| "Just what do you think you're doing, Dave?" Those | | | | yards. |
| words, made famous by the artificially intelligent | | | | At Randy Dean Construction in Wichita, another |
| computer HAL 9000 in Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A | | | | interactive digital signage system using a Keywest |
| Space Odyssey" resound in my ears every time I | | | | Technology digital signage controller, a touch-screen |
| think about the topic of this week's article: virtual | | | | sensor interface from ELO and a 32in flat panel LCD |
| assistants. | | | | greets potential buyers as they enter a model home. |
| For those of you too young to recall, HAL was the | | | | While Randy Dean's sales agent can answer the |
| artificially intelligent computer aboard Discovery in the | | | | questions of one buyer, the interactive digital signage |
| film that attended to the myriad of details requiring | | | | system can take other prospective buyers on full |
| oversight as the ship's crew made its way to Jupiter. | | | | 360-degree virtual tours of all Randy Dean homes, |
| Its seemingly omnipresent red camera lens monitored | | | | access and print floor plans, examine the builder's |
| all ship activity. | | | | home inventory and access the company's Web site |
| With HAL's words still fresh in my memory, even | | | | -all without taking the sales agent away from the |
| after all of these years, it is with a bit of personal | | | | prospective buyer. |
| trepidation that I will discuss how digital signage can | | | | Out-of-home media specialist DSX Media in Wichita |
| be used to add a virtual assistant to any sales or | | | | designed and delivered both systems, including |
| marketing process. But don't worry, with this sort of | | | | creating digital signage content, interactive branching |
| application there's no danger of getting sucked out | | | | and delivering digital signage hardware and software, |
| into the cold recesses of space. | | | | touch-screen controller and flat panel LCD screen. In |
| As in "2001," the concept behind a virtual assistant is | | | | the case of Randy Dean Construction, DSX Media |
| simple: make a complex process simple and | | | | also sold advertising contracts to aligned businesses |
| manageable through the use of an efficient, | | | | like mortgage bankers and title companies so their |
| "intelligent" computer. Putting that concept into | | | | commercial messages could be interwoven into a |
| practice here on earth is helping two Wichita, KS, | | | | loop of content that plays till the screen is touched. |
| area businesses extend their sales and marketing | | | | While the specifics of both applications differ, they |
| efforts and better serve their customers while | | | | share the concept of using interactive digital signage |
| freeing up personnel for other critical tasks. | | | | -a hybrid of digital kiosk technology and conventional |
| At Walnut Valley Garden Center in Andover, KS, | | | | linear digital signage pages- to boost both businesses' |
| outside Wichita, an elaborate, interactive digital | | | | sales by in essence projecting the presence of a |
| signage setup helps customers determine how much | | | | virtual sales assistant to answer many of the |
| product they'll need for a given landscaping or garden | | | | questions consumers typically ask. Doing so elevates |
| project by combining maps from Google Earth, a | | | | digital signage to a new plateau, somewhere far |
| digital signage controller from Keywest Technology | | | | beyond the role of an electronic equivalent of a |
| and an Orion touch-screen LCD panel with a data | | | | printed sign, where it becomes an integral part of an |
| base of landscaping products that the store carries | | | | orchestrated sales process. |
| and their recommended coverage area. | | | | Like all analogies, the one between the virtual |
| Customers simply type in their names and addresses | | | | assistants in Wichita and HAL eventually falls apart. |
| when using the system, and a map of their individual | | | | While the garden center and homebuilder applications |
| property is summoned from Google Earth. By | | | | rely on some pretty specialized data bases to create |
| touching the screen to define the boundaries of their | | | | content on the fly that's relevant to shoppers, |
| project, customers trigger a computer to determine | | | | neither uses artificial intelligence like the fictional HAL. |
| the types of products to use and how much they'll | | | | Still, the similarity in human-computer interaction, |
| need. For instance, by designating an area on the | | | | conjures up that all-seeing red camera lens in my |
| map, they can learn what type of fertilizer they need | | | | mind's eye. |
| for their lawn and how much to buy. | | | | Which brings me back to where I started this article: |
| For those who are new to gardening, the system | | | | "Just what do you think you're doing, Dave?" Unlike |
| cycles through digital signage presentations | | | | "2001's" astronaut Dave Bowman, who disconnected |
| encouraging them to touch the screen to select one | | | | the technology, my answer is to turn you on to the |
| of 12 different types of gardens. After settling on a | | | | possibilities of using interactive digital signage to |
| design, the system allows customers to interact and | | | | create virtual assistants like the ones at Randy Dean |
| tells them exactly what's needed -including plants, | | | | Construction and Walnut Valley Garden Center to |
| mulch and rocks- to build a similar garden in their | | | | boost your sales success. |