Last week, we briefly touched on the importance of developing standards in the digital signage industry. Let’s elaborate a little further on this.
Standardization, as we have seen in numerous other industries, helps drive down costs, creates common units of measurement, and increases adoption by smaller users. For example, in the auto industry, before standardization, drivers had to relearn how to drive each time they got into a different car. Some automakers insisted on using a brake lever on the steering wheel as others used pedals. Some automakers place the accelerator pedal on the left while others placed it on the right. Basically, each automaker placed items like the instrument cluster, gas tank, levers, pedals, etc. wherever it felt was appropriate. Eventually, automakers realized the benefits of standardizing items like these; accelerator on the right, brake in the middle, and clutch on the left. As a result, parts became more interchange across different models, instrument clusters adopted common units of measurement, and people started to purchase cars by the millions.
To a large extent, this is the standardization that the digital signage industry needs. The technology providers in the industry are using so many different platforms that it is causing a compatibility nightmare. Furthermore, there is a lack of standards in areas such as basic media capabilities and audience measurement. This limits the adoption of digital signage by smaller users, such as local grocery stores and coffee shops, and makes large media buys more difficult to complete. Recently, technology manufacturers such as Intel, HP, Microsoft and others are beginning to work together to develop a coherent set of technology standards. This is good. A set of standards will lead to the development of standalone signage solution and will allow software developers to focus on content and innovation rather than figuring out if their solutions work on a specific platform. Lastly, given today’s connected consumer, standards will make digital signage integration with other forms of media easier. A smarter and more connected digital signage is beginning to take shape.