By: Wael Mohammed, Executive Vice President of Product for Field Nation

If we were to earmark one hot trend for 2022, it would be digitization.

As we emerge from the pandemic, consumer expectations have been permanently upleveled. Consumers demand access to personalized experiences that cater to their individual needs and allow them to self-service. The trend, which originated in retail, has expanded to other industries including hospitality, finance, and even healthcare.  

Digital signage is a critical component of digitization. Digital signage helps businesses market their products, ensure effective communication, and keep consumers safe. Also, it can help reduce costs and is more environmentally friendly than other types of signage. 

As a result of these trends, digital signage experienced record demand in 2021. The momentum is expected to continue with experts predicting the market to reach $6.9 billion by 2025.

With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the top trends that are shaping the future of digital signage and informing the field service work opportunities we expect in 2022.

A surge in digital signage installations
In our network, we saw a noticeable spike in digital signage work starting in Q3 2021. This timing mirrors other work related to new store openings and refreshes, which also experienced a boom in 2021. Based on customer feedback and the trends in our data, we anticipate more project work for digital signage in the coming year.  

For service companies interested in expansion opportunities, we predict a surge in installations for many types of digital signage technologies including large and small format displays, touchless technologies, media and LED walls, and digital menu boards. We also expect this work to be included alongside other store refresh and install work, giving service companies with this capability an advantage over the competition.

Accelerating use of interactive and touchless kiosks
One of the hottest market trends for 2022 is an increase in interactivity. Customers can interact with signage using gestures, voice, movement, or touch. Quick-serve restaurants and retail stores have been some of the biggest adopters of interactive signage.   

Changing consumer behavior will result in new approaches to interactive digital signage. There will likely be less interactivity through the use of touchscreen displays. Instead, we will see much more interactivity with digital displays through a shopper’s mobile device. A number of digital signage software platforms currently support this type of interactivity, and we anticipate more companies making investments in this area. 

Cloud-based deployments will continue to rise
Many digital signage solutions can now be updated instantly and securely using cloud-based software. Cloud software also allows updates to be pushed to multiple screens simultaneously at the touch of a button. We expect that this will result in more field service work in the short term due to transitions from on-premise to digital deployments. In turn, these deployments will drive more internet bandwidth needs, resulting in wireless access work.