What is smart digital signage: all you need to know about smart signage in 2022

  Ever wondered why modern cellphones are called smartphones? What changed between the earlier keypad mobile phones and the sleek calling devices we use today? A moment of retrospection will reveal that modern cellphones are more than just calling devices; they can now literally read our heartbeats and count our footsteps!

Everything is turning “smart.” Digital signage, those flat-screens & billboards showing prearranged content, have also smartened up over the years. Gone are the days when you had to load your favorite media files from your computer to a USB device, plug it into a screen and play the same content for as long as you could until someone pointed out that Christmas is over and the content needs to be updated. Then you go back to the same tedious cycle of publishing the content. Well, not anymore!

Smart digital signage is the new cool thing; turn in any direction, and you will find a smart signage staring back at you.

In this blog, we will delve into the definition of smart signage and explore some attributes of it. We will also learn how smart displays can be utilized and see a few mind boggling real-life examples.

Table Of Contents

• What is smart signage or smart digital signage?
• Smart signage vs. intelligent signage
• Features that make smart digital signage smart
• 1. Content automation
• 2. Remote accessibility
• 3. Integrations & inter-device communication
• 4. Interactivity
• 5. Judgment and intelligence
• 6. Software & device security
• What can smart digital signage be used for?
• Some real-life examples of smart digital signage
• 1. Fanta Printergam Smart Signage, Australia
• 2. Smart Digital Signage at airport Automatic Baggage Drop, Singapore
• 3. McDonald’s Smart Orchestra Digital Billboard, Portugal
• In conclusion

What is smart signage or smart digital signage?

Smart digital signage systems are signage displays that operate on smart digital signage software. These smart features can manifest in many ways; they may bring a certain degree of automation to content management and screen management and allow remote accessibility.

There can also be more personalized content distribution. A simple example of smart digital signage is the interactive touchscreen kiosks we often see in airports, ATMs, or retail check-out areas.

Many smart digital signage solutions enable integrating the display systems with third-party applications, such as an organization’s internal dashboards or internal communication tools. These advanced functionalities are impossible in conventional digital signs like USB-driven signage.

Definition of Smart Signage: A smart digital signage is a display solution that optimizes results and reduces human supervision by different mechanisms, such as operational automation, interactivity, personalization of media, or remote screen & content management.

Smart signage vs. intelligent signage

We often use the words ‘smart’ and ‘intelligent’ interchangeably. However, when it comes to gadgets, smart may not always mean intelligent. Smart digital signage can be considered intelligent when it starts acting autonomously by dynamically predicting or analyzing the environment or human needs.

For example, an intelligent solution can be an AI-driven digital signage in a retail store that reads customers’ demographics and moods to show personalized product suggestions. It is also a smart digital signage.

On the other hand, if we consider an interactive digital menu board that allows restaurant-goers to self-order food, then that display is only a smart signage, not an intelligent one.

Features that make smart digital signage smart

1. Content automation

Automation is one of the most important benefits of smart digital signage systems. A smart signage software will allow you to schedule your media on a screen or group of screens. Your assigned content will be automatically published at the specified date and time. Not just one, or two, or three; users can create as many schedules as they want.

Besides content scheduling, a smart digital signage solution will commonly offer its users a bunch of ready-to-use content applications to ensure dynamic media playback on screen. These apps can show an extensive range of real time content like:

• Weather updates
• Live traffic updates
• Fresh news headlines
• Moment-by-moment sports scores
• Or something as simple as the current time on a world clock.

2. Remote accessibility

Remote accessibility means the users can control smart digital signage from any geographic location. This is possible because of the internet and how modern digital signage players are built.

Both external digital signage players and SoC-operated Smart TVs can be connected to the internet and wirelessly and remotely transfer data from the CMS to the screen. This is a sharp contrast to the traditional USB players that need to be physically connected to any device for sharing media files.

Remote accessibility is further enhanced by the presence of cloud-based smart signage platforms. While the modern digital signage players allow users to access the screens remotely, cloud-based software makes the digital signage command center or the CMS remotely accessible.

Originally Published as What is smart digital signage: all you need to know about smart signage in 2022 on Pickcel Digital Signage Blog