Guest Contributor, Dylan Holtzhausen
Amped Digital supply and install fully customised digital signage solutions across Australia and New Zealand and my team and I have been supplying and installing Signagelive around the region for the last two years. It has opened up tremendous opportunities for us as an integrator and allowed the deployment of successful systems for clients, often changing the way these customers think of current digital signage platforms and solutions.
From the initial sales process to onboarding and implementation, Signagelive, compared to other platforms, cut downtime 10 fold, allowing us to streamline operations and focus on efficiently getting the job done.
There are many digital signage software platforms available that have either overshot their offering, causing confusion with the onboarding and management process for customers or the polar opposite, not having key feature requirements and a lack of reliability with too many glitches. With so many digital signage software platforms on the market, it can be tedious and challenging to select the most suitable platform. What may be pitched during a demo may not be the reality once onboarded.
Incorrect software selection is something that we have seen repeatedly giving the industry a negative reputation.
A successful digital signage system requires multiple components – and I believe this has been achieved.
In particular, our company has a core range offering of hardware and software solutions, and from an early stage, we aligned with the most vital partners on a global level, Signagelive being our Cloud Software offering.
Being a prominent BrightSign media player provider and advocator, we have struggled at times before our Signagelive partnership with the onboarding and long term system success when using software platforms other than Signagelive.
Part of the initial process onboarding any new Digital Signage customer or established users with networks is to have a self-explanatory piece of software that any user in the team can understand when viewing a demonstration.
I believe that BrightSign is the leading media player for Digital Signage installations worldwide with proven feature sets and utmost reliability that can’t be beaten. Signagelive is a value add, allowing users to now manage BrightSign players without the stickiness, difficulty, and unreliability of other software.
Signagelive has a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface, meaning from setting up your account, adding other users, loading initial content, creating playlists, and layouts through to publishing content to the displays, it is as simple as dragging and dropping. If you can use Facebook, you will be able to use Signagelive while still having the advanced features available if and when required.
Our team is passionate about the BrightSign media player, and the Signagelive software package is simply around the reliability and ease of use for all parties involved. There is no other CMS on the market with as much R&D and partner integrations that are reliable as Signagelive.
It gives end-users and customers who want to control their digital signage network the ability to achieve this without entering uncharted territory and the process feeling like a burden or being costly – Managing and maintaining a digital signage network can be enjoyable rewarding.
It gives integrators the ability to work closely with customers with a shortened onboarding process compared to other digital signage platforms while allowing them to deploy systems remotely at ease.
We have done more remote demos, training, and installations than face to face with successful uptake and optimal ongoing system usage than ever before.
A vital example of this is that the Signagelive system has allowed our businesses to thrive during the recent COVID-19 pandemic by providing the ability to deploy the platform remotely with clients (technical and non-technical).
We recently worked with the AV installation team for a renowned Gallery in Australia (that we had never worked with prior). The result was a fast turnaround for content up on the screen, and users who have no experience with Signagelive managed to configure and deploy while we activated remotely. A couple of years ago, we were approached by a well known medical client using a particular digital signage software platform for many years. This specific platform was chewing up the facilities and marketing team time with limitations of automated features, and any staff turnover would lead to weeks of required training. We assisted this client to onboard the Signagelive system across their entire fleet on BrightSign players cutting the 15 hours a week spent on management down to one to two hours and allowing for an hour of training for any new user to pick up the ropes and have full knowledge of how to use the system.
Signagelive is leading the way as the top tier digital signage provider. With extensive knowledge in this industry, I would recommend all people new to digital signage and seasoned digital signage veterans to take a look. Being a believer in sticking to what you are good at, Signagelive has done precisely this, positioning itself as a digital signage content management platform specialising in controlling media players and digital displays and not branching out into other fields.
Clear cut benefits from someone who works with the software on a day to day basis.
As a supplier and integrator of Signagelive, the key benefits we see are:
- Reliability of the entire system across leading hardware partners such as BrightSign, Samsung Tizen, and LG WebOS;
- Multiple support channels for clients that are dealt with by Signagelive’s support team but overseen by our team with the ability to step in when required;
- Same day turn around of licenses (this is for us very important as we are always on the go);
- Ability to remotely deploy digital signage at ease with no pre-setup/staging of screens before installation due to the comfort of the system setup process;
- Precise and simple dashboards allowing for troubleshooting and solving problems before they occur;
- Constant development and growth of the platform with new integrations, apps, and widgets;
- A strong leadership team with people on the ground in key regions of the world allowing projects to flow into other countries.
The key benefits we hear from clients new to Digital Signage that onboard Signagelive:
- Simple and easy to use software (limited training required);
- Processes make sense – drag & drop, create and publish;
- Simple billing method (no hidden costs or locked in contracts);
- Ability to choose from leading screen and media players to work with Signagelive;
- Growing and adding players and screens to their digital signage network is so simple.
The key benefits for clients that use another platform and transition across:
- Time spent on Signagelive to manage content is cut down by at least half compared to the previous software;
- Ability to have non-technical users be part of managing screens and media players;
- Things happen quickly, to get a license takes a day, support responds the same day, installing a new screen or media player takes minutes;
- Features and functionality within the software is drag/drop and toggle compared to other systems that require coding and programming to achieve the same requirement;
- No ongoing Signagelive software, server maintenance, or update costs.
Signagelive software with BrightSign media players has allowed our agile team to work with 100’s of customers and supply 1,000’s of licenses efficiently and effectively over the last two years. It entices customers to believe in the reliability of Digital Signage and that the total cost of ownership is minimal, ensuring Return of Investment over print assets and unreliable competitor platforms.
For us here in the APAC region, we have been involved directly with the local representatives through to the Signagelive executive team on a close level. The integrity, honesty, and trust Signagelive carry is refreshing, and the industry needs more of these values.
I would recommend the platform to any user looking for a cost-effective, scalable, and reliable digital signage solution (software component) and any integrator looking for a long term partnership investment to grow their digital signage presence and offers.
Dylan Holtzhausen is the Managing Director of Amped Digital and a renowned Digital Signage and BrightSign Enthusiast
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