The Digital Signage Expert

Ken Goldberg is for me one of the more level-headed chaps gracing the Digital Signage realm. Never met him but his e-mail banter with me has cause for me to respect his word. All the more happy to see that his Time to Come Together link yesterday was a leader. The number of hits was astounding, suggesting there is a wish to consolidate.

As many of my readers know, I stem from the Hedge Fund Management heyday of the 90’s in London. It was times when you could dial a few numbers and earn enough to pay-off your mortgage in an afternoon, or buy a yacht (fully paid) the next day. It was so good I bought two.

Then along came Barlow Clauwes (I think the spelling is right) who defrauded the public openly and went to jail. The government yelled the industry should be regulated. So the boys got off their yachts and met at Mansion House in the City. We sat around and nibbled on canapés and one distinguished speaker after another spoke his mind. It was a colourful time in which all levels of financial society were mixing. They don’t anymore.

The only decision we could come to was to not let the government regulate such a fine moneymaking machine. It was decided the Wolves in Sheepskin form an entity to regulate the City bandits. Thus was formed the Financial Services Authority, the word Authority made it sound official. In essence it was a private organisation given police powers and managed by some of the biggest Bandits in London. The object was to continue to do business like carpetbaggers without getting caught, covertly. The public has since been deceived into believing they are being looked after. Remember the Pensions scandal?

The SFA didn’t help much, meeting on meetings and Compliance papers enough to compete with War and Peace ensued. Everybody suspected one another, accusations flew, laws passed. The SFA gangster club changed its name a couple of times. To this day nothing much has been resolved except; doing business in the City has got more expensive and extremely boring. I will spare you the details.

And so I watch all these organisations being formed to help regulate (?), advise the industry. It being spring, is it a wonder that we have yet another? I am sure that when these organisations were drafted that no malignancy was considered. We are businessmen and not pickpockets from the City, or? Again I wonder what all this will bring for the digital signage industry as a whole, really. At least the exhibitions and public seminars provide entertainment in this Titanic like trend. Researchers are tossing about numbers mirroring recent events on the political scene. Time will tell, but getting back to Ken and his latest scribble, yes it is time for us all to get together. Especially on the blog scene, where there is so much sniping going on that often one feels like we are in an Orson Welles Movie set in Vienna. The industry should look at what has happened to the banks and moneymen who formed organisations to police one another; names like Madoff come to mind.

In the days before Rock and Roll free market spirit cleansed. Organisations, like governments, are there to underline the perceived reality. Let us, the industry, try a different tack.

James van Etten, Editor The London Morning Paper