How to Keep Public Spaces Safe in 2021

In today’s world, it’s more important than ever to ensure proper sanitation and cleanliness of public spaces. By encouraging hand sanitation upon entering and exiting a space, you’ll create a safer, cleaner environment for yourself and others. 

According to the CDC, washing your hands or using hand sanitizer containing at least 60 percent alcohol are essential steps in avoiding sickness and protecting others. Hand sanitation is especially important in public spaces when soap and water are not available, specifically before eating and after handling or adjusting your mask. 

And with digital signage hand sanitizing units, you’ll keep germs under control while displaying helpful and important information for users. 

Digital Signage Hand Sanitizing Units

With digital signage hand sanitizing units from RC Stars, hand sanitation is simple and convenient. The touchless auto-dispensers display customizable information and images, encouraging users to properly sanitize their hands upon entering an indoor space. Perfect for a wide variety of applications, these zero-contact sanitation kiosks are ideal for lobbies, gyms, schools, shops, and other points of service. 

Available in 21.5-inch wall-mounted and freestanding units, digital signage sanitizing units from RC Stars deliver durability and functionality in a sleek exterior. With metal body housing, tempered protection glass, and water-resistant casing, you’ll enjoy zero-contact sanitation and top-of-the-line construction. Not to mention, the Remote Management Software connects the kiosk to Wifi and delivers content updates to your web browser, so you’ll stay up to date when sanitizer levels are running low. And with a volume indicator on the unit itself, you’ll enjoy simple and convenient refilling of your unit.

Freestanding vs. Wall-Mounted Dispensers

The Freestanding Digital Signage Hand Sanitizing Unit from RC Stars is an ideal addition to any live event. With a convenient stand for your sanitizing unit, this kiosk can be placed anywhere in a space and can be reconfigured to assist with traffic flow and sanitization.

If you’re looking for a space-saving station, the Wall-Mounted Digital Signage Hand Sanitizing Unit is perfect for smaller areas, as the unit hangs seamlessly on any wall. Delivering a sleek and contemporary aesthetic, this wall-mounted unit is an efficient and health-conscious addition to any public area.

Where to Use Your Hand Sanitizing Unit

School Buildings

With zero-contact sanitation, these digital signage kiosks are perfect for ensuring proper cleanliness of students and faculty upon entering a building. Available in both wall-mounted and freestanding units, the stations are ideal for school lobbies, cafeterias, and classrooms, as they fit seamlessly into any space.

Not to mention, our sanitizing units are perfect for college buildings, as they allow students to read important university information while cleaning their hands.

Doctor’s Office

With a high traffic volume throughout the day and potential exposure to illness, it’s essential to ensure that patients and staff are properly sanitizing their hands upon entry. And with customizable digital signage, these kiosks provide patients with necessary sign-in and office information while allowing them to sanitize before an appointment.

Shops and Malls

Delivering digital signage and sanitization in a compact kiosk, these units are ideal for displaying sales and advertisements while ensuring the health and safety of employees and customers. With customizable display images, digital signage units from RC Stars are perfect for alerting customers of featured products, explaining current and upcoming sales, or simply encouraging hand sanitation upon entry.

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With the RC Stars Digital Signage Hand Sanitizing Unit, you’ll ensure greater health of safety in any public space. Whether you plan to install your unit in a school building, office, or any other point of service, you’ll enjoy the convenience of digital signage and hand sanitation in a compact, sleek kiosk.

To make your purchase, visit https://www.almoproav.com/products/brand/RCSTAR

Stay safe and healthy!

NOW IS THE TIME TO EXPLORE RECURRING REVENUE FOR YOUR COMPANY

With the uncertainty of the current times, most businesses are looking for a way to “bridge the gap”, and AV integration firms are no different.  While some have already made the difficult decision to lay employees off, others are doing what they can to maintain their employee base, and keep them busy with any project to generate revenue.

Because of the previous growth, many AV integration firms focused on low hanging fruit, because it was all they could do to keep up with demand. If nothing else, companies have now been forced to review their current portfolio to determine how they can branch out, or go deeper with their current client base.

Below are a few ideas on how integrators can utilize their current sales staff to engage on selling services that were previously overlooked.  This may provide a way to get them over any current hurdles, as well as build toward the future.

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Because of the fluidity of the COVID-19 pandemic, communication has become even more of a key factor than before.  With the need to get a message out quickly, digital communication has proven most vital.  Clients that hadn’t previously invested in digital signage for internal communication may now see the great value that instant communication provides.  

Adding a few screens around an office where information can be easily and quickly disseminated is now viewed by most as a necessity.  A simple message about upcoming business hours, or even proper hand washing seemingly an afterthought previously is now seen as vitally important.

With many employees now working from home, increased network bandwidth has proven a necessity for business.  The importance of allowing employees to access servers and other assets on the network for a seamless virtual workplace, is now a reality for many.   

The additional benefit digital signage and internet service can provide to the integrator is the ability to build a portfolio that provides a steady stream of recurring revenue.  This is especially beneficial when business isn’t growing as expected, or something as simple as a slow playing client makes cash flow tight.

Most integrators have thought about investing the time and personnel on additional divisions, but because of the lack of experts available, or the consistent growth, they just haven’t.  Now with the market slowdown, adding additional personnel is most likely furthest from their mind. Now for the “antidote” – With numerous services available, Almo is here to help our clients looking to diversify, and find a way to add revenue without adding the expense of additional employees.  

Our expert staff, who help clients navigate a new offering by participating, or even leading a call with the end user, allows our clients to branch out without the hassle and expense of finding their own expert staff.  Contact your Almo rep for additional information on how we can help go deeper with your client and find untapped sources of revenue.

ALMO is here to help. 

LG Brings the “WOW” Factor at IC19

Just about halfway through another year and one more InfoComm is in the books.  Since my start in the industry in 2003, I’ve approached the InfoComm show with various emotions – excitement, trepidation, anticipation, and some years even some dread.  Each year, I’ve come out the other side finding something at the show that I’ve enjoyed, and have even been impressed at the creativity of various manufacturers.   However, it has been quite a while since I’ve walked away from a manufacturer’s booth saying “Wow, that was truly awesome.”  No matter how big a display gets, it’s still just a display – and no matter how much you want it in your front room, it’s not going to keep you engaged on a trade show floor.

The LG booth at InfoComm 2019 was a refreshing change. Sure, they still had the obligatory large display, but even that threw me a curve.  Not only did they have an 88” OLED display with 8K resolution, but the panel was being used as the actual speaker.  Not a rear firing speaker like we’ve all come to expect, but the glass on the display vibrated with sound.   Not something I’d want to test the audio limits on.

The 8K display was almost lost in the other innovative and engaging attractions.  The biggest of which was the incredible curved video wall that created a cove like effect.  The content that LG used, consisting of various outdoor scenes, made you feel engulfed in the experience.  I wasn’t fortunate enough to go to the ISE show in Amsterdam, but I understand that the LG curved wall at the show was even more impressive there than at InfoComm.  I would have a difficult time believing it, if it weren’t for the video proof.

After I pulled myself away from the curved video wall, I could see other locations they’ve used the curved OLED displays in real world applications, such as inset curved corners on walls, providing the end user and integrator with some great inspiration for future projects.

The second attraction that caught my attention was the portrait, 2×2 video wall made from transparent OLED displays.  The content would appear and flow, allowing you glimpses of the retail product behind the displays, keeping you transfixed on seeing more, and providing an excellent way to engage the retail customer.

Overall, LGs continued innovation of new and exciting products has made their InfoComm booth as much of an attraction as it is a business destination.

Todd Heberlein
888-420-2566 x6205  |  [email protected]

Checking Boxes

A digital signage content management software

that ✓ all the boxes.

Clients looking for a digital signage solution often have very similar feature sets that they are seeking. In the past, there were some features that our solutions could not provide, so the client would need to make some sort of compromise instead of being able to check all the boxes on their list of needs. Since the addition of Zebrix to the Almo line card, compromises are now few and far between.

Let’s take a look at what Zebrix offers that allows us to check off some of commonly requested features that were previously out of reach.

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Hosted, web based CMS

Having a hosted, web based content management system (CMS) offers some advantages over an “on premise” solution.   It reduces the amount of time that IT professionals would spend evaluating security and managing a software installed on local servers, which allows them to focus on their day to day workload.

One of the other great advantages of a hosted CMS is the ability to manage the content from any device, anywhere internet access is available.  Since web browsers are ubiquitous there is no need for a specialized device to manage content or to provide access to players.

Also, because the software is in the cloud you can manage players located all over the world.

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No need for additional player hardware

With the introduction of powerful “system on a chip” processors in commercial displays, like Samsung’s Tizen processor*, Zebrix is able to offer PC-like performance without the cost of an external player.  Savings can be parlayed into larger displays, or additional displays for a project.

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Intuitive CMS interface

Ok, so this may not be exclusive to Zebrix (Almo Pro AV offers other solutions with this feature), but they take it to a whole new level.  Since Zebrix is web based, it offers the ease of use and functionality that people have come to associate with purpose made “apps” on mobile devices.  With drag and drop content upload, and WYSIWYG design features, creating professional looking signage becomes easier than ever.

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Display management and live view

Because Zebrix uses the internal player on the Samsung Tizen based displays, it becomes easy to manage the display as well as see a snapshot of exactly what is playing on the display at any time…all with the click of a button.

If you’d like more information on the features Zebrix offers, or to demo of the software, please feel free to contact me using the contact information below.

Todd Heberlein
888-420-2566 x6205  |  [email protected]

*Currently, only Samsung’s internal player and a Ubuntu external player work with Zebrix.

My Visit to Crestron HQ: Where Acceptable is Just Not Good Enough

Have you ever looked at two seemingly similar items on the shelf of a store, or more likely, two similar items on your Amazon wish list, and wondered, “Why is one more expensive than the other?” I know I have. With Amazon, it’s easy to use the online reviews to help determine the difference in value, but in the Pro AV world, it can be a bit more difficult.

Recently, I had the opportunity to see first-hand how one manufacturer adds significant value to their products.  Most of the difference comes in the form of ease of use and reliability, but some of the value goes even deeper.

Crestron has been known for the quality of their products since as long as long as I can remember.  When you install Crestron products into your AV system, they just work, and work well.

Last month, Brian Rhatigan (Almo BDM Director) and I visited Crestron’s facility in New Jersey, and were treated to a day of hospitality and education.   Not just an education on Crestron’s product line, which I felt I knew pretty well, but rather an education on their company focus – quality.   Not just a quality in product, but also a quality user experience.

We were fortunate enough to have Dave Silberstein, Crestron’s Director of Inside Sale, set aside an entire day to provide us with a guided tour of their facilities, along with a visual summary of their research, design, and manufacturing process from start to finish.  I’ll go ahead and speak for Brian here when I say, we were impressed.

A couple of things really stood out for me, besides the quality of their customer experience center (You could throw one heck of a party in there).

Here are some highlights I wanted to share:

R&D

Crestron has an entire staff of engineers devoted to the design of new products.  Currently 40% of their net profit is put back into their R&D department, and what a department it was.  Some of the brightest minds in the industry are working on developing the next piece of cutting edge technology.  And they have some of the best “toys” to play with. From flow jets to 3D printers and beyond, they have the tools to develop every component of a prototype.

TESTING

Their testing facility was incredible. One fascinating sight was an enormous system of their current and past products.  The system is primarily used to test any software / firmware due to be released, to verify that it doesn’t have any adverse effect on older systems still in use.  This is something I appreciated as it seems like each firmware released on my phone brings it closer to its demise.

Another impressive sight was the “wall” of 100 displays being used to test a video conferencing system with 100 end points.   It seems that testing, let’s say, 10 endpoints would be acceptable, but fortunately for Crestron’s clients, acceptable is just not good enough.

SUPPORT

Their technical support is provided regionally to better understand and support their local customer’s needs.  This isn’t so special, but what was, is each technician has a full system located at their desk.  It made for a crazy looking workspace, but it allows each technician to actively participate in the troubleshooting process, instead of just searching for a solution in their knowledge base.   In addition to this, older items are located just a few steps away, so the technician is able to grab whatever  is needed to try and duplicate what is being used in the field.  We even spotted a slide projector controller in this “closet of technology past” – something that harkens back to the roots of where Crestron began.

It’s hard to put into words just how impressive the Crestron facility is, and how dedicated they are to producing a quality product.  Luckily their long run of producing excellent, industry leading products has created a reputation that our industry already equates with quality.

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