Software

Omnivex chief shares insights, trends, predictions from 3 decades of digital signage software development

This article explores the rapid evolution of tech in digital signage, with insights from Chris Devlin, President at Omnivex. From AI and cloud solutions to security challenges, insights include adapting to change, prioritizing security, and using tech to connect people.

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September 17, 2024 by Daniel Brown — Editor, Networld Media Group

Virtually every industry has been affected by the near-lightspeed evolution of technology in recent years, but few are more intertwined with this change than the digital signage industry.

From AI and cloudification to new chips and display hardware, it can be hard for even the most experienced operators to keep up.

We sat down with Chris Devlin, President at Omnivex, who joined Digital Signage Today editor Daniel Brown via video link from Toronto to take stock of the current state, major trends, and likely future developments of the industry.

The 90's have lessons for today

Omnivex got its start in the 90's, Devlin explains, and like so many digital signage software, hardware, and integration firms, it began by meeting a specific need.

"We got our start in the early 90s," Devlin said. "Big companies had enterprise computing, mainframes – things like IBM System 36's and minicomputers. Really, it was only big companies such as banks, airports, and stock exchanges that had true enterprise computing."

Giant screens were becoming the "in" thing for many of these businesses, including large LED and plasma screens. At the start of the big screen revolution, it was a rental model — big companies would not buy a screen, due to the massive cost and upkeep involved. Still, even renting a screen was a huge investment for even the larger players — which created both a problem and an opportunity that were quickly noticed by Omnivex founder Doug Bannister. "The people who made screens knew nothing about software," Devlin explained.

From financial data for stock exchanges to FIDS data for airports, there were so many diverse sources of data that needed to be linked to those big, beautiful screens — but there was virtually no large-scale provider in those days who could simplify this linking process. The financial, flight, and other data was in diverse systems that were unconnected. Omnivex saw the need to connect information from diverse systems into the screens. "The financial markets were our first customers. It was almost always a one system to one screen ratio – but different data."

One of the big lessons that holds true today, according to Devlin, is that "the devices are going to change. You know, the information for stocks used to be in stock tickers." Despite the advance of technology and automation in the finance sector, the sector has grown and created more jobs; automation has not diminished the market or reduced the count of jobs, and that is a very important lesson for today's markets, rife with headlines about the end of work and the supposed threat to humans from AI.

No matter how much things seem to change, remembering core principles will help you find success. "So, you'll see these spikes, changes of behavior, changes in devices, decentralization, recentralization… It goes through waves, it's going to continue that way — but problems are constant, and the need to connect people is forever our market."

Returning to a core lesson we've covered frequently at Digital Signage Today, regardless of one's market or vertical, the secret to success is always found in understanding the challenges and needs of your customers, and then designing solutions to overcome those challenges and meet those needs.

Devlin says that the central ethos of Omnivex, all the way back to the early 90's, has been to be a CMS and digital signage vendor that connects enterprise data and helps enterprise customers to communicate with their people at every level — be it workers, executives, customers, partners, or the supply chain. "You're trying to drive behavior and connect them to relevant information, whether that's content, pricing, menu choices, what's happening on productivity lines," Devlin said. "To give them power to control the message that is going to different audiences."

Security, privacy, and cloudification

Another key insight that translates to success in today's digital signage and technology industries is the primacy of security, something that became apparent to Omnivex at its origins. "Like then, security is still one of the number one issues," Devlin said. "Security gets wicked complex."

Security has become more complicated as the underlying digital signage and software technologies have evolved, including the rise of cloud-based systems, the rise of artificial intelligence, and the like.

It is absolutely essential for operators to stay abreast of the evolving security landscape, which is part of why Omnivex has invested in things like SOC2 compliance, along with strengthening the storage of data and the team's work processes.

Thanks to the diversity of clients (who work in many sectors), it's possible to keep certain parts of a client's data on-prem, with other parts handled in the cloud.

"Eventually, our products that are dedicated client server types of technology, and cloud technologies, may merge, but we'll always have the ability to put the whole stack on prem if that's what the client wants. We want to give them the best of both worlds."

This leads to a core principle, not only in security but in how to deal with your digital signage clients.

"Those decisions, we don't believe they should be driven by the vendor – they should be driven by the customer's need; and there isn't a singular customer need," Devlin said. "Aerospace companies are a good example that have lots of sensitive information – schematics, R&D – they don't want things made public or being risked."

Another variable involves hardware; for example, system-on-a-chip systems can save a customer money, but they also require cloud-based digital signage. Another example could be airports, in which digital signage and software networks cover not only the airport itself but the individual airlines' systems that need to talk to the airport's systems (and to each other).

Regardless of the particulars of a given digital signage project and deployment, you must prioritize security. It also helps to exercise the principle of creating tailored solutions for each given use case.

Principles for success in the future

Taking things forward to the future, some useful lessons for digital signage and technology operators emerge:

Change is inevitable – don't fear it, embrace it.
Principles guide us through change.
The more digital we become, the more human we become; always use your tech to augment and connect humans.
Changes and challenges provide endless opportunities for solutions providers.
Always prioritize security.

The more digitally advanced a business or industry becomes, the more human it becomes, even in terms of AI; technology and automation augments human performance and makes our work easier, Devlin explained, sharing an example from the day's news where AI helps suggest meals based on the ingredients you have at your home.

Far from fearing change and new challenges, we should see them as opportunities for growth and success. Devlin reflected on the massive changes he has seen in nearly three decades in digital signage and software development.

"Fortunately for us, it means a lot of work, and it will never end," Devlin said. "I don't see it ever ending — it's great, we've got a lot to do. From an Omnivex perspective, our value is keeping people and human beings connected to information they need to reduce the stress of the unknown, and the more stressful life becomes, the more I think digital communications and connecting people to information is going to help not only the automation and leveraging the investments people have made in technology but also the humanity of it all."

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About Daniel Brown

Daniel Brown is the editor of Digital Signage Today, a contributing editor for Automation & Self-Service, and an accomplished writer and multimedia content producer with extensive experience covering technology and business. His work has appeared in a range of business and technology publications, including interviews with eminent business leaders, inventors and technologists. He has written extensively on AI and the integration of technology and business strategy with empathy and the human touch. Brown is the author of two novels and a podcaster. His previous experience includes IT work at an Ivy League research institution, education and business consulting, and retail sales and management.