Alan Brawn: 8 Reasons to Get Digital Signage Certified

With DSE 2016 offering live Digital Signage Expert Group training, it’s a good time for renowned expert Alan Brawn to make a case for becoming certified.

CI Staff

You can’t wave a stick in the AV integration industry without pointing to a statistic about digital signage-related demand.

Whether the digital signage market will reach $23.76 billion by 2020, as MarketsandMarkets projects, or $20.03 Billion By 2020 as Grand View Research says, the bottom line is it’s growing quickly.

There are opportunities for AV integration firms to position themselves as their customers’ go-to digital signage providers. After all, why would an integration firm even consider letting their customers look elsewhere for what is clearly an AV solution.

Here’s the thing: AV integrators need to treat digital signage as what it is—a tremendous opportunity. They need to do whatever they can to build their firms’ infrastructure around digital signage demand.

Can’t Miss Webcast: Analyzing Benefits of Becoming Digital Signage Certified with Alan Brawn – February 10

According to Alan Brawn, renowned digital signage expert and principal of Brawn Consulting, more AV integrators should pursue digital signage certification. Brawn is also on the board of directors of the Digital Signage Expert Group (DSEG), which offers training and certification in partnership with Digital Signage Federation and the Digital Signage Expo (DSE).

With live DSEG certification training being offered at DSE 2016 in Las Vegas, Brawn shares some benefits of becoming certified.

It fights commoditization. That the AV industry is becoming a commodity market is well documented. Brawn points out that too many products and services appear on the surface to be the same or at least very similar to the casual observer or customer. For AV integrators it’s important to differentiate themselves. Certification certainly helps in terms of a differentiating marketing message, but the training and achievement involved with certification also leads to motivated and confident employees likely to create a positive experience that the client or customer will have reasons to remember.

There’s a provide track record. Health care, architecture, construction – it’s easy to rattle off industries that embrace certification. There are proven reasons why so many industries leverage industry certifications, which become essential parts of job recruitment, hiring, job skills training, promotions, professional development and advancement.

It’s credible. The DSF, the DSE and numerous manufacturers, resellers and end users have partnered with the DSEG to bring a comprehensive set of industry certification programs to the digital signage industry, Brawn points out.

It’s accessible. DSEG provides online and live event certification, including at DSE 2015, designed to bring an individual and their company the education they need to address differentiation in a meaningful way.

There’s a unified goal. DSEG’s certification programs are impartial, agnostic and vendor-neutral, Brawn says, and administered by an independent industry organization with an advisory board of subject matter experts offering clear educational messaging and industry recognition for professional development and achievement.

It sets goals for continual improvement. Industry certifications provide professional credentials and a means of recognizing accomplishments, knowledge and accomplishments by the industry as well as the outside world. It establishes a path for continuing education and insures that the certification holder is at the forefront of knowledge in their chosen field. It provides a path inside a company for employee professional development and job level advancement.

It leads to better job performance. There’s little question that certification leads to improved job performance through increased knowledge and gaining confidence and pride in working to an industry recognized standard of knowledge.

It creates community. Certification organizations like DSEG provide a venue for members to network with other industry professionals, fostering sharing of ideas, techniques and information that not only allows for personal improvement but improvement of the overall company and the industry as a whole. Meanwhile, certification providers are a source and facilitators of strategic partnerships between companies and industry organizations, enabling them to form key alliances, bringing new capabilities and sales opportunities.

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