Digital transformation has accelerated change in organizations around the world. IT teams have seen an increase in the amount of data from IoT and an increase in the number of applications and devices connected across their networks. Video use has seen rapid and significant increases on networks globally, and not just consumer video. Video has also become the medium of communication in the business world. Corporate networks are rapidly being expanded to handle the increase in video-based corporate communication.
With the digital transformation in business alongside the transformations that have been going on in the consumer space, user expectations have changed. For example, constant mobile connectivity to business applications is a requirement creating new security and traffic concerns for IT teams, new application development for vendors. This is just one example in a long list.
The COVID-19 crisis has driven still more changes to the way people work, the way consumers and businesses interact. It’s an understatement and not a cliché to say that change is the new normal and in a state of such continual and dramatic changes, organizations looking to deploy digital displays and video applications need to ensure their investments will last. They require assurances they’re purchasing a solution with the flexibility to handle the potential changes ahead, and the ability to adapt as corporate, industry and consumer expectations and requirements shift.
When considering AV applications, one of the key decision points for companies today is whether to adopt a hardware-centric approach or a software-based solution. While it’s true that many solutions have a mix of hardware and software, the key considerations are as follows:
- Is the hardware proprietary or specialized in any way or is it commercially available and off the shelf?
- Could the hardware be a limiting factor for scalability or for adding new features?
Answering yes to either of these questions suggests a hardware-centric solution, one that creates a greater business reliance on hardware.
A software-centric solution is one that both:
- Can be deployed on a variety of hardware allowing the customer to upgrade to new hardware while keeping the software solution and its features.
and
- Allows continual updates and allows new features that are developed to be added to the solution.
This last point is the key one: in an age of rapid change and ongoing digital transformation, it’s important to choose a solution that allows customers the flexibility to adopt new features as they become available. Software-centric solutions offer maximum flexibility and in a time of rapid change are a customer’s most reliable choice for a future-proof solution.
To ensure customers have an option for deploying video walls, digital signs and displays of all kind using a software-centric approach, Userful and LG offer a combined solution that runs either on a cloud server or an on-premise server (with freedom of choice for the customer including options from Dell, HP and Lenovo). Userful software has four new releases a year ensuring customers always have access to the most up-to-date features.
By eliminating dependence on specialized hardware and focusing development on a strictly software product that connects directly to LG webOS displays, Userful gives customers peace of mind: a scalable, future-proof solution ready for whatever changes may lie ahead.
To make it easy for LG customers to get started with Userful’s Visual Networking Platform, Userful is offering free 1 year subscriptions to Userful Standard with purchases of select LG webOS displays, until December 31, 2020.
To learn more about Userful and this special offer, visit userful.com/lg