NRF 2020 –Userful,a leading provider of AV-over-IP solutions for enhanced visual communication since 2015, announced today the availability of new capabilities in retail for its Visual Networking Platform (VNP). New features for edge computing enable retailers to seamlessly deploy digital signage and legacy retail applications to all their visual display devices—from LEDs to kiosks, tablets, video walls and single displays – either on-premise or remotely. During NRF, Userful will demonstrate how tablets, as a sample device, can even present legacy applications running on an edge server as if they were native applications on the tablet. Userful eliminates the compatibility challenges of large-scale display deployments, allowing retailers to deploy digital signage, new applications, legacy applications and related retail services onto any display, new or old, anywhere, anytime.
Intel® has integrated Userful VNP into its NRF showcase and includes Userful VNP in its solutions, Intel Technology for Retail. Intel will demo during NRF 2020, held at New York’s Javits Center, January 11-14, 2020, booth 4637. To learn more about the solution, visit userful.com/retail.
“Userful’s technology arms retailers with the capability to leverage their display assets to improve the customer interaction, enhance the retail experience and improve back-office operations,” said Dan Griffin, Userful VP of Marketing. “When deploying new content sources and applications, retailers can mix new and older displays, tablets, and displays of any type or brand without worrying if the new content or applications will work with the display infrastructure. They can also scale up their display infrastructure as they open new stores.”
Leveraging visual technology to create an engaging experience is an increasingly important part of success at retail. A 2019 Boston Consulting Group study reveals that brands focused on engagement enjoy revenue increases of up to 10% per year, nearly triple of brands that don’t.
In addition to the seamless integration of all display devices, key benefits Userful’s retail platform include:
- Supports Cloud and Edge-servers – Userful supports content from both the cloud and edge servers. For retailers operating on a franchise model, a local manager can display content from the corporate office supporting the brand, while also displaying locally-generated content with this week’s promotions, for example.
- Enhances Security – Whether supporting wall-mounted displays or tablets, no content resides on the end-use device, so that if a tablet is lost or stolen, there is no risk of losing sensitive information.
- Enables Flexible Deployment of Displays – Retailers can combine any screen from any device to create giant canvases of product displays, videos or other content. They can also pull devices, such as tablets, off a canvas where it can revert to handling other applications, such as POS.
- Leverages Content from Any Source – Userful allows retailers to tie together content from any source, such as Windows or Linux, even though the device runs Android, for example. It also supports both legacy and new applications.
- Encourages Continuous Usage – Retailers can quickly and easily repurpose content on displays; e.g., when a store is closed, use a canvas for employee training.
- Lowers Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) – Enabling the more strategic and creative use of displays and prolonging the useful life of older displays lowers the total cost of ownership of the entire display infrastructure.
- Features Remote Management – Retailers can manage their displays from anywhere at any time through an app on their mobile device.
