CBS-magazine issue Mar-Apr 2014 (EN) by Communications Business Solutions

Afgiftekantoor 9099 Gent X / P.508718/Bimestriel

Nr 41 March - April 2014

IMEX 2014 stimulate new ideas A single site for all English and German language education. This year the IMEX-CIC

Inspiration Centre – the main education theatre on the show floor – will provide a single site for all English and German language education, with the exception of daily German keynotes which will take place each morning in Hall 9.

Page 2

High-Quality Connectivity at… the Right Price! It has become just as essential as having running

3 Must-Haves for a Great Video Conferencing, Streaming Media, Webcast Experience

The Unified Meeting

Improvements in the availability of broadband Internet connectivity

Employees are increasingly bringing their own communicating

are leading savvy executives to utilize video and media services

are creeping into companies. Managing all these different tools

and advances in voice and video communications technologies to reduce travel costs, stay connected to their increasingly

remote workforces, and find new ways to engage customers and prospective clients.

Page 14

water: Having an Internet connection at an event,

devices. This way, personal notebooks, tablets and Smartphones is a problem. At meetings, multiple employees want to share their content from all these different types of peripheral equipment and…

a meeting or a convention.

Let’s not forget a new fact: Each participant arrives with several mobile devices in their hands

or pockets! The obvious assumption is that they must have Internet access.

this creates quite a mess as well as a whole host of technical issues. Page 11

Page 6

The difficult quest for the good user experience How does it work?

What is the nature of the

relationship the user has with the device? Does he think it’s easy to use? Does he want to use it again?

Page 19

Companies Losing out on Opportunities for Bottom Line Results Page 7

Conferences, meetings and intelligent signposting! Page 6

The connected store Page 16

IMEX 2014 stimulate new ideas

A single site for all English and German language education

his year the IMEX-CIC Inspiration Centre – the main education theatre on the show floor – will provide a single site for all English and German language education, with the exception of daily German keynotes which will take place each morning in Hall 9. The Inspiration Centre will also house a new Creativity Zone, Hot Topic Tables with moderated peer-to-peer conversations, plus a new Meet the Expert Clinic. As in previous years, the Centre will also be home to all IMEX 45-minute campfires, one hour seminars and the Research Pod.

Technology New to IMEX Frankfurt is the Tech Hub which provides a quick and easy techno-update and a look at the latest and most innovative technology solutions for the industry. Leading event technology experts, will

present interactive sessions featur- in Frankfurt is being launched later ing guides to event technology inte- this month. gration, social media strategies, best practice in hybrid The service is one of several new events and much ideas being introduced by the IMEX more. Group to increase business and netThe Tech Hub will working value for buyers attending also feature excit- the trade show. Each new buyer will ing new products receive a telephone call from the that will be in use IMEX concierge team giving them during the semi- the opportunity to ask questions renars taking place lating to travel, appointments with h e r e , exhibitors, the eduevery day Carina Bauer: CEO IMEX Group cation programme at the or other subjects. show. A brand Says IMEX Group new App is set to be CEO, Carina Baulaunched at IMEX in Franker: “This new servfurt enabling users to log in ice typifies our and view personalised inmarket approach formation including their diand our company ary and appointments. values: high standards of customer service and a desire to ensure that both buyers and exhibitors receive IMEX in Frankfurt – New excellent ‘return on attendance’. This angle on preshow customer service complements the live webiservice nars we already offer to exhibitors which, in turn, help them maximise A new pre-show concierge service to their business return from the show.” help first-time hosted buyers get the Registration is now open. http://pormost from their attendance at IMEX tal.imex-frankfurt.com/register.php

Hotels must sow to reap a better harvest Due to the heightened competition in the hotel business, hotels are looking for ways to improve their services. They are targeting a host of user types, such as women, businessmen and senior citizens - in short, they are trying to

accommodate different lifestyles.

he idea is to create a strong brand identity, promote customer loyalty, adopt a responsible approach to the environment, focus on treatments and wellness, and integrate the latest technologies.

its part, the Marlowe hotel in Cambridge, Mass. offers its guests the free use of bicycles - a service that is very popular even with people who do not use it (knowing that the hotel offers the service seems to be a satisfaction in itself).

Reinventing the traveler’s experience

A complete multimedia experience

The aim is to reinvent the traveler’s experience, beginning with his arrival and including the services offered in his room and during conferences or events. For example, very soon, on arrival at Fairmont hotels, drivers of electric vehicles will find places in areas equipped with charging stations, in both the US and Canada or at other international destinations. This is already the case for electric or hybrid vehicles at the Fairmont Château Frontenac in Quebec City. It’s a strong hotel policy that is based on a future change in attitudes, for, in reply to the question «Does it make any difference to you if a hotel invests in efforts to protect the environment? «, only 24% of customers say that they look for establishments to stay at that invest in environmental protection. At the same time, 37% are not concerned about this, but expect that environmental programs be in place at the hotels where they stay. On the other hand, 39% are more focused on the price of the rooms.

And then there is technology. Here you need to pay close attention, because this is not small beans… In reply to the question «Would you stay in a hotel that doesn’t offer free WiFi «, 57% of those interviewed say «No way»; 26% would stop there IF it is their company that pays for the Internet connection, and only 17% say «Yes». Travelers use Internet access for emails first of all and then to read the news on their computers or tablets. The Ocean House in Rhode Is-

Free dry-cleaning of 5 items of clothing in one hour! A service greatly appreciated by businessmen and based on their newly acquired habits has been set up at Langham Place on 5th Avenue in New York. In the past, businessmen often arrived on the eve of an important conference, which gave them the opportunity to prepare themselves properly. Today, many of them arrive «just in time», that is, a few hours before the beginning of the meeting. On their arrival, the hotel offers them the free dry-cleaning of five items of clothing, with the assurance that they can recover them within the following hour. This service is particularly appreciated by women, for whom the Julien Farel Express Salon has also been set up – a beauty business that offers manicuring and pedicuring services, as well as hairdressing services, during the hour of waiting. For

In room iPad Ocean House

land provides an iPad in each room, which, among other things, has complete and free access to the Wall Street Journal and other news sites. Customers preferring a print version are provided with one, of course. Offering free Internet access can entail bandwidth management problems. To prevent a handful of intensive users from penalizing other customers by slowing Internet access through the downloading of large volumes of data, the Hawks Cay Resort & Villas in Florida is thinking of setting up a system that offers a certain quantity of data free of charge and that, if this quantity is exceeded, passes to «premium use», for which a fee is charged, In conference rooms, the aim will be to create a complete multimedia experience. At Morgans Hotel, for example, a conference room designed for 20 persons is equipped with an 85-inch screen and possesses high-quality audiovisual equipment. This room has a 75% occupancy rate and the return on investment is high.

tels with adjoining farms. The products pass directly from the fields to the table (or from the henhouse to the table), which ensures that meals are exceptionally fresh. Charging Station Fairmont Le Reine Elizabeth Montréal

Wellness offered in countless variations Long gone are the days of the expensive and snobbish minibar. Today, hoteliers are rethinking the minibar facilities entirely! Hyatt Andaz hotels offer snacks and alcohol-free drinks free of charge, and the Peabody Orlando stocks the minibar with….whatever the customers want: these latter can pre-order the contents before they arrive, just like they can place an order at any time during their stay. There are even customized «packages», like «Tiny Bubbles», which combines champagne, Brie cheese and crackers for celebrating, with colleagues or customers, the conclusion of an important agreement. To help visitors stay fit, sports rooms are springing up everywhere in hotels. But business women traveling alone sometimes hesitate to visit, early in the morning or late in the evening, an almost deserted room. The James New York offers them, twice a week, a yoga program for women only. At Omni Hotels & Resorts the customers can request weight-lifting equipment, a carpet for yoga or stretching exercises and other sports equipment during their arrival at the hotel. Tom Santora, marketing officer at Omni, explains: «We think that certain people prefer to stay in their room and do exercises». He estimates that 8% of customers avail themselves of this type of service («fitness kits») mainly persons between 35 and 55 years of age and female customers. This gives an idea of the number of kits that the hotel has in its possession. But wellness goes beyond simple physical exercises. Hotels have understood this very well and offer packages that include massages, body care and suitable foods. Aromatherapy is also used and the programs are extremely varied. Another trend, already observed in upscale catering, is the linking of ho-

«Satisfying customers in a way that exceeds their expectations»

As can be seen, the customizing of offers to accommodate a specific clientele opens up new horizons, and hotels will be able to easily create a brand identity and achieve a strong differentiation. This expansion of the offered services is also going to attract new travelers. In any event, hotels will have to invest in order to offer them. As Mike DeFrino from Kimpton hotels says, «The customers do not expect these services - their reaction is one of very pleasant surprise when they learn about them». He continues: «We’ll keep on trying to find new ways of communicating with our customers and satisfy them in a way that exceeds their expectations».

Keizershoevestraat, 26 2610 Wilrijk - Belgium Tel: +32 478 948951 Fax: +32 3 2397516 Email: jp.thys@cbsmedia.biz Website: www.cbsmedia.biz Publication Manager Jean-Pierre Thys Editor Jean-Claude Lesuisse Translation Babel Ophoff Vertalingen Printing Lowyck Publisher Jean-Pierre Thys Keizershoevestraat, 26 2610 Wilrijk - Belgium Communications Business Solutions is published 5 times a year. Online registration forms on our website will be considered for a regular free copy. Subscription Print: 55 € (Belgium) – 60 € (Europe), 85 € (other continents). All reproduction rights reserved for all countries. Reproductionof the texts (even partial) is prohibited without permission of the publisher. Member ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association) Communications Business Solutions is available in print in french and dutch and online in english, french and dutch.

STEM Association’s move to create specialists International STEM Association’s move to create specialists to run conferences with real outcomes! The international association representing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics cities with a STEM agenda (STEM States Incorporated), has announced today that it has contracted the Global Industry Development Network to assist in the establishment and training of a Meetings Industry International Taskforce for STEM Conferences. The taskforce will include up to a dozen international associations as well as meetings industry suppliers, and will work on providing specialist STEM industry knowledge and skills to suppliers interested in hosting or managing conferences in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). “This is a great initiative which will mean we are clear on who the world’s leading suppliers are for STEM conferences and meetings” says Professor Dr Nader Barsoum, President of the Asia Pacific Society for Hybrid Technologies and Energy and one of the organisations backing this specialist training of meeting industry suppliers.

The reason behind the taskforce was explained. “The information age has led to some remarkable changes and this has meant that governments, associations and companies have the opportunity to better use conferences as a catalyst for growth. However, there is a divide between what we are really trying to achieve through our conferences; what suppliers frequently offer; and equally about what associations think are available to us as meeting organisers. We see that it would be advantageous to all associations in the fields of STEM to have specialised suppliers available to them who actually know where we are heading and what we actually need” says David Goncalves, President of STEM States Incorporated. “Just take one of our big picture goals. Imagine the role of a teacher changing over the coming decade, from that of an information provider to more a co-ordinator role as students sit behind ipads and tablets and work through units at their own pace, with the teacher downloading update reports and assigning students into work groups on a daily basis, based on the students actual needs”. Governments around the world are starting to move down the path of implementing tablets in classrooms right now, and there are a range of ways this agenda can be progressed or developed through conferences. The technology is available right now and with the right pitch Governments and industry would fund these technologies at conferences. The problem is that there is a miss match between how the meetings industry sells these services and what associations or corporate meeting organisers know is available and how they can be funded. So our goal is clear. We aim to spend 12 months training up meeting industry suppliers on the needs of the STEM conference sector; how to inform and to upsell correctly to them; and how and where they can obtain the funds to use these products in their conference. The aim is to have a specialist suppliers list which can be circulated amongst international associations and

organisations listing who can not only help them to organise their conference or meeting, but can really help them make the meeting something which achieves their development goals. “Conferences are more than just meetings” says Scott Campbell, Executive Director of the Global Industry Development Network, “Conferences are powerful tools for economic and social development. As an industry, we need to be offering the services and skills that enable meeting and conference organisers to achieve the real outcomes they are looking for, not just limit these based on what products and services they think are available and they can afford”. “It does come down to financials” continues Campbell, “most associations look at these new technologies and believe they can’t afford them, but the reality is that many of these tools are perfectly aligned with the State’s or industries direction, and they would get behind their funding and use if only they knew about them and what the flow on benefits of using them actually would be”. “As such, we plan to work with industry to assist them to get in the door of associations and to showcase not what the product does, but rather what the product could do to support in the bigger picture of growing the industry”. The project team is calling on suppliers such as convention bureaus, convention centres and venues, hotels, professional conference organisers, destination management companies, and technology suppliers to

contact us if they would like to start now on positioning themselves as specialists in STEM conferences. Participants accepted into the taskforce will be asked to attend a monthly 1 hour video call and training, and participate in an annual 2 day training conference hosted as part of the STEMfest event. After 12 months the organisation will be certified and included on the STEM Sector Specialist Suppliers List. In addition, the project will have financial benefits, with all participants being given access to the GNR8 business matching app where they can download new business leads over the 12 months and put their new network and skills to work on business development. STEM States incorporated is investing USD$212,000 into the project. Each meeting industry participant will be asked to contribute USD$180 per month to cover their 12 months of training, conference registration and new business leads. Meetings industry suppliers can contact us for more information or to register to participate in the taskforce at info@globalidn.com About Global Industry Development Network Pty Ltd The Global Industry Development Network (GIDN) are business development consultants who provide support with bids, tenders, grants and sponsorships. GIDN have team members in 16 countries who provide inmarket support to our convention bureaux, professional conference organisers and convention centres. GIDN is a member of the International Convention and Congress Association (ICCA) and provides support services to ICCA members, destination marketing organisations, and venues with their business development activities within the association market. For more information on Global Industry Development Network please visit www.globalidn.com For Further Media Information Contact : Please contact James Jackman, Media Liaison, Global Industry Development Network at jjackman@globalidn. com or on + 1 212 653 0671 Images attached: David Goncalves (left) from STEM States Inc and Scott Campbell (right) from Global Industry Developm

High-Quality Connectivity at… the Right Price! It has become just as essential as having running water: Having an Internet connection at an event, a meeting

or a convention.

et’s not forget a new fact: Each participant arrives with several mobile devices in their hands or pockets! The obvious assumption is that they must have Internet access.

Evaluating consumption

technicians share responsibility for providing the necessary Wi-Fi capacity, many of them are not prepared to start discussions about the necessary bandwidth requirements. It was not so long ago that the screening question of organisers was limited to, «do your systems have ‘wireless’ capability?».

Many personal mobile devices did not exist three years ago! Moreover, meetings are becoming increas14 million for 13 hotels! ingly dependent on technology, with presentations relying The solution, according to Steon streaming video, placing ve Enselein, Vice-President of even greater demands on the Catering and Convention Services existing Internet infrastructure. at Hyatt Hotels USA, is to «coorIn this context, one can leave dinate with the technological partnothing to chance anymore; ners on site and with the audioone has to plan, in advance, visual companies working in our Internet access in the same hotels». «These people are very way as one does the transport well informed about the Internet Steve Enselein connectivity needs and they can of the participants or their accommodation. To ignore this help organisers ask the right quesneed is to risk having a disastions as to their bandwidth needs». ter on one’s hands or, at the very least, a Organisers will have to estimate the level very unpleasant «experience» of the event of use of the participants and of the presin the minds of participants and organis- entations, as well as the number of devicers alike. es they are likely to carry. Now, it is important to realise that while In any event, meeting the Internet needs planners, site managers and all kinds of of large groups is expensive, but, as

Business Meeting Hyatt Hotels

with everything, quality comes at a price. And there is also a mentality that needs to change: Organisers always feel they should benefit from free Internet access, but given their bandwidth needs, that position is simply untenable. To make it more concrete, it should be noted that MGM recently spent 14 million dollars on its 13 Las Vegas hotels. Mike Dominquez, Vice-President of Sales for MGM Resorts International believes that «the rates should reflect the expenditure in order to have a return on investment». «The expansion of bandwidth is expensive and, since the improvements are invisible, some people hope this will be free».

Conferences, meetings and intelligent signposting! Organising conferences or meetings is not an easy business. Everything must be considered and this goes

well beyond food and drink planning or designing the overall timetable.

he company’s brand image is also at stake and it must be associated intimately with the signposting that will have to be put in place.

Coherence makes for the «good form»

their way? Use a floor plan to plan the signposting in the light of your observations and add (open your eyes and observe!) the flow of people to it. Continue your visit and make your way to the room where the discussions will take place. It will be necessary to provide a new sign at every turn and at

Most importantly of all, the said signposting must be coherent. It must be recognisable at a glance. The company’s logo and the colours used must be replicated from sign to sign and thus become a «good form» that will be spotted quickly: as soon as the eye «knows» what it must recognise, it finds it much more easily. Of course, the relevant locations must also be determined. To do this, visit the site beforehand and walk around like the average visitor. Where is the obvious place for a sign? Where are most people likely to lose stairs that are climbed or descended, and, of course, a large poster must be placed at the main entrance of the room.

Give special thought to first impressions! If, in terms of staff availability, the event permits it, add «human signposts» next to signs indicating the way. A member of staff wearing the T-shirt and badge of the event……that always makes a big splash! The person will be liberated from this role a few minutes

after the event has begun and will then be able to engage in other activities. The check-in area must be given special attention because this is what the attendees are going to encounter first and it will therefore make a good or bad impression. This first impression, although not indelible, is going to have a marked effect on visitors. If checkin is carried out at different desks you should therefore make sure that the directions are readable and clear: “names starting with letters A to C” for checkins based on the first letters of names, and, if present, «VIP» or «press» lines clearly indicated. There is nothing worse than having to queue up and then being forced to do it again in another line! Personalise the room in your own way, but never forget to indicate the way to the toilets. There is nothing worse than crossing a room and then having to cross it again in the other direction!

Team Building: Companies Losing out on Opportunities for Bottom Line Results

“Team Building”. These 2 words have come to mean different things to different people.

t one time, team building was understood as the on-going process through which teams developed into cohesive, highly functioning units working together to help organizations achieve their objectives.

A simple search for the term on Twitter or Google will reveal a disturbing trend that has watered down “team building” to refer to any activity in which a team participates whether its paintball, bungee jumping or going for drinks after work.

country clubs created for the purpose of entertaining employees. They are intended to generate a profit and improve shareholder value. If team building is to re-gain the respect that it has lost, it must be firmly grounded in that reality.

Anne Thornley-Brown

The reason for this shift has come from 2 sources. Companies find it easier to release

funds for recreational activities if they lump them into the team building budgets. Suppliers of recreational activities discovered that, by marketing their programmes as “team building”, they could attract more corporate clients. In doing this companies and suppliers seemed to be unaware of the fact that they have been killing the goose that laid the golden egg. The stage was set for team building to be perceived as a discretionary activity that can be eliminated with minimal impact whenever the economy dips.

An organization’s mission, strategy and goals should shape the objectives of team building. Once these objectives have been set, the next steps are to:

determine the phase of team development identify any gaps in team performance and assess the learning styles of team members This should drive the content and approach to team building. At times, the fun factor will be an important ingredient of team building. If the team is experiencing a lot of conflict or bogged down in misunderstandings, it will be important to address the concerns of

team members directly. In fact, trying to engage a team in recreational activities prematurely after lay-offs, a dramtic turn for the worse, or other corporate trauma is likely to backfire. Expertly facilitated team building with tangible benefits in terms of R.O.I. is one of the most powerful tools available for executives to unify a team and get all team members to pull in the same. Team building benefits can include: problem-solving resolving conflict breaking down silos reducing costly red tape boosting the effectiveness of crossfunctional teamwork generate solutions for business challenges through brainstorming As long as companies continue to substitute corporate paly days for “real” team building, thee benefits will never be realized and we will continue to see team building placed on the corporate backburner. Anne Thornley-Brown, M.B.A. is the founder and President of Toronto-based Executive Oasis International. Their expert team building facilitators travel throughout Canada, the USA, Dubai, Oman, Singapore, Malaysia, Europe, and the Caribbean to help companies achieve bottom line results through facilitated team building. Team Building Facilitators http://www.executiveoasis.com/teambuildling.html

Do social and recreational events have a place on the corporate agenda? For sure they do. In fact, they are an important barometer of organizational health. No one wants to work for a company at which co-workers can’t stand each other. An environment in which no one laughs, smiles or has fun is a sign of corporate ill-health but fun and games and corporate play days don’t boost the bottom line. The amount of “fun” the group should never be the litmus test to determine if team building is effective. Corporations are not recreation centres or

The Business Breakthrough (BB) Event is more than just a conference ... The Business Breakthrough (BB) Event in London and Paris is more than just a conference ... Business Breakthrough Event to Highlight Impact of Unified Communications on Enterprise Future Conference to focus on new solutions that can drive growth in revenues and profitability Imago Group Plc, “Europe’s largest distributor of video communications” and Wainhouse Research, the leading market research firm focused on business communications applications, have teamed up to host the Business Breakthrough Conference & Exhibition to be held May 29 in London and June3 in Paris. This event will help business leaders and senior executive understand how they can benefit from technology and cultural shifts that are changing the competitive landscape and profitability potential for all. Business leaders in attendance will learn what Microsoft Lync and other unified communications solutions can and cannot do for global enterprises, how mobile applications can help businesses improve workflow as well as customer satisfaction, how to evaluate cloud services that may be in their future, and how new technologies can enable new services and drive

business growth. One of the many topics on the agenda of concern to today’s business leaders is the changing work environment as digital-savvy millennials enter the enterprise. Attendees will hear from a Wainhouse Research analyst on recent research results detailing the nature of workplace cultural changes now taking place and how enterprise planners can prepare for these changes while enhancing productivity, employee retention, and decision making speed.

About Wainhouse Research LLC Wainhouse Research, based near Boston, MA, provides insight and intelligence into the global markets for audio, video, and web conferencing, real-time unified communications, and enterprise streaming and webcasting. The compaCAP 15 1/13 Quai de Grenelle 75015 Paris Andrew.W. Davis Senior Partner Wainhouse Research

Further information regarding the agenda, sponsors, and registration is available at London event (29 May 2014) Paris event (3 June 2014)

ny publishes market studies and provides strategic consulting to both industry vendors and end user organizations. Wainhouse Research conferences in the US and Europe provide a forum for the indus-

About Imago Group PLc From its beginnings in 1991, Imago Group has specialised in supplying video communications products and services as a trade-only distributor, and this has today resulted in the company becoming Europe’s largest video solutions company, supplying video and audio conferencing, video streaming and Internet TV as well as HD cameras, interactive whiteboards, LCD displays and video projectors. Imago has been operating successfully in the French market since 2003, and has since established subsidiaries in Belgium, Holland, China, South Africa and Spain, and as a result of the growth in its overseas sales featured in The Sunday Times International Track 200 - a listing of the UK’s fastest-growing international companies - in 2012. See more at: www.imagogroupplc.com

Ian Vickerage Managing Director Imago Group plc

try and its customers to discuss critical issues for industry growth. For more information please visit www.wainhouse.com.

Channel partners will have an opportunity to meet with leading vendors, independent analysts and consultants, and end users in the audience to explore new solutions and new relationships. On display in the exhibition area will be the latest solutions for video conferencing, unified communications, meeting room designs, digital media, and integrated automation and control systems.

The Brewery 52 Chiswell Street City of London, EC1Y 4SD

Communicating Spaces that Create Efficiency Though businesses recognise that working in groups and meetings are essential to success, they are still finding it difficult

to offer effective communication spaces.

istorically, meetings were scheduled in a formal manner (in such place, at such time and with such participants). So de facto, businesses created formal meeting rooms designed to facilitate the work of large groups as well as decision-making.

Moving from personal to collective But two basic elements have changed,

group spaces are less effective, but they don’t know how to remedy that. In an effort to answer these questions, Ratekin Consulting, which specialises in research on work environments, collected information on collaboration environments around the world using electronic surveys and talks. The participating businesses were chosen according to their leadership in the creation of effective collaborative spaces. In light of the foregoing, it is not surprising to note that is to promote innovation and to increase the speed of decision-making that the businesses are working to change their organisation of collaboration.

boards on which to use and to project the images from tablet PCs, smartphones and notebooks. But all of this technology must be sound and, above all, easy to use. For example, when switched on, it must not hamper the establishment of spontaneous meetings or interactions. Additionally, the spaces must offer the level of comfort and privacy necessary to engage in sensible talks. They must be easily accessible to avoid people be-

Continuously evolving! The third reason is that the employees can support the busiRoom&Technologies Medialine ness, by allowing for the pooling of the expertise of individuals and the creation of teams which are adequate to obtain tangible ing discouraged from holding spontaneresults within the shortest possi- ous meetings due to the wasted amount of transport time. Digitech GmbH - Room&Technologies Medialine ble time frame. E-mail: info@room-and-technologies.com Indeed, a very wide range of layWebsite: www.room-and-technologies.com out options is used for working in The size of the spaces must be adapted groups. The study counted some to the number of participants. For exam32 different workspaces, with the ple, having a small group of people meet both for the employees and for the busi- majority of participants using at least sev- in a large room leaves a very unpleasant nesses. For the former, collaboration must en types of configurations. It is the lack of impression. be associated with social ties and person- adequate places to accommoal commitment. As for the latter, they re- date the most extensive colquire operational excellence and search laborations which is the main for innovation to succeed. concern, along with the lack of Operational excellence is tied to the ef- adequate technological equipficiency of the processes, including the ment. speed of collective decision-making. Inno- Another lesson: The collabvation, for its part, feeds on informal, so- orative spaces continue to evolve. The most «evolving» cial and creative interactions. This situation has created new demand category is that of the funcfor a greater variety of collaborative work tions of brainstorming, of «instant» meetings, videoconferspaces. In other words, the workplace is increas- encing and the work of project ingly changing, moving from a “personal” teams. Room&Technologies Medialine environment to a «collective» one, from A warning also: In the future, the majority of the collabora«me» to «we». But there is many a slip ‘twixt the cup and tive spaces will need to offer Room&Technologies Medialine the lip; it is not always easy to get what technological characteristics that facilitate communications, one aspires… “Put an end to necks craning to see a presentation at the that enable people to share Promoting innovation and decision- visual information, as well as other end of the room. No more communication interruptions while checking one’s monitor on or in the tabletop. offering stewardship support making facilitating intellectual work The overhead projector module projects presentations, conSome companies have begun to literal- (food, drinks, light of day). trol interface or blueprints onto the table’s surface. An invisily copy the concept of successful public ble senor layer inside the table top allows to control room and spaces (pubs, bars, marketplaces, exhibi- Good technology and the media devices. Touch panel and wiring is a thing of the past. tions), hoping, mistakenly, that the varieright dimensions ty of social interactions taking place there Leading principle of this system is to place the main part of will reflect in a workable setting for the Having the right technology is every conference – the participants – into the center. Presbusiness. essential for a collaboration entations, draft and graphs should only underline strateThey are also keen to promote innovation; space. It involves technology gies and not be the dominating part of conference. but they can only go so far in encouraging to allow for the recharging of interactions and… waiting for the «mag- the devices and for them to be It offers a wide range of possible application” ic to happen». This way, many business- connected via WiFi. Also rees have come to realise that their working quired are interactive white-

Animating a Training Session Whiteboard animations consist of animated images which, in a training context, illustrate an idea or a concept

through a series of drawings which give the impression of having been created live.

s they are short and have sound, they fit very well with the needs of the people in training and constitute a very effective tool in technology-assisted learning.

Miracle Solution

into account numerous factors during the shoot before starting post production (editing) and dubbing. That is why whiteboard animations, based on drawings, offer a miracle solution of sorts – much easier to pull off.

It should be noted that in view of the con- Tips and Tricks tinuous advancement of technology, elearning developers have to constantly ad- There are some very useful tips you can foljust their products to make them available low. Here are a few… through a wide range of different devices: You have to have a solid script. Clearly delaptops, mobile phones, tablet PCs and oth- fine the learning you have in mind and then er smartphones. The turn it into short, brief and striking wording. The script also has to fact that these devices state the length of the programme can connect to the interand determine the points of transinet opens the way to the tion between images. display of rich multimedia content that will have The duration of the animations a significant impact on should be short: between sixty seconds and five minutes per anthe people undergoing imation, and the flow should be training. SMART Technologies smooth, not jerky. Of course, creating from scratch true professionNaturally, the visual aspect is the al, personalised videos in a particular field backbone of whiteboard animations! Creatis akin to buying powerful tools which imme- ing eloquent patterns and images can take diately draw attention. The downside? They time, but it is an investment that will bear fruit. You should also consider the socio-culare not easy to create. Among other things, one has to have good tural characteristics of your surroundings. actors, control lighting and sound, and take Therefore, you should avoid making ‘private

SMART Technologies jokes’ that can only be understood within a restricted cultural framework. Above all, don’t forget to add music and sound effects! These are powerful tools which maximize the effect and add to the realism of the script. For instance, if you see a door opening (even in a video sequence), the effect will be increased tenfold if the images are accompanied by a squeaking sound. Once the drawings are created, it is very easy, using appropriate software, to record all the animations and make them appear at the desired time, just as if you were drawing them in real time! Subsequently, you can put them on the internet and make them available to everyone.

The Unified Meeting Employees are increasingly bringing their own communicating devices. This way, personal notebooks, tablets and Smartphones are creeping into companies.

anaging all these different tools is a problem. At meetings, multiple employees want to share their content from all these different types of peripheral equipment and… this creates quite a mess as well as a whole host of technical issues.

Nothing short of true magic wePresent has come up with a solution that is nothing short of true magic: they have succeeded in integrating all these different tools into a single, fully operational and wireless unit. Let’s take the wePresent-1500 for example. It is an extraordinary presentation tool! It enables groups of up to 64 users to display information from their computers (Mac or PC), Smartphones or tablets using WiFi or a wired connection. The wePresent can be hooked up to any VGA or HDMI (1080p) monitor. The wePresent software allows for the simultaneous display, side by side, of content broadcast by 4 users. The moderator can manage the various participants and decide who gets to broadcast content when.

iOS and Android Smartphones and tablets can be used to control and project the content from Mac computers or PCs.

Much like «plug and show»! Moreover, a «sender for galaxy» application allows for a mirror image of a Smartphone screen to be displayed on the projection screens. The device smoothly projects PowerPoint, Excel, Word presentations as well as other visual content from tablets and Smartphones. The participants can get views of the presentation on their browser, on their own

Wi-Fi device, and record them. (Important) icing on the cake: An interactive white screen connects easily to the system -- still wireless. Additionally, it is possible to create a “virtual» whiteboard on the monitor, and to then write, draw and annotate using an «airpad» (a portable tablet specially designed for that purpose by wePresent). The advantage of using this type of solution speaks for itself. But it is even more interesting as the hazards associated with start-up and functioning are reduced to an acceptable minimum. Indeed, the start-up is much like «plug and show»! No hassles! wePresent Internet: www.wepresent1000.com

The Microsoft Lync Ecosystem Expands

By Alan D. Greenberg, Senior Analyst & Partner, Wainhouse Research agreenberg@wainhouse.com

n late February Microsoft held its 2014 Microsoft Lync Conference and – in attendance – were more than 1,600 members of the Lync / Skype ecosystem. Anyone interested in the future of unified communications (UC), telecommunications, collaboration, video conferencing, web conferencing, and the like should be paying attention, as Microsoft has picked up momentum in the past few years and is now a force in the enterprise (large or small) when it comes to UC. Whether organizations are going with premise-based Lync servers or Microsoft’s cloud-based offerings, Microsoft is reporting significant market gains. Here are a few details offered by the company: 1/3 of all global long distance takes place over Skype 130 million out of 300 million Skype users are on Android and iOS devices 60% of all LARGE enterprises are deploying Lync The Collaboration division is now exceeding $1 billion in revenue, with 38 quarters of double digit revenue growth

UK-based Mindlink Software’s Annekathrin Häse and Alan Greenberg Wainhouse Research

We cannot verify some of these claims, but they point to the force that Microsoft has become in the overall marketplace. Gurdeep Singh Pall took the stage after a two-year leave of absence from the collaboration group (focusing on artificial intelligence for Microsoft) and lightly touched on his new role as Corporate Vice President for Skype and Lync. As GM some years ago he helped develop the strategy that led to the formation of

the Real-Time Collaboration division and the acquisition of PlaceWare, and he oversaw the launch of Live Communications Server in 2003, Office Communications Server in 2007, and Lync Server in 2010. Derek Burney, Corporate VP for Microsoft Lync & Skype Strategic Relations and Solutions within Microsoft’s Applications and Services group, conducted most of the keynote demo, which included various demonstrations of Lync to Skype video, a swipe at traditional video conferencing room systems (comGurdeep Singh Pall plete with a call to a cobweb-encrusted TANDBERG system) – well, you get the picture. There was a fair amount of jockeying taking place against the “vendor who shall not be named” – namely, Cisco. Specific announcements to note: 1) Lync-to-Skype video (last year Burney demonstrated audio and Instant Messaging – this year video is the next frontier in terms of bringing these two separate capabilities together); 2) new Lync support for Android tablets, which will be available summer 2014; 3) Lync server video interop with legacy “TANDBERG” units; and 4) browser extensibility with integrated Lync voice and video content through a jLink API. All of these are promised to be in customers’ hands by the end of 2014. Also announced: the ability to make and receive standard plain-old-telephony-service (POTS) / public switched telephony network (PSTN) audio calls from Lync Online and enhancements to large meetings in Lync Online. Microsoft has a vibrant ecosystem, and a number of vendors and service providers showed a variety of peripherals like handsets and headsets, as well as Lync Room Systems, contact center solutions, and even persistent IM integrated with Lync. Here are a few members of that ever-growing ecosystem we visited with or otherwise heard from: Emulating POTS- to-cellular call handoff first pioneered by the cellular industry a few years ago, Plantronics demonstrated new applications that work with Microsoft Lync and Plantronics’ sensor-enabled wearable devices to help improve

productivity for users, particularly when they are on the go. Plantronics specifically demoed how a connected worker can use his / her headset to seamlessly transfer an active Lync call from his computer to his mobile phone as he moves away from his desk. In addition, Plantronics showcased how its Smart Presence application can provide more accurate presence information in Microsoft Lync when a user is on a mobile or desk phone. Lync Room System vendors Crestron, SMART Technologies, and Polycom (the latter showing off its OEM’d Crestron LRS system with a bundled CX5500 Unified Conference Station) revealed varying degrees of focus on driving their products into conference rooms by playing in the Lync sandbox. SMART announced an enhanced SMART Room System (SRS), adding interactive sharing that enables touch and inking into any software application; integration with SMART Meeting Pro PE (Personal Edition) software; and the introduction of “unbound workspace;” as well as new display sizes and combinations to bring collaboration to more work spaces. Crestron showed its Crestron RL – pushing its ability to inte-

Microsoft’s Derek Burney Onstage at the Lync Conference Keynote grate into a business’s infrastructure via room controllers, etc., etc. We visited with MindLink, a purist’s example of how the Lync ecosystem is enlarging opportunities for vendors large and small. MindLink is a UK-based startup offering a purpose-built enterprise persistent chat that integrates with Lync. Why not use Lync alone for persistent chat? MindLink would argue that its chat adds to Lync’s persistent chat by adding mobile device management (MDM) support, advanced alerts, advanced integration, better social media “secret sauce,” better compliance features, and moderation features. Is there a future for this kind of small fry? Financial services firms already on the Lync adoption curve are eating it up. Logitech showed off its Lync-certified ConferenceCam CC3000e, recently an-

nounced to fanfare for its sub $1K price point and 1080p video, as well as its ability to off board onto the camera H.264 encoding. The Lync Conference brought together a fan base genuinely pleased with progress to date, happy OR skeptical vendors hitching their wagons to Microsoft’s short and long tail, and others there to learn and figure out how to leverage UC. Oh yes – it’s no longer Unified Communications. Microsoft has rebranded the entire category Universal Communications, in light of the familiar experience of Lync and Skype, aspects of content and application intelligence built into its entire suite of products (from Xbox One to Office, Bing, SharePoint, etc…), mobility and cross-device story, video interoperability story, and global reach through the cloud. Seriously, a sold-out conference of more than 1,600 attendees, up from 800 in 2013, shows Microsoft’s ability to build buzz. Another way to look at it, however, is that Microsoft is becoming the force in UC that Cisco was a few years ago. The titans continue to clash, the race is on! We give Microsoft credit for driving a rich, complex ecosystem that is helping push UC further into the enterprise. As the Wainhouse Research team in attendance tossed around our respective takes on the event, we came away impressed by a few things, concerned about a few significant “omissions.” We do believe that Microsoft Lync offers a

powerful value proposition in its real-time unified client, integration with Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, Office, and now Skype. We believe Gurdeep Pall’s return signals an important organizational shift that will affect both market positioning and product development. Lync as a UC solution represents a very broad commitment from customers – Microsoft-centric IT / telecom customers will likely make that commitment. Others – particularly small-to-medium businesses that are less Microsoft-cen-

tric, may be more cautious. The addition of PSTN dialing to Office 365 does now make Lync suitable for small-to-medium businesses – but this capability is not expected until 2015. We have much more to say about where Microsoft is taking this juggernaut in our Wainhouse Research subscription services. In the meantime, we offer kudos to Microsoft for assembling yet another well-orchestrated, well-catered meal – even if a few courses are still leaving us hungry for more.

SMART Technologies SMART Room System for Microsoft Lync, for more information visit: www.smarttech.com/thenextlevel.

Lync, the Great Communicator If one had to describe Microsoft Lync in a few simple and easy-to-understand words, one would say that it is

a solution that enables people to work together from remote locations in the best possible manner.

his way, all company staff can work together as though they were in the same office.

Full integration In addition, the Lync tool is easy to understand and easy to use, guaranteeing that the staff will embrace it quickly, and thus use it repeatedly until it becomes routine, greatly benefiting incompany communication. Whether using mobile devices, PCs or Macs, the user experience is consistent. Lync allows you to manage attendance, instant messaging, voice, video and conferences. Users can switch from one device to another depending on their needs. Lync allows for the establishment of HD video communications, as well as content sharing.

Lync integrates with Outlook, SharePoint, OneNote and other Microsoft Office applications, enabling users to not having to exit the application they are working in when they want to contact other people. Users have access to a «contact card» (for each of their contacts) showing the professional identity of the various interlocutors, rather than just a number (telephone or other) which provides a lot less information.

Whole host of possibilities It is possible to organise a meeting in advance through Outlook, including with people who are not part of the company. The guest will receive an e-mail containing a link which allows them to download a web application that can only be used at the time of the meeting. What’s more, if the guest does not have a computer, they will be able to join the meeting by phone, simply by dialling a particular number and entering the conference login when asked. In short, Lync allows you to call, chat, share files; it allows you to find in the blink of an eye the correct details of people; it communicates directly from the other Microsoft tools; it allows for easy communication with people outside the company; it enables you to attend any meeting or discussion without the slightest problem; it allows you to organise efficient meetings and it provides information on the activities of colleagues. A whole host of possibilities!

3 Must-Haves for a Great Video Conferencing, Streaming Media, Webcast Experience By Mark Maxey, Senior Vice President, Yorktel Media Services.

mprovements in the availability of broadband Internet connectivity and advances in voice and video communications technologies are leading savvy executives to utilize video and media services to reduce travel costs, stay connected to their increasingly remote workforces, and find new ways to engage customers and prospective clients. While video conferencing, webcasting and streaming media have the potential to play a positive role in addressing these business needs, there is a significant challenge that must be addressed before this medium can become a viable replacement for in-person engagements: audience distractions. Unlike in-person meetings where participants are in the same physical location, video affords people the opportunity to participate in meetings remotely from the comforts of home, which includes distractions from phone calls, emails, instant messages, and social media, just to name a few. Before using visual communications as an alternative to a face-to-face meeting, one of the first orders of business is to have a

JMRConnect well-prepared presentation with relevant content that will draw your audience in. Another type of distraction that’s just as important as the first one comes from technical problems, such as poor video quality, video and audio stutters, or dropped packets. Any of these issues can alienate your audience and compromise your results. Assuming you’re able to address the first challenge, coming up with a compelling message and good content, I can offer some helpful tips to ensure your technology doesn’t leave you hanging. Following are three best practices you should follow to ensure your video conferencing session operates smoothly. Use Adaptive Bitrate Streaming. In the early days of the Internet, if you wanted to watch a video feed, you had to select a box to indicate your connection speed. At the time everything was hardcoded to deliver the media at a specific bit rate and quality. During this same period, video conference presenters were limited to using very specific (and often proprietary) video hardware, media encoders, and software. As video conferencing technology evolved, so have the delivery methods to carry the content to viewing audiences. Adaptive bitrate streaming technology is now available to help mitigate issues of shard bandwidth and overburdened workstations. Adaptive bitrate technology contains built-in intelligence that can detect the user’s bandwidth and CPU capacity in real time and adjust the bitrate of a video stream accordingly. To enable this

JMRConnect technology, one must use software and/or hardware to encode a single source video at multiple bit rates and then transport the stream on an adaptive bitrate carrier format, such as Microsoft Smooth Streaming. Multicasting vs. Unicasting. A common challenge faced by large enterprises that incorporate video conferencing meetings among their remote workers is ensuring their internal network doesn’t become overwhelmed by the video packets they’re streaming, which can be disruptive not just for the video conferencing participants but other users accessing their network, too. In these situations, multicasting can be used to alleviate potential bandwidth problems. A unicast presentation creates a one-to-one connection, whereby each viewer is routed back to the presentation origin, no matter where the viewer is located. This means that if there are 50 viewers in an office in California watching a 300 kilobit presentation from an office in Paris, each one of those viewers is pulling their own 300 kilobit stream. This is a huge burden to a corporate WAN. Multicast, on the other hand, uses a one-to-many connection. In the previous scenario, multicast would generate a single 300 kilobit stream between Paris and California, allowing the 50 viewers to pull their streams from their local router rather than making 50 separate connections back to New York. Using a Content Delivery Network (CDN). Depending on the size of your intended audience and the type

of content you’re delivering, it may not be feasible to deliver your presentation from your on-premises facility. Instead, it may be better to use a CDN Provider (e.g. Akamai, Amazon CloudFront, Windows Azure.) These companies have tens of thousands of web servers located around the world and specialize in delivering video content from the optimal network path to each participant. For example, if participants in London and Rome are both trying to watch the same webcast/video conference, the geo-location aware CDN may route the presentation simultaneously to its data centers in England for the Roman participant and Ireland for the London participant, to ensure the content travels the shortest distance possible over the public Internet. This minimizes latency and packet loss while increasing quality, reliability and scalability, resulting with a consistently high quality end-user viewing experience globally. Although video conferencing and video streaming have come a long way over the past decade, creating a crisp viewing experience for one’s target audience can still be challenging for the average business executive — or even for many IT admins for that matter. Fortunately, that doesn’t mean you have to prolong using video conferencing solutions or gamble with your video quality. A media and video managed services provider can be a great resource to help your company acquire the video conferencing technologies you need and deliver the quality video and audio experience your audience demands. Mark leads Yorktel’s award-winning video broadcast and event production operations globally. His work has appeared on ABC, Bloomberg, CBS, CNBC, CNN, Discovery, FOX, Military Channel, MSNBC, MTV, NBC, and PBS. Yorktel Media Services provides a full suite of turnkey professional media services for the creation, production and distribution of audio and video communications. Yorktel’s comprehensive suite of video service offerings includes broadcast-quality video production, post-production editing, live event AV production, streaming media webcasting and managed media services.

JMRConnect www.JMRConnect.net

The retail display has a(no) future By Bram Nauta, Director General of the Instore Shopper Marketing Institute, on the occasion of the

EuroShop 2014 trade fair.

he retail display is (still today?) the most effective medium for influencing purchasing behavior at the point of sale. But will it manage to survive the wave of new technologies? How do retailers view the retail display? In fact it is regarded as a disruptive element. The retail display is a necessary evil in the distribution chain. The brand manufacturer, for his part, sees his return on investment constantly falling at the points of sale and therefore prefers to take the path of least resistance: cost savings. A summary of the situation and a review of retail displays by Bram Nauta, Director of the Knowledge Hub for Shopper Marketing at the ISM Institute.

Must we conclude that the retail display has no future? Not at all, but it’s time they were given serious thought. When I wander through the halls of the EuroShop 2014 trade fair, I am struck in particular by the similarity of the products presented. Nothing really innovative compared to the edition of three years ago. If the sector is not careful, the retail display will become an easy option. And we all know the consequences of such a development. But you have always championed the retail display and considered it to be the best medium for a brand manufacturer Indeed, it is, and I hope it will always be so. However, there are other considerations which pose a threat to the retail display. For example, the available space in the store. In the retailer’s view, the retail display is still too often a disruptive ele-

Bram Nauta: GeneraI Manager Instore Shopper Marketing Instituut ment, both as regards distribution and in the store. Another shortcoming is the ordering party’s often limited knowledge of promotional materials in general and retail displays in particular. The retail display is too often the last item of the budget, the one with which the “junior manager” is entrusted. Alas, this person has never been confronted with retail displays in the course of his training, not to mention communication at the points of sale or even shopper marketing. Today, retail display manufacturers spend more time calculating how to complete a production drawing in the most advantageous way possible. We even see brand manufacturers integrate their retail displays in their production and packaging lines. This is a particularly grim scenario. What is the other scenario? We think that this grim scenario must not necessarily occur. We see some real opportunities, for example in the integration of online and offline retailing. Take supermarkets. It is expected that a large portion of the sales of supermarkets will be generated by online ordering in a few years, the merchandise being picked up at the store or at a collection point, or delivered to the customer’s door. These will be the wellknown routine purchases. From packs of diapers and crates of beer through sacks of potatoes and bottles of lem-

onade to packets of coffee, the assortment presented in the shelves will shrink. The space thus freed will be occupied by “perception”, whatever the meaning that will be given to this notion. Everything is imaginable, from the creation of your own coffee aroma to the discovery of new products. In short, a surprise. Things to which the consumer is willing to devote some time. That’s where we see opportunities for the retail display version 2.0, since it’s in this sort of situation that the basic function of the retail display, to create a surprise, will really come to the fore. Will this approach also bear fruit in non-food stores? Of course. There too, we notice that integration between “online” and “offline” is rapidly taking shape. Perhaps even more quickly than in food stores. Cees Bosma, a partner of the institute, calls this development the ‘new store’. This means that the semipermanent retail display will undergo the same transformation as its little cardboard brother. What is the ISMI doing to favor this development? First of all, we are offering the suppliers our assistance in transitioning to shopper-centric thinking. In the coming years, you will have to speak the language of the new economy if you want to remain a dialog partner of your ordering customer and be able to offer him added value. Furthermore, we are undertaking an initiative to “closely link” the brand manufacturer, the retailer and the supplier. Within the framework of new collaborative projects we will examine the different ways of giving concrete shape to the transition that retail displays and other promotional material will have to undergo. We will also taking steps to increase the level of knowledge regarding promotion at points of sale and real displays by means of training courses. The volume “Shopper InZicht” (Savantis, 2012) already appears in numerous book lists and shopper marketing has become a permanent component of the program of several training courses.

The connected store Increasingly, devices installed in stores have the ability to communicate with one another, creating a new experience for

the consumer. echnology is constantly evolving. It’s changing the way retailers interact with their customers.

Everything is in evolution The retail display signs, labels and other printed displays in stores have been replaced by digital signage, that is, by flat screens with video. Here QR codes can also be found that consumers can scan with their smartphones to get detailed additional information on the products, to visit a website or view the product using augmented reality. At the checkout counter, screens inform customers about the free services offered by the store and the advantages associated with the brand loyalty program. For its part, the store’s printed catalog has been replaced at the POS by kiosks enabling customers to view all items and to have purchases sent to their homes. On their side, the sales personnel instantly check the inventory with their tablets, without having to run to the warehouse to see whether a certain item is in stock. But stores that are content to replace a printed display by a flat screen delivering an endless loop of special offers are missing a unique opportunity. The ability of digital devices to communicate with one another, respond to consumer interaction and record the result of this interaction gives stores the opportunity to provide their customers with the information and help they need at the moment they need it. And this way of doing things ultimately leads to customer satisfaction and an increase in sales. These devices, which are also part of an intelligent system, are giving rise to a new type of retail sales environment: the connected store.

An intelligent system that exchanges information Today, a large retailer is likely to be a company that distributes and sells the latest products on markets in constant evolution. Moreover, the ubiquitous Internet has made consumers infinitely better informed than they were in the past, with the result that they often know as much or even more than the sales staff. As a consequence, the relationship between customers and stores has changed and the new technology available and used by the two parties requires a new sales commitment. Stores are now able to connect customers with specific information that creates value for both the seller and buyer. When digital technology was first integrated into stores, the use of digital signage and other screens was relatively circumscribed in that, in most cases, the

information was limited to the simple display of static images or the rerunning ad infinitum of video programs. Of course, the information was presented in a more engaging way, but it remained as it was, whatever the customer’s interest. In the connected store, digital displays, POS terminals and kiosks are no longer isolated but are part of an intelligent system that exchanges information between devices and the store’s network. This offers greater customer retention and a significantly better customer experience, and it enables the sales staff to help customers with their decisions, and therefore to make the right purchases. Jeff Collard, chairman of Omnivex (Toronto), says: «In the connected store, digital displays and other systems recognize and respond to the customer’s action».

Finding the best electric drill!

system, retailers can plan their sales with more accuracy, develop dynamic price models, better understand the consumer and create new values based on these innovative sources of information» (Dallas). Let’s imagine, for example, a hardware store with a display of various electric drills. When a customer picks one up, the «intelligent» shelf senses it and, as a result, a digital display shows information relating to this particular product. The store’s systems record this information, measure which products generate the most interest and trigger the inventory systems in order to increase the stock numbers for those products that generate the most customer interaction. Conversely, if the store is full of large numbers of an electric drill model, a customer’s interaction with this model will generate a «special offer» message on the digital display, which will help to reduce the stock numbers for this item. At the same time, if the sales staff is equipped with tablets interconnected with the store’s digital signage system they will be able to come to the customer’s aid. In fact, the data comes and goes in real time between the different devices, creating a specific experience for a specific customer.

In the connected store, the information provided via digital signage can be modified on the fly, depending on numerous conditions. By operating with the variables, the display rules are able to allow each display to determine the right message to be shown at a certain time for a certain type of person. The system determines the content to be displayed at a specific location, ensuring that it has the highest relevance for and is of maximum interest to the viewer. Furthermore, because the system records customer contact information it can be used to create a dialog with the customer that extends far beyond the store premises.

Everything is ready for this new mode of interaction

«In a dynamic and multi-channel environment, stores need a completely new level of integration in order to satisfy consumers’ wishes», says Kevin Dallas, general manager of Windows Embedded. According to the Microsoft perspective on intelligent retail systems, stores use a touchscreen management panel to monitor access to the POS data and control the maintenance of buildings. This panel is also used to manage the messages displayed in the store and introduce sales promotions specific to one product or another. «By connecting popular personal devices, business applications and cloud computing services in a large, intelligent organization

The connected store generates unique individual experiences and is built around these experiences. We have witnessed a fundamental change over the last ten years with regard to the way people interact with technology. Today, infrastructures are ready to allow a new mode of interaction. With this innovative «connected store» concept, retailers use technology to anticipate the specific needs of consumers and are able to present instantaneously the information desired by the customer. Even if a store does not make any sale during a visit, the interaction will enable it to follow up with the customer via offers related to his/her topics of interest and likely to generate later purchases.

Digital Signage: Who Creates The Content?

Digital signage has quickly become a part of our daily lives.

t has reached a market penetration standpoint where sometimes we don’t even realize that we’re interacting with it anymore. Take fast food restaurant menus for example. Previously the same menu would be on display 24 hours a day and would provide all prices and menu options. Now, though digital signage, there can be separate breakfast menus, lunch menus, and even a late night menu that go beyond menu item and price to show enticing images of the food to encourage the patrons to try the latest sandwich or other new items.

The restaurants employ teams of people that work for the company specifically to provide analytical information about how people interact with the images and the ordering behavior of the patrons. This allows the restaurant to determine when they should put new item combinations together, what items should be more prominently displayed to increase awareness for ordering, and even customize the menu based on the habits that region of customers displays. This same logic applies to any location where digital signage is being used to encourage purchasing. Other applications where we see digital signage in our daily lives is more information based. Think about a hotel or business lobby. It’s becoming much more commonplace to enter into these establishments and see news, weather, or other information about the establishment prominently displayed on a large format touch panel screen. This way of handling and displaying information allows customers to quickly see the basic information and take control of it themselves. We live in an era where most people have a touch screen in their pocket. Interacting with content imagery has reached such a high comfort level for people that one could even make the argument that there’s more comfort interacting with a screen rather than a person. From the perspective of a business, when you are looking to provide a new marketing campaign that utilizes the latest tactics and strategies you consult a marketing team. That team then utilizes their understanding of psychology, sales, graphic design, and advertizing to create a message and brand

around your company to draw people to want to purchase from you, work with you, or entice them to take action and find out more information. From the perspective of the Audio/ Visual integrators of the world, we see an opportunity to provide you with the hardware to perform this function. The Audio/Visual industry, just like your IT professionals, marketing team, and sales force, is a specialized skill set. The members of the A/V community have an understanding of what equipment is available, and through a process of asking the right questions can discover exactly how you intend to use the equipment to ensure that they provide you the best solution possible. Digital signage is a unique application in the modern work place because it crosses through so many different disciplines that all need to find a way to work together. The marketing department does research to determine what kind of images or interactive content they Josh Srago want to show. Once a plan is in place to implement a digital signage solution, the very next step that should be taken is to reach out to an A/V integrator or consultant. The reason this is step two is because these are the people that should be most up to date with how the technology works in this day and age. Now, the marketing division will have someone to discuss their plan for customer interaction, determine whether or not it is even possible to achieve the goals that they have in their minds based on how the tech-

nology functions, and where they have to change their ideas. Additionally, the A/V integrator or consultant can assist in explaining how the technology installation can be deployed. As digital signage systems have very expansive abilities when paired with network connections, this point is when the IT department can be involved to make certain that the system implemented can be incorporated into the current network infrastructure. Digital signage might seem like a simple piece of the puzzle to add to your existing business practices, but it will only be so with proper partnership across multiple disciplines. With each digital signage system there must be original content developed that caters to your customer base and encourages some form of interaction. No one knows how your business operates or what the company message needs to be better than your marketing department. But that same department does not necessarily have the full understanding of what modern technology can provide them. They need to be aware of how the content is going to be displayed in terms of indoor vs. outdoor, resolution sizes, single screen display vs. multi-screen video wall installation, and interactive vs. static advertisements. Use your marketing department to your advantage, but make certain that you bring in the audio/visual contractor or consultant before final decisions are made. With their consultation your digital signage system deployment will be much more seamless, effective, and could even provide you with more possibilities than the marketing team originally considered. We all rely heavily on technology in this day and age. Make technology work for you when you expand into the digital signage realm – call an audio/visual professional.

Let’s drop the polemics and savor the quote! To criticize 3D printing by pointing out its weaknesses is to forget one thing: the technology is immature, to a certain extent

still in limbo, and…..it’s quite normal that there are imperfections and failures.

ut it has huge potential and its evolution has been spectacular! As for the quote, here it is, to be properly savored before reading further: «The 3D printing revolution is comparable to the advent of word processing for the printing industry. With these new printing machines, everyone will be able to create their objects.» (Glenn Lewis, designer and CEO of Jewelry of Distinction, a maker of jewelry in the US.)

All-out personalization And «everyone» includes businesses, obviously. At the very beginning, 3D printing was reserved for the making of prototypes. Today, it is used for small series production. 3D printing is used extensively in the F1 world, where it enables parts to be tested in wind tunnels. Businesses that have made the leap have, moreover, changed their habits: instead of sending parts to one another, they send files! According to Pete Basiliere, head of research at Gartner, 3D printing also enables the personalization of objects produced in large series. Thus, one can already imagine the production of car dashboards, for limited series or personalized interiors. But is goes even further: Rolls-Royce, the renowned maker of aircraft engines, has announced that it will resort to 3D printing for the manufacture of certain engine parts. It will be able to design different parts this way and this will ultimately reduce aircraft weight. 3D printing by injection is intended for the general public and its principle is comparable to that of inkjet printing. The 3D laser printer draws the object in the material: a tank

of resin (the material most frequently employed) is used and the laser beam traces the contours of the desired object. Another method uses LEDs instead of the laser - a much more rapid operation.

Even Lamborghini and Nike! 3D printing also excels in the implementation of prototypes and is used very successfully in the areas of creation and packaging. Nothing better for creating a model and submitting it to perception tests, for example! This way a spectacular acceleration of the process of designing new products can be achieved: there is a direct transition from the 3-dimensional model to the physical part. Example? To create the body of its prestigious Aventador model, Lamborghini would have needed 4 months for the work and it would have had to invest 40,000 dollars, using conventional methods. Here,

3D Systems: 3D Printed Dental Waxups on Projet 1200

3D Systems: Cube Printer, Lifestyle thanks to 3D printing, the job took twenty days and cost 3,000 dollars!

But let’s cite Nike, which uses 3D printing to produce its «Vapor Laser Talon» (a football boot equipped with cleats integrated in its structure, the whole boot weighing only 159 grams) intended for footballers, which is the first model in history that is not manufactured but printed. Of course, it’s also in the field of implants and reconstructive surgery that 3D printers work wonders! Customized implants have been created and fitted successfully to replace fractured skull bones. Dental bones and implants, obviously, but also exact copies of a patient’s anatomy, which enable operations to be prepared by repeating them at will, testing different strategies and drill angles. And to conclude, it must be pointed out that printing is already being done in metal, porcelain or biodegradable material, Materialise: Owls Wear and Snowey Owl Brooch and that nylon bones are under study!

Materialise: Slot Car Championships 2014

The difficult quest for the good user experience How does it work? What is the nature of the relationship the user has with the device? Does he think it’s easy

to use? Does he want to use it again? hese questions apply just as much to can-openers and lawnmowers as they do to technical devices!

Crank handle versus ignition key Let’s consider the infancy of the automobile. We progressed from the crank handle to the ignition key. The two methods produce the same result but most of us prefer the design of the ignition key. That’s what actually creates the user experience. A design that’s easy to use and to understand, and that enables the user to obtain what he wants without trouble……Such a design is also absolutely crucial for mobile devices. When you download an application, no training manual accompanies it. You do not WANT to have one, because you want to use the application immediately. Its designer must therefore make sure he does things properly right from the start as the number of applications that are launched and then irrecoverably thrown into the trash can is astronomical. The number of abandoned projects is estimated at 70%. To successfully design and create a good user experience, you must first know the public that will use the application. You must understand the group you are targeting - with regard to de-

mographics and consumption. Is the user an employee, a company, does he work with Android or iOS? And then, how will he use the application? Where will he use it?

No idle chatter, just analyses of observations Let’s take an example… A restaurant chain wants to install a kiosk enabling the placing of personalized orders and payment. The users will be teenagers, young adults, women with families, and elderly persons with impaired vision. You must develop a strategy that takes account of these characteristics. When designing and developing the application, you do not need to talk with users, you must OBSERVE the way people interact with the process in order to determine their thought processes and tackle the shortcomings that you will detect. Achieving a good user experience involves passing through a series of stages that may prove to be long.

Visual design is also an essential element of the way people interact with an application. It’s important to involve designers right from the beginning of the process of application creation so that they can confirm that the design can be realized. One must avoid all haste: being the first in the market is not the be-all and end-all! On the other hand, it’s absolutely vital to be the best in the market! A mediocre user experience does more harm than good and can really damage a brand.

Visionect

Value and content against information overload! We are voracious readers! Every day, we read around 100,000 words, the equivalent of

a novel.

of social media. However - and this has been demonstrated by the psychologist Miller - the human brain has limited cognitive resources, its «working memory» (or our «buffer memory») capacity is limited to 5 (9 at the most) different elFluidify the flow! ements. An «overabundance of inforXavier Delengaigne mation» then results in the speaks quite aptly of infeeling of constantly working formation overload… «When information is under pressure, higher stress cheap, attention belevels and the fear of missing an important piece of informacomes expensive». tion. The information? But In these conditions, one must it’s everywhere, we are overwhelmed by it, it’s learn to manage the inforfreer, more accessible mation overload. First of all, Xavier Delengaigne one must fluidify the informaand immensely more tion flow and make sure not abundant! The result? We are caught up in its immediacy and to transform oneself into an «information risk losing our sense of analysis and ulti- polluter». mately our critical faculties. Xavier Delengaigne points out that, as Avoid redundancy, look for analysis early as the Middle Ages, scholars complained of information overload, but today In order to obtain a coherent «personal init has reached record levels. It’s linked to formation system «, one must apply comseveral factors, which include the lower- mon sense and keep «everything in its ing of the cost of producing information place». For example, according to Xaviand redundancy, amplified by the success er Delengaigne again, «many company

nother reference value: a volume of information equal to that published between the invention of writing and the year 2003 is now produced ….every two days!

employees use their email system as a secondary storage location, although an email system should resemble a sort of rail marshalling yard. Let’s take an example from everyday life: when you deal with your correspondence, you don’t leave it in the letter-box – instead you empty the box and then sort the mail, throwing away the junk mail, archiving the bills and replying to certain letters. Why work differently with the in-box of an email system?» With regard to information, one needs to become proactive. There are a multitude of free tools that automate the process of collecting and handling information. You can create alerts based on the name of a company so as to follow its online reputation, with Google Alerts for example. One must also distinguish the disparate facts from the analysis. Certain media generally limit themselves to reeling off the different news items, while other publications try to extract the substance from them. Endlessly repeated facts lose their interest, and this redundancy is harmful to the mind. On the other hand, analyses make it possible to deepen one’s understanding and whoever gives meaning to events creates value. And, today, content makes all the difference!