivity and the ability to mine massive amounts of data removes those limitations and will define us and what we do. The big question becomes what to do with what is increasingly available to us.

Increasingly artificial intelligence (AI) is facilitating the gathering of data. This automates the gathering process and allows us to be much more precise in our measurements that feed our analysis and ultimately our decision making. Anonymous video analytics (AVA) lets us evaluate the demographics of viewers, how they move through a space, what screens they view, what zones on a screen they look at and for how long, and even the emotions they exhibit as they view our content.

The holy grail is predictive analytics. As we collect the AVA data we just discussed, and we pair that with actual sales data from POS systems, we can compare our signage to our actual results. We can determine if our displays are in the right location, and if the right message is being displayed in the right area (or even the right zone). With enough comparative data it can be predicted what a viewer of a certain profile is most likely to do. The comparison is not just about a single viewer but what viewers with similar characteristics are likely to do. Also, data collection tells us what a viewer has done in the past predicts what they are likely to do in the future. Keep in mind that all this data by itself is worthless unless we do something with it. This is where the informed commercial AV integrator can add value.

We need to think beyond the obviousness of the display, media player, and connectivity. We need to think in terms of devices that can be connected to one another (i.e., mobility) and distributed visualization. We need to guide our end users in the methods and types of data that needs to be collected and most importantly what to do with it. We need to show how interactivity should become a part of the plan. And we also need to have them consider digital signage as an outsourced service where you can help manage the entire process in an ongoing manner. We should stand arm in arm and claim “value added”!

Depending upon the market data you wish to reference, digital signage is growing at an annual rate between 6% and 8% per year. Some elements are growing in double digits (i.e., CMS software, videowalls, interactivity, etc.) but analytics is growing at >30% per year. This will lead the way and the industry will reach > $33 Billion by 2026. Enjoy the new “roaring” 20s, and the new opportunities. As one well known television star likes to proclaim, “give me some of that”!

• Big Data, Cloud, and Software Related
  • The Cloud-Gartner has predicted that 75% of all enterprise databases will be deployed on or migrated to a cloud platform by sometime in 2022 and cloud data management firms say demand has been unprecedented since 2019.
  • Big Data-Worldwide data is expected to hit 175 zettabytes by 2025, representing a 61% CAGR. 51% of the data will be in data centers and 49% will be in the public cloud. 90 ZB of this data will be from IoT devices in 2025. 80% of data will be unstructured by 2025. On top of business documents, video and audio are added new content such as social media, IoT, streaming and geo data.
  • Analytics– The three dominant types of analytics –Descriptive, Predictive and Prescriptive analytics, are interrelated solutions helping companies make the most out of the big data that they have. Each of these analytic types offers a different insight and are growing at over 30% per year.
  • Security-Zero-trust security upends traditional perimeter defenses by assuming that nobody and nothing can be trusted. Devices and users must provide additional proof of identity as they access increasingly sensitive information, even if they are already logged on to the network.
  • Sources-Open-source components combined with the free software licenses and cloud computing accounts that many vendors have made available during the pandemic are unleashing a flood of applications for everything from contact tracing to viral research.
  • Software Development-Low-code/no-code development platforms, which use visual components and drag-and-drop construction to build software quickly, were already on the fast track before the pandemic set in. Forrester forecast that the low-code market will grow 40% annually to $21.2 billion by the end of 2022. Gartner estimates that low-code tools will be used for 65% of all application development by 2024.
  • Chatbots-Research and Markets Ltd. expects the global chatbot market to grow nearly 30% annually to $9.4 billion by 2024, but some people believe those numbers are pessimistic given the new applications the technology is finding. Currently used mostly to get quick answers to common questions or to resolve complaints, chatbot technology is likely to expand into new areas according to the World Economic Forum.

• Technology Trends
  • IoT Devices
    • The Internet of Things (IoT) Market was valued at USD 200 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 700 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 21% over the forecast period 2020 – 2026. With the development of wireless networking technologies, the emergence of advanced data analytics, a reduction in the cost of connected devices, an increase in cloud platform adoption, the market is expected to grow at a positive rate.
    • There will be >41 billion IoT devices by 2027, up from approx. 8 billion in 2020.
  • Videoconferencing
    • The global video conferencing market size was valued at USD 4 billion in 2020 and is expected to register a CAGR of 9.9% from 2020 to 2027.

• BYOD and device sharingBYOD statistics show its market share in 2014 was at $94.15 billion and by the end of 2022 it will exceed $370 billionIn 2020 there were >10 billion personal mobile devices in use71% of people use their own devices at work
  • Touchless interactivity
    • The touchless sensing market is projected to reach USD 15.3 billion in 2025 from USD 6.8 billion in 2020 at a CAGR of 17.4%.
    • The North American gesture recognition and touchless sensing market has witnessed significant advancements in the past few years. It is always at the forefront in terms of the adoption of technology and associated services. The deployment of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies in the gaming and entertainment industries have accelerated the adoption of gesture recognition products and solutions in the region.
  • Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML)
    • In 2020, the global AI software market is expected to grow approximately 154 percent year-on-year, reaching a forecast size of 22.6 billion U.S. dollars.
    • AI is a term used to describe a variety of technologies referring to the creation of intelligent software or hardware able to learn and solve problems. These include machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing (NLP), among others.
    •  AI is expected to have wide adoption in and implications for every industry vertical and is likely to be one of the next great technological shifts, like the advent of the computer age or the smartphone revolution.
  • Thermal and Video Analytics
    • Thermal Imaging market size is valued at 3.24 Bn USD and will increase to 5.16 Bn USD in 2026, with a CAGR of 6% during forecast period.
    • The video analytics market size was valued at $4.10 billion in 2019, and is projected to reach $20.80 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 22.7% from 2020 to 2027.
    •  Video analytics is a computerized processing and automatic analysis of the video content generated, collected, or monitored during video surveillance.
  • Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
    • Network bandwidth and accessibility
      • The average broadband subscriber consumed a weighted monthly average of 402.5 GB of data by the end of this past March, thanks to coronavirus stay-at-home initiatives, says OpenVault in its Q1 2020 Broadband Insights report. That figure was 47% greater than the year-ago quarter and nearly as much growth as had been projected for all of 2020. Meanwhile, usage in April and May showed signs of surpassing that total.

• 5G The global 5G services market size reached USD 41.48 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 43.9% from 2021 to 2027

• Vertical Market Tech Trends
  • Corporate
    • UCC
    • IoT and BYOD
    • Security
    • Distributed workforce integration
    • Device sharing
    • Data management and analytics
    • AI/ML, AR, and VR utilization
    • Implementation of chatbot
  • Education
    • Collaboration, device sharing, interactivity
    • Data management and learning analytics
    • Distance Learning
    • Adaptive learning
    • Creation of smart apps
    • Blockchain secure ledger of transactions
    • Social media learning
    • AI, AR, and VR
    • Technology incubation

By Alan C. Brawn CTS, ISF-C, DSCE, DSDE, DSNE, DCME, DSSP

Sit back and relax for a moment. This discussion is about the evolution and paradigm shift in technologies and applications. Our focus is on those of us in the design and integration communities, and how digital signage is ultimately different from both AV and IT, while still embracing parts of the other two.  This is about the differences in each practice (i.e., the objectives) that are not covered in the overused (and often misapplied) term convergence.

At some level (in part) AV, IT, and digital signage have converged. A plethora of articles have been written about the “need” for technologies to converge.   When most of us think of the term convergence we think of what Merriam Webster offers as one definition: “It is the merging of distinct technologies, industries, or devices into a unified whole.”  With this thought in mind, I suggest that while AV and IT frequently work in unison at the infrastructure level, they have not completely converged and will never fully do so. They are certainly tangential to one another with varying amounts of overlap. The point is that they are distinct in their objectives and work processes. Let’s begin by looking at AV and IT as industries and groups of technologies.  

Historically the pro AV industry has focused on technologies, products, and systems, typically including:

• Displays and mounts.
• Audio and video production / reproduction.
• Signal extension and management.
• Control systems.
• Unified communications.
• Cabling, connectors, mounting, and racks.
• AV furniture. 

The AV industry writ large is responsible for the creation, transportation, display, collaboration, and communication of information to the intended audience. The goal of AV integration is to give clients a full range of total solutions from which to pick, and then make the operation and communication of audio and video seamless.

The growth we see today is directly linked to the expansion of the internet and IT networks, interfacing with all the software and hardware in a digital world. From the 1980’s to the mid 1990’s, the professional audiovisual industry was driven by individual technologies installed in an environment, but typically isolated in scale and scope. Since 2000, the commercial AV industry has been driven by expanding communications, sharing of data, and introducing collaboration and interactivity, both internally and externally. This is where IT comes into the picture (pun intended).

One IT subject matter expert suggests an inclusive definition; “Information technology is the use of computers, storage, networking and other physical devices, infrastructure and processes to create, process, store, secure and exchange all forms of electronic data.” The Harvard Business Review introduced the term information technology to make a distinction between purpose-built computers designed to perform limited functions, and general-purpose computing machines that could be programmed for various tasks.

IT now embraces an array of technologies and related disciplines. The foundation of IT is still basic computer-based information systems, including computing hardware, operating systems, application software and the data that is processed to produce useful information. Over time, each of these IT components and functions has become more complex, embracing ever-growing subsets of technologies and methodologies. Also, IT no longer just happens locally; cloud computing environments now complement and even replace on-premises resources of the traditional data center. All these developments have made IT more complex and required greater specialization and new roles and responsibilities from the IT workforce.

IT creates, manages, and services the “backbone” of where AV often exists. To me, the most appropriate way to look at the relationship of IT and AV is one of symbiosis. As the Oxford dictionary states, symbiosis is “a mutually beneficial relationship between different people or groups”. Of course, there are IT people who can take on AV centric projects, and AV people who are familiar with IT… but the work processes and responsibilities are different. To be honest, there are some (but relatively few) IT people who are expert in AV, and vice versa. I can already sense the emails of disagreement coming my way! Without fear of contradiction, what can truly be said is that IT and AV are codependent.

Hopefully the different and overlapping roles in AV and IT are clearly stated… but where does digital signage fit in to this discussion? Isn’t this just a subset of both AV and IT? The correct answer is a firm yes, and an equally firm no. Certainly digital signage uses displays and media players to convey the message and they also use networks to connect disparate displays. So, in this simplified sense the answer is yes… but in a bigger overall perspective, digital signage is different. In a conversation with our own digital signage expert Jonathan Brawn with his DSF, DSEG, and AVIXA hats firmly in place, he noted the following, “AV is technology driving the experience whereas digital signage is the experience driving the technology.” Yes!

At the heart of digital signage is the content. It is famously said that content is king… but we would add the word “relevant” to this statement, because content just for the sake of content does not do the work that that the digital signage network is intended to perform. It may be advertising based, trying to sell something or improve a brand identity, or it may be informational in nature (i.e., corporate information, wayfinding, emergency notifications, etc.) and part of a mainstream communication platform. The key consideration in all of this is the objective of the content. This establishes the parameters of the viewer’s experience. It is the content that is the behavior modification device, enhances the experience, and promotes a positive reaction to the call to action.  

If you look at the constituencies of AV, IT, and digital signage they are different. In commercial AV there are manufacturers, distributors, integrators, and consultants… plus end users who make up the core of the industry. In digital signage, we see a broader and more intertwined constituency making up the digital signage market. Here are some examples:

• Hardware and software manufacturers.
• Distributors.
• Designers and consultants.
• VARS and Integrators.
• Content creators.
• Advertising firms.
• Investors.
• Network providers and operators.
• Maintenance and service providers.
• End users.

Only a few years back, less than 25% of commercial AV integrators considered digital signage a major part of their core business. While this is evolving (read that increasing), and some companies have an increasing focus on digital signage, the AV industry overall still lags. Keep in mind that both the AV and digital signage industries are growing at approximately 10% each per year and forecasted to perform at that level for the foreseeable future.

As we all know, InfoComm and ISE are the 800-pound gorilla trade events of the commercial AV world. At the association level a few years back, there was a name change from InfoComm to AVIXA to recognize the experiential nature of the convergence of AV, IT, and digital signage. A name change alone is not sufficient. What is needed is a paradigm shift in thinking. As most know, the trade show for the digital signage industry, the Digital Signage Expo (DSE) closed their doors due to the pandemic in the fall of 2020. This has left a void to be filled. The uninitiated will simply say “go to InfoComm!”, but I suggest it is not quite that cut and dried.

The reason for the DSE was that it provided a welcoming home for the full constituency of the digital signage industry. It was never a huge show, but it was 100% focused on the participants in the industry. If you attended, you knew exactly what the show and attendee focus was.  Wrinkles and warts aside, it felt like an annual get together of likeminded individuals not unlike what InfoComm feels like to the AV integration and consultant community. Having been there and done both for many years, I can say with no fear of contradiction that this is the case.

The good news is that AVIXA has verbalized openly that it intends to create that welcoming atmosphere of the former DSE beyond the simple addition of a booth or pavilion. They know that it is not either/or but additive. AXIVA, along with the Digital Signage Federation (DSF), are collaborating on creating a “home” for the full constituency of the industry. The benefits of this can be significant. To be successful the proverbial devil is in the details, and this remains to be seen. What I do know is that the intent is there on the part of AVIXA and the DSF.  InfoComm will embrace digital signage in a more significant manner. Invitations will be sent, and we will soon see the results. Patience is the key, and it will not be immediate… but I for one place my bet on this being a success.

Hopefully after this exploration of the objectives of each group you see that AV, IT, and digital signage are not fully converged as some would have you think and I suggest that this is not a bad thing. In significant ways they are distinct. Each group of technologies and practitioners have their own role to play. Of course, in many ways they are tangential and symbiotic but (yes…) different and they need to be treated as such.    

By Alan C. Brawn CTS, IFS-C, DSCE, DSDE, DSNE, DSCME, DSSP

In the ever-expanding reach of digital signage, retail and food related enterprises dominate in market share. Both retail and food services take special advantage of the major benefits of digital signage. They use variations of digital signage communication to enhance the viewing experience, modify viewer behavior, and promote their proprietary calls to action. The intended consequence of this is to promote customer loyalty and repeat business and show differentiation in a concerted effort to stem the flow of commoditization and the appearance of sameness. Nowhere is this more evident than in quick serve restaurants (QSR) and convenience stores.  One of the most popular “go-to” solutions in those niches is the incorporation of digital menu boards.

As with most digital signage, menu boards appear quite simple on the surface. It seems that all you need to do is put up a display and a list of menu items and call that job complete. Well not so fast. There is much more involved in the area of menu boards than first meets the eye. With the expanding competition in the food industry and especially in quick serve restaurants, this whole menu board “thing” can be an existential issue.

A report by the prepared food industry shows that 60% of restaurant’s do not make it past the first year and 80% go under in five years.  Did you know that the average person makes more than 200 decisions about food every day many for them unconsciously? Research shows that 74% of customers say an easy to read menu is a top priority and 30% of customers say digital signage influenced an unplanned purchase. Statistics also show viewers spend 30% more time looking at digital signage compared to static signs. The gauntlet is officially thrown down to maximize that digital menu board experience.

We have all seen digital menu boards but what stands out is their varying degree of success. A group of subject matter experts out of the QSR industry estimates that more than 60% of today’s digital menu boards are done wrong. Here are some of the most common mistakes:

• Poor design, use of space, and too much information on screen
• Poor legibility
• Using a monotonous static image
• Excessive animation where items disappear before viewer can decide
• Text only menus that are easy to ignore
• Looking continuously the same with little attempt at a fresh look
• Poor salesmanship on best sellers

All this being said, I want to share more about digital menu boards beyond statistics and bullet points. I wanted to explore best practices, so I went to Jim Nista of president of Nista Design for his take. He is recognized as one of the best of the best in this area and teaches extensively on the topic.  Since Jim co-teaches the Digital Content and Media Expert (DCME) certification for the industry it came as no surprises that he said, “it all starts with a content creation strategy”. Of course, if we fail to plan then we plan to fail but Jim pointed out a key question that sets the tone for what is to come. How often will the content need to be updated?  The answer will impact the design, how the content will be created, by whom and in what format, and ultimately the budget.

Depending upon the frequency of updating, Jim suggests “If there are frequent changes you may want to use an HTML platform like Google Sheets. This is fast and inexpensive but can be limiting in design choices. The other choice is referred to as free form. This utilizes a graphic designer and offers true design flexibility but is more costly. Think of this as a template versus custom graphics consideration.”  Jim notes that where budgets permit, the trend is for free form where menu real estate is not constrained by a grid or a template. This can provide a unique approach and stand out and be more interesting and engaging. Both approaches, templated or free form, can be done in house or outsourced. Most often the size of the company, how often the content needs to be updated, and budget will dictate what path to take.

Like all digital signage, the objectives need to be front and center. The digital menu board should be designed to enhance the viewing experience as well as modify viewer behavior as they respond to a call to action but there are two other objectives that relate directly to QSRs and food services. The content needs to help the viewer decide and make a choice and do so in a more expeditious manner. If done properly this improves customer flow. In sit-down restaurants they call this “turning over the tables more quickly”. 

Jim provided his short list of design elements to keep in mind:

• Know the viewer and design for them
• Keep it simple. Too many items and options end up being confusing.
• Legibility is key. Font choice and size determines readability. 
• Beware of distractions. Focus on what you want the viewer to decide upon.
• Too many zones can distract but doing “specials” can be helpful to the company and the viewer.
• If it is a fixed menu don’t scroll or animate. People take time to decide and if the menu scrolls too quickly then they don’t have that time.
• Locate your menu boards carefully and be easily visible but avoid impeding traffic flow.

We all know that the retail and restaurant industry is highly competitive, and unless you have a unique selling proposition, chances are you will have trouble standing out from the crowd. The current state of the industry is driving restaurant owners to look for ways to set themselves apart from the fierce competition. Many are implementing digital menu boards, which is a step in the right direction, but as one expert told me, “some of these menu boards suck!” What we know is that simply upgrading from static menu boards to digital menu boards is not enough on its own. More effort needs to be put into the content strategy and design of these menu boards in order to drive sales, engage with customers, and enhance their in-venue experience. If properly planned, designed, and implemented, digital menu boards can tip the scale in a restaurant’s favor.

By Alan C. Brawn CTS, ISF-C, DSCE, DSDE, DSNE, DCME, DSSP

As we prepare to shed some much-needed light on the crucial importance of a content management system (aka. a CMS), keep in mind all that “feeds” it. We have the Internet of Things (IoT) facilitating an (ever increasingly) connected world where every technology seems to be capable of connecting to one another. We have a barrage of information that is available to us collectively referred to as big data and knowing what to do with it all is critical. Speaking of critical, we have analytics that entails the analysis of data as well as the prediction of what that data means moving forward. File this under the old MBA course axiom which tells us that “you can’t manage what you can’t measure”. Speaking of management this is where the CMS rises to the top of the heap in importance for our consideration.

Think about it this way… The CMS is where the actual work is done. It is the place where content is imported and, in some cases, stored. It then manages, distributes, and in many cases reports on where the data/content is, where it is going, and who will have access to it. This is true for an ad-based or information-based system. You may not think about the CMS as a stand-alone entity just as you don’t think about the operating system on your computer, but you will continuously think about the work it is doing and how well it is doing it.

There are hundreds of companies currently selling generic digital signage CMS software. The requirements of vertical markets also encourage smaller companies to develop their own CMS software packages for a specific vertical application such as QSRs, hospitality, or healthcare. The differences between general purpose CMS products will typically be small… Our research shows that almost all CMS software does similar things, but individual products do those things in diverse ways (i.e., UX, workflow, reporting, integrations with external software, etc.). Most often, it is the complexity of the user interface (and thus the user experience) that becomes the differentiator. More features may result in more complexity… which may or may not be needed.  

This means one of the most important choices to make is which software vendor to partner with. If you are dealing with a small network of just a few screens, selection of software is much simpler. Just choose whatever appeals to you relative to the user interface. However, larger scale rollouts require more careful consideration.

Digital signage software packages usually consist of a group of components, each designed to perform specific tasks. These components create the software “engine” that drives your digital signage network. Vendors may call these parts by different names… but they still fall into a few straightforward categories. Let’s look at the basic components, and what they do. The player is the component that resides on the media player and will render the content for the media player to send to the display. The server component of the CMS package handles scheduling the distribution of media to the player software. Some software packages may have separate scheduling and player management components, that are not integrated into single interface inside the server software. This simply means that those functions exist in a separate interface (or even a separate application). The server will connect to a network, or the internet, allowing flexibility in having multiple people interact with the system. Content creation is a key aspect of the digital signage software. There are two basic methods that the signage software packages may utilize for allowing the user to handle content. The first method adopted by essentially all CMS products, is to allow the user to work with standard content types and import them into the signage software. The second method for content creation, is entirely integrated tools, that allows the user to design, and create, content within the software package itself. Once again CMS vendors may use different names for their components, but the work they do in each case is similar.

There are two types of CMS purchasing model. One is on-premise (self-hosted), sometimes abbreviated as “on-prem”. This operates under the concept that the end user is going to purchase the software up front and host/manage it themselves within their corporate network environment. The second is software as a service (provider hosted), abbreviated as “SaaS”, which operates under a subscription model. The end user has little to no out-of-pocket expense in setting up the software but pays a per display / per month (or year) subscription fee to the software provider. The software provider then hosts the server software and offers use as a service. This is generally also referred to as “cloud” software.

With so many CMS vendors to choose from this begs the question of how to approach this all-important decision. The following is our guidance of what to look for and questions to ask:

• Take published reports, ratings and rankings lists with a (potentially large) grain of salt. Reports, ratings, and ranking lists are often colored by sponsors, partners, and personal bias.
• Track records count. How long has the company been in business? How large is the installed base and what is its makeup? Think risk.
• References speak volumes. If possible, see if you can speak directly to satisfied clients with like needs to your own.
• Live together first. Evaluation demo licenses are a must. Use the platform, learn it, and think about how it works in the real world… your world before you commit.
• Test the service support. Ask for help and support on an issue even if you do not really have a problem. You will discover first-hand the level and quality of their support.
• What is included? A common phrase is “turnkey solution”. Exactly what does this include and what “other fees” are charged?
• Look beyond the glitz and glamour. While a graphically attractive GUI is a plus, it can mask underlying weaknesses.  There must be a stable platform especially in the player engine.
• One size does NOT fit all! Most software vendors handle the basics but if you have a specialized application, you are better off with a vendor who is experienced in the niche and has a development roadmap focused on that.
• Think outside the box. Look at how it handles additional features you may wish to add, and if it can integrate with other software solutions. Open architecture provides an “out” and a fallback position.
• Is it secure? Security is one of the hot button issues surrounding any PC installation, especially within digital signage. Be aware of how the playback software handles security.
• What in store for the future? Ask if there is there a realistic software developmental roadmap?
• Who is on the team? Today you can fool people into thinking you are bigger than you are in a business sense. So, check out the staff and what they do. Your project may depend on them.
• What is in a release? How is the product developed, tested, and released? Are there beta test releases and what is the timing?
• Reduce service calls! Service calls are expensive so look for software that can recover itself and handle restarting the system from a crash, with no user interaction.

Research shows that a typical end user changes CMS providers every three years. The reasons can be traced to a few issues.

• Dissatisfaction with glitches or errors in operation.  
• Dissatisfaction with provided support (availability and timeliness).
• Requirement for additional features or capabilities.
• Price or recurring fees.

The bottom line is that if the proper digital signage network due diligence is done up front, the match of the CMS to the application can be seamless and last a long time. Remember you get what you pay for!

By Alan C. Brawn CTS, ISF-C, DSCE, DSDE, DCME, DSNE, DSSP

We have all heard the old adage ascribed to Benjamin Franklin that the only constant in life is change. Lacking a crystal ball, it still does not stop us from asking what will be the next phase in our business evolution?

Without fear of contradiction, I can say that the next phase in our business and personal lives involves the internet of things (IoT). This is a technological umbrella and represents a quantum leap forward in communication gathering and data sharing. As a concept, IoT is all about connectivity and throughput. One subject matter expert told me that “the new rule for the future is going to be, anything that can be connected, will be connected. Simply put, this is the concept of basically connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet (and/or to each other).”

The research firm Gartner says that as of the end of 2020 there were over 26 billion connected devices and trillions of dollars spent. They point out that “the IoT is a giant network of connected “things” (which also includes people).  The relationship will be between people-people, people-things, and things-things.” In a Forbes article they state that IoT makes once “dumb” devices “smarter” by giving them the ability to send data over the internet and allowing the device to communicate with people and other IoT-enabled things. It about connectivity, but it is the impact of this expanded connectivity on people’s lives that will make the difference.

For those who might want a Cliffs Notes version, IoT fundamentally works as follows:

• Hardware devices have sensors that collect data.
• The collected data can then be shared via the cloud and integrated with software.
• The software then analyzes and transmits the data to users via an app or website.

This adds a level of digital intelligence to devices enabling them to communicate real-time data without a human being involved, effectively merging the digital and physical worlds. It is then up to the users how to manage what has come to be known as big data. For us in IT and digital signage the opportunities are endless.

What are the tangible benefits of the IoT for business? The benefits depend on individual businesses and their implementation, but the key is to have access to more data about their products and their internal systems, and a greater ability to make changes and respond in near real time as a result. The consulting firm McKinsey reports that “With the introduction of comprehensive, real-time data collection and analysis, systems can become dramatically more responsive.” I would add to this the word productivity and therein lies the benefit for business.

Increasingly we are seeing devices with sensors built into them. This represents the collection capability, but it is the expansion of broadband internet that makes access to all that data more widely available and useable. This is where Wi-Fi 6 and 5G come into play.

With the coming of Wi-Fi 6 in mid to late 2019 and commonly used today, wireless connectivity is in a single word, faster. Wi-Fi 6 can offer speeds that are roughly 30% faster than Wi-Fi 5, with theoretical maximum transfer speeds up around 10 Gbps. But speed is not the big part of the story especially relating to IoT.

Wi-Fi 6 is all about improving the network when a bunch of devices are connected. Your router can only communicate with so many devices at once. The more devices that are added to the network (meaning increased demand) the more the Wi-Fi network overall is going to slow down. As IoT expands, current routers will get overwhelmed by requests from a multitude of devices as they get added to the network. Wi-Fi 6 routers are designed to keep all those devices up to date with the data they need.

Wi-Fi 6 introduces some new technologies to help mitigate the issues that come with putting dozens of Wi-Fi devices on a single network. It lets routers communicate with more devices at once, lets routers send data to multiple devices in the same broadcast, and lets Wi-Fi devices schedule check-ins with the router. Together, those features should keep connections strong even as more and more devices start demanding data. IoT here we come.

The other hot topic in wireless connectivity is 5G cellular. This is the latest iteration of cellular, engineered to greatly increase the speed and responsiveness of wireless networks. 5G brings three new aspects to the table: greater speed (to move more data), lower latency (to be more responsive), and the ability to connect a lot more devices at once (for sensors and smart devices). With 5G, data transmitted over wireless broadband connections could travel at rates as high as 20 Gbps exceeding wireline network speeds — as well as offer latency of 1 millisecond or lower for uses that require real-time feedback. 5G will also enable a sharp increase in the amount of data transmitted over wireless systems due to more available bandwidth and advanced antenna technology. 5G networks and services will be deployed in stages over the next several years to accommodate the increasing reliance on mobile and internet-enabled devices. Overall, 5G is expected to generate a variety of new applications, uses and business cases as the technology is rolled out.

There’s a lot of talk about 5G as a consumer technology but less about how it’s set to benefit businesses. To start with, it will certainly improve the experience of remote working and collaboration. Today, over 50 percent of staff work away from their main office at least 2.5 days a week which while giving businesses agility, improved scheduling, and lower staff turnover, can make connecting, sharing and engaging teams difficult. Enter 5G. Network-related tasks, such as sharing large files in the cloud will become faster and more efficient, even on mobile devices without the need to connect to Wi-Fi, giving businesses huge productivity gains and boosting staff morale. After all, there’s nothing more frustrating than a slow internet connection.

As well as connecting people, 5G will connect things, vastly expanding the capabilities and application of IoT which demands better and faster connectivity. As one expert notes, “5G will enable device-to-device communications for up to a million devices per square kilometer.” This opens-up huge opportunities for IoT innovation and commercial use giving businesses at the forefront of creating and using such technologies a competitive edge.

The expansion of IoT capable devices is expanding by the month. The ability to connect devices without intrusive downsides is on the horizon.  The cost of connecting is decreasing. More devices are being created with Wi-Fi capabilities and sensors built into them and mobile device use with 5G will sky-rocket over the next few years.  These things are creating a “perfect storm” environment for the IoT. As we said in the beginning, anything that can be connected will be connected. The task ahead will be managing all the data at our disposal and doing something reactive and proactive with it to the improvement of our lives both business and personal. In IT and digital signage we need to be at the center of this so get onboard!

By Alan C. Brawn CTS, ISF-C, DSCE, DSDE, DCME, DSNE, DSSP

Every article, blog, or podcast about trends in our digital world will (by necessity) include comments about artificial intelligence, or AI for short. As we have done previously with big data, IoT, analytics, and content management software we will dig a little deeper beneath the surface and explain the concept and it’s use, Consider the following overview an attempt to break AI down into its basic parts and what it potentially means to us in real world applications.

By definition artificial intelligence is the science of training computer systems to emulate human tasks through learning and automation. The key element to understand is that an AI system requires learning, and only once it has been taught can it automate or replicate what it has been taught. At the core is the capability of a machine to learn how to apply logic and reason to gain an understanding from complex data. It is not stand alone; AI requires initial data that it receives to teach it. It can then apply the algorithms developed by the learning process to patterns and relationships found in other sets of data. Fundamentally, an AI is a set of algorithms inside a computer that are fed a set of known data to “learn” from and guided on how to interpret this data. It can then take what it has learned and perform tasks, further learning from each data set. This is where the “garbage in and garbage out” factor comes into play. AI is only as good as the quality of the data it learns from, but quality data is not enough.

Think of data as the fuel. Depending upon the application massive amounts of data can be ingested but now comes the analysis phase, the extraction of key data points, and finally writing the code that can make the output processes automated in some way. AI still requires humans to make it all work. Without data and the analytics of what to do with it, AI is just a couple of words that sound impressive.

At the 10,000 foot level, artificial intelligence can be split into two broad types: narrow AI and general AI.

• Narrow AI represents the vast majority of what we encounter. This is what we see all around us with computers containing intelligent systems that have been taught or have learned how to carry out specific tasks without being explicitly programmed how to do so. A good example might be one of the virtual assistants that so many of us rely on. Keep in mind though that unlike humans, these systems can only learn or be taught how to do defined tasks, which is why they are called narrow AI.
• General AI is very different and is the type of adaptable intellect found in humans. It is a flexible form of intelligence capable of learning how to carry out vastly different tasks based on the data from its accumulated experience. This is the sort of AI more commonly seen in sci-fi movies but doesn’t exist today and AI experts are fiercely divided over how soon it will become a reality. Some say we will see Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) by 2050 and yet other prominent experts opine that it is much farther off than that and perhaps centuries away.

As noted, AI requires a lot of data and from the analysis and learns the patterns or features of the data and applies it. While AI is the umbrella, there are subfields. Here are a few of the ones you most likely will encounter:

• Machine learning
  • Machine Learning is the technique that gives computers the potential to learn without being programmed and it is actively being used in daily life. Fundamentally, it is the science that enables machines to translate, execute and investigate data for solving real-world problems.
• Neural network
  • In simple terms, a neural network is a set of algorithms that are used to find the elemental relationships across the bunches of data via the process that imitates the human brain operating process. The bigger the neural network the close we get to the way we think as human beings.
• Expert systems
  • This is a program that is designed to solve problems with requires human expertise and experience. A good example is medicine. A collection of data fed into expert systems can offer knowledge of similar cases or it can be used as a reference or a self-check tool.
• Natural language processing
  • NLP is the part of computer science and AI that can help in communicating between computer and human by natural language. It is a technique of computational processing of human languages. It enables a computer to read and understand data by mimicking human natural language.

Of course, there are technologies that enable AI. We live in the era of the internet of things (IoT) where appliances of all types are connected thus producing huge amounts of raw data. Graphic processing units (GPUs) inside a computer can provide more than just the ability to render graphics, they have immense computer horsepower to help process data. Advanced algorithms are being developed in new ways to analyze the data. APIs or application programming interfaces as one AI expert notes “are portable packages of code that make it possible to add AI functionality to existing products and software packages. They can add image recognition capabilities to home security systems and Q&A capabilities that describe data, create captions and headlines, or call out interesting patterns and insights in data.”

Is AI a trend? Yes, it is but it is also in play (pun intended) today. Click on any search engine and it is used to recommend what you should buy next. It is used to understand what you say to virtual assistants, such as Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, and even to spot spam, or detect credit card fraud. The list goes on and on. As wonderful as AI is (opinions vary on this) and understanding that it is going to change every industry, we must understand its limits.

The principal limitation of AI is that it requires data input to learn. It does not think on its own. As noted, before this means any inaccuracies in the data will be reflected in the results. And any additional layers of prediction or analysis must be added separately. Today’s AI systems are narrow AI and trained to do a clearly defined task. One experts points out that “the system that plays poker cannot play solitaire or chess. The system that detects fraud cannot drive a car or give you legal advice. In fact, an AI system that detects health care fraud cannot accurately detect tax fraud or warranty claims fraud.” In other words, these systems are very (I do mean very) specialized. They are focused on a single task and are far from behaving like humans. Likewise, self-learning systems are not autonomous systems. The imagined AI technologies that you see in movies and TV are still science fiction.

What is not science fiction are the advances in data collection, algorithms and analytics, and computers that can probe complex data to learn and perfect specific tasks.  These are becoming quite common. All the major cloud platforms – Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud – provide access to GPU arrays for training and running machine-learning models. All the necessary associated infrastructure and services are available from the big three, the cloud-based data stores, capable of holding the vast amount of data needed to train machine-learning models, services to transform data to prepare it for analysis, visualization tools to display the results clearly, and software that simplifies the building of models.

Applications for AI are growing exponentially in our personal and business lives. Machine-learning systems have helped computers recognize what people are saying with an accuracy of almost 95%. In recent years, the accuracy of facial-recognition systems has leapt forward, to the point where it can match faces with 99% accuracy. In healthcare AI has helped in responding to the pandemic by aiding researchers in spotting genetic sequences related to diseases and identifying molecules that could lead to more effective drugs. The point for us in IT, AV, and digital signage is to think about ways AI can benefit our clients. We won’t provide the AI per se, but we will provide many of the technologies that use AI to their best advantages. As in all things AV, IT, and/or digital signage related it is our job to know, suggest, and assist our clients meet their objectives. Count on the fact that AI will be part of that job.

By Alan C. Brawn CTS, ISF-C, DSCE, DSDE, DCME, DSNE, DSSP

The unprecedented explosion of (big) data gathering means that the digital universe will reach 180 zettabytes (180 followed by 21 zeroes) by 2025. 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are produced by humans every day. The challenge is not so much the sheer amount of data… but what to do with it. Unfettered this is like drinking from a fire hose at full blast. Too much is just too much, and thus of little value. That begs the question of how to wrap our arms around big data. This is where analytics comes into play.

Types of Analytics

The work of analytics is to inform and improve decision making, but ultimately is about measuring and then quantifying ROO and ROI. With the sheer magnitude of big data available to us we can look at historical data and current data and then forecast what might happen in the future. This tells us where we have come from and where we are most likely headed. The promise of “doing it right” can result in optimized supply chains, lowered operating costs, increased revenues, and/or improved customer service and product mix to name just a few.

Analytic options abound, often varying by vertical market or application and this can be confusing. The good news is that these options can be categorized at a high level into three distinct types. Keep in mind that one type of analytics does not fit all, and in fact several may co-exist with, and complement, each other. As one expert opines, “In order for a business to have a holistic view of the market and how a company competes efficiently within that market requires a robust analytic environment”.

Three basic types of analytics:

• Descriptive Analytics tells us “What has happened?”
  • This data allows us to learn from the past and understand how this might influence future outcomes.
  • The past refers to a previous occurrence, one minute ago, or one year ago.
  • Common examples of descriptive analytics are reports that provide historical insights regarding the company’s production, financials, operations, sales, finance, inventory, and customer information.
• Predictive Analytics, tells us “What could happen?”
  • This is based on probabilities and provides estimates about the likelihood of a future outcome, keeping in mind that no statistical algorithm can “predict” the future with 100% certainty.
  • For retail sales in might be predicting what items customers will purchase or forecasting inventory levels based upon a myriad of variables.
• Prescriptive Analytics, tells us “What should we do?”
  • This data suggests several possible actions and outcomes before the decisions are actually made.
  • Properly gathered and applied, prescriptive analytics predicts not only what will happen, but also why it will happen. It provides actionable recommendations taking advantage of the predictions.
  • This entails input from many different data sets including historical and transactional data, real-time data feeds, and yes, big data.
  • Prescriptive analytics can be used to optimize production, improve scheduling and inventory to make sure the right products are delivered at the right time thus optimizing the customer experience.

Analytics Trends

1. Anonymous Video Analytics (AVA)
   1. Anonymous is the key word. This is facial recognition software that can provide a full range of demographic information (gender, age, eye response, emotional responses, socio/economics, etc.). this allows the delivery of targeted messages as customers move through a space.
2. AI-powered Analytics
   1. This refers to machine learning and automates (and makes more efficient and effective) the process of evaluating data from the wealth of information enterprises are constantly generating. 
   1. AI can even predict outcomes based on historical information. It can “sort” information in a format that is most accessible and critical to the organization’s objectives.
   1. This can transform big data and big content into self-service data visualizations for users across the organization to increase automation, operational efficiencies and maximize revenue.
3. Mobility and beacon connectivity
   1. Adding mobile devices to the mix enhances and expands the amount of data retrieved and track more types customer engagements.
4. Wi-Fi location tracking
   1. Allows you to track the route of a customer through the store or employees in a building to ascertain the best location for your screens plus gather further data via mobile devices and foster person to screen interaction.

Benefits of Analytics (business):

• Measures, quantifies, and substantiates ROO and ROI
• Measures how much of your missions’ statement is accomplished
• Encourages and supports smart decision making
• Provides clearer insights through data visualization
• Keeps you updated with the most current information
• Let’s you know where you have been and where you need to head
• Offers and promotes efficiency

Benefits of Analytics (messaging):

• Measures and tracks customer/employee interest from signage in-store or in office.
• Facilitates the fine tuning and targeting of a message.
• Measures response to a call to action and shows what works and does not.
• Measure peak periods to display key messages to the most viewers.
• Gives the ability to make faster, more agile message changes as varying needs are assessed.
• The data collected can be augmented with data from other information systems as needed.  

We have the internet of things (IoT) with ubiquitous devices that can be connected and interconnected. We have big data increasing by the second and we have advances in analytics that help makes big data quantifiable and thus useful. As a point of reference, analytics that “touches” pro AV and digital signage applications is growing at >30% per year. This market alone is forecasted to reach > $33 Billion by 2026.

As the famous bank robber Willie Sutton said when asked why he robbed banks, he said “That is where the money is”. Increasingly our money can be traced back to all the information out there, the analytics to make is useful, and finally the content management systems to help us manage and distribute it all.