Your browser is out-of-date!

Update your browser to view this website correctly. Update my browser now

×

Demo of the month: RMG Networks’ Korbyt

Korbyt is a new digital signage engine from RMG Networks. Duncan Proctor was invited for a one-on-one meeting and demo with managing director Martyn Barnett (Joe Rabah has since taken on the role) at the company’s HQ on floor 14 of London’s Tower 42

With its advanced data expertise and connections to some of the world’s preeminent corporates, RMG Networks is well placed to make a splash in the digital signage content management space.

Korbyt is the core platform, around which functionality is scripted in – application by application, or market by market. Currently RMG has out-of-the-box functionality for retail, corporate communications, internal communications and the engagement contact centre. “We’ve created a technology platform that can go anywhere we want it to go,” says managing director Martyn Barnett.

Assessing the competition

The launch of Korbyt sees RMG move away from its dominant space of the contact centre and into (what the company estimates is) a $27 billion digital signage market through the channel. The company also realises that it is not the first to do so: “We recognise that there are, at the last count we did, about 3,000 different CMSs of some description or another in that market,” states Barnett.

So what differentiates RMG? “The first thing is our heritage of 37 years of doing rich data integrations and moving large volumes of complex real-time data across secure networks,” comments Barnett. The company claims the platform is the most powerful in terms of acquiring and aggregating data and information.

“The second thing is that when we produce digital signage, we produce it anywhere and everywhere,” he adds. This allows users to produce content on digital signage that can be pushed in a segmented way and modified as to what is right for the audience.

In addition, messages can be tailored depending on the intended audience. In a corporate environment, Barnett elaborates: “If that data is relevant to the company, I’m somewhat inspired to want to achieve my goals. If the data is relevant to the team, I am actually quite inspired to be part of that team to contribute to the goals. But if the data is about me and I’m the only person that can influence the achievement of KPIs, that’s the thing that most motivates me.”

Korbyt is based on a licensing model that is specific to the endpoint. It’s broken down into single-zone, multi-zone and adapters, with volume tiers within that. Single-zone is the entry-level offering for a single-use screen or desktop widget; multi-zone presents a canvas with different elements such as a news ticker, RSS feed and video playback. On top of this, users can buy an adapter as an increment to the subscription. An example package would be a multi-zone licence with a Salesforce adapter that collects data from a Salesforce CRM system.

Demo configurations

Following this introduction into what Korbyt does, Barnett goes into a demo of different endpoints.

The first is an LCD display mounted in a portrait kiosk, functioning as an interactive product selector for a global wallpaper and paint manufacturer and one of Korbyt’s earliest adopters.

Then there is an example of an HTML5 desktop widget, which features the same content that could be delivered to a screen. Barnett demonstrates: “So we create a data point; we aggregate some information; we create a weather [feed]; a social feed; we import a video graphic or type a message out – a new HR policy. We hit go and it’s there.” The widget includes pop-to-front and balloon pop-up as well as alerts notifications – all the things you might see from digital signage, except it sits on a desktop screen. All content is custom created and data analytics tell the author who has read announcements and watched videos.

The third application on show is standard digital signage internal comms integrated into a videoconferencing suite. Rather than lying dormant when not being used, the unit plays internal or external communications.

Next comes the focal point of the demos: a corporate three-screen set-up. In this configuration it displays the data from a CEO’s interactive dashboard, but it can be segmented for different levels so an individual can see the information relevant to them, as can a department manager.

Barnett has mixed views on the timing of RMG’s move into the mainstream digital signage space: “It is both a challenge and a blessing at the same time – it’s a challenge because it’s an established space. But it’s a blessing for us because we’re able to come in with a brand new technology platform that has capabilities that completely outstrip everybody else in that space.”

www.rmgnetworks.com