As companies try to gain customers’ attention and trust in a sea of tweets, emails, and banner ads, it’s easy to lose sight of the need for high-quality customer-facing interactions. That’s why many companies who are looking for innovative strategies are turning to nuMedia Innovations for breakthrough customer engagement. With Digi cellular routers providing connectivity, nuMedia's PRSONAS interactive holograms can provide real-time data as well as content and software updates through an independent LTE connection for Internet access.
BUSINESS CHALLENGE
It’s no secret that brick-and-mortar retailers are under greater pressure than ever from online e-commerce competitors, and real estate and labor costs are squeezing margins. It is more important than ever to find an effective, targeted and engaging advertising model that will provide the highest return on investment. Additionally, in our global society, it is also important to ensure that customers can get the service they need, regardless of their native language.
Today retailers with physical stores are turning to digital self-service channels such as digital signage, kiosks, and mobile apps. What if your business could take that one step further – not only allowing your customers to interact with digital media, but also allowing the media to interact with them? nuMedia Innovations decided it was time bring the next generation of interactive media to market.
SOLUTION
nuMedia has developed the latest generation of its PRSONAS line of digital hosts and virtual concierges. These smart, interactive self-service holograms act as virtual sales reps and product specialists on the store’s front lines. Tying together a range of innovative technologies, PRSONAS smart virtual presenters use artificial intelligence and computer-generated visual technologies to achieve some key retail objectives.
- Attract: Customers are drawn to PRSONAS presenters because they inform, influence and inspire purchases.
- Automate: You can streamline customer interactions and service for a better customer experience.
- Analyze: PRSONAS captures extensive data that you can analyze to optimize customer engagements.
Much more than a canned talking-head animation, digital sign, or mobile app, a PRSONAS hologram uses intelligent reality that draws on Microsoft Azure’s cloud-based Cognitive Services for natural language processing, speech recognition, facial recognition, and more. That enables PRSONAS to bring greater levels of 
speed and intelligence to greet visitors, deliver marketing messages, help customers find what they’re seeking, provide customer support, and conduct commerce anywhere, anytime and in any language. “What we’ve done with the new generation of PRSONAS is essentially moved the ‘brain’ of these products into the cloud,” said Chuck Rinker, Chief Executive Officer of nuMedia. “So our products are smarter, more human, and more responsive.”
Despite its many advantages, nuMedia knew that connectivity questions could slow down – or even derail – its sales cycle with clients. “The PRSONAS solution is designed from the ground up to be a real-time connected solution,” Rinker said. “We rely on the cloud for so much, which means our connectivity is so critical. But when it came time to install at an enterprise site, our deployment process could get bogged down. Trying to get on the customer’s Wi-Fi network could be a challenge due to compliance with security policies, firewalls, and other protocols. In some cases, this completely took us out of key sales opportunities.”
PARTNERING WITH DIGI INTERNATIONAL
The new generation of PRSONAS was rebuilt virtually from the ground up to create a more visually appealing, more reliable, and more intelligent resource for retailing and support. But the one thing that didn’t need to be changed: cellular connectivity through the Digi WR11 cellular router.
The Digi WR11 delivers a cost-optimized 4G LTE connection for mission-critical M2M applications. This cellular router is ideal for a range of applications. These include:
- Building and process-automation controllers
- Smart-grid assets like meters, switches, and controllers
- IP cameras and access controllers
- Remote data loggers
- ATMs and kiosks
- Service terminals like PRSONAS
The Digi WR11’s drop-in connectivity gives operators a way to reduce the cost of downtime and service calls and also increase revenue by bringing new customer sites online faster.
“Years ago, we recognized that if we use a cellular connection, we can completely eliminate technical hurdles and delays in the sales cycle,” Rinker said. “And with our new generation of solutions relying even more on the cloud and two-way connectivity to update the system and our content, Digi remained the perfect choice for us.”
RESULTS
“We’ve been using Digi WR11 for high-speed, bi-directional cellular connectivity with huge success,” Rinker said. “It’s the key to the greater intelligence and responsiveness that we can now offer." nuMedia also sends SMS or email messages directly to users, so dependable connectivity is critical.
“In addition to this outbound marketing, we also rely on Digi WR11 for remote access to any PRSONAS unit in the field. We can push any software upgrade, update content and animations, or perform basic troubleshooting and support from a central location. Some of these updates can be very large, so we need lots of fast and reliable bandwidth. And since all of our presentation is computer generated – not video shot on green-screen – we can change offers and the user experience on-demand. We’re constantly sending new updates and we can push those over the cloud in a very short amount of time.”
In addition, the PRSONAS holographic kiosk solution collects real-time analytics, just as a website collects user click/navigation data to discern patterns, trends, and preferences. “We can now push all of that data into the cloud in real-time,” Rinker explained.
It’s a solution that’s drawing admiration from big brands like Pepsi, Toyota, Royal Bank of Scotland, the U.S. Army, and Microsoft. “We are able to serve some of the world’s biggest organizations with fast deployment, real-time analytics, and efficient and timely support – and Digi is one of the keys to making that all happen.”