If you thought Las Vegas couldn’t jam more blinking lights into its city limits, the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) has news for you – Vegas can and did.
In arguably its biggest show ever, CES allowed consumers and companies alike to see what the future holds in the consumer technology marketplace. From Ultra-flat panel 3D TVs to Justin Beiber, CES delivered the goods.
MediaTile was prominently featured in both the Verizon Wireless and Alcatel Lucent booths in the form of The GameTime Media Table. After winning the 2012 DIGI Award for "Best New Content Management Software/Web-based”, absent was “The HumanKiosk” featuring Video Presence. But born from the same value propositions of being cellular connected and cloud controlled, The GameTime Media Table delivered the rich on screen content and unique experiences over 4G LTE that drew visitors to both booths consistently over three days. This is super-powered cellular digital signage.
The GameTime Media Table showcases multiple interactive features including the ability to upload and display pictures instantly from your smart phone, play music, watch movie previews and the coup de grace: playing video games (single or multi player) where smart phones act the controllers. So if you are thinking to yourself, ‘MediaCast can deliver media like movie/music files, streaming videos, live intelligently routed video calls, interactive gaming and everything in between!’ your thinking would be spot on. Verizon’s network and Brass Monkey’s video games deliver the blows, but it’s the MediaCast muscle that ensures maximum impact (also in attendance at CES was UFC Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem, hence the metaphor). Gaming on digital signage... and then some!
It was great to be part of CES and MediaTile is honored to partner with industry leaders like Verizon Wireless and Alcatel Lucent to launch solutions that will steer the industry and delight users for years to come…or at least until CES 2013.
What a great way to kick off the New Year. Digital Signage Magazine awarded MediaTile the coveted 2012 DIGI Award for our innovative MediaCast Video Presence system.
MediaCast Video Presence, which powers the revolutionary HumanKiosk solution, has received a first place award for Best New Product in the New Content Management Software/Web Based (SaaS) category.
From the Digital Signage Magazine website: “The DIGI Awards recognize the resellers, integrators and service providers who have gone the extra mile to ensure success for their clients, thereby furthering the digital signage industry as a whole. Additionally, we recognized the best New Products for the digital signage and DOOH market.”
I would like to extend a hearty “Thank You” to David Keene, as the Chair of the Judges Committee for the DIGI Awards, for this prestigious industry accolade, and to my entire team at MediaTile for their dedication and persistence in continuing to deliver highly innovative solutions that deliver real customer advantages.
Black Friday. Cyber Monday. With the holiday season upon us, people are in the shopping mood for sure. And if your business is looking to invest in digital signage, the fine folks at Digital Signage Today published a nice overview of key features to look out for.
The software selection is endless so it's important that you find software that's intuitive for the users and that you work with a company that supports you long beyond initial implementation.
In a sidebar, the article notes four key areas any software must meet:
Ease of installation & management
System flexibility
Reliability
Remote control
Fortunately for our customers, MediaCast (our signage software) meets all of these criteria. We guarantee 99.9% uptime. And since it's SaaS, you'll always be using the latest and greatest version. With MediaCast, you have unlimited users with unique roles and permissions. And installation? There isn't any (SaaS).
We have many things to be thankful for this year, and we hope each one of you has a happy Thanksgiving.
When many corporate communication or marketing managers get push-back on installing a digital signage networks from execs, one of the common reasons they hear is, "I don't want our employees watching TV all day."
Thanks to this infographic from NBRI, we know what unengaged employees are doing. Nearly 30% of employees fall asleep at work (according to the National Sleep Foundation)? Yikes. The rest? They plays games, socialize, use social media (whoops) or smoke.
The graphic also shares that trust in executives can have twice the impact on employee engagement than trust in immediate supervisors. So if executives don't trust employees and employees don't trust executives, what's a communicator to do?
It's simple. Communicate. Check out the infographic and let me know what resonates with you.
Rather than bother everybody's Twitter stream with updates, I thought it would be better to provide presentation thoughts here (and serves as good note-taking for me).
Guenther Scherelis and Tommi Paris, Volkswagen Group of America: “Building a New Plant with New People in a New Place: The Role of Internal Communications at Volkswagen Chattanooga”
Many don't know that the Volkswagen brand family includes Audio, Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti. In 2010, Volkswagen was third internationally in vehicle sales.
Volkswagen closed a US plant in 1988 due to poor internal communications. Opened a new factory in Chattanooga, TN, in 2011.
2,000 jobs were available when the factory opened but Volkswagen received more than 85,000 applications.
Internal communications' purpose is to strive toward serving as the company voice, support a positive employee relations strategy and improve company efficiency and performance.
The strategy is to supplement supervisor communication, highlight team contributions, enhance team member experience and utilize communication tools that DO NOT accentuate the divide between hourly & salaried.
VIN (Volkswagen Information Network) is a digital signage network the company uses to deliver dynamic communication. Also includes printed communication boards. The key here is to blend dynamic and static. Their network is updated on a weekly basis.
Interesting that Volkswagen doesn't have digital signage to support global communication.
Great to see that the company still relies on printed communication for many of their communication updates.
Volkswagen still mails newsletters (quarterly) to employees' homes. Many companies have cut this practice to eliminate cost.
The culture at Volkswagen is "Passion for detail." Their group theme is "Think Blue. Factory." (i.e. beyond just environmental)
There are unique challenges for companies opening up a brand new factory versus those that are working in a dated facility.
Glad to see they are citing a difference between language (German vs American) and culture.
The key to success is finding the middle point between what management wants to say and what employees want to hear.
Surprised that Volkswagen hasn't yet surveyed their employees to know what their preferred communication methods are and really aren't doing any measurement either.
All this month, we've been sharing 31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage. And given the rather spooky month October is, we thought it was a great time to share this information. It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun.
We know it can be intimidating launching a network, but that's why we're here. We try to take as much fear out of the equation as possible through education and awareness (hence, this blog). We are open to having as many conversations or demos as needed to help you get your project off the ground.
So in case you missed any of our 31 reasons or want to stroll through memory lane, here they all are:
In light of October being a rather scary month, we thought we would highlight 31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage. We hope you enjoy them.
Reason #31: Roles & permissions
Roles and permission sounds so formal, almost militaristic. I prefer the term "team." There is nothing better when many within an organization take an active role in a digital signage network because there is so much to gain. Whether it's the folks in sales or the HR group, a digital signage network can provide them all with a unique sounding board for their respective messages.
MediaCast makes itself available via a secure web portal and can be reached on most internet connected devices. Don't be worried, MediaCast still requires a username and password to make sure your content is secure. MediaCast lets your create users, assign permissions, set up alerts even customize what your content management portal looks like. You can easily establish access rights for each active network participant at a very granular level. You can also create "Roles" for users with more common functions. "Clients" can be setup as well to manage particular content elements, schedules, and playlist. This will give you control over specific media-based assets to those on your internal network team or external users who may contribute more complex content (think agencies).
Roles and permissions invites all those you want to participate in and keeps those you don't want on your network out.
In light of October being a rather scary month, we thought we would highlight 31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage. We hope you enjoy them.
Reason #30: Enterprise deployments
A nationwide or worldwide digital signage deployment can scare the pants off even the most hardened IT or marketing professional. It can be a nightmare between all of the logistics of purchasing and IT networking.
But just because it CAN BE doesn't mean it HAS TO BE. We've helped both large and small companies deploy signage networks, here in the states and abroad. Because our hardware just needs a data connection (LAN, WiFi or cellular), you can put them anywhere. Our MediaCast software is web-based, which means you can give users access anywhere they have an Internet connection.
And we can provide enterprise-level pricing for those looking at large digital signage deployments. Giving you an "all-you-can-eat" signage solution (hence the zombie image). We've made it as easy possible to deploy your digital out of home network, especially if you're trying to deploy across multiple locations or countries.
In light of October being a rather scary month, we thought we would highlight 31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage. We hope you enjoy them.
Reason #29: ROI
What is ROI? Commonly it refers to "Return on Investment" and, even with digital signage, there are online calculators which can help you formulate how long it may take for your network to pay for itself. Generally the easiest model is the one applied to the retail vertical in that the increase in product sales where signs are located is subtracted from your hard dollar investment. The resulting number tells you if your investment in digital signage was worth it or not.
What is harder to measure is the less common ROI or "Return on Involvement." This type of ROI refers to the impact of your content on your audience and how easily they can recall that information and complete your "call to action." For the more sophisticated interactive content experience, it's not only about how easily the information can be recalled but also if the user's experience was a delightful one. The more unique and positive the experience, the more likely your audience is to recall your brand; therefore, regardless of where they maybe in the buying cycle (to continue with our retail example) when it comes time to finally make a purchase they will be more likely remember the great digital signage experience they had with your brand's network.
Part of MediaTile's offering via our MediaServices group is to help you define the measure of success for your digital signage network. Whether it's traditional hard-dollar Return on Investment or soft-dollar Return of Involvement, our consultative approve ensures you will be able to define success and measure in the present and well into the future.
In light of October being a rather scary month, we thought we would highlight 31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage. We hope you enjoy them.
Reason #28: Project management
When you are ready to kick-off your digital signage project, the management of said project can feel like a whole other job on to itself. MediaTile offers to manage your entire project from start to finish through our MediaServices team. We will work with your primary internal digital signage advocate starting with the kick-off meeting, then concept creation, establishing timelines, approvals, testing, roll out, and reporting. In the case you want to keep the project in house, here are a few suggestions to help your engagement go as smoothly as possible:
Dedicate a project leader to oversee the processes and make sure it is moving.
Come up with clearly defined goals for your digital signage network.
Have a single provider contact so any questions or issues that may arise only require a single call.
Come up with content designs and templates that maintain a consistent tone with your existing brand messaging (whether your audience is internal or external)
Have a list of all the hardware and software components you'll need to deliver an individual installation point.
Schedule your team's training and testing well in advance and encourage "playing" with the content management solution.
Once your project goes live, make sure either the project leader or some other vital team member is checking on the network daily to ensure success and gather usage data.
If you have any questions about a new project or management of existing one, MediaTile has the experts to consult or inherit the engagement and increase the likelihood of another digital signage project in your future.
In light of October being a rather scary month, we thought we would highlight 31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage. We hope you enjoy them.
Reason #26: Content best practices
Whether it's your first digital signage network or you're a seasoned vet, there are always three basic principles to follow when creating content for your digital signage network.
Simplicity - choose your words wisely and think of single words as the "headline" versus using full sentences. The last thing you want is to make your digital signage screen look like a wordy power point slide, so don't use too many text heavy messages in one segment of your screen.
Repetition - You know the audience you are targeting your communications to, so it's imperative you also know how long they will be at particular screen locations and thus how long your message should be on screen. Point of Sale content usually changes in intervals of 10-12 seconds as the audience is usually on the move. Conversely, Point of Wait content can be on screen longer as the audience's dwell time increases
Call to Action - Lastly, make sure your audience understands the point of why you are communicating with them and what they should do next. Be clear on the "next step" and have appropriate deadline messaging in place. Interactive content - such as touch screen and quick response codes - can make this process much easier as it empowers your audience to take control of the "call to action" (touch screen) or have a literal walk away with a QR code.
Remember that your content is meant to evolve over time because fresh content demands audience attention. MediaTile offers an experienced team to help answer your content questions or even help create your initial content to help you get started.
In light of October being a rather scary month, we thought we would highlight 31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage. We hope you enjoy them.
Reason #25: Support
Nobody likes having to call support. But from time to time, it's an inevitability. And we try to make it as easy as possible. For one, we never charge for support. You can email us or call us several times a day if you want. No fee.
And here's the not-so-scary part. We WANT you to get in touch with us if you're having problems. Because not only do we know that our customers are on track, but it also helps us improve our digital signage software and hardware. Customer feedback is the biggest part of our product roadmap.
Support is available weekdays, 8am EDT to 8pm EDT. But we're also proactive. Every week, our support team sends out helpful tips to not only educate our customer base but also give them some new ideas on how to use our software.
So don't be afraid to call or email support. That's why we have it.
In light of October being a rather scary month, we thought we would highlight 31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage. We hope you enjoy them.
Reason #24: Training
As with any new hardware or software, users are going to need to be trained. Digital signage is no different. But what can be horrifying is that amount of training that's needed for some systems. I've heard scary stories of people going to two- and three-day trainings just to get oriented with the signage platforms. And that's just the first step.
With ours, it requires a basic 2-3 hour web training with our customer support team. That's it. Most of our users are up and running immediately after. And some even before. Built right into our MediaCast software is video support. Once logged in, users can watch helpful videos about some of the more basic tasks.
We ask new customers to watch these even before going through our training. It allows them to become familiar with the software and then they come armed with questions to the official training.
But the best training of all is using the digital signage software. The more you use it, the better you will get at it. And for those who want more, we offer custom advanced training for our power users.
In light of October being a rather scary month, we thought we would highlight 31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage. We hope you enjoy them.
Reason #23: IT involvement
One of the scariest phrases to a marketer or communicator is, "You'll need to get IT involved." They've likely worked with IT in the past on projects and probably clashed. Not because either group is in a feisty mood, but because often their priorities are vastly different.
If a company chooses cellular as the networking choice, IT doesn't HAVE to be involved, but I still recommend it. It will be helpful for them to understand how the network works. And if LAN or Wi-Fi is chosen, a marketer will need IT's support to add the digital signage network to the internal network.
Many IT people I've worked with love the cellular solution because it's NOT on their network. But because of the security measures we've built into our platform, more and more IT pros are supportive of adding a MediaTile network to the corporate LAN or Wi-Fi.
So don't be afraid to call IT when you're looking to launch a network. Their hearts are in the right place. . . usually.
In light of October being a rather scary month, we thought we would highlight 31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage. We hope you enjoy them.
Reason #22: Security
Without a doubt, having the proper security in place for your digital signage network is vital. And if you work with us, we've done that for you. Whether you are connecting your network over cellular, Wi-Fi or LAN, we've hardened our devices and only allow permitted communication to take place. Our platform is a "pull" technology so there's no way for anybody else to "push" content onto your network.
We've shown why security is important on a past blog post, but here are security tips we provide to our customers:
Audit your user list regularly; make sure that former employees or contractors are removed from the system, and that those who are active only have access to what they should.
Use role-based separation; enforce a work flow process by way of internal procedure. Only allow the content producers to upload content; the digital sign network operators should review and approve content for scheduling - don't allow one person to perform both functions if you want an opportunity to review content before it goes live.
Require password changes; enforce a password rotation policy for MediaCast logins. Prohibit users from using their web browser to 'remember' the login for the site! Any laptop with a remembered password that gets stolen automatically grants the thief access to your digital signage network. (Note: this is a real security risk, but it might incite panic - what do the marketing folks think?)
Require strong passwords; passwords should include upper and lower case letters, numbers, even symbols from the keyboard, and should be at least 8 characters long. Users should be discouraged from using something that's too simple, or something they routinely use for other logins around the Internet.
Don't use email; email is a notoriously insecure method of communication is a preferred method for hackers to sniff out usernames and passwords to systems that they shouldn't have access to. If you need to send a login to someone, pick up the phone!
Digital signs are valuable; don't tell too many “interested” people where all your signs are located. If they want to see one, select a couple flagship locations to send prospectives to check them out. you never know who might be looking to take advantage of you for an easy score. (Again, something we want to mention? maybe it's over-stating the obvious, but I think a lot of people in business just think about business and don't take a step back and think about reality...)
Beware of URL Files; though the MediaCast system supports URL Files which can be automatically retrieved and displayed on your signs, be certain that you trust the source of the content and whoever has access to it because you will not have any oversight as to what gets displayed.
We do everything we can to relieve you of any fear related to the security of your signage network.
“I want to show videos on my digital signage network”. Very commonly said and seemingly a simple request. But like peeling away zombie skin, there are many subtle levels.
In many cases, the request to put a video on screen refers to streaming a television channel. It can be done but it is really necessary? Obviously streaming video from an unknown source limits your control over what appears on your network and more often than not, you probably have more than enough videos in your YouTube account. With MediaCast, simply upload your mpeg video, put those mpegs in the desired order you wish to have them play (or “create a playlist”), drag and drop your playlist on to the preview, and approve. Don’t look now, but you’re broadcasting your own network.
Ok, not enough? Still want to stream videos? MediaCast can deliver this as well (assuming it’s a source that allows you to do that).With MediaTile’s premium media player, you can even get as sophisticated as delivering videos on demand using a touch screen.
And the top the mountain...live video calls on screen. MediaCast can also feature MediaTile’s Video Presence technology. Video Presence enables your screen viewer to generate an intelligently routed video call that connects to a remote video operator who is determined by what the screen viewer is looking at.
MediaTile’s solution set boasts all the benefits of digital signage, as well as the ability to add the human element, live on screen.
In light of October being a rather scary month, we thought we would highlight 31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage. We hope you enjoy them.
Reason #20: Branded templates
In yesterday's post, we talked about about our Composer tool (it allows you to create content for your digital signage network right in our software). In this post, I want to spend more time talking about customizing the templates for your company.
The general templates are available to be used and abused by all of our customers, but they are a bit generic (on purpose). The real benefit of Composer comes in when you upload custom-branded Composer templates for your network.
Content that's on digital signage for banks should look a lot different than a network for a college campus. Retail networks should look different than a corporate communications one.
But even though the looks are different, they can all still be professional through a template system. One of our corporate communication customers themed all of their templates so that employees would know what sort of content was on the screen before even reading the message. This type of planning can be very beneficial to a network's success.
It's no secret that content is critical to a network's success and Composer is a tool that makes creating content not so scary.
In light of October being a rather scary month, we thought we would highlight 31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage. We hope you enjoy them. Reason #18: Training
No Halloween monster parallel required here – training on how to use your digital signage screens can be flat out scary. Never mind what the majority of providers require from an installation standpoint– on site servers, hard line connectivity – their content management solutions can be like learning a new programming language. Should you want to use a jpeg already created, you will probably have to contact your IT representative and have them re-create this asset using your provider’s complex content management system.
MediaTile’s cellular connected, SaaS-based content management system – “MediaCast” – eliminates many of the costs and complexities of initial installation. Additionally, MediaCast allows you to simply upload common media assets (mpegs, jpegs, etc), easily create a playlist, and schedule this content to play in a matter of minutes. There is no need to learn a new “programming language” and no need to bother your IT counterparts with pushing content to your digital signage network. MediaCast is so intuitive that training only takes a few hours and can be done remotely, versus spending a few days at an offsite location, which is required by other digital signage providers.
Don’t believe me? Contact MediaTile today and we’ll be happy to demonstrate MediaCast to you directly, live on the web at your convenience.
In light of October being a rather scary month, we thought we would highlight 31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage. We hope you enjoy them.
Reason #16: The cloud
We've all seen commercials touting the benefits of "the cloud." If you're on Facebook or Twitter, you're using cloud computing. And since our beginnings, MediaTile has been in the cloud with our digital signage offering. We are 100% SaaS.
Other than the physical player units or screens, there is no other on-site hardware or applications to manage. This is what "the cloud" refers to. We host everything for you so that you don't have to worry about it.
And if you choose cellular to manage your digital signage network, your signage is truly cloud-based in that it doesn't even require any on-site networking to speak of. This has been a tremendous benefit for many of our corporate communication networks who either couldn't get access to their internal network or the network was too fragile to handle any more connections.
The cloud isn't a scary place at all. In fact, we think it's the best place to manage your signage network, no matter how large or small.
In light of October being a rather scary month, we thought we would highlight 31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage. We hope you enjoy them.
Reason #15: Media players
Maybe you've made a previous investment in digital signage and just aren't happy with the product. And yet you still have leftover LCDs or plasma screens you want to still use. This is where our media player comes in. We've helped company salvage their existing hardware investment and easily connect our media player to revitialize their digital signage network.
These players can still connect via Wi-Fi, LAN or Cellular and give you the same benefits of our all-in-one solution.
Another reason customers have purchased our media players is simply because they want to purchase their own screens. Maybe they have a local supplier who can get them a good deal. That's fine with us. The media players connect via HDMI, DVI or VGA into the 3rd party screen.
So whether you've made a previous investment that you don't want to lose or just want to buy your own screens, there's no reason to be afraid of our media players.
A nationwide or worldwide 
Nobody likes having to call support. But from time to time, it's an inevitability. And we try to make it as easy as possible. For one, we never charge for support. You can email us or call us several times a day if you want. No fee. 
As with any new hardware or software, users are going to need to be trained. 
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