The SCREENS.tv Blog

Global AND local? Reuters manages it... (1)

 

Reuters’ digital-signage supremo Christopher Burtt and JCDecaux North America’s CIO Eric Penot joined me on Wednesday for a panel discussion at Digital Signage Expo, on the refreshingly non-specific topic of digital signage around the world.

That didn’t rule much out, so I got to all but circumnavigate the globe (from China to Brazil), throwing in deeply prejudiced opinions on what’s hot and what won’t be, as well as a few neologisms (though I’ve just been disappointed to find that according to Google, about 300,000 people came up with “Chindia” before me).

And Penot had some fantastic pictures of JCDecaux’s transport installations which really brought home the power of some of the company’s airport work, in particular.

But it was the presentation from Reuters’ Burtt that highlighted better than any I’ve heard recently how the devil really is in the detail of a screen-media project.

Although one of its Times Square installations (the one opposite the NASDAQ) is revenue-generative, Reuters is using digital signage primarily to get its brand out there – particularly in front of the finance professionals who are the customers for its lucrative business-information service, now a much more important part of the company than the news agency for which it first became famous.

Typical of this approach is its Infopoint network (which uses Wireless Ronin technology), with units placed in, for example, the lobbies of large financial institutions. Infopoint units are also placed in Reuters’ own offices to keep staff aware of the range of Reuters’ information businesses.

So, with a network that includes many third-party sites around the world, how does Reuters ensure the whole thing keeps running smoothly?

Burtt’s key lessons: make it easy to install and support, ensure it is accepted locally, and follow a philosophy of “central control with regional flexibility”.

Sounds great. What does it mean in practice?

Central control means: a standard ordering process, plug-and-play installation, limited configuration options, instructions in simple English (for the benefit of non-native speakers), brand guidelines, and “push” rather than “pull” updates (that is, centralised network  control sends updates to the individual displays, rather than waiting for requests).

Flexibility, on the other hand, means: content in the local language; using local experts to customise content (getting little things like date formats and temperature scales right matters, says Burtt), and allowing local content within defined constraints.

All pretty obvious, eh? But I suspect the fact Burtt made it sound so easy is testament not to an easy ride for Reuters, but to plenty of sweat, tears and learning the hard way on the part of Burtt and his team. 

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