I explain what digital signage is, and why it has nothing to do with signing documents online. It covers the network of screens, software, hardware and content delivery that powers displays in places like shops, airports and outdoor advertising.

Understanding Digital Signage: Networks of Screens Explained

When people ask me what digital signage is, they often used to think it was like DocuSign, signing a contract online. Digital signage is basically networks of screens. So the screens you see out in the world, you probably encounter them in retail stores, at the airport, outdoor advertising. It's the software and the hardware that is running all of those screens as a single network, combining them together and making sure that they are working, but also that the content is being deployed to the screens. So now you know that, you're going to see digital signage everywhere.

I explore the innovative self-serve technology introduced at the new Everton Stadium, which allows fans to pour their own pints. This advancement aims to reduce queue times and enhance the match day experience. Such technologies are likely to become more common in upgraded hospitality venues.

Exploring Self-Serve Technology at Everton Stadium

Pour your own pint, guided by a screen. Welcome to a match day at the new Everton Stadium. So the brand new Everton Football Club stadium opened this summer and, as you would expect, it's technically a big step up. As you can see from the video, there are self-serve kiosks where you can now order your own beers and have them poured for you automatically. Now, I think this is a great idea because if you're having a beer at half time, often the queues are really big and you hardly have any time to have a drink and a chat. You're just waiting in the queue. So anything that we can do to dismiss that is probably great news for people. It also means they have more choice over what they can have, and they can do it outside. So I think this kind of technology is something we're going to see more and more in our hospitality venues as they get upgraded. I think it's helpful to everyone. So I'm going to give this five out of five. Good job.

I explore the innovative use of digital signage in Copenhagen, where technology seamlessly integrates with the city's stunning architecture. This approach creates an interactive and respectful public space that showcases cutting-edge technology.

Copenhagen: A City Transformed by Digital Signage

What if your entire city became a digital signage canvas? Well, Copenhagen has just shown us. So I was recently on a work trip to Copenhagen in Denmark for the very first time, and I was extremely impressed by the use of digital signage throughout the city. Now, what I liked is how digital signage and the beautiful architecture of the city melded into one and was not too intrusive. It felt like a city which is on the cutting edge of technology, but it also felt respectful and appropriate. The content was interactive. There was kiosk content. There was helpful content. It was well designed. If I'm honest, it was probably one of the most well-executed public displays of digital signage that I've ever seen. So I'm giving Copenhagen five out of five.

I discuss how turning successful AI chats into reusable project instructions can save time and improve consistency. By adding reference material and connecting trusted sources such as Notion or email, AI conversations start with useful context rather than a blank page.

Streamlining Workflows with AI Projects

So when I initially started to immerse myself in using AI, I was saving kind of useful prompts in a notepad, and that was relatively useful. I had a template, and sometimes I'd fill in a couple of details here and there, and it was useful, but it was also in itself a bit long-winded. Then when projects came along as a concept, I really leaned into that. So what is a project? Well, when I finish doing a particularly useful piece of work on an AI chat, and I've produced a result which I'm proud of and would like to have a similar result in future, I ask it to help me form this into a project instruction. So it already knows the outcome because we've just worked on that, and then basically I say, Can you help me do this again in future really easily so I don't have to go through all of this work and back and forth, etc.? It will then create the instructions, you upload that, add any extra assets that might be interesting, such as reference material, could be a product roadmap document or whatever it might be. And then when you go into the project, you're having informed chats already, so they're not coming from a blank canvas, you're coming from a place of information. I have now produced upwards of 20 different projects for things I regularly work on, everything from clearing my inbox, doing HR reviews, meeting notes, preparing for a board meeting, whatever that might be, and it has saved me huge amounts of time. And also importantly, it means I'm more consistent in the way I'm delivering assets as a result of working with AI. Now, when you're inside that project, you can also keep improving it. There might be things that actually aren't that great. You can ask the project itself to improve itself every time you've made an incremental improvement too. So hopefully that all makes some sense. My final tip would be hook it up to other sources of truth, whether that be your intranet like Notion or your email like Google Email or anything like that, and suddenly you can have really, really powerful conversations and outcomes. If you're interested, I've got lots of different ideas for projects, so put something in the comments and I'll let you know what I think.

In this video, I explore the innovative use of screens paired with kiosks in retail environments, such as KFC. These screens display high-definition videos of products, enhancing the purchase decision process and potentially increasing sales. I discuss the commercial and technical benefits of this integration, predicting a rise in kiosk usage over the coming years.

The Future of Kiosk and Screen Integration in Retail

Please, please don't lick the screens. So I was recently given a video. It wasn't taken by myself, in KFC, showing a panel of screens above some ordering kiosks, which were tantalising, to say the least. They're showing pretty high-definition good videos of their products and bundles right above the point of sale. This is a good time to actually catch someone. This is right at the purchase decision moment, and therefore, as they gaze their eyes up and then come back down to the kiosk, they're much more likely to spend more money. So from a commercial point of view, this makes loads of sense. They're already inside the KFC, so they've obviously made some decision to come in. I think over the next few years, we're going to see a big uptick in the use of kiosks for making purchases and also for finding out more information. Pairing a kiosk up like this with a main screen, which is giving you supporting information whilst you make those decisions, I think is a really smart move. Commercially, it makes a load of sense. Just from a technical point of view, I'm going to give this a four out of five. I think it is a sign of genius and a sign of things to come.

Explore how digital signage serves as a bridge between AI and the physical world. Discover why visual representation is crucial for technology and how screens may become the primary medium for AI's tangible presence.

Connecting AI with the Physical World through Digital Signage

Someone recently asked me if digital signage could be the missing link between AI and the physical world. AI is going to manifest itself in a whole heap of different ways, so it's quite a difficult question to answer. But here's how I think it does play a role. We are ultimately visual people. We have other senses, but in the same way that people really don't use Alexa anywhere near as much as we thought they would, it's because they can't see it. They can't see the output of that. So whilst they will trigger the lights to go on and to play music, they're not really going to do their full shopping on something that they just can't see. Digital signage gives AI and technology in general a canvas to be seen on in physical environments. So if creating content, creating digital content is exponentially easy because of AI, then it needs to be seen on something. And logically, that thing is going to be a screen or a projection, but it doesn't really make any difference. So I do think that if AI is going to manifest itself in physical environments away from your phone and laptop, then it is going to be on screens.

Discover how ScreenCloud's unique features enhance health and safety communication. From emergency alerts to air quality monitoring, learn how our platform supports compliance and informs employees effectively.

Innovative Health and Safety Solutions on ScreenCloud

So when you're considering your health and safety content, it really isn't that much different to any other type of content. It needs to be clear and easy to understand for anyone who is looking at it. However, on the ScreenCloud platform, we do have a couple of features which are uniquely built with health and safety in mind. Firstly, we have the emergency alert system. So this is where we use the CAP protocol to integrate into the system from your existing emergency alert platform to take over the screens and help direct and inform people on the ground when something happens. In addition to that, we have an app that we released late last year, which is an air quality app. In certain states in America, it's actually mandated that you record and report the air quality of the workplace. Now, obviously that's going to change multiple times during the day, so a screen makes a lot of sense. Our team has actually built an app that takes local air quality information—you just put your location into the app—and it will record that on screen for you during the day, so you're compliant, but also, more importantly, people know the environment that they're working in.

I discuss how my view of AI has changed as I have started using it more closely, including programming with it again after many years. I see AI as a powerful assistant for experienced people, whilst recognising the risk that early career talent may lose chances to build vital experience.

Harnessing AI as Your Professional Ally

Obviously, it would be remiss of me not to speak about AI, given that I'm in technology and that's all anyone is speaking about right now. My opinion on it has morphed over the last year as I have got closer to using AI and now actually programming again with AI, which is something I hadn't done for 15 years and I'm now doing again, which is really enjoyable. As I get closer to AI, what I realise is that it is a thought partner, it is an assistant, it is something to collaborate with. I don't think there is any danger of AI replacing people with experience and with talent. I worry that younger people will not be given the opportunities to build experience because AI can replace the roles that they would have done, the roles that I did when I was early in my career. And so I think we do have a talent crisis coming. But as of today, if you are experienced in what you do and if you are good at what you do, then AI is going to give you a superpower and there's nothing to be worried about. In fact, there's a lot to learn and it's going to be really fun.

Explore how AI is revolutionising both office and frontline environments, particularly through robotics in manufacturing. Discover the changing dynamics and job implications in this evolving landscape.

Impact of AI on Frontline and Knowledge Workers

As you know, at ScreenCloud, we have focused on digital signage communication, particularly to frontline and deskless workers. So it's pertinent that we consider the impact of AI both in the office environment and the knowledge worker environment, but also on the frontline. Now, until recently, I would have said that it will impact the frontline much, much less than it will knowledge workers, and that's probably still true. However, we are now beginning to see the emergence of AI in robotics, and I have visited multiple manufacturing plants where they are heavily using robotics, and there's far fewer people working in those environments than you might think. When I have visited manufacturing environments, I am surprised to see how few people are there working on the ground because most of it is automated and is using robotics extensively. So although there's going to be a lot of new jobs created as we reindustrialise, and America is reindustrialising apace, it won't quite have the same numbers that it would have had back in the 1950s. So I think AI is ultimately going to impact everything, and on the frontline, I think we will start to see that emerging in a few years' time. But first, it's going to be the people working on computers.

Explore how leading enterprises optimise their digital signage strategies by using strong content calendars and innovative screen applications. Discover the benefits of integrating live broadcasts to engage millennial and Gen Z workforces effectively.

Maximising Impact with Digital Signage Strategies

Without disclosing specific names and examples, I do have a few enterprise clients that we work with who are really nailing their digital signage strategy. Some of the tips that you could lift from this would include having a really strong content calendar. They plan out their digital signage, their evergreen content, which is usually automated and integrated into the sources of information. But also they run either quarterly or monthly campaigns that are measurable and impactful. They're thought about and considered from a screen point of view first, and therefore they have outsized returns. And we've seen some amazing statistics coming back when they have measured them. The second group that comes to mind are the ones who stop thinking of screens as just a playlist of images and videos and start to actually try and push the envelope in terms of what's being deployed on those screens. Sometimes they're building their own applications and integrations to so specific to their business that it could only be for them, and they're seeing huge results from that because they know that this is going to make an impact inside. And there's one customer that comes to mind where their head of internal comms actually comes from broadcast media, and she has implemented a full broadcast system across all of the screen networks, joining up leadership with frontline workers using live broadcast, which ScreenCloud supplies, and also augmenting that with extra information to give it context. For the first time, the whole organisation bears witness to what the leadership are actually saying, the company strategy and the direction, and this is happening live in a truly modern way. Now, when you consider that most of the workforce now are millennial and Gen Z, this actually will be a much more effective way of communicating to them rather than printing out a notice board and sticking up the five bullet points on the wall.

In this video, we explore the innovative idea of placing screens in unexpected locations, like urinals. Discover how dwell time can optimise advertising impact and consider how this technology could be applied in your environment.

Innovative Advertising: Screens in Unusual Places

This screen is really taking the piss. So an old friend of mine, John, sent me a humorous picture from Amsterdam where he was visiting of a screen embedded in a urinal in a men's toilet. Now, there's obviously something quite funny about this, but actually it is really impressive. One of the most important things about where you place a screen is dwell time, and when you are taking a piss, you have a certain amount of dwell time and downtime. The reality is these screens are going to be seen. You can guarantee that the person will be there for a while and that the message will almost certainly land. Whether it's the most appropriate setting for some content, it probably isn't. But when it comes to advertising, this is probably going to work pretty well. It's also kind of cool that you can make screens that small and they are that versatile now, and maybe that makes you think a little harder about where you could place screens in your environment. I think it is a sign of genius. I'm giving that four out of five. Without the toilet humour, let me know in the comments.

I discuss how ScreenCloud differs from traditional enterprise digital signage providers by focusing on employee and student communication rather than commercial display use cases. I also explain why a cloud native, AI first platform has an advantage over older incumbents and broader workplace communication tools.

Revolutionising Digital Signage with Cloud and AI

So it would be remiss of me to say that ScreenCloud is unique in having an enterprise digital signage offering. Obviously, that's not true. There is the incumbent market that has been around for almost 40 years now. The difference between them and us is really the emphasis of what those screens are being used for. Traditionally, digital signage has been used for commercial use cases, so that's retail, quick serve restaurants, or outdoor advertising. This is what you already see every day. We focus on screens that communicate employee and student-facing screens, and that is a completely different set of requirements and use cases that you need to focus on. Linked to that is really the modernisation of the tech stack. We are obviously going through a massive paradigm shift in technology with AI. Some of the incumbent providers are not even yet on cloud. We're obviously cloud native, the clue's in the name, but we're moving quickly towards cloud native and AI first. The incumbents will have quite a lot of technical debt to catch up on, and I don't think they'll catch us. And of the more modern enterprise offerings, you're probably looking now at the workplace communication space. These are great products, but they're multifaceted. They're not pure screen digital signage. They will often be an intranet product, a meeting room product, an entry system, an app, an email platform, and more. Now, as we go through the era of AI transformation, they have to upgrade all of those products. We have to upgrade one. Who do you think is going to have the superior platform?

Discover the latest upgrade to the iconic London Red Bus. The new screens offer more information and potential for enhanced user experience. Share your thoughts on this innovative change.

London Red Bus: A 21st Century Upgrade

The world-famous London Red Bus just got a 21st century upgrade. I was recently riding home on the bus in South London, and I noticed there had been an upgrade to the screen from those very, very straightforward-looking text-only versions to actual screens. Now, although this doesn't look that amazing yet, it is more informative and gives a canvas to the network to do more. So I thoroughly applaud the rollout, and I think that there is loads of potential in this. I'm giving this a signs of genius score of four out of five. Let me know what you think.

With the rise of online shopping, high street retail needs to reinvent itself using clever technology. This video explores innovative solutions like virtual try-ons that could redefine the traditional shopping experience.

Can Technology Revitalise the High Street Retail Experience?

The high street may be dying, but can technology bring it back? I think it would be fair to say that retail does need to reinvent itself in the modern era. A lot more people are shopping online, and therefore the use of our physical retail space has come under question. Now, there's still a role here for retail environments to play, and if they use clever technology like this, a screen where someone could actually try on the clothes outside of the shop and see themselves on it, I think they might be onto something. There is a fine line between making technology actually helpful and gimmicky. I think this errs a little bit towards the gimmick, but that said, I'm probably not the target audience for this, and this may become increasingly common and a simpler way to try things on without having to physically go in, ask and do it. So I consider this to be quite a sign of genius. I'm giving it three out of five. What do you think?

Exploring the unique challenges of security and network management in digital signage for large enterprises. Learn how to ensure secure and reliable deployment across multiple locations.

Overcoming Challenges in Digital Signage Management

Beyond the obvious checklist of enterprise requirements, any large company that is assessing a SaaS vendor is going to have a shopping list of requirements, which I don't think is worth really listing off here. The two big unique challenges that they will face when they come to their digital signage platform is really around security, which is paramount because we have seen many examples of screens being hacked, and this is an extremely public way of showing that hack. And secondly, in the scale and management of the rollout of that network, and then the ongoing management of that network. If you consider how many locations, how many countries, and how many potential screens might just be in one building, it's massive. In order for that IT undertaking to happen, you need to have a really, really strong management platform and processes in place, not only to make it secure, but to make it reliable and work well and actually serve the business needs, of which there will be many internally.

Discover the creative merger of art and technology at Schiphol Airport with a unique clock installation. This masterpiece by a local artist uses screen technology to transform the concept of time-telling into an engaging and artistic experience.

Innovative Art and Technology Fusion at Schiphol Airport

It's about time that art and technology merged. If you were passing through Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, you may well see a man trapped inside a large clock painting on the hands of the time. Now, no, he's not serving some bizarre prison sentence. This is, in fact, the work of a local artist who filmed himself painting on every single minute of the hour and then using screens and technology to turn that into a constant piece of art to show people the time in a super creative way. Now, I absolutely love this. I think it's a really innovative use of screen technology, and I imagine that it catches most people out when they see it, and they certainly will walk away knowing what the time is. So I'm going to give this a huge five out of five signs of genius score. What do you think?

Exploring how One Rebel in London utilises digital signage to enhance member experience and promotions. The video discusses current implementations and potential improvements for creating interactive and integrated systems.

Enhancing Gym Experiences with Digital Signage

Now this is how gym screens should be done. I was recently taking a class at One Rebel in London and noticed they had extremely impressive digital signage inside the changing rooms and public facing outside on their windows. As you can see, the content has been beautifully designed. It's showing offers, promotions, cross-selling, and informing members about a new location in North London. So that's all very good. But I did notice that in the canteen area, the menu boards are still printed. And in addition to that, there is a lot of functionality around this gym in terms of booking in classes, referring friends. I think this could be a little bit more interactive. There could be a QR code back to the app, so you could get the members to get their phone out and interact back with the brand through the app. Screens should be supporting the other technology you're using and not to be completely thought of as a separate system. And so this is where I think it can be improved. But I'm no doubt that they will do that over time and show class schedules and celebrate members, et cetera, et cetera. I think that this is a sign of genius. I'll give a three out of five for now, and we'll check back in a year or so and see if we can get that score up.

I discuss why digital signage has not yet become a larger, more widely recognised industry despite screens being everywhere. The video focuses on the need for common standards and more accessible business models that help smaller organisations get started.

Why Digital Signage Needs Industry Standards

I recently saw a post on LinkedIn by Lee Dido where he said digital signage is dead. He wasn't talking about the technology; he was talking about us as an industry, and a lot of the points that he made resonated with me. I think that he might be being a little bit too pessimistic, but if we were to unpack it, the main problem with digital signage is why isn't it already bigger? Why do most people outside of our industry not even know what the term means? Often people thought it was to do with signing a PDF online. Now, we see screens everywhere. We know screens work. People want to use screens, and it's certainly much more modern than putting bits of paper on a notice board. But it is fair to say that our industry is still in a cottage state. I think that there are a couple of big reasons for this. Firstly, the industry has not come up with a common set of standards. This means that in every project or with every bit of hardware, we are starting from scratch. If you look at the web industry where I came from previously, over time standards were made, open source projects were put out there, and everyone adopted the same terminology and the same ways of working, and that lifted the whole industry up. And look how that's flown. I think that as a digital signage industry, we do need to get together and collaborate more, even if we are competitive. The second big problem I see is in the business model. The vast majority of digital signage projects are sold through the channel. Now, I do not have a problem with the channel per se. I think there is a lot of value there. But if you're a smaller company with a smaller budget, the likelihood of you having a channel-ready project is unlikely. This means that you have to have a large capex and a big project in order to be taken seriously. And for most people just starting out, they don't have that. There isn't a line item for digital signage in most budgets. I've mentioned that in a previous video. So companies like ScreenCloud, who've been going direct to customer through the web, offering free trials and consumer-grade hardware to do their digital signage, have been trying to open up this market and help rise all of the ships. Lee is right, but one day we will get there. And I believe companies like ScreenCloud and any other company who's a competitor of mine who would like to work in this way should come forward and let's start to set the standards together.

I discuss a road crossing screen in China that publicly shames jaywalkers, and why that kind of real time identification would feel authoritarian in Western contexts. I also consider how workplace screens could respond to unsafe behaviour in a more constructive way, using safety reminders rather than naming and shaming.

Evaluating Tech's Role in Behaviour Modification

Sometimes technology takes things a little too far. So I saw a recent post on X about how a Chinese screen implementation was working on a busy road crossing. Effectively, if pedestrians were jaywalking, the screen showed pictures of them and shamed them in a way of maybe getting them to conform to more safe behaviour. Now, I think it's pretty obvious that that is way overstepping the mark, and most people would find this authoritarian and creepy. It doesn't matter so much in China, but it certainly would matter in the West. However, beyond obviously just saying that that feels wrong, there is something in this as an idea. If you are in real time observing unsafe behaviour, say in a workplace, that could and should influence the content that goes up on screen. Now, naming and shaming might not actually be that productive in terms of helping people. It might even make them double down. But what if you could see that people were, for example, regularly not putting on health and safety goggles and hats, and that started to influence a higher frequency of explanations as to why this was the right thing to do, to try and influence that behaviour back in. So obviously, I'm going to give this a very low zero out of five score for the implementation. But in terms of the idea and how this could be better implemented, I will give it a three. And if I saw a good implementation, I would give a four or a five. So that's my signs of genius score. Let me know in the comments what you think.

I discuss the common mistakes organisations make when planning enterprise digital signage, from skipping an audit of existing screens to underestimating infrastructure needs. I also explain why automated content workflows and clear ROI measures are vital for securing leadership buy-in and scaling successfully.

Optimising Enterprise Digital Signage Deployments

Although every customer is different, we do obviously spot patterns and errors that people make when they're considering an enterprise digital signage deployment. Firstly, when we first speak to customers, often they have not done an audit of what they already have. So they haven't actually thought about the locations, the number of screens they already have, even if there are already some solutions that have been deployed inside of the business. Often when customers do eventually do that audit, they're quite shocked to find that there's multiple vendors and a real mixed real estate that's going on. In addition to that, some of the locations that they want to put screens, particularly in warehouses and places like that, may not even have the necessary cabling or networking capabilities to actually have screens come online. Secondly, once we are into the rollout stage, I feel that customers make the process of content creation far too manual. They often duplicate effort and make assets just for screens. I advocate for about 80% automation. I strongly believe the information that you want to go on screen already lives inside of the business and could be accessed via integrations, APIs and various other means. But often people will actually copy-paste into PowerPoint and upload, and that is just not sustainable and not scalable. So I would think more about where does this information live and put more energy and effort with us alongside you into thinking about how we can integrate and automate. I think one of the elephants in the room is that there really isn't a line item in the budget already for digital signage when it comes to necessary technology inside of companies. Much as I would like that to change, it's our job to create that line item and maybe to displace some other ones. In order to do that, we need to show ROI. We need to get the buy-in of leadership that this budget line item is essential. In your first three to six months of a digital signage deployment, you should be thinking about one campaign where you can prove that you have nudged a number. Have you influenced some genuine change to justify the cost of rolling out digital signage? This could be a number that goes in a positive direction, such as uplifting productivity, or goes down in terms of reduction of accidents. Pick one number that you can prove the digital signage implementation has influenced, and you will get that line item and we will have a full rollout.

Discover how engaging experts early can save enterprise clients significant costs in digital signage deployment. Learn about the importance of proper implementation and how advancements in web technology can optimise your strategy.

Maximising Success with Enterprise Digital Signage

We recently came across an enterprise-level customer who was using ScreenCloud in quite a small way, so it had gone a bit under the radar of the enterprise team. They were only using a handful of licenses. However, this was just one location, and there were many more to do. So we got in touch with them, and they were very receptive to us coming down and seeing what they had done so far. Unfortunately, what we found when we got there is that the implementation had just been done all wrong, and they'd actually wasted a huge amount of extra money and capital expenditure in the hardware deployment, which could have easily been done for less than £2,000. The story here really is that we understand most customers have not really done this before, and even if they have, they may have done it in the old way, right? There is a lot more going on with digital signage today, and the advancements in web technology mean that you can do a lot more for a lot less. If we had been able to engage with them right at the very beginning, we could have set them up properly for success, and they would have saved almost half a million pounds of cost, which was just needless and actually more complicated. So why do enterprise customers need to have their hands held? Well, partly they've got their own jobs to do. They're not experienced in doing this. We are, and we can bring best practice from what we've learned along the way. So I would say this is a really fundamental part that is often overlooked and is not as expensive as people think. Doing a POC with our team is not a huge investment, certainly much less than what I just said there before with the capital expenditure. But it's putting the time, effort and energy into getting it right at the beginning so that when we do roll out, we roll out with a high guarantee of success.

Discover how real-time data visualisation can enhance productivity on manufacturing floors by 10 to 15 percent. Learn the importance of simplified dashboards and trusted data sources for effective performance measurement.

Boosting Productivity with Real-Time Data Visualisation

So I was talking to a customer recently who said that once they had visualized data to the teams on their manufacturing floors, they saw an uplift in productivity between 10 and 15%. That is insane levels of return on investment for the money spent on screens and keeping those screens up to date. And it makes sense. If people know their data, they can measure their performance against it. If they're not informed of what is going well and what isn't going well, how are they ever going to adjust it? I think we need to see much more data in our environments, ideally real time, and certainly has to be trusted, pulling from a source of truth and never getting out of date. Often people are putting up dashboards that they would also give their business analysts. This is a mistake too. We need to keep dashboards simple and focused on the metrics that matter, maybe incorporating a traffic light color coding system to make it even easier to understand. There are so many things we can do, and at ScreenCloud we integrate with Microsoft Power BI and all of the other major dashboard providers. So if you'd like to hear more about data visualization, then get in touch.

As countries re-industrialise, effective communication within manufacturing is crucial. Learn how technology, particularly screens, can enhance employee engagement and safety in this evolving industry.

Enhancing Communication in Modern Manufacturing

So it's fairly clear that most countries are re-industrialising and bringing critical manufacturing back onto their own shores. We're going to see a boom in this industry, and technology is going to play a vital role. However, what is crucial is that we can also communicate to those teams effectively as well. Often when I visit manufacturing plants, I'm seeing bits of paper on old notice boards, workers who don't have access to email or any other IT login, and this is where we think screens play a key role. Now, some of the challenges here is getting the actual content mix correct, especially if we haven't been communicating effectively before. We need a blend of employee engagement, job opportunities, training, recognition, and even functional information like rotas, shifts, and when trucks are arriving. In addition, we need to give these workers data. They need to understand how their shift is performing and what's happening next so they can make informed decisions on the line. And lastly, we need to keep everyone safe. These are dangerous environments, and health and safety is absolutely paramount if we're going to look after our teams and be efficient and responsible companies. ScreenCloud works a lot in the manufacturing sector. We have learned a huge amount about the do's and don'ts. So if you're interested to hear more, please get in touch.

Explore the challenges of outdated screen technology and the importance of remote device management. Discover how modern solutions can enhance digital displays and reduce operational costs.

Transforming Digital Screens: From Disappointment to Delight

So why have screens been digitally disappointing in the past? Well, firstly, I think that they haven't been sufficiently updated. The firmware is very rarely updated on the screen, and normally to update it, you have to buy a new one. The embedded browsers installed on screens are also out of date and rarely get updates. So modern web technology just does not work on the screens. In addition to that, there's many different points of failure. Often the screen may be on and connected to the internet and think it's working fine, but not displaying the content that it should be, but it doesn't know. And finally, we haven't had sufficiently strong remote device management, or RDM, tools to enable IT teams to control these screens and fix them over the air through the cloud and not have to go out for expensive site visits, sometimes at $800 per visit. That mounts up pretty quickly. So there's multiple factors at play here, but ultimately, we need to switch digital disappointment to digital delight.

Discover why robust remote device management features are crucial for managing digital signage networks effectively. Learn about the cost benefits and how they can prevent unnecessary site visits.

The Importance of Remote Device Management in Digital Signage

Often when we speak to customers who've not run a digital signage network before, they are unaware of the importance of RDM, remote device management features. Often they think the screens will just work or fix themselves, or that someone on the ground will actually do it for them. The reality is that is not the case. You need really robust remote device management features in order to enable your IT team to do the work themselves. The cost of remote device management really is negligible when compared to the cost of having to do site visits, especially if they have to get through security at an airport or anything like that. It's been estimated it's around $800 per technician, often just going in just to push a cable back in or switch a source. So really consider RDM features when you consider your digital signage network. You will thank me later.

I discuss a 2025 incident where screens in a US federal building were hacked to show an AI deepfake involving Donald Trump and Elon Musk. The focus is less on the politics and more on why screen security matters for digital signage in public and government spaces.

Deep Fake AI Incident Raises Screen Security Concerns

So it wasn't in my 2025 predictions that Trump and Musk would feature in a deepfake bromance on government property screens. So the news has been somewhat eventful in 2025, but one story did catch my eye. The screens in a federal government building were hacked, and a deepfake AI video of Donald Trump sucking Elon Musk's feet was put onto those screens. Now, as much of a fan of AI I am, I am not going to condone hacking screens. I don't think that this is really a good use of screens. It's certainly not a sign of genius. So I'm going to give this screen score one out of five. I'm staying out of the politics, but I'm very interested in the screen security. So if you want to discuss that in the comments, please let me know.

I discuss how Rains uses wraparound screens to create a distinctive, technology-led storefront that builds curiosity without showing products. The example highlights how digital signage can strengthen brand positioning and help a retail brand stand out in a competitive category.

Innovative Storefronts: Embracing Curiosity and Technology

When your store forecast says 100% chance of innovation, with showers of curiosity. On LinkedIn, I saw a post by Corral where he made a video of the Rains rain jacket clothing store, who use screens very cleverly to wrap around their storefront and immerse customers in their brand and their main use case. Now, obviously, what I like about this is it's very much on brand. I suppose it does compete somewhat with the British weather, which may also be raining at the time. Additionally, it certainly makes the customer curious about what's inside. It deliberately doesn't show any product, a high-risk strategy, but I guess it would make me go in and check out what's going on. And thirdly, in a category where some of their competitors have been around for 100 years, they make their brand stand out as being innovative by making the shopfront technology-first from the outset. I give Rains Store a 4 out of 5 score. This is a sign of genius for me. What do you think?

Explore the impressive 300m² screens at Jakarta airport and their potential beyond advertising. Are these installations purely commercial, or can they offer valuable information to travellers? Share your thoughts on balancing commercial and user needs.

Impressive Airport Screens: Advertising or Information?

Nothing says welcome like a 300 metre square screen. Check out these huge screens in Jakarta Airport. You can't really fail but to be impressed with the size and quality of the installation. It looks like mostly it's being used for advertising, which is not really a huge surprise in an airport, and at least it's working. Check out my error messages in airports if you want to see what normally happens there. However, for travellers who have just arrived on a plane and are travelling into the city or beyond, they are going to have a long dwell time here as they wait for their bags. Is it really only advertising that we should be giving them, or can we give them more information which will make their stay even more successful? I don't know because I can only see this picture, but I hope that they are balancing the commercial aspects of these screens with things which are genuinely useful and starting off this period of holiday or work trip or even returning home with the best intentions for the audience in front of the screen. My screen score is four out of five, mainly for the installation and impressiveness, but I do think we should be listening more, as always, to the customers and the users in front of these screens. It's a sign of genius that they're doing it at all. What do you think in the comments below?

I explore how a busy London pub replaced paper tickets and shouted orders with a screen-based kitchen system. The setup works because it reflects real kitchen experience, careful timing and a sensible choice to avoid unproven AI automation.

Digital Transformation in London's Most Popular Pub

How does London's most popular pub handle all those orders? For every kitchen I've worked in, they're all paper-driven tickets. Yeah. We built a screen system. When an order comes in, it goes to a specific place in the kitchen, and they crack on. So it's not a conventional kitchen where you've got someone calling the order out. Yeah, we should. Wow. This is a small business, although a very successful business, and they have totally digitally transformed their operations. So going from a paper-based system and a yes chef into digital transformation with screens, I mean, that's very impressive to begin. The kitchen will fire that when the main's away. The chef will see that on the screen. Yeah, he'll fire it. That appears on the screen. Lobster. Lobster goes on. The second thing I like here is that they have infused the technology with their many, many years of delivery and experience. They've thought a lot about the timing and ordering of these processes. They haven't just said, All right, technology can handle that, and forgotten about it. They've really put a lot of human thought and experience into making this just perfect. Does it have, like, AI involved? No, thank God, probably. That would have been harder. If you put in timings, this should take this long, so therefore... Yeah, and you sit in a room with the company, and there's like about ten screens up there, and you start putting through these orders, and it's, I tell you, it's pretty challenging. Lastly, they rejected AI, and personally, I think that's brilliant. At the moment, AI isn't really proven in things like this, and I'm glad that they leaned on their own experience and didn't just hand off to technology without thinking much further. So good job, guys. It's very hard to find fault with this. The one thing I would say is I didn't pick up in the video if there was any way of acknowledging or overriding the system. They probably have thought of that, so I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt. My screen score is five out of five. Amazing work. Is this a sign of genius? I think so, but let me know in the comments.

I discuss how AI could reduce the number of people needed to build software, with clear implications for outsourcing and developing countries. I also share a ScreenCloud example where a customer success colleague used AI prompting to build an app quickly, showing how technical thinking may become as valuable as traditional coding skills.

AI's Impact on Workforce and Outsourcing

I think with AI, it means that the negative part of AI is you're not going to need as many people, right? So that's probably quite bad for developing countries. I mean, I think it's super interesting, say in Nigeria, it's having a population explosion. There's a lot of talent there. Time zone is quite good. This could be its time. But then it might be that actually you don't need 100 people. You just need 10 who really understand how to use AI very, very well. And so that might be a bit of a negative to people trying to get into the industry. So we'll see. Yeah, I suppose to a degree, AI might become your outsource. You know, if you know what you're doing, if you have the skills to do it. But I think in technology, we forget that we are still the minority, right? You know, out in the real world, there are not that many people who really know how to code. There are not that many people really confident with building web products. And so even if they had AI to do it for them, they wouldn't even know where to begin. So I think, and there's many, many, many problems that need to be solved. And some of those problems are really small problems that don't warrant a whole SaaS product. But if someone was available to kind of just use AI to spin up and build a product, we've actually done it recently in ScreenCloud. We had one of our customer success team build an app on top of ScreenCloud for an events company in two weeks, and one of our front-end developers helped a bit. But the majority of the code was developed through AI and prompting. He's a technical-minded guy, but he's not a developer. I think that's pretty cool. Where that affects outsourcing, you're definitely going to need less people, so possibly that's a problem. But then I also think that people who are coming from kind of up-and-coming countries, they're pretty resourceful and they're not dumb. Like, they're going to see that this AI is happening. So right now, maybe they're upskilling themselves on how to use AI and prompt, and they could be efficiency machines. So ultimately, I'm very optimistic. Smart people always find a way. But I think AI is going to have an impact on the number of people you need, and probably the companies need to get ahead of that idea and mitigate for that.

I share how screens fit into my personal workspace, home setup and office environment, from entertainment to ScreenCloud content. I also cover how dashboards, team updates and customer work help keep useful information visible throughout the day.

How I Use Screens in My Personal and Professional Life

So someone asked me recently how I use screens in my personal life is my flat wall-to-wall screens. Well, there are two big screens in my flat. One is in my living room, which is a Sony Bravia, which is running Google TV, which I do have ScreenCloud installed on, but also I have many other things installed in it, and that really is there for entertainment. The screen I have in my home office has multiple devices in it, and that is exclusively showing ScreenCloud content, some dashboards, updates from the team, and also just testing out various bits of content. At my office, in my office, I have a little screen just outside the door, which is showcasing some of the amazing work we've done for customers, which is really useful. And I also have another screen here, in addition to my computer screen, which is showing dashboards and data tracking the quarter, sales, and things like that. So actually, that is quite a lot of screens, isn't it? That's like at least four, and there's probably more in storage as well. So how many screens do you use in your personal life?

I discuss the depth of technical talent across regions such as Eastern Europe, India and Latin America, drawing mainly on my own experience of building and working with distributed teams. The focus is on education, opportunity and why Western companies should recognise the value of global engineering capability.

Embracing Global Tech Talent in Outsourcing

I haven't really, like, obviously, I can't talk about every region in the world because I don't have experience. Like, obviously, there's a vast amount of tech talent in India, for example, and we actually have quite a large number of Indian nationals working in our Bangkok team, but I've never had a team in India, so I don't know. I mean, I know it's pretty big and stuff like that. I've obviously had experience in Ukraine through personal relationships. I've also experienced teams in Bulgaria. I think there's a very interesting kind of Eastern European skill-like range there, and I think a lot of that comes from a much more sort of rigorous academic upbringing, especially in maths and science, which we don't have so much in the UK and America, I think. So I think that there's just people are naturally kind of like more technically minded because of the way that they're educated. I think the education system in the East, from what I can tell, and I think I can talk to that relatively as an outsider, I'm very impressed. Like, and I wish we had more of that here. I wish we had more emphasis on science and key skills like maths. I wish we let go way too easily. I think there's just obvious talent there. And then, you know, I think you've also got to be honest. It's like it's coming from countries where, like, you know, this is a very good route towards making more money, right? That is useful and powerful. And I think IT outsourcing is quite possible. There's other skills that wouldn't be so easy to outsource, such as sales, right, for example. So, yeah, I guess Eastern Europe lends itself to that. I'm hearing a lot of US companies having great success in South America, Latin America. But, like, I mean, I can only really talk from my own experiences, but I think the world is full of much more talent than maybe a lot of the West realizes, and I think being able to kind of embrace that, I think it's good for everyone if we really embrace the talent that's available in the world and use it more.

I discuss why public screens still fail too often, from black screens to outage messages, and why that damages confidence in digital signage as a communication channel. Using the CrowdStrike disruption at Heathrow Terminal 5 as an example, I highlight the need for closer work between software and hardware vendors.

The Unreliability of Screens in IT Industry

Okay, so if we're honest with ourselves as an industry, screens are seriously unreliable. Do you know of any other IT in your world that fails with the same frequency that you see broken screens, black screens, blue screens of death out in the world? It's crazy, right? And that probably is why screens are not being used as a reliable communication channel as much as I think they should. We have to work really tightly as software vendors with hardware vendors, and it is improving. It is a lot better today than it was 10 years ago. But obviously over the summer, we've seen the CrowdStrike issues. So here we are at Heathrow Terminal 5, and as you can see, the screens behind me in the BA lounge are still out from the CrowdStrike outage we've had earlier this year. And my error messages of the week show you that this is still a big problem that we really need to solve if we're going to build faith and trust from people that screens should be used and won't just cause IT a massive extra headache. The reality is screens are really unreliable, and we need to get better at this.

Exploring the practicality of using USB sticks for digital signage, this video discusses their reliability and cost-effectiveness. While limited in functionality, USB sticks prove to be a dependable choice for those starting out in digital signage.

USB Sticks: A Viable Option for Digital Signage?

I actually think USB sticks for digital signage are not a terrible option. Why do I think that? Well, we encounter many customers who are already using screens and digital signage, but powered by a USB stick, which is obviously limited. It can only show images and videos looping round, and it's really hard to update. It's not internet connected. But first of all, they've proved out their use case. They've got the content up there. They know it's working, and they want to take it further, which is why they've engaged ScreenCloud to help them take this to the next level. The other thing is USB sticks don't fail. They work 100% of the time. They're super reliable and incredibly cheap. So your digital signage is never going to be black screen, blue screen, error screen, or anything like that, which actually bringing software into it will make it more complex and give it more points of failure. So if I was starting out with digital signage and just wanted to prove that it really could make an impact, I don't think using USB sticks is a terrible idea at all.

I discuss how ambitious developments in Dubai and the wider Middle East are showing what future cities and workplaces could look like, with large scale screen installations playing a major role. I also consider the practical challenges of desert conditions, construction delays and how the market may shift from advertising led screens towards communication focused use cases.

Exploring Future Cities: Digital Signage in the Middle East

So I was recently listening to a podcast interview hosted by Dave Haines of 69, the digital signage industry blog, and Nita Odedra from Blue Rhine Industries, and she's the strategy director. Now, they're based in Dubai and work across all of the Middle East region. This stood out to me because I was actually born in Dubai and grew up in Dubai and also in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, but that was a long time ago, too long. A few things jumped out to me from the interview. Firstly, I've talked a bit in the past about when we are imagining workplaces and environments of the future, we often look to cinema and TV and science fiction to visualise what these environments might look like. But actually, out in the Middle East, a lot of these are already being built today. So we're seeing cities of the future being built before our very eyes. And the good news for me, at least, is that they love screens. So here the market is a little bit different because we've got so many projects, developments that are new. They're trying to do things different. You know, you've got cylinder LCDs, we've got pillars being clad, etc. They do have this pride in trying to put developments out there that are new, ambitious, something that is the largest. So yes, you know, that is there. And what that means is sometimes it comes with a bit of flash, and you've got— All bells, all whistles, kind of installations for screens. And Dubai Mall is an example where I think that's the largest indoor screen in Dubai Mall, and you'll have other ones coming up in the next couple of years trying to beat that, I'm sure. So if you want to see future trends for our cities, I would advise going to take a trip. But she also highlighted some of the challenges they face. The biggest challenge she mentioned was that often the screens will be delayed because the whole building is delayed. Now, out in the UK and America, where we normally work, the buildings we're operating in already exist, and we just have to put the screens up. Nita was saying they often have to store these screens because the whole project has been delayed. In addition, it can be a very harsh environment in the desert. Screens already generate a lot of heat and need to be cooled, but in a desert environment, that heat can be extraordinary. Then you've got the extreme sunlight and also dust that needs to be accounted for. You may have heard me before say that consumer screens can be used in many environments. I would suggest that in the Middle East, that probably isn't so true. And then the last thing that stood out to me was most of the screens being put up and used in the Middle East are very much for a commercial use case. Now, we've seen this before in the West. The screens that were being used 20, 30 years ago were almost exclusively for selling because the ROI is easier to understand and easier to manage. But as we see the market mature in the West, we see that the use case for screens that communicate becoming ever increasingly popular. So I would imagine that in maybe five or even 10 years' time, but maybe sooner because the Middle East moves fast, they will start to think less about screens for advertising and for promoting the sale of products, and actually start to use them more to communicate to people. So it's an exciting opportunity. ScreenCloud doesn't have much presence in the Middle East, but as I'm originally from there, I am very intrigued.

I discuss how digital signage has grown in public awareness, whilst still being shaped by its audio visual and hardware roots. I also look at why falling screen costs and consumer expectations are pushing modern spaces towards screens, and why the industry needs a stronger software first mindset.

Evolving the Digital Signage Industry

Yeah, well, in many ways I'd say the digital signage industry hasn't evolved that much. And strangely, like, it's very similar to the industry that I kind of came into and sort of wanted to disrupt a little bit. And I don't mean this in an aggressive way. I think that digital signage evolved out of the audio-visual industry, right? So it's not web developers that started this, because back in the day that absolutely wasn't possible. It was very much a hardware-driven industry. And still, if you look at it, if you go to the trade shows, it's still very much a hardware-driven industry. And they're not talking really about web content. It's more like internet-connected screens, a bit of web content, but it's not really truly embraced digital, which is surprising given what it is. And so I don't think it's moved on as much as I'd like. But what I have seen change, I think, one, people understand digital signage more. When I first started, I'd say digital signage, people were like, Oh, is that like signing, you know, Adobe contracts, like DocuSign or whatever? I was like, No, no, no, it's screens. They're like, Oh, all right, okay. So I think it wasn't very aware, and I think most people sort of know about it now. And I think the other thing is, in our lives as consumers, we are seeing screens absolutely everywhere, whether that's in retail, outdoor advertising, quick-service restaurants like McDonald's have all gone full screens, airports, anything in transportation. So I think as consumers, we are seeing screens, like, proliferate all around us. And screens actually, the cost of a screen over the last 25 years has really dropped down. It's super affordable to have just a screen. So I think that people are seeing the use of screens more in their lives, and they're kind of expecting that a modern environment would have screens in it, and a less modern environment would have printed posters or something up instead. So I think the expectation from us as the public, as consumers, has risen. But I still feel like as an industry, we've got a long way to go. We need to take more of a software-first approach and start to consider the hardware less.

Exploring recent regulations in Melbourne that mandate screen curfews above ground level at night, this discussion highlights the environmental and health benefits of such measures. The conversation draws parallels with similar rules in Germany and emphasises the potential for energy savings and improved well-being.

Balancing Screen Usage for a Greener Future

I was reading a recent Guardian article about our friends down under in Melbourne who had introduced a new rule putting a curfew on screens above ground level in public places at night. So basically saying they need to be turned off or severely dimmed down. And I thought actually this is a really good idea. We don't need to pollute environments where people, generally speaking, are not going to be there in the middle of the night and interrupt people's sleep and circadian rhythm. We wouldn't do the same with noise. We have rules and regulations around that. And I believe this law already exists in Germany and has been very popular. It's also greener, so you're not going to consume as much energy. And with modern hardware, we can easily control those screens remotely, powering them on and off as and when we wish to. So although I obviously advocate very much for screens, I don't think they necessarily need to be on all the time, especially at night.

I explore why the best user experience often feels invisible, with fewer buttons, fewer steps and more intuitive workflows. Using ScreenCloud as an example, I discuss how minimal UI and near instant screen updates created memorable product moments that helped convert trial users into customers.

Creating Magic Moments in User Experience Design

Well, I have this little phrase, which is the best UX is no UX. And what I mean by that is the more invisible the experience feels, i.e. the more you can remove and anticipate, the better the experience. And I think that's one of where ScreenCloud has been really good. So, you know, one of the UX principles was minimal buttons. You know, like if you're editing a title, just click on the title and edit it, and then press return or whatever and click off it and it saves, rather than have loads of extra kind of cancel, approve. You know, you've still got buttons there, but buttons do key things, and everything else is just drag and drop and kind of click, and it just removes everyday workflow, which is what creates the delight in the experience of a product you're using every single day to update content. You'll appreciate those kind of little smooth-outs in the workflow, that intuitive kind of anticipatory nature of the UX. So I think that was extremely important. That's something that people, that wasn't in a lot of the legacy systems. It was just buttons everywhere, you know, click, click, click, click, click. And, you know, that's fine for one round, but often, you know, you're maybe uploading and configuring 20 pieces of content at a time. That's going to get really laborious. So minimal UI, I suppose, created the best UX is probably the best way of doing that. Yeah, and I think the other thing was this delight moment that we created. I've got to credit Luke, my CTO co-founder, for this one. I didn't think, like, the industry norm was that screens would update maybe after five or 15 minutes once you'd updated them, and they would sort of eventually the whole system would update. And so that was an industry norm, and I wasn't that compelled to change that. But for Luke, it was really important to him that when you made an update, the screen updated almost immediately. So he used, like, Firebase at the time, was kind of relatively new technology from Google as this real-time database. And I was like, I thought it was a bit of a gimmick, if I'm honest, but customers just loved it. And what I hadn't anticipated was that they're on their laptop, they make a change, and then the test screen, which is probably in the same room as them, immediately updates. And it's that thought that this is fired up to the cloud, back down to the screen, and within a couple of seconds or less, you know, this real-time magic. It feels like magic at your fingertips. And that created a moment which just, once a customer had seen that, I knew I'd closed them. And that was Luke's insistence that real-time mattered. And honestly, like, you know, he couldn't have been more right. So I think sometimes, so my point really here is that often we think of UX as being like wireframes and, you know, all that kind of stuff. But actually, I emphasise the experience. And experience is those magic moments. It's that anticipation. It's that removal of unnecessary steps, which I suppose is more wireframing. But, like, it's not just how it looks and feels is kind of my word emphasise. And if you can create magic in a trial, then you will close customers.

Discover how Wrexham Council is embracing digital transformation with the installation of large touchscreens to promote local events and retailers. While the initiative is forward-thinking, questions arise about the effectiveness of touchscreen technology for public use.

Innovative Digital Transformation in Wrexham

So I recently saw a story where Wrexham Council in the UK had installed large touchscreens in the town centre to promote the Wrexham app, local event information, and local retailers and commerce. And I think overall this is fantastic. This is the digitisation of a city centre, which is probably being reimagined for the future. The one reservation I have is that these are touchscreens, and in my experience most people still don't really use touchscreens that much. They can be prone to sort of technical difficulty, and so I wonder if the budget may have been better used just putting a greater number of screens up across that location, so maximising the visibility of that information rather than just having it the more technically advanced and more expensive touchscreen kiosks. But I haven't seen them myself, so I might be completely wrong. But I do very much applaud the fact that they are embracing screens in a city centre and being innovative in their environment.

I challenge the idea that every digital signage setup needs a professional-grade display. For many internal communication use cases, affordable consumer TVs can be powerful, accessible and perfectly suitable.

Challenging Norms in Digital Signage: Consumer vs Professional Displays

So I've been doing these videos for a little while now, and I decided to take it up a level and come up with some spicier takes about the digital signage industry. So my take number one will be: you do not need to have a professional display. If you speak to industry veterans, they will say that you can only use professional-grade displays for your digital signage, and that really is just more expensive TVs, which are actually better. They are 24/7, maybe weatherproof, a little bit more robust, etc. But not every use case needs that. So actually, the TV in your lounge these days is really powerful and has survived many a Netflix binge, probably, and can be used for internal communication in regular environments that are not hitting the weather or the public just as easily. And they're very affordable, accessible, and simple, and we have many thousands of them being used by ScreenCloud customers. And the reality is you just don't always need a pro display.

Explore the two main hardware options for setting up a digital signage network. Discover the benefits and drawbacks of using a media player versus a system on chip, helping you to make an informed decision for your organisation's needs.

Optimising Your Digital Signage Network Choices

So when you're thinking about your digital signage network, you basically have two hardware choices up front if you're adding new screens which don't already exist. The most popular way is to take a regular screen and attach a media player to it, such as ScreenCloud OS or some of the Google Chrome media players, probably attached to the back into the HDMI cable. The benefit of that is that you can always upgrade that device and change that device over time, and it's divorced from the actual screen itself. However, there is, in many ways, a simpler option, which is called SoC, or system on chip, and this is where the computer is embedded into the screen and is running in that screen. Now, the downside of that is that you wouldn't be able to switch operating system, and upgrading that operating system may be tricky if there aren't firmware updates available. But the benefit would be that everything is encapsulated within the screen itself. So if this screen is out in public, you may not want a computer dangling off the back of it that a member of the public, either knock off or steal or whatever it might be. So you tend to find system on chip being very popular when members of the public are around. It's also probably got more of a lower health and safety profile because there's less bits going on, and generally speaking, things are a little simpler. However, for most communication screens, I would emphasise the media player versus the screen. That gives you the most options and future-proofing going forward.

I discuss why digital signage only becomes a serious communication channel when it is available across every business location. I also explain why fragmented screen networks, multiple vendors and shadow IT make it too hard for comms teams to share important messages at scale.

Making Screens Central to Business Communication

So, as you're no doubt aware, I think a lot about screens, and I have been thinking a lot about how to make screens truly valuable as a communication medium. In fact, my challenge is to try and make digital signage as important for businesses as email, especially for those companies with deskless and frontline workers. And so I've been doing a lot of introspection about how do we make this happen and how do we make this a reality. And the big realisation I've had is that screens really will not have any power at all until they are ubiquitous. So until they feature in at least one screen in every location in the business, you could not have the CEO of that business talk to their comms leaders and say, Push this message out to screen. Because what we find is in large companies, there's often 10, 20 providers, some of it shadow IT projects done by the IT team themselves, USB sticks, or multiple vendors like ScreenCloud. And so in order to put a message up on all of those screens, the comms professional will probably need about 20 logins into email IT in various locations. It's just not going to happen. So to make it truly successful, you need one provider for all. Now, hopefully that is ScreenCloud. But in a recent example, we saw consolidation in a customer. We had a good relationship with in the UK, but was headquartered in Germany. They decided to go with one provider for all countries, and we lost out on that. And you know what? I think they were right to do it. Now, it's a shame that they didn't pick us as that provider, and that's on us. But the actual principle of it, I completely agree with. Every company should be thinking about digital signage as one provider only. You wouldn't implement Gmail and Outlook. It doesn't make sense. So if we're going to take screens seriously as a communication medium, then we need to think about ubiquity. And that's why we have products like Launchpad and Company TV to help customers set up for future success, rather than using screens just for five here and five there to solve different team problems.

Explore how partnering with Google Chrome OS enables greener digital signage solutions. Discover the benefits of recycling old hardware with Chrome OS Flex, reducing landfill waste and saving costs for IT companies.

Sustainable Digital Signage with Google Chrome OS

So we partner with the team at Google Chrome OS for a lot of our digital signage projects. One of the benefits of working with Chrome OS is that it's actually very green. There's multiple reasons for that. So the system itself has been built in such a way where you can easily power cycle the device and has quite a low CPU threshold, so it's not burning lots of energy, which is green. But actually, the bigger thing they have is something called Flex. So Flex is the ability to recycle previous hardware. So you might take an old Intel NUC, which is no longer being used. You can Flex Google Chrome OS onto that device and effectively turn it into a Chrome device, which you could then use for digital signage. The thing is that digital signage doesn't necessarily need the latest and greatest computer hardware. It needs amazing software on it, which is screen focused in order to power up that screen. And the panels last for ages. So you may have a very outdated screen running potentially really outdated software, but recycling an old NUC device and then attaching that to the screen, launching on Chrome OS brings it right up to a modern spec and standard, and it should work perfectly. So as IT companies start to think about, like, how are we sending too many devices out to landfill, we can recycle so many of these for digital signage. It also saves you a lot of money too.

I discuss why building an in-house operating system went from seeming unrealistic to becoming a practical response to platform dependency. A major outage exposed the risk of relying on third-party systems without a strong support relationship, making greater control a strategic necessity.

Why Building Our Own OS Reduced Platform Risk

The reason for building our own operating system, it's just something that at the beginning I would have thought, oh my God, that would be a crazy thing to do. That's way too, too much for us. Like, why don't we just use the existing operating systems? Well, you have to learn by using those existing operating systems and realising their faults and their issues. And the only real way to overcome it is effectively to do it yourself at certain scale. And actually, after a particularly bad outage we experienced on one of the platforms, where we were really on our knees for about five days and we had no way of really getting any leverage with—it was on the Amazon Fire platform. It wasn't Amazon's fault, but it was kind of, we had no relationship, proper relationship going there. We were completely stuck for five days and we thought this could be a real terminal blow. Thankfully, we didn't. But that prompted that exploration of like, this is just too much risk. And if you're building too much on someone else's platform and they're not really engaged on it, then you're really open to so much risk. And actually, the risk of building yourself suddenly looks much, much less. Yes, I totally agree.

I discuss why any connected device on a network, including digital signage screens, can become a security risk. The video explains how outdated firmware and long hardware lifecycles can create vulnerabilities, and why ScreenCloud OS was built to reduce that risk.

Ensuring Network Security with Modern Screen Management

So when you think about IT, any device which is on your network is potentially a security threat. This could even be a connected device like a printer. We mostly think of this as laptops and phones, and primarily they are probably the devices most likely to be infiltrated by a phishing attack or hacker. However, a screen running a full computer on its system is equally dangerous. Now, most screens are running operating systems that very rarely get firmware updates. So you might have a version of Android going back seven years on that screen, and we don't really think about it. The manufacturers tend to only upgrade by releasing newer models, but the panels that we are working with often will be on the wall for maybe 10 years. So the screens can be a security backdoor into your network, which then all sorts of things can happen once you're in there. That's one of the reasons why we developed ScreenCloud OS, was to actually strip the operating system back to the very, very basics of what it needed to be performant for the screen. And it's got a good security profile because it doesn't do much. We also keep the operating system up to date. We just released version 3.0, and so we are constantly keeping up with security standards as well as modern web development standards as well.

I discuss the lasting impact of the CrowdStrike outage on digital signage at Heathrow Terminal 5, including why some screens still require manual fixes. The video reflects on how outages expose the operational importance of screens, remote management and resilient infrastructure.

The Importance of Reliable Digital Signage

So if you look at the analytics on my LinkedIn posts, you'll see that error message of the week is in fact the most popular. So there I am pouring my heart out about digital signage strategy, and all you want to see is public fail. Who am I to deny my audience? So here we are at Heathrow Terminal 5, and as you can see, the screens behind me in the BA lounge are still out from the CrowdStrike outage we've had earlier this year. Now, one of the things I was worried about doing error message of the week was the sort of schadenfreude, so I'm not going to pile in on them because, to be honest, we've done equally bad things. It's just that we're not big enough to be a global news story. And I think it is a bit wrong to do too much hand-wringing over these things, but it certainly throws up a few interesting things. The actual patch of the fix, I believe, has gone out already. I think went out quite quickly. But because it involves manual intervention, it just highlights how much effort it is. If there is a problem, sending engineers out, especially airside, to fix screens is super difficult. So it's actually highlighted a super important problem. In startup folklore, there's this thing which if you want to know how mission critical your product is, turn it off for a day and see what happens. Well, I think, you know, unfortunately this did cause a huge amount of chaos, and a lot of people were affected in their travel, finance, etc. And we'll include some examples of that on the video edit. But it really does show that actually screens are pretty mission critical, and people couldn't really achieve what they wanted to when all of those screens went down. It also shows the importance of a reliable network that can be remotely managed without having to have engineering talent out on the ground. What's also been quite interesting is actually all the creative and fun ways people have played with this one, and will sort of lighten the mood a bit by including a few of them. Right, well, I think my flight's boarding, so I'm going to be off to Toronto and then Charlotte, and I'll speak to you again soon.

I discuss why training is vital for successful digital signage rollouts, especially when many teams have limited prior experience with screens. The focus is on keeping early training simple, then building towards more strategic use of automations, integrations and content planning over time.

Maximising Success with Digital Signage Training

I think it would be fair to say that most people using digital signage and screens have not really got a great amount of experience. Normally, it's a bit of an outlier when we get on a call and someone's talking about extensive 10-year experience of using screens and their strategies for how to do content. It's great when that happens, but to be honest, it's very rare. So we can't underestimate the value of training as part of a rollout and implementation of digital signage. And we have various degrees of that. We have ScreenCloud University, which is online training courses that anyone can use. We also have a big knowledge base for more technical queries and things like that. But really, for the enterprise customers, it comes down to a custom training package that our customer success team will develop with you. So we will just focus on the key areas of digital signage that matter most to you and drop the rest so that we're not flooding people with information. The other thing about training is that you want to do different levels. At the beginning, you've got to keep it super simple, empower people, get them successful, and then get them using the product. Maybe three months, six months, or even a year later, you want to refresh that training, take them up a level, get them thinking more strategically, maybe more about automations and integrations and less about uploading files and images. And we'll just keep on moving up the ranks with you. Investing in training from your IT team, but also from your comms and content team, is so valuable upfront and is definitely a gateway to future success.

I discuss why AI adoption is currently moving faster with consumers than with businesses, from easier data collection to fewer concerns around privacy and copyright. I also compare this pattern with earlier shifts in mobile and social media, where consumer use came first and business adoption followed later.

Why AI Prioritises Consumers Over Businesses

Right now, it feels that AI is really more focused on the consumer, and that makes a lot more sense. The consumer can benefit hugely from it. It's a great place to test and get a lot of data into the systems, which is what AI needs to improve. And there's less red tape, I think, around what consumers are happy to do. I think the trade-offs for better information, better pictures, videos, versus the content they're inputting is probably quite great, and consumers are happy to do that, where businesses are still a little worried about what this means for them, the privacy of their information, copyrights, and things like that. So it's no wonder that most AI companies are predominantly focused on the consumer, even though the business application is also pretty quickly applicable too. I guess the exception to that rule might be Microsoft with their Copilot product, but that is being eased into their products, and I'm absolutely sure there's many ways of opting out of it, knowing the way Microsoft is working. I think AI is going to follow for business slower than consumer, and this is exactly what we saw in the mobile days as well, and also social media. It really started with the consumer, and then businesses picked it up later down the line.

In this video, we explore an unconventional use of PowerPoint for real-time updates at an airport. Despite its simplicity, this approach allows immediate communication, outperforming traditional systems. It also highlights the need to consider non-traditional competitors in product development.

Innovative Use of PowerPoint in Real-Time Updates

So on the ScreenCloud Slack group, the team shared a viral video going on Twitter of a screen in an airport being powered by PowerPoint. Let's take a look. So I think you'd probably be expecting me to slam this, but actually I quite like this use case. Obviously, it's not exactly a slick update of the screen, but it is done in real time, and it is being done by the person who knows that this flight boarding is getting delayed. So compared to other systems which sometimes take upwards of half an hour to update, at least the customers are fully aware of what's going on, and the person managing the screen is fully capable of doing so. This could obviously be much slicker, but actually I think this is quite interesting, and it reminds me of one other thing. We often think that our competition is just literally our competitors, our brand competitors, but in fact our competition is usually a homegrown solution like this, either PowerPoint or Excel, or even doing nothing at all. And it's always worth remembering that this is the kind of use case that we need to be thinking about as much as whatever our competitors are building as well.

I discuss research commissioned from UCL and Durham University into why large screens are effective communication media. The findings connect digital signage with subconscious cognition, repetition, visual attention and the perceived importance created by screen size.

Understanding the Power of Screens in Communication

So a couple of years ago, I wanted to start to explore more the science around screens and how they actually work as a communication medium, because I think we all accept it. We understand that big screens kind of work, but do we really know why? I think the advertising industry does that because they've already put those big screens out there. But we wanted to go deeper. So we contacted UCL and Durham University in the UK and spoke to their neuroscience and behavioural science teams and asked them to go and look at the existing research that was out there and collate that into white papers for us to give us insight about how we can use screens in a more meaningful way. And they're really worth reading, both of those white papers. But some of the main takeaways really were that screens tap into our subconscious cognition. So most of the communication we get goes straight away, an alert just comes straight into our brain, and we'll probably forget that in about five minutes if you were cramming for a test the night before and can't remember anything a week later. Your eyes are picking up a lot more through information than you realise, and that's going into your subconscious memory. And that really is a deeper, more powerful memory, but requires a lot of repetition to get in there. And so screens in your environment, with pushing those messages out, kind of ambiently amplify them. They're also stimulating your cortex. So it's a big luminous box. You can't help but look at the screen. And therefore, even if you think you weren't looking at the message, you probably were, even for a microsecond. So there's a huge amount about this. There's other interesting ideas about the size of the screen, feeling that the information is more important. So a bigger screen is more important than a smaller screen because there's a kind of natural social hierarchy. If we make something big, it's because it's important, and loads of other tips like that. They're all very obvious when you hear them, but until we start to think about this a bit more, we don't really understand. So if you're feeling like you want to go a bit deeper, there are some links down below, and go and check out those white papers.

I explain why Wi-Fi connectivity for digital signage is notoriously unreliable and how ScreenCloud solves this. Screens mounted on walls create signal interference, so we run content locally on each device and sync updates when connectivity allows.

Effective Digital Signage Solutions Without Wi-Fi

Wi‑Fi is everywhere, right? Wrong. Although we might be able to connect most screens to a Wi‑Fi network, the quality of that connection tends to be very patchy or quite poor. Screens tend to go on walls or pillars, and the computers running those screens are then behind them, so there's a lot of interference to that signal. But the screens need to work. We cannot have blank or error screens. So we run all of the content on ScreenCloud locally on each device. Fairly simple if that's just images and videos, but more complicated when it's a web-powered product that runs locally on the computer, and then we just take updates over the web when that Wi‑Fi is working again, if it ever does.