Article

Are we there yet? The workflow conundrum (Commentary)

An expert on interactive technologies says the workflow conundrum is impeding the adoption of digital signage and kiosks.

September 25, 2012

By Michael Ionescu

President, Ionescu Technologies

In many ways, self-service networks and the digital signage industry continue to grow. But for many of the smaller businesses who need to be more budget conscious, there is a key hindrance to the widespread adoption of digital technologies: workflow.

For the purpose of this blog, workflow is referring to how a business would get its content programmed and then distributed to its own digital network for consumption by the target audience.

Who is going to be programming the content? Who is going to be pushing out the content to the right screens? Who is on site maintaining the hardware?

These are some of the main questions that come up when companies consider any kind of digital network, and oftentimes it is the lack of answers to these questions that is the motivating factor for people holding off on adopting a digital format.

In order for the digital footprint to become the ubiquitous marketing format that I believe it can be, we as an industry need to help clients solve this problem.

I think a lot of businesses who are afraid to pull the trigger on digital formats are leery of the hidden costs involved in maintaining digital screens and their respective content. Many businesses already have a "Web guy," a "marketing guy" and potentially a "mobile app" guy. The idea of having yet another "digital marketing" guy is just another expenditure on top of expensive hardware.

I have seen more than my fair share of non-functional or outdated digital signage content to realize that there is an understandable fear with potential clients who think digital signage is a waste of time and money.

I believe the industry as a whole needs to be completely transparent to potential customers in terms of the requirements of maintaining signage and content. A way to do so is for companies to provide more all-in-one solutions to clients who invest in any kind of digital network, whether it be interactive or non-interactive, so they can be confident in not encountering extra costs down the road.

While the cost will be higher to the client, I think they will respond more favorably to networks that are built, maintained and updated without the need for additional work or having to hire new people. I have already seen a number of companies offer this type comprehensive solution to clients with great success. We would prefer to sell a digital network that has been planned and packaged for the long term, rather than just sell kiosks and screens without a plan for execution.

(This is a continuation of commentary on factors that have slowed the adoption of digtial signage and self-service kiosks. Read the first part: "Are we there yet? What's taking digital signage so long?")

Ionescu is president of Ionescu Technologies, an interactive marketing company that specializes in self-service technologies from digital signage kiosks to personalized concierge tablets. This commentary originally appeared on his blog on KioskMarketplace.com.

Image courtesy of Saad Faruque.