Ok, ok, before your eyes glass over about another blog post concerning Cisco digital signage, just give me a few minutes to explain. I’ve got an idea here and maybe we can learn something from all this Cisco news.
For a couple years now I’ve thought that the key to building a successful digital signage product and therefore company is to ensure the ability to layer service on the software platform without great expense or deviation from the business model. In the case of Captive Indoor Media, we have acted out this approach and currently deliver everything from content creation to syndicated news feeds and touch screen applications all with the intent of adding value for our customers while increasing our average bill (yes, we are trying to make some money).
Take a second to admire the cell phone/PDA/MP3 Player in your pocket to get a glimpse inside a successful business model based on layering services in the face of margin attrition. That device probably looks much different from the brick like thing you carried just a few years ago and the service you receive today most certainly is.
Cell phone providers 5 years ago were selling little more than voice service with varied packages for roaming and long distance. Today long distance is free; roaming is a word used mostly for cattle and every mobile service provider I know of is pushing email, fast internet access and text messaging. In the face of product price attrition, they layered new service and retained or increased the average monthly bill. In my unfortunate case, I have actually seen a pretty steep increase in my bill but the service is so necessary to my day to day activity I would probably pay double if I had to.
As Digital Signage continues to get more competitive (300 vendors and counting) we will certainly see pricing come down within the more commoditized digital signage products such as remote access and scheduling capability. Success will be based in the ability of each company to introduce compelling service products which ride on that company’s software backbone and deliver further value to their customers while also increasing the barrier to entry for the competition.
OK, now it’s time for the Cisco reference. Cisco is not in the digital signage game just to start developing content and fulfill delivery of that content. They want to sell the whole kit and caboodle. They want to add on video to the desktop. They want to add VOIP and teleconferencing. They want to sell digital signage not as a unique technology (pssst. It is not new anymore nor unique) but as a means to an end (gulp). They have the expertise, money and capability to plant customer flags fast and implement with speed and precision. Once the flag is planted, it is time to farm the account and sell every product they can over as few platforms as possible.
The good news is that Cisco is big and most of us are small. Well all of us are small in the face of that logo. We will be the ones innovating and they will be the one’s purchasing and consolidating the industry. In my humble opinion there is plenty of room for both of those activities in the coming months and years. We shall see.
To read the article that prompted this post, please follow this link
