No. For a long time, content was considered king in digital signage. Increasingly (marketing) organizations are striving to pursuit for relevance and personalization. Data and AI driven information will be the life line for digital touch points. But at the end of the process content needs to deliver the relevant data-based content. It’s not either or – digital experience platforms need to deliver both.

Analytics starts at the concept phase while CMS interactivity analytics, external sensors and third-party data adds additional data streams to a central platform. The relevant message is created and delivered to mobile, digital signage and other screens. Adobe believes they are in pole position with the Experience Manager platform as many corporates have already deployed the solution for web, video and mobile. But also digital signage pure players like Intuiface offer data driven media platforms with detailed analytics and APIs for external data streams.

Florian Rotberg

Yes, the own showroom was a must for most digital signage integrator for a long time. But for most integrators the own showroom incurred nothing more than costs as the rapidly evolving technology forced costly annual updates. In addition, the core target group ‘enterprise customers’ were often not interested in leaving their office to visit showrooms far away from downtown.

But showrooms have become increasingly fashionable again in the past months. A new concept Showroom 2.0 has developed: Customers increasingly want digital experiences which integrate visuals, sound and sometimes even scent. Various technologies and solutions complement each other to create as unique as possible experiences. This composition of technologies and content is best presented in showrooms prepared for the customer's unique use cases. In addition, the growing interest in LEDs also drives (potential) customers to showrooms as the vast variety of pixel pitches need to be experienced in person.

Finally increasing competition from professional service organizations like Accenture Digital and IT system integrators force digital signage pure player to reevaluate their showroom strategy. The big corporate digital giants outperform each other with spectacular showrooms in London, Berlin, Milan and other European metropolises. Can digital signage pure player integrators keep up? The question will probably be whether relevant market participants will be able to afford not to operate a showroom in the future. To be honest, most national integrators will have to join forces with ecosystem partners/providers to keep up with the market

Florian Rotberg