What Happens When You Use Slack to Control Your Digital Screens

Something we’ve asked ourselves during our ScreenCloud journey is, ‘what does digital signage mean?’ More importantly, what does digital signage mean to us? Naturally, we understand the whole ‘content on screens, making advertising’ concept. However, we also see digital signage as something much bigger.

We see the future of digital signage as digital screens that are interactive (which some of our customers are already nailing, as you can see here), something that feeds collaboration, that makes screens as useful as our laptops. 

All around us there are giant screens which aren’t being utilized. In our offices, our homes, our schools and colleges, our stores and our restaurants. 

TV screens are completely siloed, not just to the screens around them but also to the people using them. When we think of screens we think of ads and videos and us as viewers, passively watching before we turn back to the mobile devices in our hands.

So to illuminate what we think is the way forward, here’s one idea of how we see digital screens and their use cases evolving in the future:

Using Slack to control digital screens

Picture this, if you will. 

If you work in an office (and a Slack or Skype orientated one at that) you probably have a ‘water cooler’ room or similar, where people share cool stuff.

Now what happens each time someone shares a cool video? Half a dozen people probably open it up on their individual PCs. Some with sound, some without. Some may go over to the desk next to them to watch it collaboratively. Those who haven’t seen the notification yet, peer over, wondering what’s going on but without the inclination to leave their desk to go see. 

Meanwhile, there’s likely a TV screen sitting on the wall a few feet away, minding its own business and doing nothing. Either turned off, or showing the same office showreel playing on loop. 

No one in that office thinks to send the video to the TV screen, for everyone to watch in sync, because it’s simply too difficult. The screen’s off, or they don’t have Chromecast installed, or worse - it would involve a serious amount of memory stick magic or a DVD being burned to even show content on that particular screen. 

With this much effort we don’t blame them - what’s the point?

Why this matters

As interesting stuff is coming into Slack, or by email, it could (and should) be up on the screen. 

This is just one use case but the principle goes wider. Showing a video, image or something more on a screen should be as easy as showing it on our laptop or our mobile. These digital screens are all around us, but they sit there dumb and largely redundant.

The reason it’s still so difficult, is because we’re being stopped from the web breaking out of browsers and mobile phones to these big screens because there’s been no easy way to connect them up and for the content to flow to all screens. 

This is what we’re trying to do with ScreenCloud. 

Our vision is to create a system where we can wire up screens in offices and build up apps so that things will eventually evolve to a point where large screens become more and more useful to us within a shared environment. 

Where screens are controlled by Slack, by anyone and from anywhere. Where showcasing images, videos, presentations, sales figures, or something hilarious, is easy and simple. Where digital screens aren’t the black sheep of the screen family, useful only for watching Netflix in the evenings, but where they become the true third screen. 

As useful as their PC and mobile phone counterparts.

It’s quite exciting really.

To find out more about what we’re doing at ScreenCloud and to sign up for your 14-day free trial, visit https://screencloud.com/signage. Did you know you can also use Slack app to share anything going on in Slack to your screens right now?