News & Blog

An interview with Jeff Hastings on the state of digital signage and what's in store for BrightSign.

No matter where you live within the AV ecosystem, chances are a big part of your job is studying up on the latest technology. After all, if you’re going to offer your customers a compelling solution, you need to keep your finger on the pulse of technical innovation that’s continuously happening throughout our industry.

Throughout the world, organizations of all sorts are grappling with the challenge of safely operating against the backdrop of COVID-19. Retail establishments, restaurants, professional offices, public spaces – they’re all looking for ways to resume operations while mitigating pathogen spread.

Years ago, when touch screen interactivity approached mainstream adoption in retail, customers were adapting to a new workflow. The progression of customers understanding, trusting and ultimately using touch-interactive signage took time.

It’s been a good year for sales of AV to retail. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. The truth is that there were winners as well as losers, and the winners won big. BrightSign received the single-largest PO in its history right in the middle of lockdown. That PO came from a retailer.

One thing that’s become clear to me over the past several months is how critically important it is that each and every one of us stay engaged and involved through this tough time. Despite the promising vaccine news that’s been trickling out recently, we still have a long road to recovery. And how quickly we traverse that road depends, in large part, on how involved we are in the process.

If we’ve learned nothing else from this pandemic, we’ve certainly learned the importance of adaptation in the face of ever-changing circumstances. Like any crisis situation, countless times we’ve needed to quickly assess a situation, measure risks and make the best decision possible with the information available at that particular moment.

As painful as it may be for AV managers, in the connected world of cloud-based signage operating over corporate IT networks, security has to take precedence over performance and functionality. Even the flashiest, most impressive AV systems are inherently flawed if there is the potential for the network to become a back door point-of-entry for hackers.

Earlier this week, DSE show organizers confirmed what many of us had suspected for months – that DSE would not happen as planned in 2020. What came as a bit of a surprise was Exponation’s entry into Chapter 7 bankruptcy – such an abrupt and terminal move by the organization that lifted up our industry for so many years.