We love ensuring that screens can do more than they ever did. Our App Store  is a great example of that. Not so long ago it was crazy difficult to  get great content up onto your screens. Now, it takes mere seconds to  have a Twitter feed running, a presentation, a dashboard or a live news  feed.

But something we often discuss is; what’s the next step? What happens  when our screens become even smarter and more connected to the rest of  the “things” around us? So we decided to look at what will happen when  screens become part of the internet of things (IoT) and here’s a hint:  they already are.

Screen content activated by changes in circumstance

The key to all IoT systems is the data that is passed between them.  Say you have a digital screen that’s hooked up to a traffic monitoring  system. The monitoring system tracks bus patterns and traffic using  mapping and the screen pulls all of that together using an app, which  creates an exceedingly user-friendly dashboard. Suddenly, you’ve turned  what were three independent systems (one screen, one traffic monitoring  system, one tracking system) into one snackable digital screen.

Your screen then portrays what’s going on in the streets around you  and the traffic patterns that could affect say, how you get to work in  the morning. No longer do you have to get up, check the news on TV, look  at an app for bus timetables and keep your fingers crossed everything  will be on time. Instead, you have one live travel dashboard being fed  by data that only needs a glance to ensure you get to where you need to  be more effectively.

Checkout Google Traffic or TransitScreen to find out more.

There are other future digital signage scenarios we’re excited about  which fall into an “if this then that” scenario dependent on the  situation of other things. For example, say you have a digital menu  board up in a restaurant and your top menu item sells out. The fridge  that stocks the item realizes it has sold out, so it transmits a message  to the digital screen. The screen removes the item from the menu board  and replaces it with something else.

Customers can see exactly what is available and can make faster, more informed decisions.

Alternatively, you could have screens which talk to wearable fitness  trackers and update advertising displays accordingly, screens which send  out beacon messaging or screens which are affected by external factors.  Say the weather is bad; you begin to display coffee offers and umbrella  sales. If the weather’s nice, you switch to ice cream and sun cream.

These scenarios all help screens to become more useful and tuned in to the world around them.

You can’t talk about the future of IoT-enabled screens without  looking at the connected shopping experience. For a long while now,  futurists have predicted beacons becoming big business in stores  attracting consumers. Truth is, the technology’s there but the strategy  behind it still needs some work.

In a perfect scenario, all window displays would be interactive. The  screen would talk to a sensor, which would talk to a beacon, which would  talk to the user’s phone.

This would allow the user’s smartphone (or smartwatch etc.) to share  preferences with the sensor or beacon, which in turn, would tell the  screen exactly what to show. The shopper then has full control over the  screen, by touching it or telling it what to share. Cue actual useful  information such as interactive floorplans, offer codes and local  information.

With added heat-mapping, digital signage could also be triggered to  upsell items based on high-traffic areas. You could also have screens  that sense when stores or businesses are getting busy and send an alert  out to the smartphones of employees, to help reduce queue time.

Screens that decide what to do for you are great but we’re humans and  of course, we often like to be in charge. Screens that are voice  activated, like the ones we tested with Amazon Alexa create a world where screens can be told what to do.

The biggest benefit of voice-activated screens is that you don’t have  to have a touchscreen (fairly expensive) to be able to implement and  you don’t have to be anywhere near the screen in question.

For those who are physically disabled or blind, or even for children  who may not be able to reach up and touch a screen, this poses a huge  opportunity. In an office scenario, a marketing manager can simply tell a  screen what to show and it’s job done.

Then you have touchscreens where customers can check what’s in stock,  order a particular shoe size or get information about a business. In  real estate, you could have interactive boards where visitors can browse  through to find the perfect home.

When screens are more connected and more in tune with other products and systems you get digital signage which is:

affected by other systems, sensors and devices

The above scenarios are either already here or not far off. Every  day, more and more things get initiated into what we call the mass  network. When the screens we use and view everyday become part of that,  the possibilities are endless.

Start your digital signage journey today, sign up for a free trial of ScreenCloud.

How the internet of things will create screens which are more connected and affected by systems, devices, touch and voice, able to react to surroundings.

A look inside what happens when you connect digital screens with the things around us.

How IoT Will Change Digital Signage

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