Author: Matt Crawford

The need to reduce security risks is something everyone’s talking about today. That’s why we recommend using Chromeboxes as a media player for digital signage. Let me tell you why.

When I sat down at my desk and turned on my computer (a Chromebox) this morning, there was a little alert advising that an update was available and to restart to apply the update.

In a Windows or Mac world that could potentially render your device useless for an hour or so while the updates are downloaded, installed and applied. However, on a Chromebox (or any Chrome device including Chromebooks) a reboot never takes longer than 10 seconds until the machine is fully operational. I’m serious. 10 seconds.

So I rebooted and got to work. Then I thought to myself, remember back when you had to worry about antivirus software and the relentless job of keeping it up-to-date. That’s all obsolete now. The Chrome Operating System has such sophisticated security features built-in, that worrying about devices becoming compromised is now a thing of the past.

When I am speaking to prospective new clients that have a need for digital signage, a common concern often arises. How to reduce security risks. One of the big fears is that someone will hijack their screens and display competitors’ content (or worse).

One horror story happened in 2019 when hackers uploaded a pornographic video to a high profile screen in central Auckland. Some passers-by were shocked, others stopped to watch as the video ran for approximately two hours. With all the hard work that Marketing and Branding teams do to build trust, this is not the type of content any business would like playing on their screens.

Financial upheaval, pandemics and digital transformation have all helped turn the world upside down. In an increasingly chaotic world, the need to be ready has never been more important. It’s tricky to plan for the unknown, so plan towards what you do know.

One thing that all retailers and banks agree upon is that change is no longer something to work towards. It’s something that needs to be worked on – constantly. The ongoing push for digital transformation has been urging organisations to upgrade and overhaul technology stacks toward service-based models.

The renewed focus on people is driving digital transformation more than ever before. Customer’s digital media consumption habits have changed radically and the typical path-to-purchase looks very different to before. Actually, there is no longer such thing as a typical path-to-purchase ?

Bridging the gap

The pandemic has forced a necessary focus on online and virtual customer engagement. But as restrictions eased, bridging the gap between online and shared physical spaces means renewed vigour in delivering an optimal customer experience.

Dynamic, contextually relevant content on digital screens is the perfect way to help connect the dots and help guide customers to their destination.

For some quick wins you will need:

• A strategy to make it easy to personalise and localise content right down to individual screens and experiences.
• A cloud-based dashboard to make light work of controlling content and devices across a diverse network of screens.
• To find an affordable and scalable solution that makes things easier for all your teams.

Conclusion

With all of the changes to the way business is conducted, we are also focussed on virtual customer engagement. Check out our personalised discover meetings that discuss how technology and the right cloud-native services can supercharge business.

Lunch is on us! We’ll send you (and any relevant stakeholders) an Uber Eats voucher and a video call link, then I’ll rope in the necessary subject matter experts to help resolve your in-store digital pain points.

The need to be ready for what’s next is crucial for businesses and datmedia is here to help. 

The Australian retail music industry is still going through a very challenging time. An industry statement found that the impact of the pandemic on Australia’s entertainment industries has been truly devastating. As John F. Kennedy famously said: “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country”. Well, now there is something that you can do for your country. Support Australian music artists.

ARIA’s Our Soundtrack Our Stories is a local music initiative. It’s an excellent way to enhance customer and employee experience while supporting local music artists.

Our Soundtrack Our Stories asks Australian business to get behind homegrown music. It also seeks a public commitment to increase the inclusion of diverse Australian artists in the commercial and mainstream landscape.

Therefore, here at datmedia we have expanded our in-store music service offering:

1.  datmedia’s retail library of Australian music boasts over 1200 tracks. It includes current artists like Vance Joy and Troye Sivan as well as classics from INXS and Yothu Yindi.

2.  You can choose to play local artists on heavier rotation or play them 100% of the time.

You can sample our quality, ever-expanding Australian retail music playlist right here.

Australian Retail Music.

We are making this available to our music service clients at no extra cost. Why? Because it makes it easy for any Australian business to play in-store music, get behind this intuitive and consume more local music.

Importantly, datmedia’s Aussie retail music solution also ensures that your business is compliant with industry music license requirements.

Together we can promote our artists, we can promote the enormous economic and cultural contribution of local music. We can ensure a bright, diverse and exciting future for the next generation of musicians and music lovers alike.

Get in touch so we can help your business support local artists and participate in this important initiative. The Australian music industry thanks you.

datmedia has a genuine problem-solving culture. It’s a huge part of who we are, because everyone from our technical specialists to the Ops Manager uses good digital signage solutions to solve problems. It’s our value story. Clients don’t just want us to make their stores look great – they partner with us to solve their problems.

Bear with me here, but when I go to the hardware store to buy a drill bit I don’t really want the bit. I’m there because I want to make a hole. But to be honest, I don’t even really want to make a hole. What I want to do is hang a picture on my wall. That’s the ‘problem’ that needs solving.

It’s the same for our clients. They don’t just want to hang a screen on a wall. Nor do they simply want to play videos on the screen. They want to connect with customers, and they want to do that as easily as possible.

So there are a number of factors linking a perceived problem (or need) and the solution.

And that’s where our value story comes in. Good digital signage solves all sorts of problems for all sorts of people. Therefore a number of factors are involved to find the right solution. Like my need for a drill bit when I really just want to hang a picture. Even better, the solution can prove to be a substantial cost-saving exercise as well. So with that in mind, here are five ‘problems’ that good digital signage solves.

Problem 1

Problem 2

Problem 3

Problem 4

Problem 5

Technology won’t make the world a better place by itself. It’s how people use it that really solves the problems.

However we’ve only just skimmed the surface. But if this sparked any light-bulb moments, or if your business could benefit from good digital signage that solves problems, then get in touch. Let’s see if datmedia’s problem-solving culture is just what you need to tackle your digital signage challenges. We’re confident it is!

The special sauce is a key ingredient that makes something, well, ‘special’. Laqorr content management software is our, something the dictionary defines as ‘better, greater, or otherwise different from what is usual’.

In 1974 McDonald’s created a jingle for their Big Mac in which it spelled out the ingredients of the now-famous burger except  for the special sauce. It was the differentiator!

datmedia’s differentiator (or special sauce) is our content management system (CMS), Laqorr. Breaking with tradition, I’m going to disclose the ingredients that makes ours so special.

For the rest of this blog post (and for light entertainment purposes), let’s refer to other digital signage companies as ‘burgers’ ?.

Ingredients (special, but not secret)

I hope this has got your mouth watering to try our special sauce ? During this time of remote and hybrid work models, Laqorr has also become an essential retail marketing tool when working remotely for marketing teams everywhere. They love our special sauce!

So if your burger joint isn’t cutting the mustard, or even if you’d just like to enjoy a cheeky taste of our special sauce, please get in contact and we can even organise Uber Eats.

Bon appétit, or as they say in Hamburg, Germany (where the hamburger originated), Genieße dein Essen ?️

Thanks for reading and sharing ?

Retail and Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) stores have been on an absolute rollercoaster ride for the last decade, and the pandemic has added new layers of complexity and challenge. At the same time, it has also helped consumers identify what’s really important to them. Experience!

PWC reports that nearly 73% of consumers point to experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions. Also, 80% of shoppers make impulse purchase decisions in-store at the point of sale, compared to online. This represents an important opportunity for brands to work towards stores as a medium in the future for retail.

People Crave Experience

With store development, digital transformation, and retail strategy plans constantly evolving, developing stores as a medium (SaaM), rather than as a channel, helps brands make real connections with their audience. It provides the experience that people crave when they visit physical locations.

In 1964, Marshall McLuhan, philosopher and media theorist, coined the phrase ‘the medium is the message’. The concept identifies the medium of communication, not the content it carries, as the primary focus. Over 50 years later, McLuhan’s concept has never been more relevant than in the digital age of retail. The challenge now is to utilise the right technology to help physical stores evolve as a medium and make in-store experiences feel more human.

Consumers in 2022 want speed + convenience + consistency + friendliness. A human touch brings all four of these together at physical spaces in a way that simply cannot be replicated online. Stores as a Medium are places to create real connections by making technology feel more human, and give employees what they need to create next-level customer experiences.

Forbes notes that it’s important not to confuse SaaM with omnichannel. They say that all the talk about different channels is not particularly helpful. The customer is the channel. SaaM is the effective use of data-driven technologies — from AI to digital signage — that creates remarkable in-store experiences.

Another differentiator is that designing stores as a medium is more than just about selling products, it’s about advancing the brand itself. More about moving hearts and minds, rather than just moving inventory.

The Gelato Factor

One brand that gets customer experience, SaaM and has massive brand advocacy is Gelato Messina. Their stores have always been instrumental in their success. Their delicious gelato is an experience in itself, however, store visitors also enjoy world-class underground House Music, a unique in-store environment, and engaging storytelling digital signage content that makes you feel like you’re part of the brand.

There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to SaaM strategy. Each physical space has its own diversities and variables and it needs to be tailored to the brand and customer identities. That’s why it’s important to choose a technology partner with experience in, well, ‘experience’.

datmedia has been at the forefront of in-store customer experience and digital signage for longer than #CustomerExperience has even had its own hashtag.

We help retailers, banks and multi-site businesses create environments that people want to come to and experience something unique. Consumers aren’t comparing your brand to the competition anymore, they’re comparing it to the best experience they’ve ever had. Let’s serve it up for them!

It might sound crazy, but I look forward to going to work. One of the many reasons that I take pride in what we do at datmedia is the level of service and genuine care that our digital signage customer support team provides. Theodore Roosevelt once wrote: People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. The reason I wrote this post is to take my hat off to our customer support team and to let you know how much we care.

One of our clients recently posted a 5-star review on our company’s Google profile that said:

‘The client support team at datmedia solve my problems before I even know there is one. It frees me up to focus on the important stuff.’

I observe them doing this day-in-day-out, but for someone to go out of their way to share that publicly, it validates what a valuable job they are doing and how good they genuinely are at it.

Let’s Solve It

We have a problem-solving culture here at datmedia. Whether it’s our developers solving coding challenges, our Content Team making complex scheduling simple, our Installations Team deploying just the right solution, or our Support Team adding value to our clients day – we excel at solving problems. And the care that I mentioned earlier is most valuable when it comes to understanding the problems that we are solving.

It’s not just me gushing here. Our clients, suppliers and partners regularly tell us that we are great to work with. We also conduct annual customer feedback surveys to help us measure how we are going and where we can improve. Since we have been collecting that data we have never received less than an average of four and a half stars out of five.

Thank You

So I’d like to thank our Digital Signage Customer Support Team for the diligent, professional, and caring job that they do each day. They ensure that our customers are glad to have us working with them. They add real value to our client’s businesses and are an integral part of our problem-solving culture here at datmedia.

If you have a problem that needs solving or would like to find out why our clients love working with us, please get in touch. We can send you a free demo device and connect you with our Team to show you how much we care.

The pandemic has changed the way that we do so many things. Some are temporary and others are evolving as we continue to learn and adapt – working from home has become a new way of life for many. So how can digital signage software help you when working remotely?

The New York Times wrote: When the pandemic is in the rearview mirror — someday — many of us may look back on these years as the moment that our work lives changed forever. When millions of employees were told to work remotely, the boundary between our office lives and home lives began to blur, in ways that are still unfolding.

Hybrid and remote workplace solutions are being adopted and developed, so I asked datmedia’s veteran remote-worker, Colin Fraser, for some tips. He is our Content Services Manager and has been a telecommuter for over a decade. Ironically, much of the face-to-face work he does involves showing our clients how to work remotely, more effectively.

The beauty of our digital signage software system Laqorr, is that you can schedule content on any screen, anywhere in the world from wherever you are and on whichever device you are using. I have often watched Colin taking advantage of this from the back of a taxi in-between meetings.

Our clients love how Laqorr simplifies otherwise complex content management tasks for them. As Colin is the system’s primary user at datmedia, I wanted to ask him about his top three productivity hacks to help you become the most efficient remote worker you can be.

Here are his top three favourites:

#1 Auto scheduling

Because we’ve all got more pressing things to do, one of the best features of Laqorr is letting it manage scheduling for you. One of our clients makes constant use of this time-saving feature, and they love it. Once they’d set up the structure, they simply tag their files and Laqorr does the rest. You can be  as broad as you want (file plays across the entire network) or as granular as you need (only on the inward facing screen on the left hand side of the door at Frankston). Our client’s who WFH love that they can do this on any device they have to hand.

#2 Groups

Groups are where players and playlists come together. Whether you’ve created a manual playlist or chosen to auto-schedule, all players in the same group will get the same content from the same playlist. This helps our clients link players to deliver the same messaging. One group might be all external facing window displays, for instance. Another might be all screens behind the counter.

A group also lets you daypart with ease. Several clients use this feature to run targeted playlists depending on the time of day, or days of the week. Quick service restaurants, for instance, love this feature. And they love that they can do it anywhere they have an internet connection. Like at home.

#3 Forward scheduling

If your marketing calendar is up to date, there is no reason why your Christmas content can’t be scheduled now. Think of the time you’ll save later in the year. It can always be updated if necessary. Meanwhile, you get to enjoy finessing your schedules with real-time marketing, personalisation and localisation. All things that Laqorr is well equipped to do.

Digital Signage Made Easy

We know that as one of your remote work tools, Laqorr makes scheduling easy. It’s a fun, efficient and effective way to engage your audience from wherever you are, whenever it suits you.

We built Laqorr with cloud-native features to make Colin’s life easier and our business more efficient. You can do the same. Streamline marketing communications, increase productivity and manage devices or content at anytime from anywhere. Just like Colin does.

If you would like to learn more about how Laqorr can help improve your  remote operations, please get in touch. We are genuinely here to help.

No one loves a quote more than me (especially the sales type, but we’ll get to that later). They keep me motivated if not inspired, and help me get through the day. Here are 10 timeless quotes that apply to your project to inspire everything from budgeting through to deployment.

1. A year from now you may wish you had started today ~ Karen Lamb

One thing that the changes in the world right now have taught us is that there are no crystal balls to see into the future. However, there is something to be said for being proactive when you know what the business and more importantly the customers need.

2. If you believe business is built on relationships, make building them your business ~ Scott Stratten

Trust is hard to gain and easy to lose. Face-to-face meetings aren’t always going to be possible and 2020 has done a good job of enabling us with the tools and resources to build relationships virtually.

3. Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning ~ Winston Churchill

Worrying is a poor use of imagination and energy. Better to convert that energy into innovative planning and problem-solving activity.

4. Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work ~ Peter Drucker

Projects don’t happen by themselves. Once all the decisions have been made, it’s business time! Business is simply a professional word for busyness.

5. One of the true tests of leadership is the ability to recognise a problem before it becomes an emergency ~ Arnold Glasow

Now is the time to work on the important, not the urgent. If it’s urgent and important, then that’s a no brainer. However, ‘urgent only’ shouldn’t trump ‘genuinely important’!

6. If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late ~ Reid Hoffman

Timing is everything in this day and age. Waiting for perfect conditions could mean missing the boat or missing even the necessary outcome of the whole project.

7. Quality means doing it right when no one is looking ~ Henry Ford

Warren Buffett said: Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. The cheapest price isn’t always the best deal. Often the reason something isn’t the cheapest option is because it has quality and value baked in that you can’t see at first glance.

8. Progress means not just changing, but changing for the better ~ C.S. Lewis

There’s no shortage of change at the moment. These changes need to make an impact and improve systems, operations, productivity and customer/ employee experience.

9. The path to success is to take massive, determined action ~ Anthony Robbins

Oftentimes, internal processes can stifle progress and disrupt desired outcomes. With supply chain constraints and obstacles like never before, a determined early commitment from key stakeholders can mean the difference between a project’s success or failure.

10. The time is always right to do what is right  ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Compromising integrity, values and quality shouldn’t be necessary to get the project done right.

One more quote? If your project requires cloud-based customer-facing and frontline worker-facing technology tools, we can provide an actual quote to help with that. Please get in contact with our project team with your requirements and we will be in touch with an estimate and recommendations to ensure that your project is a success.