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Pitch with pizzazz<br />
Page 5 Immerse yourself Page 11 The wow factor<br />
Page 13<br />
Are your<br />
presentations<br />
dry, technical<br />
and boring<br />
Use augmented<br />
reality to kick-start<br />
your marketing<br />
The latest<br />
technology<br />
to get your<br />
message across<br />
biztechreport.co.uk<br />
November 2011<br />
BusinessTechnology<br />
Distributed within The Daily Telegraph,<br />
produced and published by Lyonsdown which<br />
takes sole responsibility for the contents<br />
Raise<br />
your<br />
game<br />
How audio visual<br />
communications<br />
can bring you closer<br />
to your customer
2<br />
Business Technology November 2011 an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph
an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph<br />
Publisher<br />
Bradley Scheffer<br />
brad@lyonsdown.co.uk<br />
Managing Editor<br />
Lucie Carrington<br />
lucie@lyonsdown.co.uk<br />
Editor<br />
Sue Tabbitt<br />
Creative Director<br />
Martin Nolan<br />
studio@lyonsdown.co.uk<br />
Sub Editor<br />
Amy Dickson<br />
amy@lyonsdown.co.uk<br />
Journal Assistant<br />
Natalie Luketic<br />
natalie@lyonsdown.co.uk<br />
Project Manager<br />
Aidan Neville<br />
aidan@lyonsdown.co.uk<br />
For more information on any<br />
of our supplements please<br />
contact us:<br />
Telephone: 020 8349 4363<br />
Email: info@lyonsdown.co.uk<br />
Online: www.lyonsdown.co.uk<br />
A sight to behold<br />
Businesses need to raise their game and be far more<br />
imaginative with technology if they want to engage<br />
staff and clients, who are increasingly IT savvy<br />
By Sue Tabbitt<br />
Speak to any technology vendor for more than<br />
five minutes and the chances are they’ll slip in the<br />
somewhat ugly term “consumerisation of IT”. It’s<br />
a lever into the usual marketing pitch of course,<br />
but there is a point behind the hype – namely that<br />
consumer technology (and people’s imagination with<br />
and use of it) is now considerably ahead of business<br />
technology.<br />
Enter the world of work, and it’s like slipping back<br />
in time. Budget constraints, an inefficient approach<br />
to technology projects, concerns about control and<br />
security, and a general lack of imagination have<br />
prevented organisations from keeping pace with<br />
developments elsewhere. The result is a generation<br />
of staff who know more about technology and its<br />
potential than their employers do.<br />
From the dynamic ways they use the<br />
internet, social networks and mobile<br />
technology, to their expectations<br />
of 3D immersion<br />
when gaming or<br />
at the cinema,<br />
these upcoming<br />
employees – who are<br />
also consumers of<br />
course – have high<br />
expectations for<br />
the tools and<br />
technologies at their<br />
disposal in their<br />
office lives.<br />
When these<br />
aren’t met,<br />
individuals<br />
are likely to<br />
respond by<br />
bringing<br />
their own<br />
assets<br />
into<br />
November 2011<br />
work – from smartphones and iPads to their own<br />
online software accounts – not just for social<br />
networks, but for file-sharing sites and so on.<br />
When it comes to communicating to a wider<br />
audience – and more formally – the same issues arise.<br />
Younger, technology savvy users want to be able to<br />
put together advanced, interactive collateral, using<br />
the latest presentation technologies, video and so on.<br />
Outside the workplace, meanwhile – as consumers<br />
– this is also how they want to engage with brands,<br />
retailers and service providers. They expect to be<br />
dazzled when being sold to; they demand that all of<br />
their senses are stimulated; they want to be able to<br />
watch the video, touch the product, get a sense of the<br />
experience.<br />
Most of the big brands know this and have<br />
responded – by allocating large budgets to digital<br />
media agencies. More traditional businesses<br />
typically do less well, however, believing<br />
rather complacently that they can cut<br />
corners and do everything in- house with<br />
a few core tools and a good sales<br />
team. As younger generations<br />
rise through the ranks, they will<br />
find that they can no longer get<br />
away with this.<br />
They shouldn’t have to,<br />
either. Digital media agencies<br />
have much to offer certainly, but<br />
advanced AV technology<br />
is now so accessible,<br />
affordable and easy to use<br />
that organisations really<br />
have no excuse not<br />
to raise their game.<br />
The opportunities to<br />
amaze and delight<br />
customers are<br />
unlimited; in most<br />
cases all that’s<br />
missing is the<br />
vision.<br />
Business Technology<br />
Audio visual communications – in this issue<br />
17<br />
video walls are on display<br />
in the Westfield Stratford<br />
City shopping centre<br />
Page 8<br />
£10m<br />
is being raised for Team GB<br />
2012 using the latest AV<br />
technology Page 9<br />
7metres<br />
is the height of a helium<br />
balloon used to wow<br />
Opera Holland Park<br />
visitors with optical<br />
illusions Page 11<br />
28,000<br />
Randstad employees<br />
worldwide watched the<br />
CEO appear holographically<br />
last year Page 13<br />
3<br />
biztechreport.co.uk<br />
Contributors<br />
Cover: Lucy Ward<br />
Supporters<br />
Sue Tabbitt is a technology<br />
journalist covering a broad<br />
range of business and<br />
IT subjects for The Daily<br />
Telegraph, The Sunday<br />
Telegraph and The Guardian as<br />
well as specialist technology<br />
and industry publications.<br />
Jim Mortleman is a freelance<br />
writer, journalist and<br />
commentator with over<br />
two decades’ experience<br />
examining technology<br />
developments and their<br />
implications for business and<br />
society. He has written for<br />
numerous trade, consumer,<br />
online and national titles,<br />
as well as organising and<br />
presenting at high-tech<br />
events.<br />
Tracey Caldwell is a freelance<br />
business technology<br />
journalist with specialisms<br />
including networking and<br />
communications. She is<br />
a regular contributor to<br />
the Guardian Professional<br />
website.<br />
Paul Bray writes regularly<br />
on business and technology<br />
for many publications<br />
including The Daily Telegraph,<br />
The Sunday Telegraph, The<br />
Guardian, The Sunday Times,<br />
Britain’s Top Employers,<br />
Computing, Director and<br />
Nasdaq International.<br />
Caramel Quin has been writing<br />
and broadcasting about<br />
technology on both sides of<br />
the Atlantic for 18 years, using<br />
her engineering background<br />
to translate tech jargon into<br />
plain English. She won best<br />
writer in the BlackBerry<br />
Women & Technology awards,<br />
2006 and this year won<br />
the CEDIA award for best<br />
technology feature for a piece<br />
in Grand Designs magazine.<br />
Gemma Stroud is a freelance<br />
journalist specialising in<br />
consumer issues.
4<br />
Industry view<br />
Business Technology November 2011 an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph<br />
Seeing is<br />
believing<br />
It’s as easy as making a<br />
phone call – that’s why<br />
companies are jumping<br />
on the video calling<br />
bandwagon in their droves<br />
The business landscape has changed as<br />
organisations of all types are embracing new<br />
ways of working and communicating, both<br />
internally and with customers and suppliers.<br />
New platforms such as social media, instant<br />
messaging and video services enable<br />
better collaboration and encourage greater<br />
productivity.<br />
People still place a lot of importance<br />
in actually seeing peers and associates to<br />
discuss business matters but in today’s<br />
business environment travel is not always<br />
environmentally or financially viable. A<br />
recent survey by Cable&Wireless Worldwide<br />
found that 87 per cent of Britons claim faceto-face<br />
contact, either via videoconferencing<br />
or by being in the same room, is more likely<br />
to lead to a business decision.<br />
The survey also looked at people’s<br />
focus and attention span during phone<br />
calls, telephone conference calls and<br />
videoconference calls,<br />
finding that in the UK 42 per cent<br />
of businesspeople admit to having checked<br />
or written emails during an audio conference<br />
call, while 35<br />
per cent have doodled and 3 per cent have<br />
even fallen asleep – all quite hard to do on a<br />
video call.<br />
Dominic Jones, director of product and<br />
marketing at Cable&Wireless Worldwide,<br />
says: “More than ever, the need for new<br />
ways of working is critical. Businesses<br />
need to collaborate in real time across the<br />
globe and to do so need to make<br />
use of interactive technologies. Video<br />
services provide a range of options, from full<br />
telepresence suites that offer a lifesize ‘same<br />
room’ experience, to meeting room units,<br />
desktop solutions and now handheld devices.<br />
The possibilities of these technologies are<br />
endless.”<br />
Cable&Wireless Worldwide’s Video<br />
Services have been designed to revolutionise<br />
videoconferencing by offering a reliable,<br />
high quality and simple-to-use service<br />
that is a genuine permanent alternative to<br />
face-to-face meetings. It estimates that the<br />
use of managed videoconferencing saves<br />
customers at least 25 per cent on their travel<br />
costs.<br />
The number of videoconferencing units<br />
being deployed to customers has increased<br />
by 34 per cent over the past 12 months.<br />
Internally, Cable&Wireless Worldwide uses<br />
videoconferencing extensively, clocking up<br />
more than 1.2m minutes across the business<br />
in 2010.<br />
Cable&Wireless Worldwide is also a<br />
founding member of the Open Visual<br />
Communications Consortium (OVCC),<br />
which opens up videoconferencing usage<br />
The number of<br />
videoconferencing<br />
units being deployed to<br />
customers has increased<br />
by 34 per cent over<br />
the last 12 months<br />
across networks enabling assured quality<br />
conversations across the globe. This adds<br />
further value to organisations as they<br />
embrace videoconferencing because they<br />
can move from using it in their own company<br />
to facilitating face-to-face discussions with<br />
their customers, partners, suppliers and so<br />
on. It will make video calling as simple as<br />
making a telephone call.<br />
www.cw.com/video-services<br />
Driving forward new technologies<br />
Germany’s motorway operator is reaping the<br />
rewards of investing in digital signage for its<br />
service stations, but what are the benefits<br />
German drivers who take a break from<br />
the autobahn have had a new audiovisual<br />
experience since the summer. Tank & Rast,<br />
Germany’s premier operator of motorway<br />
service areas, has installed more than 3,000<br />
digital signage displays at 360 locations<br />
throughout the country, creating the largest<br />
digital signage network in Germany at<br />
motorway service areas, and the largest<br />
anywhere on Europe’s road system.<br />
“Tank & Rast used to display conventional<br />
printed advertisements, but the company<br />
wanted to switch to digital to increase its<br />
advertising revenues,” says Marius Marschall,<br />
group managing partner at Intelligent Service<br />
Solutions (ISS), the specialist AV company<br />
that planned and installed the system and will<br />
manage it for the next three years.<br />
“Tank & Rast expects to make a much<br />
greater return from selling advertising<br />
space on digital signage than it did from<br />
conventional poster sites,” he adds.<br />
The eye-catching displays are located in<br />
entrance halls and retail and catering areas,<br />
enabling digital advertising to be targeted<br />
where it will be most effective. Content<br />
creation and distribution is done by Tank &<br />
Rast’s advertising agency. All the content<br />
is scheduled from a single control centre by<br />
ISS. Each screen can have a unique playlist<br />
of adverts that are carefully tailored to suit<br />
its location and the time of day. “By timeslicing<br />
the adverts, Tank & Rast is effectively<br />
multiplying the space available,” says<br />
Marschall.<br />
A study by Germany’s Centre for Consumer<br />
Research has already demonstrated the<br />
effectiveness of the digital adverts. Tank<br />
& Rast is now considering installing more<br />
screens in the restaurant areas to display<br />
menus that change at different times of day,<br />
and even photo frame-sized units in the<br />
toilets.<br />
The initial rollout consisted of 3,200 42, 32<br />
and 22-inch high resolution LCD displays. All<br />
the 42 and 32-inch models, almost 1,600 in<br />
total, were supplied by ISS’s vendor of choice,<br />
Philips Public Signage.<br />
“We’re responsible for the entire system<br />
for the next three years and are contracted<br />
to provide more than 99 per cent up-time,<br />
so we have to rely heavily on our partners,”<br />
says Marschall. “That means we need a<br />
fully professional product and professional<br />
after-sales support, so there are only a few<br />
companies we’re prepared to partner with.”<br />
The technical specification of the Philips<br />
monitors met Tank & Rast’s exacting<br />
Eye-catching: digital signage displays are used to target consumers<br />
requirements, including being bright enough<br />
to compete with the high lighting levels inside<br />
a motorway service area. Availability was a<br />
major issue, and not all the monitor vendors<br />
ISS considered could have supplied the large<br />
quantities required.<br />
Philips’ pricing was also very competitive,<br />
and the low energy consumption of its<br />
displays means that the lifetime cost of<br />
ownership – as well as related carbon<br />
emissions – will be below average.<br />
Finally, what impressed ISS was the sheer<br />
professionalism of the people from Philips.<br />
“We had confidence that they’d be as<br />
helpful after the sale as they were before,”<br />
says Marschall. “I’m more than happy that we<br />
did the deal with Philips, and in future I would<br />
definitely prefer Philips over other display<br />
vendors.”<br />
www.philips.com/publicsignagesolutions<br />
www.intelligent-services.eu
an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph<br />
November 2011<br />
Business Technology<br />
Audio visual communications<br />
5<br />
The magic of<br />
engagement<br />
When it comes to presentation,<br />
corporate presenters have a lot to<br />
learn from the likes of Derren Brown<br />
if they want to keep their audience<br />
on the edge of their seats<br />
By Sue Tabbitt<br />
Fans of illusionist Derren Brown might rightly<br />
wonder at the stark contrast between his<br />
enthralling stage-based ‘experiences’ and the<br />
dreary business presentations they are forced<br />
to sit through in their working lives. It exposes<br />
another great gulf between the consumer and<br />
the corporate world. In the latter, people have<br />
lost the art of getting their message across.<br />
Of course, Brown is the consummate<br />
showman – a performer who combines<br />
magic, suggestion, psychology, audience<br />
misdirection and pure spectacle to apparently<br />
predict and control human behaviour. Those<br />
attending his shows hang on his every word –<br />
fully engaged, ready to believe anything.<br />
Corporate presenters could learn a thing<br />
or two from him. While it’s unfair to compare<br />
a professional showman with the average<br />
company executive, it’s puzzling that so many<br />
organisations with sizeable marketing budgets<br />
are so unimaginative and one-dimensional<br />
when presenting ideas and products.<br />
At a technology level, all of the tools<br />
exist now to enable companies and their<br />
front-line representatives to perform at their<br />
best – drawing audiences in to<br />
their business presentations,<br />
exhibition stands, seminars,<br />
webinars and sales pitches<br />
with pizzazz. Yet most don’t.<br />
For all that is possible, the<br />
average business presenter<br />
resorts time and again<br />
to a two-dimensional<br />
PowerPoint slide-deck.<br />
“Most business<br />
presentations are<br />
safe – bullet point after<br />
bullet point, graph<br />
after graph,” says Andy<br />
Harrington, a professional<br />
public speaking guru.<br />
“In practice, they are dry,<br />
technical and boring.”<br />
Someone who broke the mould was the<br />
late Steve Jobs. Not only did he live and<br />
breathe technology, he also knew how to use<br />
it to connect with an audience. “The main<br />
thing that singled him out was his overriding<br />
passion for his message,” Harrington notes.<br />
“Without that, how will you ever get anyone<br />
to buy into what you’re saying”<br />
Jobs, Apple’s staunchest evangelist, had<br />
such a conviction about everything he did<br />
that he was able to change people’s beliefs.<br />
“The technologies he used around that were<br />
very stimulating.” Crucially, Jobs led the<br />
story, rather than being prompted by what<br />
was on a screen. The technological show<br />
behind him merely backed up what he was<br />
saying. “Most people click, read, deliver,”<br />
Harrington says. “They have their backs to<br />
the audience most of the time, and will tell<br />
the audience what they’re going to bore them<br />
with, bore them, then sum up by telling them<br />
how they did it.”<br />
Harrington delivers a lot of his messages<br />
via the internet and swears by ScreenFlow,<br />
a software package for the Mac. “It lets you<br />
deliver video and slides and move seamlessly<br />
between the two,” he says. “It’s a great way of<br />
getting a message to a wider audience without<br />
having to be there in person.”<br />
But whatever technology a company draws<br />
on, it should be a supporting tool rather than<br />
a crutch the presenter relies on. “You can do<br />
a wonderful AV-driven presentation and still<br />
fail to win the pitch,” warns Paul Boross, also<br />
known as The Pitch Doctor.<br />
Boross, who has appeared on TV<br />
talking about the use of psychology<br />
in business, bills himself as the<br />
business world’s Derren Brown.<br />
He has amassed similar<br />
credentials in neuro-linguistic<br />
programming, a particular<br />
strain of psychology<br />
Boross: it’s all about<br />
the audience<br />
that involves influencing people’s minds<br />
subliminally through the use of carefully<br />
chosen language, a technique he draws on<br />
when coaching business presenters. The<br />
trick is to then extend this influence with<br />
strategically chosen visual and audio aids.<br />
Boross’s book, The Pitching Bible, which<br />
sets out a series of “secrets” – Derren Brownstyle<br />
tips on winning over an audience. Those<br />
who inherently draw on such techniques<br />
include the former American vice president<br />
Al Gore, he says. Boross got to see him giving<br />
a keynote at the Edinburgh TV festival. “He<br />
had the audience in the palm of his hand.”<br />
Secret one is “It’s all about them” (“them”<br />
being the target audience). “Whether you’re<br />
presenting from a stage or in a one-to-one<br />
situation, you shouldn’t be focusing on what<br />
you’re going to say next. You should be able<br />
to read the audience and determine what they<br />
want at that moment,” he says.<br />
The problem with most presentations is<br />
that they’re just not adaptable enough. The<br />
speaker is working to a script and sequence<br />
of slides, from which he or she is unable to<br />
deviate. “In future, people who present most<br />
effectively using technology will be those<br />
who can feel the room and react dynamically<br />
to any change in the mood,” says Boross.<br />
Derren Brown also uses very precise<br />
language to steer the audience’s train of<br />
thought, something business executives<br />
could learn from. When one of Boross’s<br />
clients wanted to get across the message to<br />
its customers that everything they did was<br />
“all about them”, which it communicated on<br />
multiple different levels throughout a pitch,<br />
he helped cement the deal by slipping the<br />
driver £50 to play McFly’s chart hit All About<br />
You as the prospect left the meeting. “They<br />
won the business,” he adds.<br />
Having follow-through ideas like this<br />
is half the battle as businesses try to raise<br />
their presentation performance, but then the<br />
question returns to whether the typical senior<br />
executive has what it takes creatively.<br />
“I’d love to see a huge change in the way<br />
companies approach presenting,” says Dale<br />
Smith, co-founder of the Article 10 Group<br />
of marketing and communications agencies.<br />
Given the colossal amounts big businesses<br />
invest in their brands, it’s astonishing how<br />
little goes into delivering the supporting<br />
content, he says.<br />
“You’ve got companies selling £10m<br />
solutions using A4 paper and slides. It’s 2011,<br />
for goodness sake.” To Smith’s mind, this<br />
means outsourcing more of the bells and<br />
whistles to external service providers such<br />
as Article 10.<br />
That carries a risk that business presenters<br />
become too removed from their own stories,<br />
though. A better approach may be for<br />
organisations to recruit more widely when<br />
boosting their marketing and sales teams,<br />
making sure they seek out people who are<br />
trained in the latest techniques and are<br />
capable of keeping content fresh and exciting.<br />
“The new generation of sales teams and<br />
executives is much more technology savvy<br />
and is pushing more for advanced tools and<br />
collateral,” Smith concludes. “This is certainly<br />
true at Microsoft, where Article 10 is doing a<br />
lot of work. They’re moving away from being<br />
a very corporate, grey-faced establishment to<br />
something much more engaging and cool. It’s<br />
nice to be a part of that.”<br />
Funny that – that the very company that<br />
brought us PowerPoint is only now realising<br />
presentation technology’s broader potential.<br />
How to win the audience<br />
• Don’t turn your back while speaking<br />
• Think outside the box – keep content fresh<br />
and exciting<br />
• Be passionate about getting your message<br />
across<br />
• Be adaptable – react to the mood in the room<br />
• Use key words and language to steer train<br />
of thought
6<br />
Industry view<br />
Business Technology November 2011 an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph<br />
Meeting expectations<br />
Virtual conferencing is becoming ever more popular thanks to<br />
sophisticated technology designed to overcome any hurdle<br />
With videoconferencing becoming<br />
increasingly prevalent in business,<br />
organisations have begun to realise the<br />
potential of more immersive telepresence<br />
systems. In particular, demand for Polycom’s<br />
Architected Telepresence Experience<br />
(ATX) meeting solution is growing because<br />
of the many benefits it offers to users and<br />
businesses.<br />
It is well documented how telepresence<br />
helps improve collaboration, speeds up<br />
decision-making and yields vast cost<br />
reductions across a business. However,<br />
successfully generating these results needs<br />
careful consideration – realistic usage<br />
expectations with solid capital investment<br />
is imperative. Also, selecting an audiovisual<br />
(AV) specialist who is experienced in<br />
addressing these needs is crucial.<br />
From initial consultation through to<br />
design and installation, AVSolution works<br />
with businesses to guarantee solid return<br />
on investment and minimal disruption.<br />
Through its strong partnership with<br />
Polycom, it can overcome restrictive room<br />
dimensions, limited budgets, inferior network<br />
performance and existing legacy equipment.<br />
This is due to the flexibility of Polycom<br />
ATX, the stunning telepresence system<br />
that offers lifelike meetings through high<br />
definition (HD) video and audio. AVSolution’s<br />
network of knowledgeable project managers<br />
and installation engineers has over 20<br />
years’ experience in creating bespoke video<br />
installations.<br />
This year, AVSolution opened a purposebuilt<br />
London showroom to demonstrate<br />
the superior quality of the Polycom ATX<br />
solution as well as show that fully immersive<br />
telepresence is now an affordable solution.<br />
Polycom ATX can be branded to represent<br />
the business and AVSolution’s smart room<br />
design ensures the environment is adapted<br />
for visually appealing aesthetics, perfect<br />
acoustics and immersive calls. It can provide<br />
custom-built furniture or work within any<br />
constraints that already exist.<br />
For control, AVSolution utilises simple,<br />
customisable touchscreen systems for a<br />
room’s lighting, sound levels and temperature.<br />
This prevents users interrupting a meeting’s<br />
flow. Combined with unobtrusive in-table<br />
screens for information sharing, Polycom<br />
ATX is also ideal for presentations as well as<br />
standard collaboration.<br />
AVSolution understands the need for<br />
flawless network performance when videocalling.<br />
It partners with Masergy, a provider<br />
of secure virtualised network services, to<br />
implement a network that has been built with<br />
telepresence requirements in its DNA. This<br />
infrastructure is protected by the strongest<br />
Adaptable: AVSolution technology can be used with current videoconferencing<br />
global SLAs (service level agreements) in the<br />
telecommunications industry and ensures a<br />
stable, immersive telepresence experience.<br />
Completely personalised, AVSolution’s<br />
telepresence installations run on industryleading<br />
technology powered by Polycom’s<br />
unique HD video codecs, Sharp’s ultra thin<br />
bezel model screens and Crestron’s awardwinning<br />
control panels. If an organisation<br />
already has videoconferencing in place,<br />
AVSolution can incorporate the technology to<br />
avoid wasted investment and the telepresence<br />
offering is entirely customisable according to<br />
customer demand.<br />
The Polycom ATX solution is available in<br />
two, three or four video displays, as well as<br />
trolley-based options, delivering flexibility<br />
and scalability to satisfy a wide range of<br />
customer environments.<br />
Finally, following implementation,<br />
AVSolution offers excellent after-sales care,<br />
long-term maintenance and market-leading<br />
customer support. It conducts regular<br />
visits to prevent the installation failing at a<br />
critical point. AVSolution is renowned for its<br />
support levels and protects an organisation’s<br />
investment long after its competitors would.<br />
020 8549 5347<br />
www.avsolutionuk.com
an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph<br />
November 2011<br />
Business Technology<br />
7<br />
Industry view<br />
Better collaboration through technology<br />
The writing’s on the wall for outdated forms of communication.<br />
Interactive whiteboards can transform collaboration in the workplace<br />
Collaboration lies at the heart of the way<br />
business operates. Today, the latest generation<br />
of collaboration technology is playing a vital<br />
role in helping organisations to deliver more<br />
productive and efficient meetings, whether<br />
face-to-face or remotely.<br />
For years, collaboration was supported – or<br />
arguably hindered – by a rudimentary set<br />
of tools, whether it was flip charts and dry<br />
wipe boards or, more recently, the emergence<br />
of teleconferencing, video and web-based<br />
conferencing, which deliver communication<br />
but fall short of a truly collaborative<br />
experience.<br />
Moreover, the pressures on collaboration<br />
have grown dramatically. Businesses now<br />
handle far greater volumes of data than<br />
ever before. The demands of a globalised<br />
economy have led businesses to adopt more<br />
flexible working patterns and geographically<br />
dispersed teams that must work together.<br />
Finally, the global economic downturn has<br />
forced every business to cut costs and realise<br />
greater efficiencies.<br />
For many leading businesses, including<br />
<strong>BT</strong>, Computacenter and Scottish Water,<br />
the technology solution that meets their<br />
collaboration needs in the face of these<br />
challenges is the SMART Board interactive<br />
whiteboard from SMART Technologies.<br />
The SMART Board interactive whiteboard<br />
Interactive: whiteboard enables users to highlight and annotate text<br />
enables users to display and annotate<br />
documents, files and images in digital ink.<br />
Objects can be manipulated and highlighted,<br />
simply with a touch of the screen or the stroke<br />
of a pen, before being instantly saved and<br />
distributed. Users benefit from a far more<br />
intuitive and visually engaging collaborative<br />
process that delivers higher productivity,<br />
more creative solutions and, critically, better<br />
decisions.<br />
Using SMART Bridgit conferencing<br />
software, SMART’s interactive whiteboards<br />
can be connected to create virtual meeting<br />
rooms where people in multiple locations can<br />
share their desktops and work on the same<br />
display, as if they were in the same room. It<br />
can also operate alongside other software<br />
and communication tools, such as videoconferencing,<br />
for a truly integrated solution.<br />
Such a powerful collaboration tool<br />
significantly reduces the need for nonessential<br />
travel. Whether it is a sales network<br />
meeting, a staff training programme or an<br />
international strategy planning session, less<br />
business travel means cutting your travel<br />
bill. This also makes a major contribution<br />
to delivering a fast, verifiable ROI (return<br />
on investment), as well as a lower carbon<br />
footprint.<br />
With the ability to transform workplace<br />
collaboration, it is not surprising that<br />
businesses of all sizes are adopting SMART<br />
collaboration solutions. Indeed, SMART’s<br />
interactive whiteboards have been ubiquitous<br />
in British schools for years as an education<br />
tool. Businesses now need these tools to<br />
unlock the skillset of the next generation<br />
entering the workforce; the ‘net gen’ who have<br />
been educated using interactive whiteboards,<br />
who have grown up using touchscreen devices<br />
and for whom virtual communication and<br />
collaboration is second nature.<br />
The technology exists for businesses to<br />
optimise the dynamism and creativity that<br />
is generated when people work together,<br />
whether in the same room or remotely. The<br />
latest collaboration solutions are not only<br />
helping businesses to drive up productivity<br />
and save money, in the midst of the biggest<br />
global downturn for a generation, they are<br />
proving to be a business-critical tool.<br />
Installed and supported by Smart<br />
Presentations Limited 01296 642000<br />
www.presentations.co.uk<br />
Digital revolution<br />
Matt Wain Photography<br />
One company is leading the way in digital communication – and the<br />
future is already on display in one of London’s most dramatic buildings<br />
Enter the Atrium at the London Stock<br />
Exchange in Paternoster Square and you’ll be<br />
met by an extraordinary collection of video<br />
screens.<br />
The exchange chose Christie MicroTiles, an<br />
innovative modular digital display solution for<br />
the site of its new Market Open ceremony.<br />
Christie MicroTiles are a unique<br />
proposition in display technology, offering<br />
video and data display building blocks that<br />
can be used to create displays of varying size<br />
and shape – and which are complementary<br />
to their environment. Simply put, they lend<br />
themselves to spaces where no other display<br />
technology would physically fit without<br />
harming the aesthetic of an interior’s design.<br />
The installation of 508 Christie MicroTiles<br />
at the location follows a recommendation for<br />
their use by CMS consultant Jerry Collins and<br />
a subsequent tender won by Focus 21 Visual<br />
Communications – a long-standing Christie<br />
partner and Scala certified partner.<br />
Visitors are now welcomed by columns<br />
of Christie MicroTiles, their view directed<br />
to either side by two strips of MicroTiles,<br />
each consisting of 29 and 31 MicroTiles<br />
respectively, then on to an impressive<br />
video wall which uses 132 MicroTiles. The<br />
MicroTiles stream a variety of content<br />
throughout the day including live news and<br />
market updates from CNBC.<br />
The displays are managed by six Christie<br />
Spyder X20 processors with content offered<br />
from a variety of sources, including Scala<br />
InfoChannel. A Crestron controller manages<br />
lighting, audio and live camera feed, and<br />
orchestrates an automated opening and<br />
closing of the market ceremony.<br />
Another MicroTiles video wall has been<br />
installed on the balcony overlooking the<br />
Atrium and can mimic the content on the main<br />
video wall. At ground level there is a mosaic of<br />
46 MicroTiles of different depths and heights,<br />
while outside the Atrium, visitors are kept<br />
updated with another set of four columns of<br />
MicroTiles.<br />
“Many organisations are challenged to<br />
find innovative ways to deliver valuable<br />
content to target audiences in the short bursts<br />
of time available. Scala software not only<br />
provides a strong, highly usable, incredibly<br />
stable platform that meets 95 percent of the<br />
needs of most customers out of the box, it can<br />
also be easily customised well beyond many<br />
competitive offerings,” says new Scala CEO<br />
Tom Nix.<br />
“It is exciting how many customers keep<br />
pushing the envelope with the Scala platform<br />
in addressing their unique requirements<br />
and finding new ways to quickly engage and<br />
inform audiences.”<br />
Nix will continue to focus on building<br />
customer satisfaction and expanding Scala’s<br />
role in the evolving global market for digital<br />
signage and digital communications solutions.<br />
“For 25 years, companies have seen the<br />
flexibility and benefits of communicating<br />
using digital signage in market segments<br />
from retail and quick service restaurants<br />
to hospitals, retail, banking and corporate<br />
communications,” he says.<br />
“Scala is leading the shift to digital<br />
signage’s next stage, where companies exploit<br />
their ability to connect to virtually any data<br />
source using almost any device. These devices<br />
can range from mobile applications, like<br />
tablets and smart phones, to CxO boards that<br />
provide real-time management information<br />
by consolidating and displaying a custom<br />
broadcast channel of key performance metrics<br />
from customer relationship management and<br />
enterprise resource planning packages such as<br />
Salesforce.com and Oracle.”<br />
Scala provides the leading platform<br />
for content creation, management and<br />
distribution in digital signage networks,<br />
which allows customers to connect digital<br />
signage to a variety of data sources, such as<br />
CRM and ERP systems, to create new content<br />
constantly and automatically.<br />
With Scala 5 Release 6, Scala will make it<br />
even easier for organisations to customise<br />
digital signage to their specific business<br />
Digital display at London Stock Exchange<br />
requirements, by supporting more video and<br />
streaming options to make it possible to add,<br />
size and position most of the popular industry<br />
standard streaming video formats in Scala.<br />
And high-definition digital video signals<br />
from many popular set-top boxes from both<br />
cable and satellite providers can now be<br />
captured by Scala, guaranteeing razor-sharp<br />
HD quality. The new release also raises the bar<br />
for dynamic visual effects in digital signage as<br />
dramatic new visual enhancements for Scala<br />
content developed in Designer are added.<br />
www.scala.com
8<br />
Business Technology November 2011 an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph<br />
Audio visual communications<br />
Sign of the times<br />
Digital signage is revolutionising billboards and other public promotional displays<br />
By Paul Bray and Gemma Stroud<br />
Billboards that come alive before our eyes,<br />
menus that change by the minute and special<br />
offers that instantaneously tailor themselves<br />
to the customer. Once mere twinkles in the<br />
marketeer’s eye, they’re fast becoming the<br />
must-have technology for shopping malls,<br />
transport hubs, restaurants, even doctors’<br />
surgeries.<br />
But while they’ll splash their offers across<br />
six-foot screens, many retailers are keener<br />
to keep the marketing science behind digital<br />
signage under wraps. It’s still new enough to<br />
offer a competitive advantage and they aren’t<br />
keen to share.<br />
Digital signage uses a network of computer<br />
screens to display ever-changing content<br />
that may include video, still images and text.<br />
What’s shown where is usually controlled<br />
from a central point, but the output of<br />
individual screens can be tailored according to<br />
location, audience and even time of day.<br />
Alternatively, the network may have just<br />
a couple of screens: to impress visitors in a<br />
corporate reception area, say, or keep patients<br />
quiet in the dentist’s waiting room.<br />
Screens may show a single stream of<br />
content, such as posters or video commercials,<br />
or several things at once. The latter<br />
might consist of a live news feed; tailored<br />
advertising (for the venue’s own products<br />
or paid for by third-party advertisers); and<br />
specific data (“next patient please”, “the 10.16<br />
to Inverness is running late”, and so on).<br />
Size is no object. The new Westfield<br />
Stratford City shopping centre in east London<br />
features 17 huge video walls, each containing<br />
up to 51 screens operating as a single display.<br />
London Underground and CBS Outdoor are<br />
using cross-track projectors to display giant<br />
images on the walls of tube stations.<br />
But many digital signs consist of single<br />
TV-sized screens, 10-inch digital photo<br />
frames (sometimes inset into kiosks or store<br />
mannequins), or tiny shelf-edge displays a<br />
couple of inches high.<br />
The sheer eye-bludgeoning potential of<br />
a giant video wall is hard to beat. Outdoor<br />
clothing retailer Timberland has a 36-screen,<br />
6.2 x 3.5m wall aimed at “bringing the<br />
Wall of sound<br />
Debut: UK’s first interactive digital billboard at Westfield.<br />
Right, Cadbury Creme Egg interactive game<br />
outdoors indoors” at its new Westfield store.<br />
“With more than 300 retailers at Westfield<br />
there’s a lot of competition, so it’s primarily<br />
designed to encourage customers into<br />
the store,” says Rod Pallister, managing<br />
director of AV specialist 53 Degrees, which<br />
installed it.<br />
But the opportunity for precision<br />
marketing can be equally attractive. Phone<br />
company O2 is installing two or three modestsized<br />
NEC displays in each of its retail stores.<br />
“It means O2 can react to offers very fast<br />
and with central control,” says Guy Phelps,<br />
corporate sales manager at NEC Display<br />
Solutions which<br />
provides the service.<br />
“Managed from head office, messaging can<br />
be updated quickly to react to local market<br />
conditions, with different messaging at<br />
different times of day and across different<br />
geographical locations.”<br />
But companies are cautious about revealing<br />
the corporate secret that’s keeping the tills<br />
ringing. Several major retailers were unwilling<br />
to provide comment on their advertisement<br />
technology initiatives, with one well-known<br />
high street store concerned any information<br />
provided could be leaked to a retail rival.<br />
And when the potential for industry<br />
expansion is explored, it’s little wonder.<br />
By linking digital signage to a store’s<br />
stock system, content and messaging can<br />
be changed in line with availability. And by<br />
linking signage to the products on display, the<br />
stock can start interacting directly with the<br />
customer.<br />
“Imagine a consumer picking up an item<br />
from a shelf and triggering instant product<br />
information and product comparisons on an<br />
adjacent screen,” says Jonathan Mangnall,<br />
sales director at control systems vendor AMX.<br />
“This is possible now, although the market’s<br />
only just realising it.”<br />
“Creating a one-to-one experience is the<br />
Holy Grail of marketing, and interactivity<br />
in digital signage is a massive trend, with<br />
touch being the obvious application,” says<br />
Mike Fisher, senior consultant at analyst firm<br />
Futuresource. It can be something simple like<br />
entering a shopping centre and finding the<br />
nearest chemist, or an interactive game like the<br />
highly successful one that Posterscope ran on<br />
bus shelters for Cadbury Creme Eggs (inset).<br />
Still in its infancy, digital signage is<br />
creating as much secrecy as it is excitement<br />
among marketing moguls and many are<br />
choosing to play their cards close to their<br />
chest. The grand unveiling is just as<br />
powerful as the technology itself.<br />
The real breakthrough will happen<br />
when NFC (near field communications)<br />
and QR (quick response) codes become<br />
widely implemented in mobile phones,<br />
Fisher believes. Users could walk up to a<br />
digital poster and download a coupon for the<br />
product it advertises or buy a ticket for the<br />
event it promotes.<br />
Technology is now becoming available that<br />
uses built-in cameras and clever analytics<br />
software to enable digital signage to watch<br />
the people watching it. Advertisers could be<br />
told exactly how many people have viewed a<br />
particular piece of content and for how long,<br />
and be charged accordingly – another Holy<br />
Grail for the advertisement industry.<br />
It’s even possible to work out the watcher’s<br />
age, sex and mood, and tailor the on-screen<br />
content to match. Try doing that with a roll of<br />
posters and a bucket of paste.<br />
Having fabulous displays when communicating with a target audience is useless if no one can hear what’s being said<br />
By Paul Bray<br />
It’s shooting yourself in<br />
the foot to have stunning<br />
visuals with lousy sound,<br />
so the advent of HD video<br />
has necessitated similar<br />
enhancements in audio.<br />
“Video alone can seem<br />
rather flat (imagine a movie<br />
without the music). Video<br />
may capture someone’s<br />
attention, but it’s audio<br />
that retains it and draws<br />
them into the emotional<br />
experience you’re trying<br />
to get across,” says Chris<br />
Havell, director for audio<br />
at technology specialists<br />
Cambridge Silicon Radio.<br />
One technique is to<br />
use sophisticated audio<br />
processing that can subtly<br />
influence what the listener<br />
hears by altering the<br />
balance between different<br />
frequencies. It can lift speech<br />
out of the background<br />
soundtrack to make it more<br />
intelligible.<br />
Latency (the time gap<br />
between sound and video) can<br />
be a major issue. If a speaker’s<br />
mouth and voice are more<br />
than 45 milliseconds adrift the<br />
viewer’s concentration can be<br />
affected.<br />
Wireless speakers are<br />
becoming more popular<br />
because of their flexibility, but<br />
this can exacerbate latency<br />
issues as the sound must be<br />
digitised. A technology called<br />
Aptx can help, by ensuring<br />
audio quality is maintained<br />
and the audio and video<br />
signals remain in step when<br />
they reach screens and<br />
loudspeakers.<br />
One downside of increased<br />
audio performance is that<br />
background noise is easily<br />
captured by the latest<br />
microphones, so echo<br />
cancellation and noise<br />
suppression technology have<br />
had to improve significantly<br />
in recent years.<br />
Sound: frequency, balance and latency are important
an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph<br />
November 2011<br />
Business Technology<br />
Audio visual communications<br />
9<br />
Give ‘em the old<br />
razzle dazzle<br />
Video’s potential in business is<br />
so much broader than simply<br />
replacing meetings with faceto-face<br />
conferencing links<br />
By Tracey Caldwell<br />
Video has enormous potential to enrich<br />
communications with employees and<br />
customers, especially with the proliferation<br />
of high-speed networks and affordable<br />
video technology. So it’s somewhat puzzling<br />
that videoconferencing – a straightforward<br />
replacement for physical meetings – seems to<br />
have hogged the limelight for so long.<br />
Now that the quality of video and audio<br />
is of a good standard, smart businesses are<br />
exploiting the facilities more widely – in their<br />
business presentations, at events, on the web<br />
and beyond. So much so that technology<br />
vendors have begun to talk about the videoready<br />
business – an organisation that is<br />
video-enabled to the point that it can apply<br />
the medium wherever it has the potential to<br />
add value. Any business that isn’t video-ready<br />
is vulnerable competitively, they argue.<br />
Richard Oliver, director of marketing<br />
strategy at <strong>BT</strong> <strong>iNet</strong>, identifies culture as one of<br />
the biggest barriers to broader video adoption<br />
until now. “Skills around making video usable<br />
can be brought to bear by a good supplier,”<br />
he notes. “What can’t be brought is the<br />
realisation that a company can’t keep doing<br />
what it has always done once it has reached a<br />
certain size.”<br />
Video can have a powerful impact within<br />
a company certainly, for keeping a highly<br />
dispersed workforce engaged and aligned<br />
to company messaging. A succinct weekly<br />
broadcast by the CEO can be much more<br />
powerful and effective than a company<br />
newsletter or email circular.<br />
Once the business has experimented with<br />
the medium internally, it can turn its attention<br />
outwards. Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets<br />
uses a service provided by Kulu Valley to<br />
deliver on-demand video-based presentations<br />
with a twist to its business customers. The<br />
proposition differs from straightforward<br />
video in that it blends video content with<br />
standard presentation features to deliver a<br />
succinct yet rounded message to the target<br />
audience. Via the web, viewers see a video of<br />
the bank’s chief economist Trevor Williams<br />
speaking, while the slides or graphs he refers<br />
to change in line with what he is saying.<br />
“It is getting our commentary on to a wider<br />
platform,” Williams explains. “There are<br />
people who don’t typically look at our material<br />
who may well look at it now because it is on<br />
platforms they’re used to.”<br />
For Williams, the Kulu-based presentation<br />
Taking stock of video<br />
As further evidence that video is becoming<br />
a mainstream communications vehicle for<br />
business, stock video (pre-recorded content<br />
that businesses can reuse in their own<br />
communications) is growing in popularity.<br />
iStockphoto’s video arm is already five years<br />
old and its library contains some 400,000 files,<br />
which are used in everything from national<br />
news programmes, documentaries and films to<br />
web-based advertising.<br />
According to Jim Goertz, director of video<br />
content development at the company, demand<br />
is currently particularly strong for authentic<br />
reality TV-styled scenes and fully edited mini<br />
films.<br />
Meanwhile, content is being uploaded<br />
increasingly from modern DSLR cameras (often<br />
with stills and video shot simultaneously),<br />
and from large-format high-definition video<br />
cameras.<br />
has a higher impact than a fixed-time<br />
teleconference, a medium the bank used<br />
previously. “With the video, people can open<br />
it at their convenience or listen to it at their<br />
convenience. Whereas we used to get 20 or<br />
30 people dialling in each month, now it’s<br />
more like 270 people opening the video and<br />
watching it,” he says.<br />
Video can transform the impact and feel of<br />
events, too. Take the example of a major ball<br />
hosted by the British Olympic Association<br />
recently. Video technology was used to add<br />
the wow factor to what chief commercial<br />
officer Hugh Chambers describes as “the<br />
biggest and the most ambitious Olympic ball in<br />
this country”. The organisation relies entirely<br />
on commercial funding to field Team GB; in<br />
2012 this will amount to 550 athletes at a cost<br />
of £10m.<br />
“As well as raising money, of equal<br />
importance is to reflect the Olympic values<br />
and the quality of the Olympic brand. We<br />
needed to put on a show that was really going<br />
to dazzle people,” he says.<br />
The BOA used technology from Crystal CG<br />
to mount an enormous, high-impact video<br />
display all around the Grand Hall Olympia in<br />
London. The video culminated in the British<br />
team’s symbolic lion racing around the venue’s<br />
video screens before roaring onto a main<br />
screen that was the size of those providing the<br />
backdrop to major festivals like Glastonbury.<br />
In a retail environment, video is being used<br />
as a means of interacting with customers at<br />
the point of sale, via video chat with product<br />
experts on websites or using in-store kiosks.<br />
This has been found to encourage sales<br />
conversion, especially for high-value items.<br />
In future, IPTV (internet protocol television)<br />
viewers will be able to click through from<br />
Wow factor: video used at the Olympic ball<br />
adverts to a video link to a sales assistant.<br />
A major driver in using video is the<br />
need to respond to heightened customer<br />
expectations. Today, consumers will settle for<br />
nothing less than high-quality, compelling<br />
communications on demand.<br />
”In the same way that businesses have<br />
accepted social media, they are going to need<br />
to accept some level of video as part of that<br />
conversation,” says Simon Hathaway, CEO<br />
of Saatchi & Saatchi X, which specialises in<br />
shopper marketing. “Video personalises the<br />
shopping experience. The technology is there<br />
– the big barrier is pinpointing the cost, and<br />
the return.”<br />
One company that has done the maths<br />
and sees real benefit in video is Renault in<br />
the UK. This month the company launched<br />
its futuristic range of zero emissions (ZE)<br />
electric vehicles. In parallel it is piloting an<br />
online video-based customer service channel<br />
for customers and for dealers that take on the<br />
new range. The video technology is provided<br />
by Vee24.<br />
Renault can now explain the technology<br />
behind its ZE range by showing it to customers<br />
during video conversations over the web<br />
with product experts. Noting that telephone<br />
contact to Renault is in decline, Peter Tilbury,<br />
front-office customer<br />
relations manager<br />
at Renault UK, says:<br />
“Customers are on our<br />
website; let’s talk to them.”<br />
Hathaway: barrier<br />
is pinpointing cost<br />
and return
10<br />
Industry view<br />
Business Technology November 2011 an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph<br />
Immerse yourself in video interaction<br />
Breakthrough in videoconferencing market enables affordable, high quality<br />
telepresence across a range of devices including smart phones and tablets<br />
Enterprise customers no longer have to<br />
choose between pristine telepresence quality<br />
and affordable solutions when looking to<br />
deploy video conferencing throughout their<br />
organisation. Finally, due to an innovative<br />
platform built by Vidyo, companies can<br />
purchase affordable enterprise-grade<br />
telepresence that is easily accessed by<br />
participants, whether they’re using desktop<br />
or laptop computers, tablets, smart phones,<br />
room systems or immersive telepresence<br />
systems. Vidyo has redefined video<br />
conferencing infrastructure and network<br />
costs, resulting in 10X better quality and<br />
density, 10X lower cost and power usage and,<br />
when running on virtual machines, saving<br />
up to 90 per cent of the cost of competitive<br />
solutions.<br />
One example of this technological<br />
breakthrough is VidyoPanorama, the<br />
industry’s first affordable telepresence<br />
solution that delivers immersive interactions<br />
on up to 20 screens of 1080p at 60fps<br />
resolution and is up to 10X less expensive<br />
than comparable telepresence systems.<br />
“The videoconferencing market has<br />
matured; customers today are sophisticated<br />
and no longer willing to settle for expensive,<br />
inflexible, hard to use, legacy-based<br />
hardware systems,” said Ofer Shapiro,<br />
Vidyo’s co-founder and CEO. “Vidyo’s<br />
Industry first: Vidyo Panorama telepresence system<br />
software-based platform delivers exceptional<br />
image clarity; natural, high definition<br />
fidelity that is affordable on any device,<br />
and accessible to anyone, via any network.<br />
Vidyo’s low-latency, highly scalable and<br />
error-resilient video communication solution<br />
also interoperates with legacy H.323 and<br />
SIP endpoints, to leverage existing video<br />
conferencing investments.”<br />
“Vidyo has a game-changing, ‘disruptive’<br />
platform offering quality, affordability and<br />
flexibility to businesses of all sizes,” said<br />
Ian Vickerage, managing director of Imago<br />
Group PLC, Europe’s largest distributor of<br />
videoconferencing products, and distributor<br />
of Vidyo’s line of VidyoConferencing<br />
products in the UK. “Vidyo’s platform is<br />
software-based, so a Vidyo conference can<br />
be accessed on a full range of affordable, ‘off<br />
the shelf’ devices such as iPhones, iPads and<br />
Android smart phones and tablets, as well<br />
as laptops, desktops, and telepresence room<br />
systems.”<br />
Vidyo pioneered a new generation of<br />
video communications called “personal<br />
telepresence.” The patented VidyoRouter<br />
architecture introduces Adaptive Video<br />
Layering, which dynamically optimises<br />
the video stream for each individual’s<br />
endpoint, leveraging H.264 scalable video<br />
coding-based compression technology and<br />
Vidyo IP. Vidyo delivers unprecedented<br />
error resiliency, low-latency rate matching<br />
enabling natural, affordable, high-quality<br />
video to work over the Internet, WiFi, 3G and<br />
4G networks.<br />
Vidyo’s communication and collaboration<br />
platform is simple to use, eliminates the costs<br />
of building and maintaining a network, and<br />
is today transforming large enterprises, small<br />
and medium-sized businesses, as well as<br />
telemedicine, manufacturing and education.<br />
Follow the company on Twitter @Vidyo or visit<br />
www.vidyo.com<br />
Delivering a difference<br />
How can businesses use non PC-based<br />
hypermedia technology to communicate<br />
effectively with their customers<br />
Getting your message across is important.<br />
With digital signage, electronic displays and<br />
hardware help organisations communicate<br />
their business needs and information to<br />
audiences in public spaces – whether it’s<br />
railway stations, shopping centres, hotel<br />
lobbies, educational lecture halls or even staff<br />
room areas.<br />
Digital technology has replaced print signs<br />
and billboards – and it’s easy to see why.<br />
Such signs are easy to configure, are live<br />
and offer instant updating of information,<br />
plus they can bring in revenue through<br />
advertising. And as well as earning money,<br />
digital signs can save businesses money on<br />
printing costs and wastage.<br />
With expert help, from suppliers such as<br />
SpinetiX, this can be a brave new world for<br />
businesses to enter.<br />
A good company will help its clients<br />
configure, install and manage a digital<br />
signage system, typically comprising screens,<br />
hardware and software (securely managed<br />
often over the internet using a simple log-in).<br />
Digital signage is often in public areas<br />
where space is tight, so it is important to<br />
have a flexible, future-proof digital asset<br />
management system that is compact and<br />
secure and able to be viewed the light levels of<br />
its intended space. With the latest technology<br />
comes digital signage hardware devices<br />
– more commonly known as hyper media<br />
players – which aren’t PC anymore and which<br />
are able to manage graphics, audio, video, text<br />
and newsfeeds for information displays.<br />
These systems are easy to use – with<br />
a properly designed system, you can be<br />
communicating with customers in less time<br />
than it takes to make a cup of tea. It really is<br />
that simple!<br />
Hypermedia players can be set up to have<br />
access to public or private databases and<br />
display selected content with predefined<br />
graphic layouts; display RSS news based on<br />
key words; connect to public or private audio/<br />
video, streaming servers and display live<br />
events, news and entertainment contents;<br />
retrieve from network disks images and<br />
videos; enable all sorts of network interactive<br />
services; and schedule which content to<br />
display when and where.<br />
These easy-to-use devices have embedded<br />
software to allow the management of content,<br />
but it’s not all about simplicity or versatility.<br />
Hypermedia players can offer an excellent<br />
return on investment, too. Advertising is an<br />
easy way in which businesses can recover<br />
their costs and even bring revenue into<br />
Swiss digital signage manufacturer SpinetiX’s hypermedia player<br />
the business.<br />
One such retailer is the Leroy Merlin<br />
flagship store in Nova Milanese, Italy. This is<br />
the first Italian retail store to use interactive<br />
screens to guide and educate customers as<br />
well as create a unique shopping experience,<br />
using hypermedia players.<br />
With the right technology, digital<br />
technology can help bring the investment<br />
back into your business.<br />
Serge Konter is marketing manager at Swiss<br />
digital signage hardware manufacturer SpinetiX<br />
www.spinetix.com
an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph<br />
November 2011<br />
Business Technology<br />
Audio visual communications<br />
11<br />
A feast for the senses<br />
Being wowed by attention-grabbing<br />
video and surround sound isn’t<br />
enough for today’s consumers who are<br />
being immersed in 3D and augmented<br />
reality in their personal lives<br />
By Tracey Caldwell<br />
When there is a complex concept to get across,<br />
or you’re marketing an experience rather<br />
than a straightforward product, it helps to<br />
add a further dimension to audio-visual<br />
communications.<br />
Consumers are coming to expect it, too.<br />
Spoilt by immersive gaming, 3D cinema and<br />
advanced touch-enabled applications on their<br />
iPads and smartphones, customers now crave<br />
a more touchy-feely experience when they<br />
engage with companies and their marketing<br />
campaigns.<br />
Although virtual reality hasn’t quite caught<br />
on in the way that might have been expected<br />
15 years ago, there are signs that businesses<br />
are becoming more innovative and open to<br />
three – and four –dimensional marketing.<br />
Effective applications include those where<br />
the consumers’ view of the real world is<br />
augmented by a technological dimension,<br />
giving them more information by video and<br />
allowing them more direct interaction.<br />
In two Inamo restaurants in London, diners<br />
are able to watch their meals being made in<br />
the kitchens via webcam, having placed their<br />
order using tabletop touchscreens. They can<br />
then play tabletop games on their E-Table<br />
while waiting for their order.<br />
One of the two restaurants has private<br />
dining areas and the technology enables<br />
branding for private or corporate events, a<br />
distinctive way of providing a platform for<br />
businesses to use some of their own audiovisual<br />
assets.<br />
The E-Table ordering system incorporates<br />
a waterproof Bluetooth touch panel, a special<br />
tabletop, and a Canon XEED projector and<br />
computer, housed in a pod in the ceiling above.<br />
The challenge has been to balance<br />
Taste of innovation: customers can order their food via interactive E-Tables at Inamo, London<br />
the potential of the technology with<br />
the requirement to provide a restaurant<br />
experience. “There is a huge amount we could<br />
do but we have chosen not to overpower the<br />
guests with the amount of digital information<br />
coming at them as we wanted the overall<br />
experience of a restaurant as opposed to an<br />
advertising platform, a games forum or an<br />
internet platform,” says Mark Boyle, sales<br />
director at Compurants, parent company of<br />
Inamo.<br />
Diamond jewellery retailer Forevermark,<br />
part of the De Beers group, was looking for<br />
a way to engage customers more effectively.<br />
It acknowledged that the retail environment<br />
for diamond jewellery could be intimidating<br />
because of the necessary security around<br />
the high-value items and it wanted a way to<br />
let customers try on diamond jewellery in a<br />
relaxed and fun way.<br />
In October it began trialling a system from<br />
Holition to enable customers to try on the<br />
jewellery using a webcam. The customer uses<br />
paper versions of the jewellery, which may be<br />
supplied with catalogues or magazines. When<br />
the customer holds up a necklace, for example,<br />
while looking at his or her video image<br />
appearing on screen via webcam, the system<br />
reads the paper tab and inserts moving images<br />
of the jewellery wherever the tab is held. The<br />
customer can move his or her head this way<br />
and that and the jewellery will move and<br />
glisten in a realistic way, as if the customer<br />
were trying it on in a shop.<br />
“In the diamond jewellery<br />
sector we think this is a<br />
really innovative and<br />
new initiative,” says<br />
Stephen Lussier, CEO at<br />
Forevermark. “It gave<br />
us an opportunity<br />
to leap beyond what<br />
you see in a printed<br />
catalogue and create a<br />
relaxed environment,<br />
where customers could<br />
still experience trying<br />
things on.”<br />
Swiss watch manufacturer Tissot has<br />
brought the Holition technology even closer<br />
to the point of sale, encouraging potential<br />
customers to try on watches virtually while<br />
standing outside the store looking in at<br />
webcams. The technology, pioneered in<br />
the UK and implemented at Selfridges and<br />
Harrods, has had a direct impact.<br />
“When the application has been integrated<br />
with activity at the point of sale it has<br />
shown a clear, direct link to sale,”<br />
says François Thiébaud,<br />
Tissot’s president. “The<br />
integration in our media<br />
campaign resulted in an<br />
increased flow of traffic<br />
to our website where<br />
consumers could ‘try on’<br />
the watch seen in the<br />
press adverts.”<br />
Virtual reality: try on<br />
a Tissot watch via a<br />
webcam<br />
Beam me up, Scotty<br />
Hologram technology is taking remote presence into a new dimension<br />
Imagine being able to teleport<br />
leading businesspeople to appear<br />
on stage at overseas conferences.<br />
Orange Business projected<br />
top executive Marie-Noëlle<br />
Jégo-Laveissière from Paris to a<br />
partner event in Amsterdam this<br />
summer, with the help of hologram<br />
specialist Musion. Jégo-Laveissière<br />
appeared on stage next to live<br />
employees to showcase a form of 3D<br />
videoconferencing.<br />
She is in good company – others<br />
who have appeared as 3D holograms<br />
include Prince Charles, King<br />
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Al Gore, Sir<br />
Richard Branson, David Beckham,<br />
Madonna and the Black Eyed Peas.<br />
Orange also showcased the Musion<br />
technology at Hellodemain in Paris.<br />
Visitors had their image captured<br />
live and projected life-size on stage,<br />
apparently being teleported into the<br />
jungle. The 3D image was broadcast<br />
over a high-speed fibre optic<br />
network.<br />
The holograms are not in fact 3D<br />
but give the impression of being<br />
so. An image appears apparently in<br />
mid-air, projected on to a clear film.<br />
Scenery in front of and behind this<br />
image adds to the appearance of<br />
three dimensions.<br />
While the technology of<br />
transmitting holograms from<br />
one place to another still has its<br />
challenges, using 3D audio-visual<br />
at events is very achievable and<br />
can have a high impact. Winton<br />
Capital Management, sponsor of<br />
Opera Holland Park, the annual<br />
opera festival in west London,<br />
worked with London creative agency<br />
Knifedge to give the event a wow<br />
factor. It released a seven-metre<br />
helium illuminated balloon, on to<br />
which 3D images were projected.<br />
The next generation of hologram<br />
technology would be real 3D<br />
rendering but it is unlikely we will<br />
see such products before 2020. Dr<br />
Stéphane Pateux, head of voice and<br />
video coding research at Orange,<br />
says researchers are working on new<br />
technologies to decrease the bit rate<br />
bandwidth of the network needed<br />
to carry high definition signals. “We<br />
are looking at technology to improve<br />
the quality of media up to super high<br />
resolution and also 3D technology,”<br />
he says.<br />
Meanwhile, the distance<br />
learning and education sectors<br />
are among those showing earlyadopter<br />
interest in this form of 3D<br />
videoconferencing, as well as the<br />
music industry, which makes much<br />
of its profits from live performances.<br />
“People perceive this as a business<br />
tool and that is certainly where<br />
it is at the moment, whereas we<br />
see it appearing at concert halls<br />
and upscale nightclubs and public<br />
venues,” says Ian O’Connell, a<br />
director at Musion.
an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph<br />
November 2011<br />
Business Technology<br />
Audio visual communications<br />
13<br />
Bag of tricks<br />
A round-up of the hottest AV technologies<br />
currently making the headlines<br />
By Caramel Quin<br />
Bringing content to life<br />
Web-based tool Prezi<br />
gives users a free hand to<br />
position words, images and<br />
videos on a giant zoomable<br />
canvas, and then either set<br />
a presentation path or move<br />
around freely. You use the<br />
relative size and position<br />
of a piece of information to<br />
represent its importance<br />
and how it relates to other<br />
information. The result can<br />
be viewed online, on an iPad<br />
or downloaded and played<br />
offline. Prezi has passed<br />
the 5m user mark but the<br />
technology is still niche<br />
enough that clients have<br />
probably seen nothing like it.<br />
Digital signage<br />
Video screens can be a<br />
striking alternative to posters<br />
and billboards but, as they<br />
become commonplace,<br />
companies need to do more<br />
to make their messages<br />
stand out. In October Adidas<br />
installed a Virtual Footwear<br />
Wall (below) at its flagship<br />
Oxford Street store in London<br />
– a touchscreen, two-metres<br />
high, that lets shoppers<br />
explore its latest football<br />
boot, watch videos, interact<br />
with social media and use a<br />
tablet computer to make a<br />
purchase.<br />
The modular wall can be<br />
reprogrammed to promote<br />
different products. Adidas,<br />
working with Intel, hopes to<br />
roll it out elsewhere and has<br />
demonstrated a wall with a<br />
built-in camera that detects<br />
the shopper’s gender and<br />
offers them suitable footwear.<br />
Holographic keynotes<br />
Time-pressed executives<br />
can’t be in two places at once,<br />
so cutting-edge holographic<br />
technology allows company<br />
CEOs to “appear” at events<br />
in any location, even<br />
simultaneously. Last year<br />
the CEO of recruitment<br />
specialist Randstad appeared<br />
holographically to 28,000<br />
employees in 18 countries,<br />
his speech pre-recorded<br />
in four languages and<br />
subtitled in nine. Live<br />
holographic keynotes are also<br />
increasingly popular. Market<br />
leader Musion has worked<br />
with blue-chip companies<br />
including Cisco, Samsung,<br />
Microsoft and Orange to<br />
seemingly teleport speakers<br />
on to a stage.<br />
iPad magazines<br />
The sleek portability of tablet<br />
devices such as the iPad<br />
make them the ideal sales<br />
tool for one-to-one meetings<br />
and exhibition stand<br />
presentations. Thousands of<br />
business applications exploit<br />
the format already, and now<br />
there’s even a package to<br />
bring a professional magazine<br />
look to the way presented<br />
material is packaged. Special<br />
magazine publishing<br />
software from Adobe will<br />
cost a company around<br />
£5,000 a year, but much<br />
the same effect can be<br />
achieved with more<br />
affordable software<br />
such as Roambi Flow<br />
(around a tenth of<br />
the cost). Its intuitive<br />
desktop or iPad interface<br />
lets users drag and drop<br />
text, pictures, videos and<br />
documents to create a digital<br />
magazine.<br />
Gamification<br />
If you want to engage your<br />
customers, suppliers or<br />
workers in your message,<br />
make it fun. Welcome,<br />
gamification – the use of<br />
game design techniques and<br />
mechanics to solve problems<br />
and engage audiences.<br />
Foursquare, which runs the<br />
eponymous location-based<br />
social networking website,<br />
made more than 10m people<br />
obsess over earning badges<br />
by visiting ordinary places<br />
like cafés. Screenreach<br />
Interactive recently created<br />
a billboard-sized video game<br />
on the wall of London’s<br />
Westfield shopping centre<br />
for car insurer Swiftcover.<br />
Passers-by were encouraged<br />
to download the free app<br />
to play a giant racing game,<br />
using their smartphones as<br />
controllers. Shoppers won<br />
prizes and discount vouchers,<br />
and in return Swiftcover<br />
was able to analyse the<br />
consumers that took part,<br />
gaining an insight into the<br />
target audience and seeing<br />
how they responded to<br />
the brand when trying<br />
out new technologies.<br />
Augmented reality<br />
Augmented reality (AR) is a<br />
bit like virtual reality (VR),<br />
but instead of immersing<br />
themselves in a virtual<br />
world, users access the<br />
experience through a screen.<br />
For example, with an AR<br />
application on a smartphone a<br />
user might point their device<br />
at the Empire State Building<br />
(above) and see images of<br />
its construction (through<br />
a history app), a visual<br />
directory of which companies<br />
have offices there (via a<br />
business app), or King Kong<br />
fending off biplanes (using an<br />
entertainment app).<br />
There’s no real limit to<br />
the business applications<br />
for augmenting the real<br />
world with virtual objects.<br />
AR might be used to guide<br />
someone around a campus,<br />
demonstrate a product<br />
concept or engage shoppers.<br />
Online retailer Net-A-Porter<br />
recently created a virtual<br />
clothes shop in London<br />
and New York windows<br />
– customers pointed<br />
smartphones and iPads<br />
at posters to explore and<br />
buy clothes.<br />
Projection mapping<br />
Projection mapping<br />
techniques give a wow<br />
factor to big events.<br />
Clever graphics are<br />
projected on to a big<br />
screen, fooling the<br />
eye into thinking it’s<br />
seeing something in<br />
3D , without requiring<br />
the viewer to wear<br />
special<br />
glasses. At recent<br />
catwalk events for Wella<br />
haircare, creative agency<br />
Knifedge combined<br />
projection mapping and<br />
spatial surround sound to<br />
make the audience feel they<br />
were looking at a motorised<br />
set costing millions, when<br />
it was pixels and processing<br />
power.<br />
Touch tables<br />
Straight out of futuristic<br />
sci-fi films such as Minority<br />
Report come touch tables<br />
– large furniture with<br />
embedded touchscreens and<br />
custom software, promising<br />
to transform everything<br />
from the boardroom<br />
table to retail interaction<br />
(below). Marketing agency<br />
Imagination won two<br />
Marketing Design Awards<br />
for creating a motor show<br />
experience for Ford’s luxury<br />
US car brand<br />
Lincoln using modular<br />
touch tables that can be<br />
reprogrammed and reused.<br />
Another Imagination client,<br />
Swire Properties, has used<br />
touch tables to revolutionise<br />
store directories in its flagship<br />
Hong Kong shopping centre,<br />
with multiple languages.<br />
These are more than<br />
just touch-screens that tell<br />
customers where to find a<br />
shop, being as tactile as an<br />
iPad. Think swiping pages<br />
to make them turn, having<br />
real-time updates on events<br />
and promotions in the store,<br />
and even a direct link to<br />
the Hong Kong weather<br />
observatory.<br />
Video engagement<br />
Video engagement uses<br />
video to interact with online<br />
users – with live talking<br />
heads guiding users through<br />
a company’s offering and<br />
even showing them web<br />
pages, documents and more.<br />
This enables firms to drive<br />
up customer service without<br />
pushing up operating costs.<br />
The technology can boost<br />
business too – for example,<br />
in retail it can save the<br />
contents of online shopping<br />
baskets from languishing.<br />
Clients of video engagement<br />
specialist Vee24 have been<br />
known to experience a 38<br />
per cent boost in website<br />
conversion rates after<br />
introducing the video<br />
engagement feature.<br />
Alternative propositions<br />
are available from companies<br />
including Netop which<br />
supports a blend of text,<br />
audio and video chat<br />
options which companies<br />
can combine to form a<br />
flexible customer support<br />
channel.
14<br />
Industry view<br />
Business Technology November 2011 an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph<br />
Putting your needs in expert hands<br />
Whether it’s for a<br />
corporate event or a school<br />
presentation, AV enhances<br />
communication. But without<br />
professional installation,<br />
your message could be lost<br />
The audiovisual (AV) industry has been<br />
helping people communicate for almost<br />
a century. While many conjure images of<br />
overhead and slide projectors when thinking<br />
about AV, today’s technology includes<br />
videoconferencing, command-and-control<br />
rooms, video walls, stadium screens and more.<br />
AV blends the worlds of art and science. But<br />
the heart of the industry’s heritage is solving<br />
communication challenges.<br />
AV provides solutions to many societal<br />
quandaries, such as ‘How can I communicate<br />
complex opportunities to a business halfway<br />
around the world without leaving my<br />
office’ ‘How can I offer a comfortable<br />
and productive environment to everyone<br />
attending a meeting’ ‘How do I provide<br />
direction to visitors in public spaces’ and<br />
‘How can I reach a new generation of hi-tech<br />
students’<br />
AV helps people communicate more<br />
effectively. These communications systems<br />
have provided business tools to generate and<br />
connect ideas.<br />
Impact: AV can put the wow factor into product launches and corporate events<br />
Shrinking travel budgets and a focus on<br />
reducing one’s carbon footprint means that<br />
the value of AV is increasing. Enterprise<br />
video communications is used in every aspect<br />
of sales, marketing, human resources, and<br />
management.<br />
Continued advances in AV technology and<br />
rapid adoption means that innovation and idea<br />
generation happen at the speed of business.<br />
The corporate world also relies on live event<br />
professionals to put the “wow factor” into<br />
product launches and special events.<br />
Christian Bowman<br />
Hiring AV professionals<br />
When looking for an AV professional, hire a<br />
contractor with employees that have earned<br />
certification from InfoComm International.<br />
The Certified Technology Specialist (CTS)<br />
credential is for audiovisual professionals<br />
demonstrating extensive knowledge of the<br />
technology used in audio, video and display<br />
systems, and a competence, dedication<br />
and commitment to their profession. With<br />
agreement to a code of ethics pledging truth,<br />
accuracy and a commitment to excellence in<br />
all aspects of the profession, CTS-holders are<br />
recognised as trusted service providers to<br />
customers of AV technology.<br />
“As audiovisual equipment has become<br />
more sophisticated, there is increased need<br />
for professional services to assure the highest<br />
performance levels of communications<br />
technologies,” said Randal A Lemke, PhD,<br />
executive director and CEO of InfoComm<br />
International. “Employers in the public and<br />
private sectors can be confident that AV<br />
professionals holding the CTS credentials<br />
possess the necessary skills to implement<br />
audiovisual best practices, processes and<br />
procedures anywhere in the world.”<br />
The International Organization for<br />
Standardization’s (ISO) United States<br />
representative, the American National<br />
Standards Institute (ANSI), has accredited<br />
InfoComm’s CTS, Certified Technology<br />
Specialist – Design (CTS-D) Certified<br />
Technology Specialist – Installation (CTS-I)<br />
credentials under ISO/IEC 17024. ISO/IEC<br />
17024 establishes a global benchmark for the<br />
certification of personnel.<br />
ANSI accredits standards developers,<br />
certification bodies and technical advisory<br />
groups to both the ISO and the International<br />
Electrotechnical Commission. The CTS are<br />
the only audiovisual industry credentials<br />
to earn ANSI accreditation for its personnel<br />
certification program, setting the industry<br />
standard for competency in the AV industry.<br />
www.powerofav.com<br />
Content is king<br />
Take a strategic approach to events and meetings. How can technology drive<br />
content, perception and insight for both the audience and organisers<br />
It’s an interesting decision that businesses<br />
face when they consider the use of<br />
AV equipment at an event, meeting<br />
or conference; It is probably worth<br />
understanding the basis of how these<br />
decisions are made.<br />
How often is the decision about the use<br />
of AV equipment seen as a strategic one,<br />
rather than a tactical or convenient one<br />
Generally, not often. Indeed, do senior people<br />
in many organisations even realise what the<br />
implications can be<br />
For years, businesses have discussed the<br />
ROI (return on investment) of meetings and<br />
events, from the cost of getting people in<br />
one room to the overall benefit derived from<br />
attending seminars and conferences. The<br />
IML Connector – an interactive engagement<br />
tool – has driven a more strategic approach.<br />
At IML Worldwide we demonstrate that<br />
clients can receive a far better ROI by taking<br />
a more strategic view of what they are trying<br />
to achieve from these events. How often<br />
do people start with this premise In our<br />
experience this is very rare but, crucially,<br />
when they do take this approach the<br />
impact and the success of the meetings are<br />
demonstrably better.<br />
So, what is the critical factor in this<br />
Content. Capturing and using content that<br />
is generated in these gatherings; moreover<br />
it is the ability to provide a means to gather<br />
this information that becomes increasingly<br />
important.<br />
When you look at ways you generate<br />
content, these include: voice, messages,<br />
voting, opinion gathering, response to<br />
presentations/questions, ability to manage<br />
the audience, and demographics.<br />
By enabling the audience with the<br />
capability to effectively contribute and offer<br />
instantaneous responses to what they see<br />
and hear, everyone achieves a far richer<br />
and rewarding event. This is two-fold.<br />
Firstly, by making it a more interesting and<br />
engaging experience for the attendees.<br />
Secondly, by gaining perspective and insight<br />
that organisers can use to drive decisions,<br />
changes in strategy and appeal to their<br />
clients more successfully. This is what<br />
executives both need and want but find<br />
difficult to achieve; it’s where the value lies.<br />
To an extent the industry has let itself<br />
become commoditised and allowed clients<br />
to take a view on price above anything<br />
else. Event organisers need to be striving to<br />
demonstrate the value that can be achieved<br />
from events and how technology can support<br />
them. Senior executives see the value; it just<br />
needs to be correctly articulated.<br />
Opinion: event audiences can contribute content via the IML Connector<br />
In recent months IML have run events<br />
that have used TVT (Text, Vote, Talk) on<br />
the award-winning IML Connector. This<br />
engages the audience to contribute content<br />
via messaging, speech and opinion; the<br />
results were astounding. In one meeting<br />
in the US, more than 1,200 messages were<br />
generated – the organisers expected less<br />
than 20.<br />
Content is king and a strategic view is<br />
crucial.<br />
IML Worldwide recently won the Audio<br />
Product of the Year award for the IML<br />
Connector at the AV Awards 2011.<br />
Richard Fisher is CEO of IML Worldwide<br />
Call +44 (0)1428 787 591 or visit<br />
www.imlworldwide.com
an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph<br />
November 2011<br />
Business Technology<br />
15<br />
Industry view<br />
An advert for the future<br />
In the ever-increasing world of digitisation,<br />
companies must find ways to make the public<br />
switch on to out-of-home advertising<br />
Billboards and poster advertising have been<br />
part of our daily life for years and, with people<br />
spending as much as 42 per cent of their<br />
time away from home, this type of out-ofhome<br />
promotion has proved to be an ideal<br />
tool to advertise anything from small, local<br />
businesses to major consumer brands.<br />
But while billboards are static as an<br />
advertising medium – only changing every<br />
few weeks when someone posts up new<br />
material – as the world becomes increasingly<br />
digitised, so out- of-home advertising is<br />
adapting to become more dynamic.<br />
In recent years, we’ve seen a huge rise<br />
in digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising<br />
where multimedia promotional material is<br />
transmitted via computer or a set-top box to<br />
digital screens and interactive media located<br />
in public places such as sporting arenas, bars,<br />
health clubs and retail outlets.<br />
The beauty of DOOH advertising is that<br />
it can be changed every few seconds and<br />
enables location owners and advertisers to<br />
extend their reach and engage with customers<br />
or prospects more closely, often at the point of<br />
purchase. This can lead to improved revenues,<br />
a better customer experience and increased<br />
footfall.<br />
Many are already recognising the benefits<br />
of DOOH, with industry spend expected to<br />
more than double to $16.9 billion by 2015.<br />
However, this new and more dynamic<br />
channel opens up fresh challenges for<br />
advertisers. With many more locations<br />
available and a lack of audience data, it may<br />
be difficult and time-consuming to plan<br />
campaigns and buy locations. Furthermore,<br />
poor quality information and metrics can<br />
make measuring a programme’s success<br />
difficult. With as much as 60 per cent of these<br />
tasks requiring significant human input, the<br />
whole process can have a huge impact on the<br />
profitability of a campaign.<br />
Identifying these common challenges led<br />
NEC Display Solutions to develop Vukunet,<br />
an engine that powers the DOOH industry.<br />
Already available in the US, and launching<br />
in Europe in 2012, Vukunet is an automated<br />
advert delivery platform that links screen<br />
owners with advertisers. It can turn any<br />
internet-connected screen into an advertising<br />
media, opening up many more channels to<br />
advertisers and creating new revenue streams<br />
for screen owners who sign up, whether they<br />
have mega screens, kiosks, games stations, or<br />
just a shop owner with a terminal.<br />
Vukunet has introduced the first universal<br />
inventory management, advert delivery,<br />
Digital: bringing billboard<br />
adverts to the 21st century<br />
billing and payment, and reporting system to<br />
an industry that, to date, has had almost no<br />
standardisation across hundreds of operating<br />
networks.<br />
At NEC Display Solutions we believe this<br />
standards-based approach could be the<br />
tipping point for the DOOH industry.<br />
Industry-wide standards will help to<br />
simplify the business and make it easier for<br />
advertisers and buyers to book DOOH outlets<br />
and demonstrate success. The benefits of this<br />
are clear to all – lower operating costs and<br />
increased transparency of campaigns. And, as<br />
revenues from DOOH channels flow in, it will<br />
encourage others to invest, thus benefiting<br />
and continuing to grow the DOOH ecosystem.<br />
Dirk Hülsermann is manager of DOOH Solutions<br />
– Vukunet/Advuku, marketing and business<br />
development, NEC Display Solutions.<br />
Call 0870 120 1160 or visit<br />
www.nec-displays.co.uk<br />
A touch of innovation<br />
The world of video displays<br />
is changing at rapid pace<br />
to allow unparalleled<br />
levels of user interaction.<br />
Are touchable video walls<br />
the way forward<br />
As a world leader in speciality display<br />
solutions, Planar Systems became the first<br />
display manufacturer to introduce an LCD<br />
media wall with integrated, multi-touch<br />
capabilities. Planar’s Clarity Matrix Touch<br />
provides a turnkey solution for deploying<br />
multi-touch video walls in public spaces,<br />
interactive signage applications, and<br />
commercial and government environments.<br />
Clarity Matrix Touch combines DViT<br />
(Digital Vision Touch) technology from<br />
SMART Technologies with Planar’s ultra-thin<br />
LCD video wall system with ERO (Extended<br />
Ruggedness and Optics) optically bonded<br />
glass touch surface on to Planar’s highly<br />
successful, modular LCD video wall solution,<br />
Clarity Matrix. The new integrated touch<br />
solution is ideal for adding interactivity to<br />
busy retail locations, corporate environments,<br />
collaborative meeting rooms, and military or<br />
utility mapping rooms.<br />
Touch is changing the world of video<br />
displays and Clarity Matrix Touch enables<br />
new levels of user interaction, collaboration<br />
and annotation previously unachievable<br />
with a turnkey video wall solution. Planar<br />
Touchable: video wall offers interactivity to retail locations and corporate environments<br />
makes it easier than ever to specify, install,<br />
and maintain a world-class interactive media<br />
wall.<br />
Until now, implementing touch on LCD<br />
video walls has required ground-up custom<br />
design from system integrators, requiring<br />
significant time and effort. In addition to<br />
customised installation and configuration,<br />
integrators have had to install large panels<br />
of glass in front of the video wall to create<br />
a touch-enabled surface and, in doing so,<br />
endure issues associated with complexity<br />
of installation and service, increased costs,<br />
increased thermal load and compromised<br />
visual performance and safety.<br />
“Over the past few years, we’ve witnessed<br />
an increasing demand for products that<br />
feature our DViT technology as a growing<br />
number of customers around the world<br />
continue to seek high quality touch and<br />
annotation capabilities for larger displays,”<br />
says Linda Thomas, vice president of products,<br />
for SMART Technologies, the leading provider<br />
of collaboration solutions. “The Clarity Matrix<br />
Touch solution will enable customers to<br />
deploy larger touch-enabled surfaces quickly<br />
and easily to enhance collaboration for all<br />
users.”<br />
The Clarity Matrix Touch benefits include<br />
easy installation and maintenance. Planar’s<br />
ERO glass is optically bonded to the front of<br />
each LCD, eliminating the need for a separate<br />
protective surface and enabling modular<br />
installation and maintenance.<br />
It also offers dual-touch with gestures.<br />
This enables users to interact with the screen<br />
using fingertips and gestures to scroll through<br />
menus, expand and shrink images, or create<br />
written annotations.<br />
Email jaypaul.barrow@planar.com or visit<br />
www.planarcontrolroom.com