Plotting Your Commercial Product Path
Many residential custom integrators are toying with the idea of exploring new, complementary business outlets to make up for thinner revenue streams in their established discipline. But how do they decide which are safest, which are close enough to what they already do, and which offer an uncomplicated backtrack path, if one is needed?
Gary Plavin, president of projectiondesign LLC, manufacturer of high-performance DLP-based projection solutions for the professional, business and home cinema markets, suggests that those looking to take their first steps down the commercial road be sure they’re cognizant of the “delivery value” of what they choose to begin selling.
“Your whole organization needs to be focused on the value and performance of different goods,” he says. “At the core is making sure you have the ideology in place in your company. If you have to do business a different way, will you be setting up to succeed or fail? If the time you need to invest in a new business disrupts your main business, which business do you want to be in? You need to figure it out.”
With those caveats in mind, Plavin discusses the following growth areas:
• 3-D – “It’s cool, and projectiondesign is all about 3-D (the company released a portable, high-resolution active 3-D stereoscopic projector just last year). But is it for the home? I don’t believe so, at this time, because of lack of content; the only real content out there for the home is gaming; and it has to be one intense gamer willing to spend the money to do it the right way. On the commercial side, it’s about image generation, calibration for a uniform image, color matching—it’s a very specialized vertical. This category is not low-hanging fruit; it has to do, on the commercial side, with very specialized content with complex system integration.” (For more on 3-D, see pg. 34)
• Boardroom/classroom integration – “It can be a good business as long as you know the state and local codes for the areas where you do business, and that the systems you are integrating are compliant with those codes. Appropriate research must be done, and you have to decide if it is synergistic with the way you do business.”
• Digital signage – “It can be deceptive...It’s complex, because at its core it is the convergence of A/V, IT, and the data platform and graphics architecture fields. It’s about what you are communicating, how you interface with it and how you do the visual ergonomics, plus how you document it, if you’re doing actual distributed advertising, so that you have proof of delivery for what you’re doing.
You can take a picture of a billboard on the road and send it to a client and say, here’s what we did; the same thing would need to be done, but electronically, with software packages. It’s also 24/7. Who will handle any problems? What level of interactivity is desired? How will you deliver informational updates, changing graphics? It’s an exciting segment, but you need to make sure you know what you need to do and allow for an appropriate learning curve.” (Read more on pg. 32)
• Mega-pixel displays – “This is a commercial marketplace that is in the process of evolving from the simulation and command-control environments. The blending technology exists to do it very effectively today, and it’s used a great deal in the corporate environment for things like large stage presentations. It’s photo-realistic and immersive. These same technologies, however, can be used in digital signage—a group of projectors in an array on a wall in a rear-screen environment can produce something [very captivating].
“With the newer technologies and software, such displays are becoming dramatically easier to do, and they lend themselves to environments that can include residential luxury spaces. Instead of having formal theaters, clients will be able to enjoy sports viewing or multiple video sources in their living rooms.
Because the technique blends multiple projectors that are not necessarily super-high-end, this area could be a fantastic way for residential integrators to get their feet wet in the category. It’s right up the alley of guys who have been doing video integration. All the skills they have can be used with mega-pixel displays, and the technology can be used for home, commercial and digital signage applications. It’s a hot market.”
Is Digital Signage for You?
For custom integrators whose primary area of expertise is residential projects, the thought of crossing over into digital signage installation, a discipline that involves the centerpiece of most of the rooms they execute—the flat-panel display—might seem on the surface to be a no-brainer and a ticket to easy revenue. But while there are surely certain skill sets and tech know-how that may be transferrable, integrators need to dispassionately weigh the pros and cons of moving into digital signage before making the attempt.
Alan C. Brawn, a principal of Brawn Consulting, LLC (www.brawnconsulting.com), an audio visual consulting, educational development and market intelligence firm, is also the director of the Digital Signage Experts Group, which certifies professionals in the digital signage industry. In sharing his insights with CustomRetailer, he cites the rapid growth of the category, which he says is “in the double digits.”
Also, he was recently involved in a digital signage Webinar for the home theater industry that attracted about 400 attendees—indicative of CIs’ avid interest in hopping aboard the bandwagon. But he cautions residential integrators that “care must be taken to understand what is involved and who is involved in the process.” Following are some basics about the category, and also, some of his “look before you leap” thoughts on the topic.
• There are two main categories of digital signage. Indoor venues is the largest and includes corporations, education, health care, medical, entertainment, security and specialty applications like flight information display. Retail digital signage is the second largest venue and involves retail establishments, restaurants, hospitality and convenience stores. The indoor venue side is not only the largest niche but is the most easily accessible for local integrators. The exception to this would be local retail stores in a given area that are not being addressed by the huge national digital signage firms.
• There are two common denominators between the commercial A/V integrator and the residential design firm. The first is the ability to design and integrate complex A/V projects utilizing displays and mounts, cables and connectors, signal distribution, and remote control, all under the umbrella of specific environments. The other common denominator is the ability to do a proper “needs analysis,” with the end-user’s objectives in mind.
• There are differences in the requirements of digital signage from a traditional residential installation. Some of these are as follows:
a. Displays operate 24/7/365 in a lot of digital signage applications but at a minimum of eight to 12 hours per day. This requires the use of commercial displays with heavy-duty components.
b. Ambient light is nearly always a more extreme factor to take into consideration in digital signage.
c. Networks are a key part of digital signage, and must be understood.
d. Content is king. Content creation is a must and must be handled by the customer or the integrator or a partner who is an expert in content creation. This is a continuing part of a digital signage project.
e. Digital signage content, control, distribution and archiving software is the backbone of the system. Today there are 350 software providers out there to consider.
f. Interactivity can be a major part of digital signage.
g. Signal distribution is a key part of the digital signage system and is usually done with CAT 5 or cellular networks.
h. The environment in digital signage is seldom secure and is much more susceptible to temperature and humidity variations.
The fact is that digital signage takes specific skills that are different than traditional residential or commercial A/V, but these skills are closely related to what we already know. The first step must be to understand the key elements of digital signage, and then decide if “the shoe fits.” CR
