Choosing the Right Digital Signage System

In a landmark Supreme Court case from 1964, Justice Potter Stewart remarked that although he couldn’t provide an iron-clad definition of obscenity as it applies to the cinema, “I know it when I see it.” Providing an iron-clad definition of digital signage proves to be less of a challenge, but, once again, seeing is believing. Semantics can be argued and hairs can be split about what, exactly, constitutes digital signage, but on the whole, it can be expressed in simple terms that are intuitively understandable: Digital signage is any form of business communication where a dynamic messaging device is used to take the place of, or supplement, other forms of messaging. Until very recently, this simply wasn’t viable or cost effective. Screens were too expensive, too big, and wore out too quickly. But the LCD/plasma revolution changed, and is changing, all of that. Screens now are so affordable they can rival the printing costs of static posters over the course of time; they are thin and can hang on a wall; and they can communicate with computer networks and fetch new content, eliminating the “sneakernet” days of employees trotting from screen to screen with armloads of VCR tapes.