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Pitch with pizzazz
Page 5 Immerse yourself Page 11 The wow factor
Page 13
Are your
presentations
dry, technical
and boring
Use augmented
reality to kick-start
your marketing
The latest
technology
to get your
message across
biztechreport.co.uk
November 2011
BusinessTechnology
Distributed within The Daily Telegraph,
produced and published by Lyonsdown which
takes sole responsibility for the contents
Raise
your
game
How audio visual
communications
can bring you closer
to your customer

2
Business Technology November 2011 an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph

an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph
Publisher
Bradley Scheffer
brad@lyonsdown.co.uk
Managing Editor
Lucie Carrington
lucie@lyonsdown.co.uk
Editor
Sue Tabbitt
Creative Director
Martin Nolan
studio@lyonsdown.co.uk
Sub Editor
Amy Dickson
amy@lyonsdown.co.uk
Journal Assistant
Natalie Luketic
natalie@lyonsdown.co.uk
Project Manager
Aidan Neville
aidan@lyonsdown.co.uk
For more information on any
of our supplements please
contact us:
Telephone: 020 8349 4363
Email: info@lyonsdown.co.uk
Online: www.lyonsdown.co.uk
A sight to behold
Businesses need to raise their game and be far more
imaginative with technology if they want to engage
staff and clients, who are increasingly IT savvy
By Sue Tabbitt
Speak to any technology vendor for more than
five minutes and the chances are they’ll slip in the
somewhat ugly term “consumerisation of IT”. It’s
a lever into the usual marketing pitch of course,
but there is a point behind the hype – namely that
consumer technology (and people’s imagination with
and use of it) is now considerably ahead of business
technology.
Enter the world of work, and it’s like slipping back
in time. Budget constraints, an inefficient approach
to technology projects, concerns about control and
security, and a general lack of imagination have
prevented organisations from keeping pace with
developments elsewhere. The result is a generation
of staff who know more about technology and its
potential than their employers do.
From the dynamic ways they use the
internet, social networks and mobile
technology, to their expectations
of 3D immersion
when gaming or
at the cinema,
these upcoming
employees – who are
also consumers of
course – have high
expectations for
the tools and
technologies at their
disposal in their
office lives.
When these
aren’t met,
individuals
are likely to
respond by
bringing
their own
assets
into
November 2011
work – from smartphones and iPads to their own
online software accounts – not just for social
networks, but for file-sharing sites and so on.
When it comes to communicating to a wider
audience – and more formally – the same issues arise.
Younger, technology savvy users want to be able to
put together advanced, interactive collateral, using
the latest presentation technologies, video and so on.
Outside the workplace, meanwhile – as consumers
– this is also how they want to engage with brands,
retailers and service providers. They expect to be
dazzled when being sold to; they demand that all of
their senses are stimulated; they want to be able to
watch the video, touch the product, get a sense of the
experience.
Most of the big brands know this and have
responded – by allocating large budgets to digital
media agencies. More traditional businesses
typically do less well, however, believing
rather complacently that they can cut
corners and do everything in- house with
a few core tools and a good sales
team. As younger generations
rise through the ranks, they will
find that they can no longer get
away with this.
They shouldn’t have to,
either. Digital media agencies
have much to offer certainly, but
advanced AV technology
is now so accessible,
affordable and easy to use
that organisations really
have no excuse not
to raise their game.
The opportunities to
amaze and delight
customers are
unlimited; in most
cases all that’s
missing is the
vision.
Business Technology
Audio visual communications – in this issue
17
video walls are on display
in the Westfield Stratford
City shopping centre
Page 8
£10m
is being raised for Team GB
2012 using the latest AV
technology Page 9
7metres
is the height of a helium
balloon used to wow
Opera Holland Park
visitors with optical
illusions Page 11
28,000
Randstad employees
worldwide watched the
CEO appear holographically
last year Page 13
3
biztechreport.co.uk
Contributors
Cover: Lucy Ward
Supporters
Sue Tabbitt is a technology
journalist covering a broad
range of business and
IT subjects for The Daily
Telegraph, The Sunday
Telegraph and The Guardian as
well as specialist technology
and industry publications.
Jim Mortleman is a freelance
writer, journalist and
commentator with over
two decades’ experience
examining technology
developments and their
implications for business and
society. He has written for
numerous trade, consumer,
online and national titles,
as well as organising and
presenting at high-tech
events.
Tracey Caldwell is a freelance
business technology
journalist with specialisms
including networking and
communications. She is
a regular contributor to
the Guardian Professional
website.
Paul Bray writes regularly
on business and technology
for many publications
including The Daily Telegraph,
The Sunday Telegraph, The
Guardian, The Sunday Times,
Britain’s Top Employers,
Computing, Director and
Nasdaq International.
Caramel Quin has been writing
and broadcasting about
technology on both sides of
the Atlantic for 18 years, using
her engineering background
to translate tech jargon into
plain English. She won best
writer in the BlackBerry
Women & Technology awards,
2006 and this year won
the CEDIA award for best
technology feature for a piece
in Grand Designs magazine.
Gemma Stroud is a freelance
journalist specialising in
consumer issues.

4
Industry view
Business Technology November 2011 an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph
Seeing is
believing
It’s as easy as making a
phone call – that’s why
companies are jumping
on the video calling
bandwagon in their droves
The business landscape has changed as
organisations of all types are embracing new
ways of working and communicating, both
internally and with customers and suppliers.
New platforms such as social media, instant
messaging and video services enable
better collaboration and encourage greater
productivity.
People still place a lot of importance
in actually seeing peers and associates to
discuss business matters but in today’s
business environment travel is not always
environmentally or financially viable. A
recent survey by Cable&Wireless Worldwide
found that 87 per cent of Britons claim faceto-face
contact, either via videoconferencing
or by being in the same room, is more likely
to lead to a business decision.
The survey also looked at people’s
focus and attention span during phone
calls, telephone conference calls and
videoconference calls,
finding that in the UK 42 per cent
of businesspeople admit to having checked
or written emails during an audio conference
call, while 35
per cent have doodled and 3 per cent have
even fallen asleep – all quite hard to do on a
video call.
Dominic Jones, director of product and
marketing at Cable&Wireless Worldwide,
says: “More than ever, the need for new
ways of working is critical. Businesses
need to collaborate in real time across the
globe and to do so need to make
use of interactive technologies. Video
services provide a range of options, from full
telepresence suites that offer a lifesize ‘same
room’ experience, to meeting room units,
desktop solutions and now handheld devices.
The possibilities of these technologies are
endless.”
Cable&Wireless Worldwide’s Video
Services have been designed to revolutionise
videoconferencing by offering a reliable,
high quality and simple-to-use service
that is a genuine permanent alternative to
face-to-face meetings. It estimates that the
use of managed videoconferencing saves
customers at least 25 per cent on their travel
costs.
The number of videoconferencing units
being deployed to customers has increased
by 34 per cent over the past 12 months.
Internally, Cable&Wireless Worldwide uses
videoconferencing extensively, clocking up
more than 1.2m minutes across the business
in 2010.
Cable&Wireless Worldwide is also a
founding member of the Open Visual
Communications Consortium (OVCC),
which opens up videoconferencing usage
The number of
videoconferencing
units being deployed to
customers has increased
by 34 per cent over
the last 12 months
across networks enabling assured quality
conversations across the globe. This adds
further value to organisations as they
embrace videoconferencing because they
can move from using it in their own company
to facilitating face-to-face discussions with
their customers, partners, suppliers and so
on. It will make video calling as simple as
making a telephone call.
www.cw.com/video-services
Driving forward new technologies
Germany’s motorway operator is reaping the
rewards of investing in digital signage for its
service stations, but what are the benefits
German drivers who take a break from
the autobahn have had a new audiovisual
experience since the summer. Tank & Rast,
Germany’s premier operator of motorway
service areas, has installed more than 3,000
digital signage displays at 360 locations
throughout the country, creating the largest
digital signage network in Germany at
motorway service areas, and the largest
anywhere on Europe’s road system.
“Tank & Rast used to display conventional
printed advertisements, but the company
wanted to switch to digital to increase its
advertising revenues,” says Marius Marschall,
group managing partner at Intelligent Service
Solutions (ISS), the specialist AV company
that planned and installed the system and will
manage it for the next three years.
“Tank & Rast expects to make a much
greater return from selling advertising
space on digital signage than it did from
conventional poster sites,” he adds.
The eye-catching displays are located in
entrance halls and retail and catering areas,
enabling digital advertising to be targeted
where it will be most effective. Content
creation and distribution is done by Tank &
Rast’s advertising agency. All the content
is scheduled from a single control centre by
ISS. Each screen can have a unique playlist
of adverts that are carefully tailored to suit
its location and the time of day. “By timeslicing
the adverts, Tank & Rast is effectively
multiplying the space available,” says
Marschall.
A study by Germany’s Centre for Consumer
Research has already demonstrated the
effectiveness of the digital adverts. Tank
& Rast is now considering installing more
screens in the restaurant areas to display
menus that change at different times of day,
and even photo frame-sized units in the
toilets.
The initial rollout consisted of 3,200 42, 32
and 22-inch high resolution LCD displays. All
the 42 and 32-inch models, almost 1,600 in
total, were supplied by ISS’s vendor of choice,
Philips Public Signage.
“We’re responsible for the entire system
for the next three years and are contracted
to provide more than 99 per cent up-time,
so we have to rely heavily on our partners,”
says Marschall. “That means we need a
fully professional product and professional
after-sales support, so there are only a few
companies we’re prepared to partner with.”
The technical specification of the Philips
monitors met Tank & Rast’s exacting
Eye-catching: digital signage displays are used to target consumers
requirements, including being bright enough
to compete with the high lighting levels inside
a motorway service area. Availability was a
major issue, and not all the monitor vendors
ISS considered could have supplied the large
quantities required.
Philips’ pricing was also very competitive,
and the low energy consumption of its
displays means that the lifetime cost of
ownership – as well as related carbon
emissions – will be below average.
Finally, what impressed ISS was the sheer
professionalism of the people from Philips.
“We had confidence that they’d be as
helpful after the sale as they were before,”
says Marschall. “I’m more than happy that we
did the deal with Philips, and in future I would
definitely prefer Philips over other display
vendors.”
www.philips.com/publicsignagesolutions
www.intelligent-services.eu

an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph
November 2011
Business Technology
Audio visual communications
5
The magic of
engagement
When it comes to presentation,
corporate presenters have a lot to
learn from the likes of Derren Brown
if they want to keep their audience
on the edge of their seats
By Sue Tabbitt
Fans of illusionist Derren Brown might rightly
wonder at the stark contrast between his
enthralling stage-based ‘experiences’ and the
dreary business presentations they are forced
to sit through in their working lives. It exposes
another great gulf between the consumer and
the corporate world. In the latter, people have
lost the art of getting their message across.
Of course, Brown is the consummate
showman – a performer who combines
magic, suggestion, psychology, audience
misdirection and pure spectacle to apparently
predict and control human behaviour. Those
attending his shows hang on his every word –
fully engaged, ready to believe anything.
Corporate presenters could learn a thing
or two from him. While it’s unfair to compare
a professional showman with the average
company executive, it’s puzzling that so many
organisations with sizeable marketing budgets
are so unimaginative and one-dimensional
when presenting ideas and products.
At a technology level, all of the tools
exist now to enable companies and their
front-line representatives to perform at their
best – drawing audiences in to
their business presentations,
exhibition stands, seminars,
webinars and sales pitches
with pizzazz. Yet most don’t.
For all that is possible, the
average business presenter
resorts time and again
to a two-dimensional
PowerPoint slide-deck.
“Most business
presentations are
safe – bullet point after
bullet point, graph
after graph,” says Andy
Harrington, a professional
public speaking guru.
“In practice, they are dry,
technical and boring.”
Someone who broke the mould was the
late Steve Jobs. Not only did he live and
breathe technology, he also knew how to use
it to connect with an audience. “The main
thing that singled him out was his overriding
passion for his message,” Harrington notes.
“Without that, how will you ever get anyone
to buy into what you’re saying”
Jobs, Apple’s staunchest evangelist, had
such a conviction about everything he did
that he was able to change people’s beliefs.
“The technologies he used around that were
very stimulating.” Crucially, Jobs led the
story, rather than being prompted by what
was on a screen. The technological show
behind him merely backed up what he was
saying. “Most people click, read, deliver,”
Harrington says. “They have their backs to
the audience most of the time, and will tell
the audience what they’re going to bore them
with, bore them, then sum up by telling them
how they did it.”
Harrington delivers a lot of his messages
via the internet and swears by ScreenFlow,
a software package for the Mac. “It lets you
deliver video and slides and move seamlessly
between the two,” he says. “It’s a great way of
getting a message to a wider audience without
having to be there in person.”
But whatever technology a company draws
on, it should be a supporting tool rather than
a crutch the presenter relies on. “You can do
a wonderful AV-driven presentation and still
fail to win the pitch,” warns Paul Boross, also
known as The Pitch Doctor.
Boross, who has appeared on TV
talking about the use of psychology
in business, bills himself as the
business world’s Derren Brown.
He has amassed similar
credentials in neuro-linguistic
programming, a particular
strain of psychology
Boross: it’s all about
the audience
that involves influencing people’s minds
subliminally through the use of carefully
chosen language, a technique he draws on
when coaching business presenters. The
trick is to then extend this influence with
strategically chosen visual and audio aids.
Boross’s book, The Pitching Bible, which
sets out a series of “secrets” – Derren Brownstyle
tips on winning over an audience. Those
who inherently draw on such techniques
include the former American vice president
Al Gore, he says. Boross got to see him giving
a keynote at the Edinburgh TV festival. “He
had the audience in the palm of his hand.”
Secret one is “It’s all about them” (“them”
being the target audience). “Whether you’re
presenting from a stage or in a one-to-one
situation, you shouldn’t be focusing on what
you’re going to say next. You should be able
to read the audience and determine what they
want at that moment,” he says.
The problem with most presentations is
that they’re just not adaptable enough. The
speaker is working to a script and sequence
of slides, from which he or she is unable to
deviate. “In future, people who present most
effectively using technology will be those
who can feel the room and react dynamically
to any change in the mood,” says Boross.
Derren Brown also uses very precise
language to steer the audience’s train of
thought, something business executives
could learn from. When one of Boross’s
clients wanted to get across the message to
its customers that everything they did was
“all about them”, which it communicated on
multiple different levels throughout a pitch,
he helped cement the deal by slipping the
driver £50 to play McFly’s chart hit All About
You as the prospect left the meeting. “They
won the business,” he adds.
Having follow-through ideas like this
is half the battle as businesses try to raise
their presentation performance, but then the
question returns to whether the typical senior
executive has what it takes creatively.
“I’d love to see a huge change in the way
companies approach presenting,” says Dale
Smith, co-founder of the Article 10 Group
of marketing and communications agencies.
Given the colossal amounts big businesses
invest in their brands, it’s astonishing how
little goes into delivering the supporting
content, he says.
“You’ve got companies selling £10m
solutions using A4 paper and slides. It’s 2011,
for goodness sake.” To Smith’s mind, this
means outsourcing more of the bells and
whistles to external service providers such
as Article 10.
That carries a risk that business presenters
become too removed from their own stories,
though. A better approach may be for
organisations to recruit more widely when
boosting their marketing and sales teams,
making sure they seek out people who are
trained in the latest techniques and are
capable of keeping content fresh and exciting.
“The new generation of sales teams and
executives is much more technology savvy
and is pushing more for advanced tools and
collateral,” Smith concludes. “This is certainly
true at Microsoft, where Article 10 is doing a
lot of work. They’re moving away from being
a very corporate, grey-faced establishment to
something much more engaging and cool. It’s
nice to be a part of that.”
Funny that – that the very company that
brought us PowerPoint is only now realising
presentation technology’s broader potential.
How to win the audience
• Don’t turn your back while speaking
• Think outside the box – keep content fresh
and exciting
• Be passionate about getting your message
across
• Be adaptable – react to the mood in the room
• Use key words and language to steer train
of thought

6
Industry view
Business Technology November 2011 an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph
Meeting expectations
Virtual conferencing is becoming ever more popular thanks to
sophisticated technology designed to overcome any hurdle
With videoconferencing becoming
increasingly prevalent in business,
organisations have begun to realise the
potential of more immersive telepresence
systems. In particular, demand for Polycom’s
Architected Telepresence Experience
(ATX) meeting solution is growing because
of the many benefits it offers to users and
businesses.
It is well documented how telepresence
helps improve collaboration, speeds up
decision-making and yields vast cost
reductions across a business. However,
successfully generating these results needs
careful consideration – realistic usage
expectations with solid capital investment
is imperative. Also, selecting an audiovisual
(AV) specialist who is experienced in
addressing these needs is crucial.
From initial consultation through to
design and installation, AVSolution works
with businesses to guarantee solid return
on investment and minimal disruption.
Through its strong partnership with
Polycom, it can overcome restrictive room
dimensions, limited budgets, inferior network
performance and existing legacy equipment.
This is due to the flexibility of Polycom
ATX, the stunning telepresence system
that offers lifelike meetings through high
definition (HD) video and audio. AVSolution’s
network of knowledgeable project managers
and installation engineers has over 20
years’ experience in creating bespoke video
installations.
This year, AVSolution opened a purposebuilt
London showroom to demonstrate
the superior quality of the Polycom ATX
solution as well as show that fully immersive
telepresence is now an affordable solution.
Polycom ATX can be branded to represent
the business and AVSolution’s smart room
design ensures the environment is adapted
for visually appealing aesthetics, perfect
acoustics and immersive calls. It can provide
custom-built furniture or work within any
constraints that already exist.
For control, AVSolution utilises simple,
customisable touchscreen systems for a
room’s lighting, sound levels and temperature.
This prevents users interrupting a meeting’s
flow. Combined with unobtrusive in-table
screens for information sharing, Polycom
ATX is also ideal for presentations as well as
standard collaboration.
AVSolution understands the need for
flawless network performance when videocalling.
It partners with Masergy, a provider
of secure virtualised network services, to
implement a network that has been built with
telepresence requirements in its DNA. This
infrastructure is protected by the strongest
Adaptable: AVSolution technology can be used with current videoconferencing
global SLAs (service level agreements) in the
telecommunications industry and ensures a
stable, immersive telepresence experience.
Completely personalised, AVSolution’s
telepresence installations run on industryleading
technology powered by Polycom’s
unique HD video codecs, Sharp’s ultra thin
bezel model screens and Crestron’s awardwinning
control panels. If an organisation
already has videoconferencing in place,
AVSolution can incorporate the technology to
avoid wasted investment and the telepresence
offering is entirely customisable according to
customer demand.
The Polycom ATX solution is available in
two, three or four video displays, as well as
trolley-based options, delivering flexibility
and scalability to satisfy a wide range of
customer environments.
Finally, following implementation,
AVSolution offers excellent after-sales care,
long-term maintenance and market-leading
customer support. It conducts regular
visits to prevent the installation failing at a
critical point. AVSolution is renowned for its
support levels and protects an organisation’s
investment long after its competitors would.
020 8549 5347
www.avsolutionuk.com

an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph
November 2011
Business Technology
7
Industry view
Better collaboration through technology
The writing’s on the wall for outdated forms of communication.
Interactive whiteboards can transform collaboration in the workplace
Collaboration lies at the heart of the way
business operates. Today, the latest generation
of collaboration technology is playing a vital
role in helping organisations to deliver more
productive and efficient meetings, whether
face-to-face or remotely.
For years, collaboration was supported – or
arguably hindered – by a rudimentary set
of tools, whether it was flip charts and dry
wipe boards or, more recently, the emergence
of teleconferencing, video and web-based
conferencing, which deliver communication
but fall short of a truly collaborative
experience.
Moreover, the pressures on collaboration
have grown dramatically. Businesses now
handle far greater volumes of data than
ever before. The demands of a globalised
economy have led businesses to adopt more
flexible working patterns and geographically
dispersed teams that must work together.
Finally, the global economic downturn has
forced every business to cut costs and realise
greater efficiencies.
For many leading businesses, including
BT, Computacenter and Scottish Water,
the technology solution that meets their
collaboration needs in the face of these
challenges is the SMART Board interactive
whiteboard from SMART Technologies.
The SMART Board interactive whiteboard
Interactive: whiteboard enables users to highlight and annotate text
enables users to display and annotate
documents, files and images in digital ink.
Objects can be manipulated and highlighted,
simply with a touch of the screen or the stroke
of a pen, before being instantly saved and
distributed. Users benefit from a far more
intuitive and visually engaging collaborative
process that delivers higher productivity,
more creative solutions and, critically, better
decisions.
Using SMART Bridgit conferencing
software, SMART’s interactive whiteboards
can be connected to create virtual meeting
rooms where people in multiple locations can
share their desktops and work on the same
display, as if they were in the same room. It
can also operate alongside other software
and communication tools, such as videoconferencing,
for a truly integrated solution.
Such a powerful collaboration tool
significantly reduces the need for nonessential
travel. Whether it is a sales network
meeting, a staff training programme or an
international strategy planning session, less
business travel means cutting your travel
bill. This also makes a major contribution
to delivering a fast, verifiable ROI (return
on investment), as well as a lower carbon
footprint.
With the ability to transform workplace
collaboration, it is not surprising that
businesses of all sizes are adopting SMART
collaboration solutions. Indeed, SMART’s
interactive whiteboards have been ubiquitous
in British schools for years as an education
tool. Businesses now need these tools to
unlock the skillset of the next generation
entering the workforce; the ‘net gen’ who have
been educated using interactive whiteboards,
who have grown up using touchscreen devices
and for whom virtual communication and
collaboration is second nature.
The technology exists for businesses to
optimise the dynamism and creativity that
is generated when people work together,
whether in the same room or remotely. The
latest collaboration solutions are not only
helping businesses to drive up productivity
and save money, in the midst of the biggest
global downturn for a generation, they are
proving to be a business-critical tool.
Installed and supported by Smart
Presentations Limited 01296 642000
www.presentations.co.uk
Digital revolution
Matt Wain Photography
One company is leading the way in digital communication – and the
future is already on display in one of London’s most dramatic buildings
Enter the Atrium at the London Stock
Exchange in Paternoster Square and you’ll be
met by an extraordinary collection of video
screens.
The exchange chose Christie MicroTiles, an
innovative modular digital display solution for
the site of its new Market Open ceremony.
Christie MicroTiles are a unique
proposition in display technology, offering
video and data display building blocks that
can be used to create displays of varying size
and shape – and which are complementary
to their environment. Simply put, they lend
themselves to spaces where no other display
technology would physically fit without
harming the aesthetic of an interior’s design.
The installation of 508 Christie MicroTiles
at the location follows a recommendation for
their use by CMS consultant Jerry Collins and
a subsequent tender won by Focus 21 Visual
Communications – a long-standing Christie
partner and Scala certified partner.
Visitors are now welcomed by columns
of Christie MicroTiles, their view directed
to either side by two strips of MicroTiles,
each consisting of 29 and 31 MicroTiles
respectively, then on to an impressive
video wall which uses 132 MicroTiles. The
MicroTiles stream a variety of content
throughout the day including live news and
market updates from CNBC.
The displays are managed by six Christie
Spyder X20 processors with content offered
from a variety of sources, including Scala
InfoChannel. A Crestron controller manages
lighting, audio and live camera feed, and
orchestrates an automated opening and
closing of the market ceremony.
Another MicroTiles video wall has been
installed on the balcony overlooking the
Atrium and can mimic the content on the main
video wall. At ground level there is a mosaic of
46 MicroTiles of different depths and heights,
while outside the Atrium, visitors are kept
updated with another set of four columns of
MicroTiles.
“Many organisations are challenged to
find innovative ways to deliver valuable
content to target audiences in the short bursts
of time available. Scala software not only
provides a strong, highly usable, incredibly
stable platform that meets 95 percent of the
needs of most customers out of the box, it can
also be easily customised well beyond many
competitive offerings,” says new Scala CEO
Tom Nix.
“It is exciting how many customers keep
pushing the envelope with the Scala platform
in addressing their unique requirements
and finding new ways to quickly engage and
inform audiences.”
Nix will continue to focus on building
customer satisfaction and expanding Scala’s
role in the evolving global market for digital
signage and digital communications solutions.
“For 25 years, companies have seen the
flexibility and benefits of communicating
using digital signage in market segments
from retail and quick service restaurants
to hospitals, retail, banking and corporate
communications,” he says.
“Scala is leading the shift to digital
signage’s next stage, where companies exploit
their ability to connect to virtually any data
source using almost any device. These devices
can range from mobile applications, like
tablets and smart phones, to CxO boards that
provide real-time management information
by consolidating and displaying a custom
broadcast channel of key performance metrics
from customer relationship management and
enterprise resource planning packages such as
Salesforce.com and Oracle.”
Scala provides the leading platform
for content creation, management and
distribution in digital signage networks,
which allows customers to connect digital
signage to a variety of data sources, such as
CRM and ERP systems, to create new content
constantly and automatically.
With Scala 5 Release 6, Scala will make it
even easier for organisations to customise
digital signage to their specific business
Digital display at London Stock Exchange
requirements, by supporting more video and
streaming options to make it possible to add,
size and position most of the popular industry
standard streaming video formats in Scala.
And high-definition digital video signals
from many popular set-top boxes from both
cable and satellite providers can now be
captured by Scala, guaranteeing razor-sharp
HD quality. The new release also raises the bar
for dynamic visual effects in digital signage as
dramatic new visual enhancements for Scala
content developed in Designer are added.
www.scala.com

8
Business Technology November 2011 an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph
Audio visual communications
Sign of the times
Digital signage is revolutionising billboards and other public promotional displays
By Paul Bray and Gemma Stroud
Billboards that come alive before our eyes,
menus that change by the minute and special
offers that instantaneously tailor themselves
to the customer. Once mere twinkles in the
marketeer’s eye, they’re fast becoming the
must-have technology for shopping malls,
transport hubs, restaurants, even doctors’
surgeries.
But while they’ll splash their offers across
six-foot screens, many retailers are keener
to keep the marketing science behind digital
signage under wraps. It’s still new enough to
offer a competitive advantage and they aren’t
keen to share.
Digital signage uses a network of computer
screens to display ever-changing content
that may include video, still images and text.
What’s shown where is usually controlled
from a central point, but the output of
individual screens can be tailored according to
location, audience and even time of day.
Alternatively, the network may have just
a couple of screens: to impress visitors in a
corporate reception area, say, or keep patients
quiet in the dentist’s waiting room.
Screens may show a single stream of
content, such as posters or video commercials,
or several things at once. The latter
might consist of a live news feed; tailored
advertising (for the venue’s own products
or paid for by third-party advertisers); and
specific data (“next patient please”, “the 10.16
to Inverness is running late”, and so on).
Size is no object. The new Westfield
Stratford City shopping centre in east London
features 17 huge video walls, each containing
up to 51 screens operating as a single display.
London Underground and CBS Outdoor are
using cross-track projectors to display giant
images on the walls of tube stations.
But many digital signs consist of single
TV-sized screens, 10-inch digital photo
frames (sometimes inset into kiosks or store
mannequins), or tiny shelf-edge displays a
couple of inches high.
The sheer eye-bludgeoning potential of
a giant video wall is hard to beat. Outdoor
clothing retailer Timberland has a 36-screen,
6.2 x 3.5m wall aimed at “bringing the
Wall of sound
Debut: UK’s first interactive digital billboard at Westfield.
Right, Cadbury Creme Egg interactive game
outdoors indoors” at its new Westfield store.
“With more than 300 retailers at Westfield
there’s a lot of competition, so it’s primarily
designed to encourage customers into
the store,” says Rod Pallister, managing
director of AV specialist 53 Degrees, which
installed it.
But the opportunity for precision
marketing can be equally attractive. Phone
company O2 is installing two or three modestsized
NEC displays in each of its retail stores.
“It means O2 can react to offers very fast
and with central control,” says Guy Phelps,
corporate sales manager at NEC Display
Solutions which
provides the service.
“Managed from head office, messaging can
be updated quickly to react to local market
conditions, with different messaging at
different times of day and across different
geographical locations.”
But companies are cautious about revealing
the corporate secret that’s keeping the tills
ringing. Several major retailers were unwilling
to provide comment on their advertisement
technology initiatives, with one well-known
high street store concerned any information
provided could be leaked to a retail rival.
And when the potential for industry
expansion is explored, it’s little wonder.
By linking digital signage to a store’s
stock system, content and messaging can
be changed in line with availability. And by
linking signage to the products on display, the
stock can start interacting directly with the
customer.
“Imagine a consumer picking up an item
from a shelf and triggering instant product
information and product comparisons on an
adjacent screen,” says Jonathan Mangnall,
sales director at control systems vendor AMX.
“This is possible now, although the market’s
only just realising it.”
“Creating a one-to-one experience is the
Holy Grail of marketing, and interactivity
in digital signage is a massive trend, with
touch being the obvious application,” says
Mike Fisher, senior consultant at analyst firm
Futuresource. It can be something simple like
entering a shopping centre and finding the
nearest chemist, or an interactive game like the
highly successful one that Posterscope ran on
bus shelters for Cadbury Creme Eggs (inset).
Still in its infancy, digital signage is
creating as much secrecy as it is excitement
among marketing moguls and many are
choosing to play their cards close to their
chest. The grand unveiling is just as
powerful as the technology itself.
The real breakthrough will happen
when NFC (near field communications)
and QR (quick response) codes become
widely implemented in mobile phones,
Fisher believes. Users could walk up to a
digital poster and download a coupon for the
product it advertises or buy a ticket for the
event it promotes.
Technology is now becoming available that
uses built-in cameras and clever analytics
software to enable digital signage to watch
the people watching it. Advertisers could be
told exactly how many people have viewed a
particular piece of content and for how long,
and be charged accordingly – another Holy
Grail for the advertisement industry.
It’s even possible to work out the watcher’s
age, sex and mood, and tailor the on-screen
content to match. Try doing that with a roll of
posters and a bucket of paste.
Having fabulous displays when communicating with a target audience is useless if no one can hear what’s being said
By Paul Bray
It’s shooting yourself in
the foot to have stunning
visuals with lousy sound,
so the advent of HD video
has necessitated similar
enhancements in audio.
“Video alone can seem
rather flat (imagine a movie
without the music). Video
may capture someone’s
attention, but it’s audio
that retains it and draws
them into the emotional
experience you’re trying
to get across,” says Chris
Havell, director for audio
at technology specialists
Cambridge Silicon Radio.
One technique is to
use sophisticated audio
processing that can subtly
influence what the listener
hears by altering the
balance between different
frequencies. It can lift speech
out of the background
soundtrack to make it more
intelligible.
Latency (the time gap
between sound and video) can
be a major issue. If a speaker’s
mouth and voice are more
than 45 milliseconds adrift the
viewer’s concentration can be
affected.
Wireless speakers are
becoming more popular
because of their flexibility, but
this can exacerbate latency
issues as the sound must be
digitised. A technology called
Aptx can help, by ensuring
audio quality is maintained
and the audio and video
signals remain in step when
they reach screens and
loudspeakers.
One downside of increased
audio performance is that
background noise is easily
captured by the latest
microphones, so echo
cancellation and noise
suppression technology have
had to improve significantly
in recent years.
Sound: frequency, balance and latency are important

an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph
November 2011
Business Technology
Audio visual communications
9
Give ‘em the old
razzle dazzle
Video’s potential in business is
so much broader than simply
replacing meetings with faceto-face
conferencing links
By Tracey Caldwell
Video has enormous potential to enrich
communications with employees and
customers, especially with the proliferation
of high-speed networks and affordable
video technology. So it’s somewhat puzzling
that videoconferencing – a straightforward
replacement for physical meetings – seems to
have hogged the limelight for so long.
Now that the quality of video and audio
is of a good standard, smart businesses are
exploiting the facilities more widely – in their
business presentations, at events, on the web
and beyond. So much so that technology
vendors have begun to talk about the videoready
business – an organisation that is
video-enabled to the point that it can apply
the medium wherever it has the potential to
add value. Any business that isn’t video-ready
is vulnerable competitively, they argue.
Richard Oliver, director of marketing
strategy at BT iNet, identifies culture as one of
the biggest barriers to broader video adoption
until now. “Skills around making video usable
can be brought to bear by a good supplier,”
he notes. “What can’t be brought is the
realisation that a company can’t keep doing
what it has always done once it has reached a
certain size.”
Video can have a powerful impact within
a company certainly, for keeping a highly
dispersed workforce engaged and aligned
to company messaging. A succinct weekly
broadcast by the CEO can be much more
powerful and effective than a company
newsletter or email circular.
Once the business has experimented with
the medium internally, it can turn its attention
outwards. Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets
uses a service provided by Kulu Valley to
deliver on-demand video-based presentations
with a twist to its business customers. The
proposition differs from straightforward
video in that it blends video content with
standard presentation features to deliver a
succinct yet rounded message to the target
audience. Via the web, viewers see a video of
the bank’s chief economist Trevor Williams
speaking, while the slides or graphs he refers
to change in line with what he is saying.
“It is getting our commentary on to a wider
platform,” Williams explains. “There are
people who don’t typically look at our material
who may well look at it now because it is on
platforms they’re used to.”
For Williams, the Kulu-based presentation
Taking stock of video
As further evidence that video is becoming
a mainstream communications vehicle for
business, stock video (pre-recorded content
that businesses can reuse in their own
communications) is growing in popularity.
iStockphoto’s video arm is already five years
old and its library contains some 400,000 files,
which are used in everything from national
news programmes, documentaries and films to
web-based advertising.
According to Jim Goertz, director of video
content development at the company, demand
is currently particularly strong for authentic
reality TV-styled scenes and fully edited mini
films.
Meanwhile, content is being uploaded
increasingly from modern DSLR cameras (often
with stills and video shot simultaneously),
and from large-format high-definition video
cameras.
has a higher impact than a fixed-time
teleconference, a medium the bank used
previously. “With the video, people can open
it at their convenience or listen to it at their
convenience. Whereas we used to get 20 or
30 people dialling in each month, now it’s
more like 270 people opening the video and
watching it,” he says.
Video can transform the impact and feel of
events, too. Take the example of a major ball
hosted by the British Olympic Association
recently. Video technology was used to add
the wow factor to what chief commercial
officer Hugh Chambers describes as “the
biggest and the most ambitious Olympic ball in
this country”. The organisation relies entirely
on commercial funding to field Team GB; in
2012 this will amount to 550 athletes at a cost
of £10m.
“As well as raising money, of equal
importance is to reflect the Olympic values
and the quality of the Olympic brand. We
needed to put on a show that was really going
to dazzle people,” he says.
The BOA used technology from Crystal CG
to mount an enormous, high-impact video
display all around the Grand Hall Olympia in
London. The video culminated in the British
team’s symbolic lion racing around the venue’s
video screens before roaring onto a main
screen that was the size of those providing the
backdrop to major festivals like Glastonbury.
In a retail environment, video is being used
as a means of interacting with customers at
the point of sale, via video chat with product
experts on websites or using in-store kiosks.
This has been found to encourage sales
conversion, especially for high-value items.
In future, IPTV (internet protocol television)
viewers will be able to click through from
Wow factor: video used at the Olympic ball
adverts to a video link to a sales assistant.
A major driver in using video is the
need to respond to heightened customer
expectations. Today, consumers will settle for
nothing less than high-quality, compelling
communications on demand.
”In the same way that businesses have
accepted social media, they are going to need
to accept some level of video as part of that
conversation,” says Simon Hathaway, CEO
of Saatchi & Saatchi X, which specialises in
shopper marketing. “Video personalises the
shopping experience. The technology is there
– the big barrier is pinpointing the cost, and
the return.”
One company that has done the maths
and sees real benefit in video is Renault in
the UK. This month the company launched
its futuristic range of zero emissions (ZE)
electric vehicles. In parallel it is piloting an
online video-based customer service channel
for customers and for dealers that take on the
new range. The video technology is provided
by Vee24.
Renault can now explain the technology
behind its ZE range by showing it to customers
during video conversations over the web
with product experts. Noting that telephone
contact to Renault is in decline, Peter Tilbury,
front-office customer
relations manager
at Renault UK, says:
“Customers are on our
website; let’s talk to them.”
Hathaway: barrier
is pinpointing cost
and return

10
Industry view
Business Technology November 2011 an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph
Immerse yourself in video interaction
Breakthrough in videoconferencing market enables affordable, high quality
telepresence across a range of devices including smart phones and tablets
Enterprise customers no longer have to
choose between pristine telepresence quality
and affordable solutions when looking to
deploy video conferencing throughout their
organisation. Finally, due to an innovative
platform built by Vidyo, companies can
purchase affordable enterprise-grade
telepresence that is easily accessed by
participants, whether they’re using desktop
or laptop computers, tablets, smart phones,
room systems or immersive telepresence
systems. Vidyo has redefined video
conferencing infrastructure and network
costs, resulting in 10X better quality and
density, 10X lower cost and power usage and,
when running on virtual machines, saving
up to 90 per cent of the cost of competitive
solutions.
One example of this technological
breakthrough is VidyoPanorama, the
industry’s first affordable telepresence
solution that delivers immersive interactions
on up to 20 screens of 1080p at 60fps
resolution and is up to 10X less expensive
than comparable telepresence systems.
“The videoconferencing market has
matured; customers today are sophisticated
and no longer willing to settle for expensive,
inflexible, hard to use, legacy-based
hardware systems,” said Ofer Shapiro,
Vidyo’s co-founder and CEO. “Vidyo’s
Industry first: Vidyo Panorama telepresence system
software-based platform delivers exceptional
image clarity; natural, high definition
fidelity that is affordable on any device,
and accessible to anyone, via any network.
Vidyo’s low-latency, highly scalable and
error-resilient video communication solution
also interoperates with legacy H.323 and
SIP endpoints, to leverage existing video
conferencing investments.”
“Vidyo has a game-changing, ‘disruptive’
platform offering quality, affordability and
flexibility to businesses of all sizes,” said
Ian Vickerage, managing director of Imago
Group PLC, Europe’s largest distributor of
videoconferencing products, and distributor
of Vidyo’s line of VidyoConferencing
products in the UK. “Vidyo’s platform is
software-based, so a Vidyo conference can
be accessed on a full range of affordable, ‘off
the shelf’ devices such as iPhones, iPads and
Android smart phones and tablets, as well
as laptops, desktops, and telepresence room
systems.”
Vidyo pioneered a new generation of
video communications called “personal
telepresence.” The patented VidyoRouter
architecture introduces Adaptive Video
Layering, which dynamically optimises
the video stream for each individual’s
endpoint, leveraging H.264 scalable video
coding-based compression technology and
Vidyo IP. Vidyo delivers unprecedented
error resiliency, low-latency rate matching
enabling natural, affordable, high-quality
video to work over the Internet, WiFi, 3G and
4G networks.
Vidyo’s communication and collaboration
platform is simple to use, eliminates the costs
of building and maintaining a network, and
is today transforming large enterprises, small
and medium-sized businesses, as well as
telemedicine, manufacturing and education.
Follow the company on Twitter @Vidyo or visit
www.vidyo.com
Delivering a difference
How can businesses use non PC-based
hypermedia technology to communicate
effectively with their customers
Getting your message across is important.
With digital signage, electronic displays and
hardware help organisations communicate
their business needs and information to
audiences in public spaces – whether it’s
railway stations, shopping centres, hotel
lobbies, educational lecture halls or even staff
room areas.
Digital technology has replaced print signs
and billboards – and it’s easy to see why.
Such signs are easy to configure, are live
and offer instant updating of information,
plus they can bring in revenue through
advertising. And as well as earning money,
digital signs can save businesses money on
printing costs and wastage.
With expert help, from suppliers such as
SpinetiX, this can be a brave new world for
businesses to enter.
A good company will help its clients
configure, install and manage a digital
signage system, typically comprising screens,
hardware and software (securely managed
often over the internet using a simple log-in).
Digital signage is often in public areas
where space is tight, so it is important to
have a flexible, future-proof digital asset
management system that is compact and
secure and able to be viewed the light levels of
its intended space. With the latest technology
comes digital signage hardware devices
– more commonly known as hyper media
players – which aren’t PC anymore and which
are able to manage graphics, audio, video, text
and newsfeeds for information displays.
These systems are easy to use – with
a properly designed system, you can be
communicating with customers in less time
than it takes to make a cup of tea. It really is
that simple!
Hypermedia players can be set up to have
access to public or private databases and
display selected content with predefined
graphic layouts; display RSS news based on
key words; connect to public or private audio/
video, streaming servers and display live
events, news and entertainment contents;
retrieve from network disks images and
videos; enable all sorts of network interactive
services; and schedule which content to
display when and where.
These easy-to-use devices have embedded
software to allow the management of content,
but it’s not all about simplicity or versatility.
Hypermedia players can offer an excellent
return on investment, too. Advertising is an
easy way in which businesses can recover
their costs and even bring revenue into
Swiss digital signage manufacturer SpinetiX’s hypermedia player
the business.
One such retailer is the Leroy Merlin
flagship store in Nova Milanese, Italy. This is
the first Italian retail store to use interactive
screens to guide and educate customers as
well as create a unique shopping experience,
using hypermedia players.
With the right technology, digital
technology can help bring the investment
back into your business.
Serge Konter is marketing manager at Swiss
digital signage hardware manufacturer SpinetiX
www.spinetix.com

an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph
November 2011
Business Technology
Audio visual communications
11
A feast for the senses
Being wowed by attention-grabbing
video and surround sound isn’t
enough for today’s consumers who are
being immersed in 3D and augmented
reality in their personal lives
By Tracey Caldwell
When there is a complex concept to get across,
or you’re marketing an experience rather
than a straightforward product, it helps to
add a further dimension to audio-visual
communications.
Consumers are coming to expect it, too.
Spoilt by immersive gaming, 3D cinema and
advanced touch-enabled applications on their
iPads and smartphones, customers now crave
a more touchy-feely experience when they
engage with companies and their marketing
campaigns.
Although virtual reality hasn’t quite caught
on in the way that might have been expected
15 years ago, there are signs that businesses
are becoming more innovative and open to
three – and four –dimensional marketing.
Effective applications include those where
the consumers’ view of the real world is
augmented by a technological dimension,
giving them more information by video and
allowing them more direct interaction.
In two Inamo restaurants in London, diners
are able to watch their meals being made in
the kitchens via webcam, having placed their
order using tabletop touchscreens. They can
then play tabletop games on their E-Table
while waiting for their order.
One of the two restaurants has private
dining areas and the technology enables
branding for private or corporate events, a
distinctive way of providing a platform for
businesses to use some of their own audiovisual
assets.
The E-Table ordering system incorporates
a waterproof Bluetooth touch panel, a special
tabletop, and a Canon XEED projector and
computer, housed in a pod in the ceiling above.
The challenge has been to balance
Taste of innovation: customers can order their food via interactive E-Tables at Inamo, London
the potential of the technology with
the requirement to provide a restaurant
experience. “There is a huge amount we could
do but we have chosen not to overpower the
guests with the amount of digital information
coming at them as we wanted the overall
experience of a restaurant as opposed to an
advertising platform, a games forum or an
internet platform,” says Mark Boyle, sales
director at Compurants, parent company of
Inamo.
Diamond jewellery retailer Forevermark,
part of the De Beers group, was looking for
a way to engage customers more effectively.
It acknowledged that the retail environment
for diamond jewellery could be intimidating
because of the necessary security around
the high-value items and it wanted a way to
let customers try on diamond jewellery in a
relaxed and fun way.
In October it began trialling a system from
Holition to enable customers to try on the
jewellery using a webcam. The customer uses
paper versions of the jewellery, which may be
supplied with catalogues or magazines. When
the customer holds up a necklace, for example,
while looking at his or her video image
appearing on screen via webcam, the system
reads the paper tab and inserts moving images
of the jewellery wherever the tab is held. The
customer can move his or her head this way
and that and the jewellery will move and
glisten in a realistic way, as if the customer
were trying it on in a shop.
“In the diamond jewellery
sector we think this is a
really innovative and
new initiative,” says
Stephen Lussier, CEO at
Forevermark. “It gave
us an opportunity
to leap beyond what
you see in a printed
catalogue and create a
relaxed environment,
where customers could
still experience trying
things on.”
Swiss watch manufacturer Tissot has
brought the Holition technology even closer
to the point of sale, encouraging potential
customers to try on watches virtually while
standing outside the store looking in at
webcams. The technology, pioneered in
the UK and implemented at Selfridges and
Harrods, has had a direct impact.
“When the application has been integrated
with activity at the point of sale it has
shown a clear, direct link to sale,”
says François Thiébaud,
Tissot’s president. “The
integration in our media
campaign resulted in an
increased flow of traffic
to our website where
consumers could ‘try on’
the watch seen in the
press adverts.”
Virtual reality: try on
a Tissot watch via a
webcam
Beam me up, Scotty
Hologram technology is taking remote presence into a new dimension
Imagine being able to teleport
leading businesspeople to appear
on stage at overseas conferences.
Orange Business projected
top executive Marie-Noëlle
Jégo-Laveissière from Paris to a
partner event in Amsterdam this
summer, with the help of hologram
specialist Musion. Jégo-Laveissière
appeared on stage next to live
employees to showcase a form of 3D
videoconferencing.
She is in good company – others
who have appeared as 3D holograms
include Prince Charles, King
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Al Gore, Sir
Richard Branson, David Beckham,
Madonna and the Black Eyed Peas.
Orange also showcased the Musion
technology at Hellodemain in Paris.
Visitors had their image captured
live and projected life-size on stage,
apparently being teleported into the
jungle. The 3D image was broadcast
over a high-speed fibre optic
network.
The holograms are not in fact 3D
but give the impression of being
so. An image appears apparently in
mid-air, projected on to a clear film.
Scenery in front of and behind this
image adds to the appearance of
three dimensions.
While the technology of
transmitting holograms from
one place to another still has its
challenges, using 3D audio-visual
at events is very achievable and
can have a high impact. Winton
Capital Management, sponsor of
Opera Holland Park, the annual
opera festival in west London,
worked with London creative agency
Knifedge to give the event a wow
factor. It released a seven-metre
helium illuminated balloon, on to
which 3D images were projected.
The next generation of hologram
technology would be real 3D
rendering but it is unlikely we will
see such products before 2020. Dr
Stéphane Pateux, head of voice and
video coding research at Orange,
says researchers are working on new
technologies to decrease the bit rate
bandwidth of the network needed
to carry high definition signals. “We
are looking at technology to improve
the quality of media up to super high
resolution and also 3D technology,”
he says.
Meanwhile, the distance
learning and education sectors
are among those showing earlyadopter
interest in this form of 3D
videoconferencing, as well as the
music industry, which makes much
of its profits from live performances.
“People perceive this as a business
tool and that is certainly where
it is at the moment, whereas we
see it appearing at concert halls
and upscale nightclubs and public
venues,” says Ian O’Connell, a
director at Musion.

an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph
November 2011
Business Technology
Audio visual communications
13
Bag of tricks
A round-up of the hottest AV technologies
currently making the headlines
By Caramel Quin
Bringing content to life
Web-based tool Prezi
gives users a free hand to
position words, images and
videos on a giant zoomable
canvas, and then either set
a presentation path or move
around freely. You use the
relative size and position
of a piece of information to
represent its importance
and how it relates to other
information. The result can
be viewed online, on an iPad
or downloaded and played
offline. Prezi has passed
the 5m user mark but the
technology is still niche
enough that clients have
probably seen nothing like it.
Digital signage
Video screens can be a
striking alternative to posters
and billboards but, as they
become commonplace,
companies need to do more
to make their messages
stand out. In October Adidas
installed a Virtual Footwear
Wall (below) at its flagship
Oxford Street store in London
– a touchscreen, two-metres
high, that lets shoppers
explore its latest football
boot, watch videos, interact
with social media and use a
tablet computer to make a
purchase.
The modular wall can be
reprogrammed to promote
different products. Adidas,
working with Intel, hopes to
roll it out elsewhere and has
demonstrated a wall with a
built-in camera that detects
the shopper’s gender and
offers them suitable footwear.
Holographic keynotes
Time-pressed executives
can’t be in two places at once,
so cutting-edge holographic
technology allows company
CEOs to “appear” at events
in any location, even
simultaneously. Last year
the CEO of recruitment
specialist Randstad appeared
holographically to 28,000
employees in 18 countries,
his speech pre-recorded
in four languages and
subtitled in nine. Live
holographic keynotes are also
increasingly popular. Market
leader Musion has worked
with blue-chip companies
including Cisco, Samsung,
Microsoft and Orange to
seemingly teleport speakers
on to a stage.
iPad magazines
The sleek portability of tablet
devices such as the iPad
make them the ideal sales
tool for one-to-one meetings
and exhibition stand
presentations. Thousands of
business applications exploit
the format already, and now
there’s even a package to
bring a professional magazine
look to the way presented
material is packaged. Special
magazine publishing
software from Adobe will
cost a company around
£5,000 a year, but much
the same effect can be
achieved with more
affordable software
such as Roambi Flow
(around a tenth of
the cost). Its intuitive
desktop or iPad interface
lets users drag and drop
text, pictures, videos and
documents to create a digital
magazine.
Gamification
If you want to engage your
customers, suppliers or
workers in your message,
make it fun. Welcome,
gamification – the use of
game design techniques and
mechanics to solve problems
and engage audiences.
Foursquare, which runs the
eponymous location-based
social networking website,
made more than 10m people
obsess over earning badges
by visiting ordinary places
like cafés. Screenreach
Interactive recently created
a billboard-sized video game
on the wall of London’s
Westfield shopping centre
for car insurer Swiftcover.
Passers-by were encouraged
to download the free app
to play a giant racing game,
using their smartphones as
controllers. Shoppers won
prizes and discount vouchers,
and in return Swiftcover
was able to analyse the
consumers that took part,
gaining an insight into the
target audience and seeing
how they responded to
the brand when trying
out new technologies.
Augmented reality
Augmented reality (AR) is a
bit like virtual reality (VR),
but instead of immersing
themselves in a virtual
world, users access the
experience through a screen.
For example, with an AR
application on a smartphone a
user might point their device
at the Empire State Building
(above) and see images of
its construction (through
a history app), a visual
directory of which companies
have offices there (via a
business app), or King Kong
fending off biplanes (using an
entertainment app).
There’s no real limit to
the business applications
for augmenting the real
world with virtual objects.
AR might be used to guide
someone around a campus,
demonstrate a product
concept or engage shoppers.
Online retailer Net-A-Porter
recently created a virtual
clothes shop in London
and New York windows
– customers pointed
smartphones and iPads
at posters to explore and
buy clothes.
Projection mapping
Projection mapping
techniques give a wow
factor to big events.
Clever graphics are
projected on to a big
screen, fooling the
eye into thinking it’s
seeing something in
3D , without requiring
the viewer to wear
special
glasses. At recent
catwalk events for Wella
haircare, creative agency
Knifedge combined
projection mapping and
spatial surround sound to
make the audience feel they
were looking at a motorised
set costing millions, when
it was pixels and processing
power.
Touch tables
Straight out of futuristic
sci-fi films such as Minority
Report come touch tables
– large furniture with
embedded touchscreens and
custom software, promising
to transform everything
from the boardroom
table to retail interaction
(below). Marketing agency
Imagination won two
Marketing Design Awards
for creating a motor show
experience for Ford’s luxury
US car brand
Lincoln using modular
touch tables that can be
reprogrammed and reused.
Another Imagination client,
Swire Properties, has used
touch tables to revolutionise
store directories in its flagship
Hong Kong shopping centre,
with multiple languages.
These are more than
just touch-screens that tell
customers where to find a
shop, being as tactile as an
iPad. Think swiping pages
to make them turn, having
real-time updates on events
and promotions in the store,
and even a direct link to
the Hong Kong weather
observatory.
Video engagement
Video engagement uses
video to interact with online
users – with live talking
heads guiding users through
a company’s offering and
even showing them web
pages, documents and more.
This enables firms to drive
up customer service without
pushing up operating costs.
The technology can boost
business too – for example,
in retail it can save the
contents of online shopping
baskets from languishing.
Clients of video engagement
specialist Vee24 have been
known to experience a 38
per cent boost in website
conversion rates after
introducing the video
engagement feature.
Alternative propositions
are available from companies
including Netop which
supports a blend of text,
audio and video chat
options which companies
can combine to form a
flexible customer support
channel.

14
Industry view
Business Technology November 2011 an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph
Putting your needs in expert hands
Whether it’s for a
corporate event or a school
presentation, AV enhances
communication. But without
professional installation,
your message could be lost
The audiovisual (AV) industry has been
helping people communicate for almost
a century. While many conjure images of
overhead and slide projectors when thinking
about AV, today’s technology includes
videoconferencing, command-and-control
rooms, video walls, stadium screens and more.
AV blends the worlds of art and science. But
the heart of the industry’s heritage is solving
communication challenges.
AV provides solutions to many societal
quandaries, such as ‘How can I communicate
complex opportunities to a business halfway
around the world without leaving my
office’ ‘How can I offer a comfortable
and productive environment to everyone
attending a meeting’ ‘How do I provide
direction to visitors in public spaces’ and
‘How can I reach a new generation of hi-tech
students’
AV helps people communicate more
effectively. These communications systems
have provided business tools to generate and
connect ideas.
Impact: AV can put the wow factor into product launches and corporate events
Shrinking travel budgets and a focus on
reducing one’s carbon footprint means that
the value of AV is increasing. Enterprise
video communications is used in every aspect
of sales, marketing, human resources, and
management.
Continued advances in AV technology and
rapid adoption means that innovation and idea
generation happen at the speed of business.
The corporate world also relies on live event
professionals to put the “wow factor” into
product launches and special events.
Christian Bowman
Hiring AV professionals
When looking for an AV professional, hire a
contractor with employees that have earned
certification from InfoComm International.
The Certified Technology Specialist (CTS)
credential is for audiovisual professionals
demonstrating extensive knowledge of the
technology used in audio, video and display
systems, and a competence, dedication
and commitment to their profession. With
agreement to a code of ethics pledging truth,
accuracy and a commitment to excellence in
all aspects of the profession, CTS-holders are
recognised as trusted service providers to
customers of AV technology.
“As audiovisual equipment has become
more sophisticated, there is increased need
for professional services to assure the highest
performance levels of communications
technologies,” said Randal A Lemke, PhD,
executive director and CEO of InfoComm
International. “Employers in the public and
private sectors can be confident that AV
professionals holding the CTS credentials
possess the necessary skills to implement
audiovisual best practices, processes and
procedures anywhere in the world.”
The International Organization for
Standardization’s (ISO) United States
representative, the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI), has accredited
InfoComm’s CTS, Certified Technology
Specialist – Design (CTS-D) Certified
Technology Specialist – Installation (CTS-I)
credentials under ISO/IEC 17024. ISO/IEC
17024 establishes a global benchmark for the
certification of personnel.
ANSI accredits standards developers,
certification bodies and technical advisory
groups to both the ISO and the International
Electrotechnical Commission. The CTS are
the only audiovisual industry credentials
to earn ANSI accreditation for its personnel
certification program, setting the industry
standard for competency in the AV industry.
www.powerofav.com
Content is king
Take a strategic approach to events and meetings. How can technology drive
content, perception and insight for both the audience and organisers
It’s an interesting decision that businesses
face when they consider the use of
AV equipment at an event, meeting
or conference; It is probably worth
understanding the basis of how these
decisions are made.
How often is the decision about the use
of AV equipment seen as a strategic one,
rather than a tactical or convenient one
Generally, not often. Indeed, do senior people
in many organisations even realise what the
implications can be
For years, businesses have discussed the
ROI (return on investment) of meetings and
events, from the cost of getting people in
one room to the overall benefit derived from
attending seminars and conferences. The
IML Connector – an interactive engagement
tool – has driven a more strategic approach.
At IML Worldwide we demonstrate that
clients can receive a far better ROI by taking
a more strategic view of what they are trying
to achieve from these events. How often
do people start with this premise In our
experience this is very rare but, crucially,
when they do take this approach the
impact and the success of the meetings are
demonstrably better.
So, what is the critical factor in this
Content. Capturing and using content that
is generated in these gatherings; moreover
it is the ability to provide a means to gather
this information that becomes increasingly
important.
When you look at ways you generate
content, these include: voice, messages,
voting, opinion gathering, response to
presentations/questions, ability to manage
the audience, and demographics.
By enabling the audience with the
capability to effectively contribute and offer
instantaneous responses to what they see
and hear, everyone achieves a far richer
and rewarding event. This is two-fold.
Firstly, by making it a more interesting and
engaging experience for the attendees.
Secondly, by gaining perspective and insight
that organisers can use to drive decisions,
changes in strategy and appeal to their
clients more successfully. This is what
executives both need and want but find
difficult to achieve; it’s where the value lies.
To an extent the industry has let itself
become commoditised and allowed clients
to take a view on price above anything
else. Event organisers need to be striving to
demonstrate the value that can be achieved
from events and how technology can support
them. Senior executives see the value; it just
needs to be correctly articulated.
Opinion: event audiences can contribute content via the IML Connector
In recent months IML have run events
that have used TVT (Text, Vote, Talk) on
the award-winning IML Connector. This
engages the audience to contribute content
via messaging, speech and opinion; the
results were astounding. In one meeting
in the US, more than 1,200 messages were
generated – the organisers expected less
than 20.
Content is king and a strategic view is
crucial.
IML Worldwide recently won the Audio
Product of the Year award for the IML
Connector at the AV Awards 2011.
Richard Fisher is CEO of IML Worldwide
Call +44 (0)1428 787 591 or visit
www.imlworldwide.com

an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph
November 2011
Business Technology
15
Industry view
An advert for the future
In the ever-increasing world of digitisation,
companies must find ways to make the public
switch on to out-of-home advertising
Billboards and poster advertising have been
part of our daily life for years and, with people
spending as much as 42 per cent of their
time away from home, this type of out-ofhome
promotion has proved to be an ideal
tool to advertise anything from small, local
businesses to major consumer brands.
But while billboards are static as an
advertising medium – only changing every
few weeks when someone posts up new
material – as the world becomes increasingly
digitised, so out- of-home advertising is
adapting to become more dynamic.
In recent years, we’ve seen a huge rise
in digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising
where multimedia promotional material is
transmitted via computer or a set-top box to
digital screens and interactive media located
in public places such as sporting arenas, bars,
health clubs and retail outlets.
The beauty of DOOH advertising is that
it can be changed every few seconds and
enables location owners and advertisers to
extend their reach and engage with customers
or prospects more closely, often at the point of
purchase. This can lead to improved revenues,
a better customer experience and increased
footfall.
Many are already recognising the benefits
of DOOH, with industry spend expected to
more than double to $16.9 billion by 2015.
However, this new and more dynamic
channel opens up fresh challenges for
advertisers. With many more locations
available and a lack of audience data, it may
be difficult and time-consuming to plan
campaigns and buy locations. Furthermore,
poor quality information and metrics can
make measuring a programme’s success
difficult. With as much as 60 per cent of these
tasks requiring significant human input, the
whole process can have a huge impact on the
profitability of a campaign.
Identifying these common challenges led
NEC Display Solutions to develop Vukunet,
an engine that powers the DOOH industry.
Already available in the US, and launching
in Europe in 2012, Vukunet is an automated
advert delivery platform that links screen
owners with advertisers. It can turn any
internet-connected screen into an advertising
media, opening up many more channels to
advertisers and creating new revenue streams
for screen owners who sign up, whether they
have mega screens, kiosks, games stations, or
just a shop owner with a terminal.
Vukunet has introduced the first universal
inventory management, advert delivery,
Digital: bringing billboard
adverts to the 21st century
billing and payment, and reporting system to
an industry that, to date, has had almost no
standardisation across hundreds of operating
networks.
At NEC Display Solutions we believe this
standards-based approach could be the
tipping point for the DOOH industry.
Industry-wide standards will help to
simplify the business and make it easier for
advertisers and buyers to book DOOH outlets
and demonstrate success. The benefits of this
are clear to all – lower operating costs and
increased transparency of campaigns. And, as
revenues from DOOH channels flow in, it will
encourage others to invest, thus benefiting
and continuing to grow the DOOH ecosystem.
Dirk Hülsermann is manager of DOOH Solutions
– Vukunet/Advuku, marketing and business
development, NEC Display Solutions.
Call 0870 120 1160 or visit
www.nec-displays.co.uk
A touch of innovation
The world of video displays
is changing at rapid pace
to allow unparalleled
levels of user interaction.
Are touchable video walls
the way forward
As a world leader in speciality display
solutions, Planar Systems became the first
display manufacturer to introduce an LCD
media wall with integrated, multi-touch
capabilities. Planar’s Clarity Matrix Touch
provides a turnkey solution for deploying
multi-touch video walls in public spaces,
interactive signage applications, and
commercial and government environments.
Clarity Matrix Touch combines DViT
(Digital Vision Touch) technology from
SMART Technologies with Planar’s ultra-thin
LCD video wall system with ERO (Extended
Ruggedness and Optics) optically bonded
glass touch surface on to Planar’s highly
successful, modular LCD video wall solution,
Clarity Matrix. The new integrated touch
solution is ideal for adding interactivity to
busy retail locations, corporate environments,
collaborative meeting rooms, and military or
utility mapping rooms.
Touch is changing the world of video
displays and Clarity Matrix Touch enables
new levels of user interaction, collaboration
and annotation previously unachievable
with a turnkey video wall solution. Planar
Touchable: video wall offers interactivity to retail locations and corporate environments
makes it easier than ever to specify, install,
and maintain a world-class interactive media
wall.
Until now, implementing touch on LCD
video walls has required ground-up custom
design from system integrators, requiring
significant time and effort. In addition to
customised installation and configuration,
integrators have had to install large panels
of glass in front of the video wall to create
a touch-enabled surface and, in doing so,
endure issues associated with complexity
of installation and service, increased costs,
increased thermal load and compromised
visual performance and safety.
“Over the past few years, we’ve witnessed
an increasing demand for products that
feature our DViT technology as a growing
number of customers around the world
continue to seek high quality touch and
annotation capabilities for larger displays,”
says Linda Thomas, vice president of products,
for SMART Technologies, the leading provider
of collaboration solutions. “The Clarity Matrix
Touch solution will enable customers to
deploy larger touch-enabled surfaces quickly
and easily to enhance collaboration for all
users.”
The Clarity Matrix Touch benefits include
easy installation and maintenance. Planar’s
ERO glass is optically bonded to the front of
each LCD, eliminating the need for a separate
protective surface and enabling modular
installation and maintenance.
It also offers dual-touch with gestures.
This enables users to interact with the screen
using fingertips and gestures to scroll through
menus, expand and shrink images, or create
written annotations.
Email jaypaul.barrow@planar.com or visit
www.planarcontrolroom.com