About 40 new attendees at KioskCom today attended an hour-long informational session, "Where Do I Start: Digital Signage and Digital Out-of-Home Service 101," a primer on the industry and the factors that go into successful kiosk projects. Hosts Doug Peter of St. Clair Interactive Communications and Ron Bowers of Frank Mayer and Associates Inc. covered a number of business planning points, all focused on separating dream from reality for new kiosk and self-service providers.
"I'm going to address mistakes I've seen made over and over," Peter said. "I'm hoping this will help you folks avoid making some of these."
A key point of Peter's presentation was his description of the business "sweet spot," the point where a provider's business goals overlap with the customer's goals.
"If you can find a mesh between these two philosophies, you have a successful project," he said. He continued on to chart popular kiosk deployments along a two-axis graph of return-on-investment and demand. Some, like ticketing, score well on both points, while others, such as Internet browsing kiosks, score poorly. He concluded by noting that much of what goes into a successful kiosk project has nothing to do with hardware or technology — it's all about the business of meeting a need.
"A good kiosk looks very simple, and I can only tell you they're not," he said.
Bowers then took the stage and presented a general overview of the kiosk and digital signage industry.
"Kiosks are definitely here," he said after noting that analysts project 3.4 million kiosks will be deployed by 2015.
He noted, like Peter, that despite the many new technologies on display at the show, the decisions that go into a successful kiosk project come back to business basics.
"The ability you have to use these technologies together… [will be] unique to your specific [deployment]," he said. He continued on to suggest that attendees conduct both a thorough needs assessment for their projects and a discussion through due diligence with their partners to ensure their projects have solid plans under them.
"At the end of the day, it's not the technology," he said, reiterating the presentation's main point. "It's your business plan and its execution."
