My ole' man spent 25 years in the telecom industry. He started with MCI, but then became an employee of the notorious WorldCom (I'm sure many of you know that story). During the consolidation and change in technology in that industry, he saw revenues corroded by deregulation and then further by VOIP services. In their attempt to adapt, MCI-WorldCom invested greatly into the VOIP technology. The only issue seen by those in the telecom industry was concern of "uptime." That is, telephony had achieved "five nines" of reliability--99.999% uptime (for those of you interested, this means that yearly downtime totals a whopping 5:16--not bad for reliability). However, VOIP phones because they are IP based did not initially have the coveted uptime of a regular phone line. As you can imagine, this posed some possibilities for major issues. While price made for a sizzling offer, unreliable service can certainly lead to a "value-subtracted" proposition.
"Five Nines" in the digital signage arena means 5:16 minutes of outages in 365 days. That five minutes and sixteen seconds of down time includes downtime for security, downtime for networking, downtime for software, and downtime for hardware. Woah! That's a much more complicated impossity than a POTS telephone line. It makes one wonder whether "five nines" is truly possible in this sector.
Issues Plaguing Digital Media Networks without Five Nines
Before we delve into the various issues of the non-six sigma and the BSOD, let's talk about reasons we want our networks to be reliable.
1. Networks need to be reliable for reputation sake. Adcentricity gently reminded us that delivery problems hurt us all. The same goes for playback issues as well. Nothing good comes out of a partly functioning system of any kind, especially when it comes to reputation.
2. Security requires networks to be reliable. Not only can hackers insert their own content on an insecure sign network, but they can also reek havock on the uptime. I guess inappropriate content would be worse than the BSOD, but what does it reflect on your network security?
3. Signage networks must be the crutch in times of emergency. What good is an emergency alert function in your digital signage software if when the needed time arises, your screens are not working? What a waste of a good investment.
4. Money is always an issue. If you think it is not, you're crazy. When networks default, it costs money. Not always is digital signage about advertising. Outages cost money in other ways. For instance, time and resources to get the network running again requires personnel and personnel require money. Reliability is akin to sustainability and revenue.
What can go wrong with hardware
Think of where something could go wrong, and Murphy's law will most definitely take hold. The two areas of hardware that could most easily jack with your reliability include the LCD display itself and the media player. Sometimes the reliability of such devices could be a case of "you get what you pay for." Of course, I still own a working version of the cheapest MP3 player on the market from five years ago. I shopped based on price and got lucky. This may not be the case when seeking out an LCD display. There have reportedly been many problems with purchasing off-brand displays.
Another area that could interfere with the display's reliability is a faulty or busted RS232 control piece. If this goes "belly-up" on you, you could have issues with a fully functioning screen whose remote control device is defunct. While not the most optimal scenario, it is more easily remedied than other hardware failures that could occur.
What can go awry with software
There are two aspects of the software worth noting. First, the operating system your sign software is running on can make or break you, especially if you want to avoid the BSOD.I will not mention any names specifically. Versions of Linus and other open source software packages are becoming more popular not only for reliability, but also for cost. I recently read a news article about how the Paris police force replaced all their old servers with a Linux based solution. In so doing, it was predicted they would save literally millions of dollars in software and regular maintenance costs. The same holds true for digital media networks. There are a number of Linux or open source sign systems out there, including some cross-platform systems. However, this may not mean the software residing on the OS is five-nineable.
The sign software can be another issue entirely. It may not give you a blue screen of death, but it certainly can cause greater than needed headaches if chosen improperly. A reliable and tested software solution can make or break any signage network. I don't think I need to beat the horse deader-er.
Connectivity
Satellite, cellular, LAN, WAN, 802.11...what is your flavor? How are your screens connected? How often is the player heartbeat to the server? Is it a push or pull system? Does your player playback locally? Does your software require streaming? How often do the media feeds pull from an external source? Such rhetoric makes me less faithful in the ability of signage networks to achieve five nines. It seems as if there are too many ways to get it wrong.
Even in the most optimal of conditions, connectivity can go south with the birds. And for necessary emergency alerts, updated in a timely matter, this can pose a real issue and liability. Talk to any connectivity whiz and you'll know they would prefer you "hard-wire" connect over some other sub-par solution. Whatever your connection of choice, remember failure can happen here as well.
In conclusion, I want to reference something I learned in a developmental biology class some time ago. As we were learning about the development of a human being, we discussed the various things that could go wrong in development of the fetus; things relating to chemical deficiencies to physical maladies within the womb. Problems, resulting in abnormalities and death, can and do surface at nearly every juncture of human fetal development. In reference to this, I can remember the professor of the class commenting with something like, "believe me, it is amazing and miraculous that any of you turned out normal." There were chuckles in the audience, but he went on, "I'm serious. Count yourself blessed that you're not a chromosome shy and sitting in an institution somewhere drooling on yourself." While that was putting rather bluntly, he made his point. Similarly, it is amazing that digital signage networks ever succeed as well. With the litany of possible issues, sometimes you have to sit back and count your lucky stars. But, that doesn't give you an excuse to find some "run-of-the-mill crapperware" solution.
In their recent emailer--online SMB community--PartnerUp promoted digital signage, well sort of. Their most recent emailer which I receive, mostly out of my morbid curiosity, included the following:
There are several variables that contribute to an enjoyable customer experience. First and foremost, your business needs to deliver what it says it’s going to deliver—great food, reliable auto parts, exceptional health care, etc. It also needs to deliver it at the right price. A complete customer experience doesn’t stop at products and pricing though. It needs to go further and address the way customers feel throughout the process of doing business with you.
One way to improve a customer’s experience with your business is to add entertainment value. For certain types of businesses, adding entertainment value doesn’t make sense. Many businesses, however, are perfectly positioned to receive a return on their entertainment investment. These businesses typically fall into one of two categories.
Businesses in the hospitality industry
Restaurants, bars and nightclubs are types of businesses where entertainment is not a nice-to-have, but rather a necessity. These types of establishments need to understand that one 19-inch TV with a fuzzy picture shoved in a corner simply isn’t going to cut it, especially if you have sports fans on hand. Restaurants, bars and nightclubs are created for the sole purpose of entertainment, so you MUST bring your A-game on the entertainment front. Quality speaker systems, live music, or flat-panel TVs with crisp picture and extensive programming options are a few ways these businesses can enhance their entertainment offering.
Businesses with waiting rooms, reception areas and/or lobbies
From medical offices to repair shops, businesses that require customers to hang out for a bit can clearly benefit from entertaining their customers (particularly those with children) as they wait. Television is a great way to help customers pass the time as they wait. Consider putting up a few different TVs to accommodate the varying tastes of customers. Waiting room toys are also a great way to make those long minutes and hours tolerable for kids as well as parents. However you choose to do it, adding entertainment to your waiting area will help your customers’ experience with your business start off on the right foot.
Entertainment is important to providing customers with a pleasant, well-rounded experience. Having customers who are able to say that doing business with you was a truly enjoyable experience will go a long way in boosting your business.
Outings such as dinners, sporting events or theater performances are a great way for you to get to know your clients better. Interacting with them on a more personal, non-business-related level can be pivotal in gaining their trust and deepening your relationship. This is, of course, important because a deeper, more meaningful relationship is crucial to furthering your business-related goals. To put it plainly, people like to do business with people they know.
Discussing business is certainly appropriate while entertaining clients in many different capacities; however, if your objective here is pure relationship building, then you need to keep business out of it. One of the worst things you could do is make your clients feel like you’re trying to sell them something during halftime of the big game. Keep things light and social.
The emailer's "entertainment strategy" was nothing more than a plug for offering digital signage to customers who are required to wait for products and services. I'm sure eventually they'll be educated enough to use the proper nomenclature.
Jim Schauffler once referred to digital out-of-home as "a future global telecom phenomenon." As a communications device, digital signage can be extremely beneficial. In fact, exhibits like InfoComm and Digital Signage Expo have been indicators of the eventual phenomenon which digital signage will most certainly be involved in. The telecom industry is no longer just about telephony (that shouldn't be news to anyone). Instead, video conferencing enhance communications, and can often eliminate the need for travel altogether.
VOIP services have further amplified the power of communication. My sister has benefited from a VOIP service of late, while her husband--who is a fluent Chinese linguist--has been making long visits to the orient. They alternate between Skype and ooVoo as a way to video conference to one another.
Those who've attended InfoComm have most likely seen multi-person interactive video capabilities. One in particular that interested me greatly was a Microsoft Surface imitator that allowed teleconferencers to seamlessly share documents between one another via the multi-touch surface. The document sharing multi-touch table, coupled with the video conference capabilities made for an unstoppable "telecom phenomenon." The software not only allowed for document sharing, but also real-time document collaboration and editing while a teleconference was taking place. While company issues were discussed between parties thousands of miles away, documents relating to their discussion could be viewed, critiqued, and edited real-time by the participating parties. So cool.
The price tag for the simple 4 display + surface-like setup? Somewhere between $100,000 and $150,000.
I picture a day when signage-powered phone booths allow for teleconference capabilities while feeding targeted advertisements. The advertisements, much like Google's adwords, could be keyword targeted. Meaning, the advertisements being displayed on the screen would match the conversation of the persons teleconferencing. Privacy aside, I could see a few other issues here, including annoyance. Imagine how distracting it would be to have advertisements displayed in your field of view which exactly match what you just said.
"Honey, I just dropped off your shirts at the cleaners." A directory listing ad then subsequently displayed, showing the location of a nearby cleaner. Technologically speaking it's very cool, but practically speaking, it could prove quite annoying. I guess it all depends. We all seem to be a bit more forgiving if advertisements are fed when we get something for free. How difficult would it be to put together a free phone booth using VOIP technology integrated with digital signage? The technology is certainly there, it's the will and necessity that are lacking. Besides, who wants to use an actual phone booth when cell phones have become so prevalent?
The future "telecom phenom" spoken of by Shauffler may or may not be all it is cracked up to be in the public/advertising sector. However, as digital signage continues to be used as a corporate communications device, we will certainly see cost savings in the telecom for B2B communications as technology bridges the gap between reality and fiction.
A lot of people don't like each other in this industry--mostly because competition is gobbling up an already-fragmented market. In fact, we have had several requests for comment removal from our news feed due to the disparity of the remarks. Understandably, there is a great deal of back-and-forth banter: that's competition at its finest. It seems to bottle itself for a time, but then always reemerges. It can be picked up anywhere on the Internet.
Push vs. Pull
I understand many would much rather grab some warm leads done via a web search. This requires the least headache because the people you speak with have generally poked around a bit. The following quotes are from Tom Reilly's Value-Added Selling.
Value added salespeople sell three things—the product, the company, and themselves. This three-dimensional solution defies commodity-like comparisons. The same product from the same company from two different salespeople is two different solutions altogether. Logically, there can be no generic solution because no two people are the same. To reinforce this point, the only differentiation that may exist in this competitive comparison could rest with the salesperson.
Since we can all agree that digital signage software products are (or shortly will be) nearly non-differentiable in regard to function, those wishing to sell--in mass--will need to differentiate from the fray. We also need to remember that while products are strikingly similar, they still need explained granularly to customers who may not have a idea what day-parting and role-based administration even mean. Who is going to teach them? A website? Maybe, if they are the IT rep responsible. Otherwise, they are going to need an individual--a warm body.
So how do we differentiate?
Two Fortune-100 companies surveyed their customers to determine how much value their salespeople contributed to the sale; they discovered that 35-37% of the value that customers receive comes from the salespeople with whom they deal. Value added salespeople don’t make sales calls; they go on job interviews with customers. They ask customers to hire them to be their personal representative with the supplier’s company.
Any questions?
Apart from the salespeople, differentiation needs to be in your brand. Cisco, Hughes, 3M, and Scala certainly have a heads-up. However, garnering major support for software that runs between $1,500 and $3,000 a license may be a bit more difficult. By the way, I have seen some demos of supposed "industry leading enterprise solutions" and some of them are three years behind where they should be in functionality--all for a price tag that makes me nauseated.
Finally, I know of one company who spent (more like "wasted") $1.5 million in targeting large national AV companies with their signage offering. The problem: the AV guys were used to doing signage their way, not the IT/server method. What happened? The project flopped. Now what are they doing? They are (and I quote), "recruiting a direct sales force." Wow, like it was a new idea or something?
Selling without Selling
There is no such thing as selling without selling. This is true of any enterprise software. Simplicity and usability are important, but people will always want someone to hold their hand through the process. They want a person. Affiliate marketing will not work until signage queries reach into the thousands per hour.
Value added salespeople are order makers, not order takers. They understand the value of personal initiative in sales. Reactive salespeople have a wait-and-see attitude; they depend on the customer to take the initiative and then respond to the customer’s lead. Value added salespeople have a reap-and-sow attitude; they know that sales success is an active process.
Value added salespeople seek ways to add value, not cost, with their solution. This presumes initiative. Value Added Selling is a proactive philosophy; it is everything salespeople do before price becomes an issue. This value adding approach preempts price objections. Proactive value added salespeople create opportunities for themselves while creating value for customers.
Focus on sales! It doesn't matter how grand an press release you craft or what type of PPC campaign you run to drive traffic to your website. Sell. Selling means putting your face in front of other faces. While the Internet is the place to do research, differentiation comes from the people and the company--especially now that software ain't all the unique.
When I mention "digital signage" to the layperson, NO ONE (and I mean no one) knows what I speak of immediately. I have to educate them. The increase in PR noise for the industry is great! I think it means we are headed places. It also means we get much more educated leads from the PULL side of the lead procurement spectrum. However, this will not do for those companies seeking to "feed the fam" with software sales. Only a real salesman can do that.
Tread Lightly
Despite popular belief, this industry is still relatively small. While cell phones have reached the masses, we have not. Who regularly speaks of digital out-of-home and digital signage? People in the industry, that's who. Burning bridges by bad-mouth banter may burn bridges that need crossed at some future date. Let's keep informing and educating and the leads we get "online" will continue to be more qualified. Until then, some of the best and most qualified leads we garner will be from direct door-pounding mayhem where our salespeople become the qualifier. I'm going to close with a little vid from Seth Godin.
Sadly, there are those still developing and managing digital signage software without a view of future necessary implementations. One future necessary piece for software providers: role-based administration.
What is Role-Based Administration?
Role-based administration can mean different things to different people. Let me define simply what role-based admin means for digital signage and specifically what it means for specifically what I will be discussing (can I be more specifically?). Role-based administration is the ability to carve up a single server, giving separate administrative access to separate users for similar and separate networks.
While the majority of this blog post will focus on the ability to carve up the server into separate networks entirely (i.e. "role-based administration), keep in mind, the following benefits of role-based administration increase as the capability of server administration increases.
Think about the business niches and models that could be created for a company able to assign different roles to players, playlists, and content--not just the overall network. The ability to manage a subset of the content or playlists within an already carved-up portion of the server, giving content or playlist specific roles is a big deal, especially as advertising content begins to play a larger role. I'll not even delve into that in this post. It is certainly something worth mentioning, however.
Without dely: 6 Reasons for Role-Based Administration
Security Will Eventually Require It
I personally know of several companies who are hosting signage services on a shared server with no separation of network access. What does this mean for the entity who is paying a monthly fee for the hosting on that particular server? Well, it means that any of the other ten or so clients who are concurrently hosted there can not only view their content assets but they also have the same ability to make any changes they wish to the content and the schedule of said assets. It's as if they are the administrator for others' digital signage network. Not secure, not secure at all!
Another security issue that could very easily plague a network not utilizing role-based administration can also come from within the lower echelons of those having access to a private network. Let's say, for instance, that you give server access (which in non-role-based setting gives them access to the entire system) to an assumed trusted individual. Just don't do anything to go beyond that individual's good graces, else what happened with porn on Wal-Mart TV may well happen to you. The chances of a administrator on the network going postal and running the screens amuck are probably quite low, but the possibility is there. And, when such a possibility exists with the mirage of legal issues that could arise from such a breach, role-based admin would be the best bet.
It's Essential in Swooning Integrators and Other Resellers
I simply love software and hardware companies who have get-rich plans based on a massive garnering of a majority of the world's resellers. In a fantasy world it would be possible to convert every possible reseller to your solution. In reality, it's impossible. However, having a good solution with expanded capabilities allows for an easy partner swooning. Even if you do not run a server farm and charge for hosting, role-based admin is essential in resellers because they may wish to charge for hosting and carve up the network you provide them.
Even if your resellers are purchasing hardware and/or software for their central signage server, it may very well be necessary to supply them with the tool of role-based admin to ensure their success.
Increases Scalability, Efficiency and Cost Savings
How can role-based administration save on costs? Let me illustrate with a seemingly unrelated example. As an undergrad I took a very interesting course entitled "The Entrepreneurship Lecture Series." It was a simple one credit hour class wherein a weekly visitor was flown in from around the country to give a lecture for an hour or two on their efforts, successes, and failures as an entrepreneur. Their industries ranged from fabric to franchise. I simply loved the class.
One of the lecturers, whose name slips my mind, was a garment manufacturer who provided pants and shirts to the likes of Dickies, Wal-Mart, and Target. He ran several manufacturing facilities, most of them based in Mexico. One of the aspects of his business which really hit home was his effort toward greater efficiency and less waste. For instance, he said that within six months of taking over the enterprise he was able to increase the usage of one square yard of fabric from 85% to 97%. This alone led to a simultaneous increase in revenues and a decrease in cost. Genius.
How does this relate to digital signage hosting and role-based administration? Simple: Role-Based Admin allows for increase use of an unused asset. Think for a moment about all the wasted server space out there. How many of you manage servers on a network wherein you are hugely undercapacitated? When using a role-based admin, a shared server can be used to a greater capacity. In addition, shared hosting also allows for SaaS (software-as-a-service) fees to generate a recurring revenue stream from clients.
This type of scenario allows for a server to be carved up into separate networks, giving network operators the unique ability to scale their network accordingly on an as-needed basis. No need for wasted rack space in your server room.
Role-Based Admin Can Increase Revenues
The previous logic can be extended here. Hosting fees for a "one-off" screen at a local bagel shop or gas station may not seem significant, but when scaled up, they become much more significant. Think for instance about a thousand "one-off" digital signage displays installed at various differing venues worldwide. This is we mean by digital signage hitting the mainstream. And, while the acceptance will happen slowly, it will be crucially necessary to have a network not only capable of managing different roles, but capable of managing different networks on the same server.
Having a thousand "one-off" installations requires a role-based server capable of being carved up into multiple accounts. With it, there is no end to the revenue gains that can be made in the mainstream with software hosting. Without it, digital signage software vendors will be left in the dust.
It Offers Greater Flexibility and Control
I recognize the need for standardization with nomenclature within this industry. I also recognize that there are those pushing for compliance guidelines there as well. With the litany of different names describing--and often conflicting--for description(s) for the same thing(s), it is often difficult to have a conversation with some software vendors regarding their system. We often speak different languages. It is confusing when words like playlist, program, channel, and schedule mean different things for different software companies.
Regardless of what it's called, playlist, schedule and content management in a role-based environment will give signage operators a huge boost at control of their signage, especially for advertising purposes. Even greater still is the ability, which a number of would-be operators have requested, to have role-based usage for the various zones on the screen. I have yet to see an effective implementation of something of this kind. Even more rare, I have yet to see a real reason to have it, other than a would-be ad network wishing give access to specific zones for specific advertisers. We're not quite there yet, but I'm sure we may one day get down to that level. You never know.
When it comes to role-based administration for screen zones, the industry's innovators will respond in kind, giving the people what they want. Until then, if we focus on what works and proven biz tactics and methodologies, we'll have more room for success.
People Will Be Impressed
I know if I walked up to a non-gearhead and said, "I just finished installing another node on a role-based digital signage network server. It's hosted on a rack at our corporate NOC, but provides service to scaled administrators worldwide." They would say, "you're going to have to tone down your speech so I can understand." Role-based admininstration: more impressive than it sounds.
I want to say "without further adieu," but that would be simple ludicrous. It has been on our "housekeeping" list for sometime, but we were finally able to get around to updated the digital signage events calendar. It is now much more simple as it is displayed using Google. What a dream that Google company is!
We have tried to include as many national and international events as possible relating to the digital signage industry. In other words, we have tried to be accomodating to Yanks, Brits, Africans, Chinese, Indians, Kazakhstanians, etc. There are many more events that could be attended by digital signage vendors, including those not specific to AV, in-store marketing, and IT. In fact, many times, industry-specific trades-shows are hard pressed to garner a larger number of qualified leads, simply due to the competition sitting in the booth next to you. Hence, there are many more effective shows that could be added. But, I'm sure those of you who've found your niche would not be so stupid as to allow us to place them on the calendar for all to see. Else the competition would show up in your niche as well.
Hopefully this latest and greatest calendar will be an improvement from the outdated stepchild we had displayed there before. If for some reason we are off on dates, have missed an event, or need constructive criticism, please let us know. Otherwise, enjoy the newest calendar!
As the market prices for digital media ease to a truceful middle-ground and off the price-warring battleground, we will see the cost of digital signage shift to content creation. Mark my words: content creation services will own the lionshare of regular maintenance of most signage displays. Those of us sick of catch phrases like "content is king," "measurement is queen," and "software-as-a-service" will probably side with me in the assumption that we need another industry catch-phrase like we need another hole in the head. However, there will be a phrase that you will most likely come across at a future date which will not surprise you: Content-as-a-Service.
What is Content-as-a-Service?
Much like software-as-a-service (SaaS), content-as-a-service (CaaS) gives ongoing support and regular maintenance of display content. And, much like a digital sign hosting, CaaS gives a company peace of mind. This is partly due to the fact that a network admin now becomes hands-off on content creation. I am a very big proponent of continual learning and education, but I'm also a very big stickler when it comes to core competency. Unless the signage network has planned for a regular content creator anda regulator is assigned, these duties must be outsourced to a third party company, especially in the event that no real good content creators are available on-site.
Why CaaS?
There are other reasons for providing a CaaS model for dynamic graphics.
1. Good content takes work. And good work takes time--even more time if you are not efficient and do not know what you're doing.
2. You can't simply rip-off broadcasted content from a TV tuner and repurpose it.
3. Give credit where credit is due. Give the creative work to the creatives. I can fumble through the Adobe programs to create content, but there are people who go to school for this stuff and love it. I, most unfortunately, do not have such a passion for content. In short, CaaS simplifies life
4. Content in digital signage is a niche, presently untapped because growth still remains.
It could be due to an underlying change in the market, or a section of the market you hadn't previously noticed is now revealing itself. Many people remain blind to such opportunities, even when, like Macys, it is staring them in the face.
We must always be on the lookout for these unexpected successes on the periphery of what we do.
The original IBM computers were scientific instruments meant for arcane academic research purposes. However, businesses started to buy computers for more mundane, everyday functions, like payroll. IBM reoriented their company around business machines, and the rest is history. Had IBM not tuned into what was working, rather than what their business plan said should be working, they probably wouldn't be here today.
The same thing happened with search. Search wasn't working as a business, even after Google was underway, until Google saw the massive opportunity presented by that much maligned, preposterous idea - pay per click - devised by Goto.com. Pay-per-click was working, in a business sense, in that it was a search function that delivered revenue. Google thought they were building a search engine. Remember the search appliance? Google reoriented and built the ultimate marketing machine instead.
Tapping the heretofore "blind opportunities" is what content creators can find in digital signage. At present it's a seemingly blue ocean of love and glory.
Who Provides CaaS?
We get fairly regular phone calls from content creation companies looking to partner and provide content on displays. There is a veritable litany of providers of all types of content including Flash, video, and stills which can be dynamic and even interactive with use on a touchscreen.
Asking "who provides content?" is like asking "where is the nearest Subway?" Just look around, you'll find more than you need. In fact, some years ago I needed two things: A salesman and a content creator. And, even in the days when craigslist was not as prevalent as it is today, I still used it to search out some employees. When I posted a "help wanted" ad for a salesman, I received one response in one week. When I posted a help wanted ad for some content creation, guess what? I received no less than 15 responses within the first several hours. I was literally overwhelmed.
I could just picture 20 or so graphic designers huddled around their MacBook Pros clicking "Ctrl+R" and waiting for a new post to appear. While that may be a bit far from the truth, it's not too far off. Having been a bit harsh of our right-brained allies, I must say something constructive: really, really good content artists are NOT a dime a dozen. While many claim to have content expertise and claim to be good at it, there are what I would call the elitist creators whose work has "pop," pazzaz," and "the bling factor." I hold fast to my business friendships with such talent. You never know when you are going to need some nice design.
As you find such an one, getting a contractual obligation with them for regular content is a good idea, especially if your network needs regular refreshment. For instance, you may contract for CaaS in such a way: I will pay you $1100/month for six months for two regular two-minute Flash graphics every other week (the pricing here is not important and is most likely incorrect, but you get the main idea). Cotent contracts for content creation. It's that simple.
When NOT CaaS?
In some instances CaaS man not be necessary. The most readily obvious instance is when a screen's content never changes. Digital menu boards are a perfect example. Unless the menu changes (the only instance I could think of this happening is if the restaurant changed from Mexican to Chinese ownership), the content should remain the same. The menu schedule itself will not change.
Providing digital sign content-as-a-service will continue to garner support within this growing sector. However, there are niches we've not even addressed. Those are for another day...
I recall doing a case study on the price war within the cold cereal industry. For some time large players like General Mills were making huge margins on cold cereal. In fact, the article I read talked about how the cereal used to be measured in cost per pound. It was exorbitant. Enter Malt-O-Meal! Their low prices and low shelf placement made them a fierce competitor to the status quo and forced prices to equilibrium.
When margins begin to dwindle.
Margins need to come into equilibrium. Do you remember when Internet hosting use to cost $60/month. Now, if you pay more than $5 to $7 month for a simple website, you are a fool. I even wrote about software providers who're still charging ridiculous fees for their digital signage SaaS hosting. How long with the industry be able to bare the weight? Not long. While enterprise solutions will still require a greater investment in capital, it should be apparent that the days of $2,000 per display are over.
Adaptation
Like it or not, the industry is moving to the cheap. Realizing the evolution has been forced into light speed by the general market, will help you to realize your business model needs to change.
While I am against competing based on price, we all must realize that it is coming to that. I read a great book a while back by Tom Reilly called Value-Added Selling. It is an excellent book outlining how to sell and sell effectively. One of the most interesting stats from the book indicated that when salespeople complain the price is too high, it is generally only the salespeople who struggle with the higher prices, not the customers. Price is more of a concern in the minds of the salesmen, than it is in the minds of the customer. That is a numerical statistic. One of my favorite quotes from the book:
Value added salespeople sell three things—the product, the company, and themselves. This three-dimensional solution defies commodity-like comparisons. The same product from the same company from two different salespeople is two different solutions altogether. Logically, there can be no generic solution because no two people are the same. To reinforce this point, the only differentiation that may exist in this competitive comparison could rest with the salesperson.
Two Fortune-100 companies surveyed their customers to determine how much value their salespeople contributed to the sale; they discovered that 35-37% of the value that customers receive comes from the salespeople with whom they deal. Value added salespeople don’t make sales calls; they go on job interviews with customers. They ask customers to hire them to be their personal representative with the supplier’s company.
However, it is also great to realize that perceived value is often housed in a pricing structure. Consequently, dropping your price to the lowest industry price-point would not only kill your revenues, but makes you look like the pimped-out hooker of the hood. No offense.
It all really depends on what your business model is. What is it? What is your method of distribution?
