DIGITAL SIGNAGE

Hector Gomez Perez

By: Héctor Gómez Pérez

A few years ago seeing a flat screen in the room of a house or in the middle of the waiting room of an airport was a real novelty; now these teams are part of everyday life and allow the user to watch from a football game, delight in the publity in a shopping center or know how many people precede him in a dental appointment. The uses are multiple and the possibilities of purchase as wide as the colors that the new models of flat screens are able to reproduce.

Obviously, this multiplicity of uses and the increase in demanta has led to more and more actors entering the scene every day to serve a market that tends to expand and technify with leaps and bounds. AVI Latin America interviewed Maria Luiza Steiner, product manager of the display division of Samsung Electronics Latin America and Juan Carlos Chavez, regional account manager for Nec Display Solutions, Inc. They discussed product sales in these times of crisis, market trends and the challenges ahead for manufacturers.

Although since the last months of the previous year there is talk of economic recession, sales of flat screens, at least as far as Nec and Samsung are concerned, did not have a negative impact. Nec, which within the region serves the markets of Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America, had a positive balance at the end of the year as it introduced the brand in the region thanks to the distribution partners that promoted in a good way their LCD screen products in sizes from 32 '' to 82 ''.

Steiner said Samsung maintained its growth and market share in the region, meeting forecasts for 2008 and without canceling any of the launches budgeted for the previous year. However, Juan Carlos Chávez hinted that although the negative impact of the economic crisis has not been fully felt, there are some aspects that highlight it tangentially, especially in what has to do with a particular application. "Digital signage in our region was starting to take off strong when the crisis fell.  Indeed, many projects were paused, but the value of digital signage is real, there is a real return on investment, and in most they are being reactivated, "said the professional.

The region and sales strategies

Latin America, according to the two guests, plays a preponderant role in the commercialization of these technologies since it is considered in a market of great potential as expressed by Steiner. Samsung has been working on various projects in airports, shopping centers and advertising agencies, and added that "our launch, promotion and distribution plans will place special emphasis on Latin America in 2009."

In the same vein, Chavez said, noting that the niche market for Nec's flat panel products in the region has been heading towards professional integration represented in monitoring centers, digital signage, transport terminals and finance centers that require deploying information in large formats and continuously.

Faced with the issue of advice and accompaniment of the staff of these companies so that the user makes the purchase decision, the guest said that Samsung "has executives dedicated to this business who know the product and are working in Latin America together with the end user to identify the best solution. Our history shows that we have been able to respond to the needs and demands of our consumers, making available those products that meet their priorities." Chavez noted that "all of our distribution and integration partners are fully advising the user on display technologies as everything behind each team. To this end, at NEC Display Solutions, Inc., we have held webinars and technical courses, to inform our partners of the different technologies behind Digial signage."

Undoubtedly, today's user is much more informed than that of a few years ago, and that is why he is looking for equipment that meets all his expectations, in addition to the design of the equipment being harmonious with his spaces and that they help to conserve the environment. However, the price factor is still decisive in the purchasing decisions of many people in the region.

Trends and challenges ahead

In these technologies, research goes hand in hand with new trends, so it is not uncommon for companies to allocate important items to issues such as lower energy consumption, durability of parts and thermal control. Among the novelties presented by Nec stands out the LCD of 46 '' without frame, in video-wall type installations in which the separation between the image of each monitor is 7.3 mm. For its part, Samsung will focus its efforts this year on the manufacture of larger screens (larger and wider), in addition to being functional and have a low power consumption.

"In the case of Nec, the main challenge is to continue offering products within our professional niche.  This niche is very demanding with respect to the characteristics of the product," Chavez said, while María Luiza Steiner said that the challenges are represented "without a doubt to respond to an increasingly competitive market that remains in constant transformation, and to a consumer that varies its demands, demanding superior products if it comes to technology."

The environment matters

Concern for the care of the environment has touched a large part of the industries and screen manufacturers have not been on the margins of this trend. Currently Samsung has been working with environmentally friendly materials and has achieved thanks to a dual injection process an exclusive TOC (transparent opaic color, also called color touch) that allows the screen to offer a clear image, under an ecological concept and that eliminates the production of VOC (volatile organic compounds).

On the other hand, Nec has epeat certification in 59 of its models; It also has 38 models of screens certified by Energy Star and the newly launched monitors have an environmental impact meter (Carbo Footprint). In addition, Chavez said that "it is important to raise awareness among the user who wants more brightness and contrast that these aspects increase the use of energy.  Ideally, users should be informed of their real minimum requirement and thus help the planet."

by Julián Arcila

When the magazine AVI LATINOAMÉRICA published its first article on digital signage, the main theme of this note was the different options of screens and monitors that an integrator could use to install one of these applications. Without saying that the approach was not the right one, today, with a little experience in this segment, the writer believes that talking about this concept should transcend the screens and in general the hardware. But there is a problem: many AV integrators have not realized it and believe that the business is still limited to talking about teams.

And everything seems to indicate that AV professionals have not agreed on what their scope should be, and while in the United States and other developed markets there is talk of diversification and sale of services, rather than boxes, in Latin America it is still thought that integrators are to assist in complex applications, and that for the production and development of content are software developers, graphic designers and advertisers.

Before determining if there is an erroneous one between these two visions, the important thing is to note that the digital signage market is experiencing a strong evolution that will progressively expand to the whole world, including Latin America. This new stage suggests AV integrators more trained in IT and telecommunications segments, that is, truly attending convergence. In this sense, it is not unreasonable to think that AV integration companies should, in the near future, incorporate a division of production and development of content for digital signage, because the business seems to be there.

Breaking paradigms

AVI LATINOAMÉRICA interviewed Gary Kayye, director of Kayye Consulting, who was also chosen in 2003 as the educator of the year by InfoComm, and Luis María González, commercial manager of the Argentine company Congress Rental. The comments of professionals are quite useful to understand a trend that day by day takes more strength. Although on some issues opinions seem to differ, the fact is that both professionals mention adaptation as the only way to remain in force.

At the end of 2008, Kayye, columnist of the prestigious magazine Sound & Communication but also director of his own blog specialized in these topics, wrote that digital signage should no longer be seen as the next big trend, but as a reality that is now present. Not fully understanding the approach, he was asked a few questions; Kayye delved into that the issue is no longer about hardware or equipment, but about the offer of services. Words plus words less, the right term seems to be creativity.

"The commercial AV market is and has been focused throughout its existence on selling facilities, offering services and selling products. In the case of digital signage, AV professionals see it as a way to sell more flat screens and monitors. But in reality, this market is related to content production. Today it's not impossible for us to sell content, but we haven't been – at least for the last 20 years or more – even remotely good at doing it."

Did he miss the leadership?

Reading kayye's words, the idea that could emerge is that the AV segment lost the leadership of the digitized signage segment; however, it is worth wondering if you ever had that distinction of pioneer. Opinions vary, though not substantially.

On the one hand, Kayye believes that AV integrators never had that privileged place. Remember that about 10 years ago NEC and other renowned manufacturers had the vision that digital signage (DS) would be an important topic one day. "But DS marketers used that idea only to sell more monitors. They weren't creative enough (and most aren't yet) to sell production and content. This is a business currently dominated by advertising agencies; we should be doing that," he says.

However, for González, in Latin America the issue has other nuances, because in the specific case of Argentina the AV integrator companies are SMEs and the DS sector seems to become a large volume business in which many of the small and medium-sized companies that make up the market are left out. However, this professional believes that the DS is a convergence business and that this allows it to be addressed from other areas, such as telecommunications, a segment in which integrators have not traditionally had technical or commercial strengths. "As has happened with other times with different businesses, we are witnessing a moment of change in paradigms. The one who adapts wins and the one who doesn't probably disappear," he says.

In search of the highest bidder

And it is that the environment supposes several reflections. With the current competition in each of the technological segments, manufacturers will strive every day to establish alliances with companies that can offer them a medium to long-term business environment.
In this direction, Kayye suggests that there is currently a good relationship between manufacturers and integrators, because the latter still sell equipment; however, the relationship with IT companies is better, as they seem to have understood the secret of what it means to sell DS in the future, not now. He explains that selling hundreds of screens for a university is a business of the moment, but selling the service of supplying the content of what the screens display on a daily basis is where the business is moving.

González envisions a fairly competitive environment in this field, since as DS solutions are basically software applications, every day more suppliers will appear from the big brands, as well as from the intermediate and small local developers. This situation began to be glimpsed, he says, in the last version of InfoComm.

A species on the way to extinction?

To finish this article and perhaps to result in a concept mentioned above, if they do not adapt to this new reality, many companies could disappear.

For Kayye, the AV integrator could be a species on the way to extinction, although he clarifies that it will always be necessary to sell equipment, although this business will be made more difficult every day by the consolidation of e-commerce.

Similarly, González ventures to predict the future of this segment and ensures that for the coming times "we will witness a strong pressure from integrators of IT and telecommunications technologies (...) Some audiovisual integrators will choose to get out of this business, others will be able to continue making some installations, and others will specialize in the segment."

Kayye ends by inviting you to be more creative. "We are very good at selling boxes, but not at selling creativity. I don't think I should dig too deep, but those who are reading this article and don't understand me yet, maybe they're never going to make it."

by Alejandra García Vélez

Today virtually every household has or plans to have a home theater system; companies also use flat panels in their facilities for multiple tasks. As important as choosing a good plasma or LCD monitor is to use a mount that allows you to get the most out of the device.

The market

Therefore, it is not surprising that the growth of the screen industry has a direct impact on the sales of frames. For example, as reported by the Terra Mexico portal, until last September sales of computer products and electronic devices in that country had an increase of 14.6 percent compared to the same period in 2007, to stand at 34 billion dollars. On the other hand, the production of flat screen televisions is estimated to remain during 2008 at about 13.5 million units.

Eduardo Viteri, international account manager at Milestone AV Technologies, said there are several factors that have determined the progressive growth of the assembly solutions and electronics industry in general. Undoubtedly, one of those factors is the demand for mounting devices suitable for modern televisions that are marketed today and whose sale has increased in recent years. "All sales and distribution channels, including the end user, have created awareness that in the face of a significant investment such as the purchase of an LCD, plasma or monitor, regardless of its size, it is best to use high quality solutions, modern aesthetics and with all the relevant guarantees that support the long-term investment", the official said.

However, trends in the market vary from one actor to another, such as professional and commercial installers, which are synchronized with the trends of Europe and the United States; according to Viteri, this is because the needs of an installation are the same regardless of the geographical point in which they are carried out. The same does not happen in the wholesale market, as it depends on the level of acceptance and knowledge of the product, the purchasing power, among other variables.

Apparently, the frame market in Latin America continues to rise despite the economic uncertainty that is being experienced worldwide; Eduardo Viteri said that "it is difficult at this time to set a real projection of growth because economic uncertainty has affected each Latin American market differently and at different speeds as well. However, I believe that we will see a significant rebound in the short and medium term due to the increasing accessibility that the final consumer has to LCD televisions and plasmas."

However, in Viteri's view, Latin America still needs to mature more to take advantage of the available technological advantages seen in more developed markets. But this maturation process depends on circumstances beyond the characteristics of the industry itself, among them is the capacity to consume, the acceptance and change to new technologies, taxes, the overprotection of the market in some countries and even the geography that allows technological products to reach regions more quickly and easily. Therefore, Eduardo Viteri said that "the next two or three years will be vital in Latin America in terms of the implementation of new technologies and their massive acceptance."

How to choose

Given the previous panorama, AVI LATINOAMÉRICA wanted to investigate some generalities of this segment that is gaining strength every day. The first question that customers usually ask is how does the installation of each frame vary? That is precisely why Chief Manufacturing has designed a program that allows you to create through the Internet an appropriate configuration for each project. When entering www.mountbuilder.com you access an interface in which you just select variables such as: type of support, brand and model of the screen, the characteristics of the mount (fixed, tilt, in-wall, etc.) and accessories. The program indicates the depth at which the wall should be drilled, how much weight the frame will support, among other data.

According to Viteri the process is simple, as long as the installer has an easy-to-install solution; however, it makes a very general description of an installation process with a fixed wall bracket:

The first step would be to determine the required mounting solution:

* Identify if the installation will be wall, ceiling or some other more specialized solution such as an automated installation, multi-monitor, modules for conference rooms etc.
* Identify according to the size and weight of the LCD / plasma the universal or customized solution for the screen.
* Choose the additional accessories that complement the frame such as, for example, and in the case of a wall installation, the central or side adapter for speakers, the power conditioner, the pre-construction recessed box, trays for video conferences among other accessories.

Second, the installation itself:

* Demarcate the exact place where the bracket will be mounted on the wall through a perforation that will serve as a guide during the installation.
* Align the initial demarcation with the mount to make sure the fit is equal for both parallel and vertical bars.
* Mount the bracket on the wall using the initial guide perforations as a reference.
* Screw the bracket interface on the back of the LCD/plasma.
* Fit and mount the LCD/plasma on the bracket on the wall.
However, it is important to note that the second part of this example varies according to the installation because each one is different.

Eduardo Viteri gives some tips to keep in mind when choosing a mount.

to. The support that the dealer, distributor and end customer will receive before, during and after installation by the manufacturer.
b. The quality of the frame and all the certifications of the same, which guarantees a long-term installation.
c. The support of the brand in everything that has to do with marketing and advertising matters.
d. Services and innovations that facilitate the installation process.
and. The product warranty.