A new technology enters the market, but what problem does it solve?
Whether you’ve been in the enterprise world for a few years or a few decades, it is likely you’ve faced this junction.
We are at this inflection point with AI. When exploring AI’s potential—or the potential of any new technology—it’s easy to get lost in the hype of the technology’s capabilities. That hype can inhibit effective use.
Nearly three-quarters of business leaders predict that AI will lead to significant or disruptive transformation in their industries in the years ahead. But, for AI to be successful the focus needs to be on the value businesses and consumers derive from it.
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As technology leaders, we cannot just spend our time selling AI—we need to narrow in on what AI can do and how we communicate its value to customers. We must help organizations establish a clear vision for AI development and implementation.
A case study for delivering value with AI
The digital signage industry offers an interesting example of AI’s current and potential impact. Nearly 90% of marketing and customer experience leaders believe demand for content has increased, alongside rising expectations for the customer experience.
Digital signage gives brands an opportunity to share content in new and dynamic ways, and the integration of AI offers even more potential to uplevel that content and streamline content-sharing workflows. The possibilities are endless.
While technology providers have a responsibility to ensure products are powerful and reliable enough to support AI integrations, they also play an arguably bigger role in helping customers see the forest through the trees, defining what is real versus hype.
By embracing these three steps, digital signage providers help organizations achieve a clear AI vision.
1. Understand where your customers are coming from. To manage, display, and control content anywhere and everywhere requires the collaboration of many digital signage solutions that must work together effectively. Starting with the customer’s need is the first step in helping them make the most informed decisions on AI usage.
Consider a busy retailer seeking to create better shopping experiences, personalize product suggestions, and overhaul the customer journey. AI can help by:
Speeding up content development and sharing across the store.
Delivering more context-driven content that responds to changing weather conditions, traffic, and crowd density.
Using data to understand what types of content captures shoppers’ attention, how long they dwell reading content, and the path they take through the store.
AI plays an integral role in achieving these objectives, but it isn’t the focus of the conversation. To best support customers, digital signage providers will need to help them understand and apply these use cases through a comprehensive ecosystem of solutions and services.
Deliver a comprehensive solution that drives processing power at the edge. AI applications handle large volumes of data. However, for the real-time analytics that digital signage can benefit from, processing in the cloud isn’t the best option.
Consider the use of AI at the edge of networks, closer to where data is generated and used. At the edge, information doesn’t need to flow between data centers–or to and from the cloud. The processing power–and, therefore, AI capabilities–are placed in the actual media players powering digital signage displays so they can gather and leverage real-time data. Users can capture data from consumer touchpoints and interactions, analyze it on-site, and update the content displayed in near real-time. This is critical in environments that require quick informational updates, like wayfinding or security messages. It is also incredibly effective for immersive experiences that learn from usage inputs to improve content delivery.
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So, there’s no point in capturing data at the edge if your signage application or media player can’t analyze and act on it to improve the customer experience. That’s why it’s critical to deploy the right hardware. For example, players with integrated neural processing units handle AI applications, allowing the central processing unit to focus on providing high-quality, smooth video, audio, and graphics. This runs AI applications without impacting video, audio, or graphics performance.
Before implementing AI as an answer to all problems, tech providers must ensure they offer a comprehensive solution that supports buyers’ end goals. Otherwise, by solving only half of the problem with either a hardware or software solution, they risk creating more challenges for the customer in the process.
Deliver more personalized, immersive experiences. With 81% of consumers preferring to shop at a store that offers personalized experiences, it’s no surprise that retailers are exploring ways to make their shopping experiences immersive and interactive. That gives tech providers the opportunity to offer support with the latest AI advancements.
Understanding the types of content that attract shoppers’ interest helps brands personalize displays for a more immersive retail experience. AI-powered software offers insight into how shoppers make their way through the store so retailers can optimize the layout. Meanwhile, stadiums can leverage an AI-enabled gaze detection software alongside their digital signage displays to gain insight into the content that attracts the most attention. With a better understanding of how many people are watching content and responding to it, they can customize ads and ensure they send the right content to the right people at the right time.
At its core, AI drives personalization, but for many users that’s still an abstract concept. By working closely with customers to understand what they’re looking to gain from personalization, tech providers can help them effectively implement solutions.
The key to delivering value with AI
All businesses face the challenge of grappling with and successfully implementing AI. This gives technology providers a powerful opportunity to serve as a resource, but only if they successfully communicate AI’s value.
Like with all business innovation, it’s critical to understand the challenges worrying your customers, the role your product already plays in solving those challenges, and how AI can accelerate the impact of your solutions.
Together, with a clear vision, we can realize AI’s potential.
Steve Durkee is CEO of BrightSign.