Choosing the Right Digital Signage Content Software By Frank Lucer At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

In past articles, we've talked about many strategies that you should be using to extract the most value from your digital signage content. To this date, we haven't broached the area of content management software. There are literally hundreds of vendors from which to choose. The problem is that it's difficult to know which solution is most appropriate for your business. Your goal should be to invest in the optimal balance between easy integration with other components in your network and robust functionality.

This area of digital signage is a large and complex one, so today, we'll focus on one specific portion of it. In this article, we'll take a look at the differences between using a third-party hosted solution to manage your content versus a premise-based system.

Basics Of Using Third-Party Services

A third-party digital signage content management solution gives you access to the back-end infrastructure you need without requiring you to invest in your own servers. For example, consider CRM software. Some applications, such as Microsoft CRM or GoldMine, are hosted locally. That is, you download them to your computer. By contrast, NetSuite is a hosted CRM product. You would log into an online interface to use it.

The software that you would use to manage the content on your digital signage network works in a similar manner. You can purchase your own servers and software, and operate the entire system locally. Or, you can rely upon a third-party service. By paying a monthly - or, sometimes annual - fee, you would gain access to an online interface through which you would manage the distribution of your segments and loops.

As you might imagine, there are pros and cons to using a hosted service. Whether you should go this route, or buy your own hardware and software, will depend on your goals and budget.

Reasons To Use a Hosted Service

The main advantage of a hosted content management software solution is the low upfront investment. Servers are expensive. One of the reasons many companies balk at the idea of a large network deployment is the high cost. They love the idea until they see the price tag. With a third-party service, the monthly (or annual) fee eliminates the need to purchase servers. Your loops are hosted on the provider's servers.

Another advantage is the low level of maintenance required. If you maintain your digital signage servers in-house, you'll need to periodically fix or upgrade them. That's costly whether you have IT staff to perform the maintenance or outsource the job to a contractor. A third-party provider will perform the maintenance and upgrades required. Your monthly fee covers it.

Are There Potential Drawbacks?

A third-party content management software solution sounds good so far. But, there are drawbacks to consider. First, you won't have the ability to customize your network. The media players and other hardware are part of the hosted package. That said, you may not care. Second, because your loops are streamed through an internet connection, that online connection needs to be bulletproof. If it is severed, your loops stop playing.

Some detractors of this model also claim that third-party software is less secure than a premise-based network. This is rubbish. Assuming the provider is reliable (and why would you work with them if they're unreliable?), they will maintain stringent security protocols. That means they'll continuously check for hacking attempts and viruses; they'll install security patches to shore up their defenses; they'll use passwords that are all but unbreakable.

Should you use a hosted solution to manage the content on your digital signage network? As noted, that will depend on your goals and budget. If your budget is severely limited and you don't mind sacrificing a little flexibility, hosted content management software might be an ideal solution for your company.

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