This content originally appeared on JTPR's Spread the Word and has been reposted with permission. It happens over and over. We ask new clients about the audiences they need to reach in order to achieve their objectives, and they quickly zero in on potential clients and customers. Then they talk about collaborators and marketplace influencers. Then, as an afterthought, they might mention employees.
Usually, this isn’t because there is some desire NOT to communicate with employees. It’s just that, when these clients focus on making sales and closing deals, they too often take their own people for granted. They assume they’re onboard and now what they need to know.
And then they wonder why their people say things like, “I don’t know what our company’s strategy is,” or “I really can’t say what our priorities are now.”
Your people need to know where you’re headed and what role they play in the bigger picture. And they won’t get that information unless you give it to them, clearly, concisely and without “spin.”
It’s not difficult to do this, but it does require time, forethought and faith in your people to put the information to work. It also requires adhering to a few simple rules — which I offer here, as “John’s Rules for Internal Communications.”
- Tell employees everything you can when you can.
- Don’t lie. (This might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many organizations justify lying to employees, or at least not telling the full truth.)
- Tell employees first – before anyone outside the company’s walls – and never let them learn anything about the organization through the media unless it is absolutely unavoidable (for public companies, for example, legal or SEC regs sometimes dictate timing, and all organizations could encounter a rare exception based on business developments or relationships … however, even in those cases, employees must be informed as soon as is legal and feasible).
- Never put out vague or incomplete communications – you’ll raise more questions than you answer.
- Never leave employees to draw their own conclusions.
- Understand that any information void will fill quickly with rumor, speculation and gossip.
- Treat employees like adults – give them bad news as well as good news. Be clear, don’t sugarcoat, don’t try to sell them on a particular point of view.
- Always assume that a question raised by a number of employees is on the minds of many more – but don’t respond on a global scale to a localized problem – and always be prepared to answer calmly and directly the most cynical questions.
- Overcommunicate … but remember that burying employees in useless information will dull their senses to real information.
- Consider: Is there a chance I will regret what I am saying? Will I have to eat my words, or explain myself later?
Looking at this list recently, I’ve been inclined to add a new rule: Go with the flow in terms of communications vehicles. Learn how your employees like to get information, and then provide it that way. Communications is an ever-changing process. Adapt and assess, and repeat as needed.
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In my opinion, John Thomas did a great job pulling together great internal communication tips that companies large and small should take heed to.
If you'd like to learn more about JTPR, check out its
site and
blog. JTPR offers strategically smart communications for companies that want results and honest, straightforward advice and counsel. You can also follow them on Twitter at
@JTPRTweets.
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.
That's the mission of a one-day conference being put on by
PRSA and
MSL Atlanta next week down in Atlanta, GA. I'm attending, not just to hear ideas about
digital signage, but to learn from other corporate communicators about how they are getting creative communicating with "disconnected" workers.
The
Connect '11 conference is the first of its kind (or at least that I've heard of). And I've worked for two different global manufacturers. Reaching disconnected workers has always been a challenge and will continue to be a challenge.
If you are interested in attending and are on a tight corporate communication budget, the event is very affordable if you are a PRSA member (and even cheaper if you are a member of the
Employee Communications Section). And something else to keep in mind. Even the most digitally connected companies can learn new strategies. Just because you email it, it doesn't mean they open it. Just because you post it, it doesn't mean they read it.
Here's the information about the conference:
You will hear best practices from some of our industry’s best practitioners who will show you real-life examples of how they:
- Navigate through organizational change (e.g., mergers and acquisitions) using communications.
- Socialize and create understanding of company vision, mission and values across all levels of your organization.
- Create a positive employee culture despite geographical challenges.
- Foster open, two-way dialogue that relies more on conversations and less on channels.
You will learn:
- Key strategies for reaching employees who don't sit at desks or aren’t always wired.
- How to empower your digitally disconnected workforce with smart rewards and recognition program.
- How to evolve from one-way, “push” communications to facilitating meaningful conversations and dialogue at the frontline level.
- What specific programs, campaigns and tactics have worked for companies just like yours.
Sign up today.
Reason #13 and 14: Content Management and expansion
Keeping your digital signage content unique and fresh can seem like a daunting task. Many digital signage content management solutions almost require you to learn a new language to update what’s on your screens.
Don’t our friends in IT have enough on their plates?! They don’t need to handle all your content change requests too. MediaCast allows administrators to upload existing media assets and quickly schedule them to play down to the screen or even the zone.There are some basic guidelines that will help steer content management and expansion:
- Purpose: Know what you want your message to be and what the objective of your digital signage network is. Examples may be to enhance the consumer experience while entertaining or maybe to educate the viewers on human resource announcements. It is important to have a clear understanding of what your digital signage network is aimed to do to ensure your created content can achieve those goals.
- Know your viewers: For content to be effective, it needs to be created for a specific targeted demographic. The audience and location of the screens will dictate what content you display.
- Interaction: Once your targeted demographic of viewers notice your digital signage screens, they need to be engaged and interact with the content. A content strategy identifies design tone, messaging, playlists, and length which intern drives use. Viewers that are attracted, engaged and immersed in content will be more likely to recall the information.
- Call to action: Now that your content has attracted, engaged and immersed your viewers that last step is a call to action. An effective digital message will not leave a viewer with any doubt as to what comes next. Content should communicate how they should respond or act next.
These basic guidelines will be a good springboard to help you initially create your content and direct you in its on going evolution. The MediaCast content management system has the flexibility to allow you use existing content, create new on screen assets, and modify what type of media resource your can use from any remote location. Content can be new, recycled, or have new features/functions added at your convenience. It’s up to you to piece together your digital signage “Frankenstein” and when it’s done right, none of the towns people will be tempted to light it on fire or plunge a pitchfork in to it.
(Today's Guest entry comes from Roger Sanford, MediaTile's VP of MediaServices)
Last week I attended the G2E, the Global Gaming Expo, in Las Vegas. As the premier industry event for the casino and gaming industry, it was overflowing with new and engaging technologies and solutions. Its obvious that the industry is looking to engage a younger audience, although conspicuously missing was the inclusion of social media and human interaction. Our HumanKiosk and MediaCast Video Presence solution was showcased in the DFI Tech booth (they are one of our primier hardware-certified partners) and it drew a lot of attention. Catch a quick video introduction here.
We were showcasing an interactive virtual concierge, powered by MediaCast Video Presence. The virtual concierge struck a chord with many of the Casinos, who are interested in providing better service throughout their properties. We continue to find that regardless of market and vertical industry, this solution captures imaginations and help brands improve their customers experience. It delivers immediate and accurate information, even in the native language of the viewer, including ASL (American Sign Language).
This is all part of the overall market trend of satisfying customer demand for getting personal and immediate attention that is contextually relevant to their needs, when and where they want it. This transformation of B2C communications to B2Me, is what is relevant to me. For the social driven, web savvy digital generation, engagement is required and that's exactly what the MediaCast Video Presence is all about, delivering a personal advantage - as we like to say: "Get personal with MediaCast."
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 #7: Unlimited Users Yesterday, we talked about why people shouldn't be afraid of a SaaS
digital signage software offering. And one of those key benefits of SaaS is unlimited users.
Back when I first started managing signage networks, we had to pay for seats/licenses for individuals to access the network. And me being cheap, we all shared the same login. It worked but certainly wasn't ideal. It created all sort of security risks, in addition to content problems with people being in the system at the same time.
MediaCast is web-based and has always been web-based.
We encourage our customers to add as many users to the system as they want, logically speaking of course.
Within the software, there is a full right and permissions panel for admins. So not only can you have an unlimited number of users, but you can set up unique rights and permissions for each of them. You can have common roles similar to other CMS software (super admin, admin, editor, contributor, etc) or define each user experience to exactly what they need to be able to do.
This is great for international deployments, who are looking to improve global communication to employees and customers.
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Flickr image, Guerry
I get to do something today which I think is quite unique. We've been talking to a company for months now about deploying
digital signage to help with their employee communications. They are a global manufacturer and are trying to come up with new ways to communicate timely information to their manufacturing workforce.
This company has asked me to come to them to make a presentation. (This is not unique.) But the meeting is their annual global HR conference (the unique part). They don't want me to present about
MediaTile; they want me to educate them on how digital signage can improve communication to employees. And this is what I like doing.
I know that not every digital signage company out there is perfect for every company. However, digital signage can be a great fit for every company. I'll be sharing with them the benefits of
repetitive communication and how developing a robust content strategy will properly engage audiences.
It's a great opportunity that I'm not taking lightly. It's a great chance to educate a company department that can greatly benefit from a signage investment.
I missed all of the Sunday events at last year's
IABC World Conference in Toronto due to bad travel karma. But this year I got to partake in some of the activities. Here are a few of my thoughts...
- I attended the "Open Space: Communicate Now" breakout put on by Jeremy Schultz, Christopher Swanson, Bryan Person and Linda Johannesson. What I enjoyed about this session was that the attendees determined the topics and then broke out into smaller groups. And there were three rounds of these breakouts. For example, I attended one on global communication and there were corporate communication representatives from Bose, Pfizer and Chevron. (Not bad company to keep.) Last year was the first year they orchestrated a session like this and I expect it to only get better and better.
- Unfortunately I had to miss the keynote Jonah Lehrer. I'm not typically a big keynote kind of a guy but I was following people's thoughts on Twitter. And it sure sounded like he blew some people's minds with his ideas on decision-making and the value of day dreaming.
- IABC put on a great welcome reception in the evening that (as attendees know) had to moved indoors. The reception provided a great chance to reconnect with people I had seen at previous world conference, plus meet new faces who I'd only interacted with online.
- Cindy Crescenzo and I will be pitching a killer session for the 2012 show in Chicago. Watch out!
- For those that would like to see all of the pictures Tweeted so far, check out this Montabe gallery. The service is a great way to collect all of the photos shared on Twitter using #iabc11 (or any hashtag for that matter).
As I've mentioned in previous posts, this is my third straight year attending this annual event. It's the quality of attendees that make it a must-attend event for employee communication pros.
What was your favorite part of yesterday's events?
Diversified Media Group (DMG) is a network and systems engineering company, responsible for the management of day-to-day planning, engineering, installation, content development and routine maintenance across a wide span of business sectors. DMG is also the sister company of Diversified Systems, one of the US’ largest A/V integrators, with multiple offices from New Jersey to Seattle).
DMG recently deployed the
MediaTile solution for AkzoNobel, which is the world’s largest global paints and coatings company (brands include Devoe, Dulux, Glidden, Liquid Nails, Ralph Lauren, with several more). Screens are currently deployed in corporate offices and manufacturing facilities across the US and Puerto Rico.
Because our
digital signage is cellular-based, it is uniquely appropriate for AkzoNobel’s existing communications network, which is carefully contained (not unlike most large-scale company infrastructures). The flexibility with which MediaTile signage can be installed and deployed eliminates the need for on-the-ground IT support and additional resources, without infringing upon the company’s network bandwidth.
DMG’s creative team works closely with MediaTile’s in-house talent to design and produce custom, templatized content specific to AkzoNobel, which is then broadcast on each display. As our software is intuitive and SaaS (cloud) based- any member of the team (with administrator permissions) can take the reins and drive the programming schedule. This is a digital signage network intended to provide its operators with ultimate control with minimal fuss.
We are excited to see where this opportunity leads…hopefully next to a retail location near you!
I had a great time at Digital Signage Expo 2010 and here we are already getting ready for 2011. Last year, I had the fortune of leading two of the corporate communication "lunch & learns." This year it gets even better.
At
Digital Signage Expo 2011, I will be moderating a panel of corporate communicators talking about the successes and challenges they've faced installing their own internal neworks. The session is titled "
Best Practices for Corporate Communicators." Here's the description:
"In this session, four corporate communications professionals will describe how they each use digital signage as a global multimedia communications tool, grabbing employees' attention with engaging, late-breaking company news. They'll each share how they got started, how they keep content fresh and relevant, and show examples of their content."
The event organizers have called out a
special section just for corporate communicators with recommended seminars. It would be great to have more communicators and end-users make it out to Vegas.
If you're interested in going to the 2011 event, here's the
registration information.
Next week, the
Digital Screenmedia Association is hosting a
Digital Signage in Healthcare webinar. It's free to
sign up for the October 12 webinar and I highly recommend doing so if you have the time.
We're proud that one of the highlighted companies during the webinar is Dominican Hospital. Mike Lee and Dominican have been a client of ours for more than a year now and have incrementally grown their digital signage network. They use it for
employee communications, as well as updating patients and visitors. We have a full case study on their network available for
download (PDF).
If you're interested in learning more about digital for healthcare, I recommend downloading the case study and registering for the webinar. They are both great opportunities to learn from the best.
MediaTile is a proud sponsor of the Digital Screenmedia Association. Its is to advance the growth and excellence of the global digital signage, interactive kiosk and mobile community through advocacy, education and networking. If you're interested in
joining, it's free for qualifying organizations.
-- By David Trounstine --
So, my wife and I just picked up new phones this week. We decided on the Sprint EVO 4G, and to be honest I find it hard to call a phone. The next wave of personal computing is definitely in the palm of our hands, and the potential to engage customers where the work and play is almost limitless.
As the network providers build out 4G services across the country, content developers must begin to think of how we can gobble up all of that bandwidth. Dynamic advertising, 4G applications, video streams, and 2-way interactions are all great targets, but deep interactions and linkages to this new wave of hand-held mobile computers is going to be key.
Digital Signage is going to play a big role in driving traffic to the 4G network. While we will continue to provide compelling advertising that is contextually based and personally relevant, we also will begin driving interactions where it is too costly or inconvenient to put a human. We can be new touch points for a brand, virtual marketers who direct customers to new promotions and opportunities, or off-site customer service representatives who can be contacted in an instant.
In the near future people will be walking around with more computing power and bandwidth on their mobile phones than existed on a desktop 5 years ago. As my good friend put it "everyone gets a tricorder!". Thanks Evan, I can't wait until I can detect a deposit of dilithium crystal to power my warp drive.
I was thrilled to death with how well our first webinar went last week. But I know that not everybody who wanted to attend was able to. We had some great questions at the end from attendees on tips and techniques of implementing digital signage for employee communications. And though I was able to answer them on the call, I think they are important questions and answers to share here on the blog.
But before I get to those over the next few weeks, you can look glance through the webinar's presentation and see how Eli Lilly & Company uses signage to enhance their global business communication. It includes some great photos that demonstrate the variety of environments the displays are installed in, including shuttle buses. Very cool.
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Over the next week, you'll see quite a bit of extra traffic on the blog due to
Digital Signage Expo. Should be an exciting time.
I'm psyched to be facilitating this
FREE webinar this Thursday, 2/18, at 2:00 EST.
In just 30 minutes, discover how communications professionals are adding
digital signage into their standard mix to bring both local and international teams together, ensure up-to-date news distribution and present a consistent message.
Seats are limited so
get signed up today if you are interested in hearing from the best.
Pharmaceutical giant
Eli Lilly & Company, the largest corporate user of our digital signage technology, will be on the webinar with me discussing how the company uses signage to enhance communication around the globe. Chris Bias, the mastermind behind LillyTV, will share his wisdom on the tips, tricks and techniques of engaging a global workforce with digital signage.
While many think globalization is dead, it really has yet to begin for internal communications. Even with the best and biggest global companies, employee communications is often completely fractured. Rarely is there a consistent message spread across the country, let alone a consistent vehicle that all employees share.
Translation (or lack thereof) throws a huge wrench into the corporate communications cog. If you don't have people on staff who can do their own translations, it can be trick and quite expensive.
And for those who have tried to globalize their communications, you know how challenging it is. Intranets were supposed to be a big help and are in most cases. But if you've ever been part of developing a global intranet, I send my sympathies. It's a brutal, brutal undertaking. Many are never the same afterward.
Some companies attempt to put out a global newsletter but it's all handled at the top. Very rarely is their local input or authority on content. The corporate messages are key, but so are the local messages. And the integration of the two will determine success. Unfortunately, print is one of the "easy cuts" that companies make when budgets get attacked.
We've seen companies have success with using
digital signage as a global tool. Not only can the corporate contribute the wide-reaching messages, but the local communicators can also add in their own unique messaging. This helps employees tie what they do to the larger corporate objectives - a challenge for those troubled with employee engagement.
If you're a global communicator, ask yourself if your tools and messages are truly representative of your audience. If you're a local communicator, are your messages reaching "the top" and can you customize the big picture?
You're at a prime point to make a huge impact globally. Employees are hungry for information and need to trust the information source. Become the trust adviser to your business and deliver value across borders.
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Photo credit, cupcakes2
Last week, I was in Chicago for the Strategy Institute Building Your Digital Signage Business. This is the fourth Strategy Institute conference I've been to and it was another solid conference.
If you are interested in a conference "play by play" both myself and David Drain tweeted throughout the show. You can follow along at
#BuildDSBiz.
Though there was a sort of a good news/bad news situation with the show. The good news? MediaTile had a 32" Digital Sign in a Box set up there which generated a lot of questions through the two-day show. The bad news? I couldn't always pay full attention to each of the speakers.
Here are some of my thoughts and observations on the show...
- I was really interested to hear from Tom Campbell, Healthy Advice Networks. I had heard so much about their digital signage network but never really knew the details. He said they use a reverse "Field of Dreams" approach. Meaning, they let the customers (doctors & patients) dictate if a screen is put in place. Health Advice has been around for several years but it was surprising they use dial-up to deliver content to the screens. But if that's what works, then it's working well for them.
- Later on, Pierre Richer, NEC, spoke about overcoming some of the current industry challenges. He said that the current glut of content management systems (CMS) is making ad buys harder. I'm guessing it's going to stay this way until there is some great consolidation within the digital signage industry. I don't see anybody stepping aside to help other vendors.
- Later in the afternoon, the debate around SaaS versus a hosted solution took place. I've blogged about it several times here before, but both Greg Argyle, GoGo Cast, and Sanjay Manandhar, Aerva, spoke about the pros and cons of each choice. It seemed to me that the choice might simply come down to a company's culture or appetite for SaaS. if they use it in other areas, then they'll likely use it for digital signage.
- Bill Collins, DecisionPoint Media Insights, closed out day one with a highlight of 2009 developments. I'm still a little peeved at Bill for calling corporate communication networks "vanilla" (at the Digital Hub Initiative) but I'm sure I'll get over it.
- OVAB's ears must have been burning during the show. They were mentioned so often attendees could have turned it into a drinking game.
- I feel one of the more informative sessions was led by Tom Kunka, University of Illinois, and Michael Hoffberg, Villanova University. Both gave a brief review of their networks and it was interesting to see how each school has approached digital signage differently but both appear to be successful with their implementations. And even in the education market, the debate of SaaS versus hosted software rages on.
- The conference switched to content, but from unique areas. Manolo Almagro, Show & Tell Productions, focused on user generated content (UGC). I think this was extremely helpful for the audience because there are so many sources for this and Manolo did a great job at highlighting the key sources and provided tips on how to best use them.
Then one of our customers, Chris Bias, Eli Lilly & Company, reviewed his global communication network that he's installing at Lilly locations around the world. At a corporate level, Chris is able to deliver the broader messages to employees around the world, but then give local administrators access to add in their own unique local messaging. This feature is key for any company looking at a larger corporate communication install.
As I wrote earlier, I would have liked to have been able to pay more attention to all of the speakers, but I also had a chance to meet a lot of new people and answer their questions about the
MediaTile solution. At last year's conference, which also took place in Chicago, we were one of four companies exhibiting. This year, we were the only one. I'm not sure why we were the only one, but others missed out I think.
I scoured around looking for other conference recaps and found this one from
AdSemble's Matt Olivieri, who was also in attendance.
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P.S. On a side note, I'd like to personally thank and congratulate Keith Kelsen on his new ventures. I've known Keith for several years, first as a customer when I was at Rolls-Royce and Keith was MediaTile's CEO. He is now moving on to bigger and (maybe) better and I wish him all the best. Four years ago I told him MediaTile had the perfect corporate communication solution and he gave me a chance to prove that. For that, I will be forever grateful.
Today, I'll be making my way up to Chicago for the
Make Money and Grow Your Digital Signage Business conference held by the folks at the Strategy Institute. I'm not sure who else will be attending so I'll do my best to blog and tweet from the event.
Will you be there? Please leave a comment and let me know.
Per the usual, there is a strong cast of presenters at this year's show. Keith Kelsen, MediaTile's founder, is the chairperson for the show AND our largest corporate communication customer will be speaking.
Chris Bias from
Eli Lilly & Company will take the stage Thursday to talk about how he's developing content for his global audience and giving local admins control. I'm not much of a photographer, but I'm sure he'd "love" to see a few pics of himself on the blog.
I'm curious to see what happens Wednesday night as part of the tour of digital signage in Chicago. November isn't always the kindest month to Chicago weather-wise, but it should be a great time to network with other industry pros.
Stay tuned digital signage fans. I know you're out there.
Okay, that headline might come across a bit heavy-handed, but I truly am honored to have this blog featured in the
Top 50 Indiana Blogs competition.
"But isn't MediaTile a global company based in California? Why Indiana?" I'm part of the list because that's where I live.
So if you wouldn't mind, take a few seconds and log your vote. You can certainly vote for all of your favorites and not just mine. Though I'm pretty sure I'm the only digital signage blog on the block.
Voting doesn't require any login. Just click vote. Vote because you like digital signage. Vote because you are a corporate communication pro. Vote because you love employee communications. A vote for this blog is a vote for the digital signage industry. . . sort of.
Thanks for your support.
We at MediaTile are PSYCHED to announce the first "HumanKiosk" prototype. This is an interactive, two-way video conferencing mechanism, enabling consumers and retailers (among others) to communicate directly with one another, in-store- no middle man.
Imagine the possibilities - you're in the store, comparison shopping, you have a question but the store staff doesn't know anything more about the product you're holding than the info which appears on its packaging. No problem- connect to a product expert and have a face-to-face conversation via HumanKiosk.
The excitement surrounding the HumanKiosk release is that it is based on ng Connect's 4G/LTE technology. (LTE = Long Term Evolution). If you're unfamiliar with ng Connect, it is a program "conceived and founded by Alcatel-Lucent, bring[ing] together infrastructure, device, application and content companies to create an end-to-end ecosystem with all the resources and expertise required to rapidly deliver next generation services and applications to service providers, enterprises and consumers. " (quoted from the ng Connect website...)
4G essentially is 3G on steroids. It has the bandwidth to support live and streaming video uploads/downloads - and to support the increasingly interactive nature of successful digital signage deployments.
Every retailer and brand manager hopes to improve communication with its consumer- traditional advertising is limited in this regard. HumanKiosk takes digital signage to another level of relevancy- it provides a purely interactive experience and accomplishes what pre-recorded content, whatever the medium, cannot hope to achieve.
Check it out- we can't wait to hear your feedback!
MediaTile is the world’s first provider of
cellular digital signage. Having graduated from 1X and EVDO we have been providing 3G-based networked digital signage since 2005. Naturally we are continuing to push the envelope by working with variants of 4G. The promise that significantly increased bandwidth will create major new market opportunities and applications for network operators is a driver of innovation for the whole industry - in turn providing for improved interactive and relevant content on screen.
As with any new technology however, there are different schools. In the case of 4G, LTE (Long Term Evolution) and WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) are taking center-stage in the race for hearts, minds, regional roll-outs, and partnerships. However, the technology that wins out will not be the big story of tomorrow. The real story is how ubiquitous broadband wireless access will change the lives of consumers, traveling professionals, and small business owners, not to mention how it will facilitate a huge swathe of new or extended business applications as they are unshackled from fixed networks.
4G will add a whole new level of experiential and contextual-based content including on-demand videos to Cellular Digital Signage. 4G is therefore certainly an exciting business prospect for network operators – enhancing their ROI by delivering greater content impact with far less on site infrastructure. Certainly Houston Spencer, Alcatel-Lucent’s VP of Solutions and Marketing seems to agree following their
LTE Focus Conference in Amsterdam last week.
But is 4G Digital Signage the Killer App to get 4G across the chasm? Or is our industry a supporting player to other products and applications from other industries that may instead catapult 4G wireless broadband to widespread deployment? In other words 'will 4G make Digital Signage or will Digital Signage make 4G?
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