When we rate something as "the best", it always turns out to be very personal and often far from objective. However, when it comes to a particular type of product, there are always several market benchmarks that all players claiming to be leaders in the field must meet.
In this video, we reveal one of the most personal topics for us - what the best digital signage software should look like today. We have identified several criteria that we believe are essential for digital signage software nowadays:
1. Cloud-based solution
Cutting-edge software should be cloud-based with the ability to be managed remotely. Cloud solutions are rightfully the simplest, cheapest, and therefore most popular format of B2B software today. Yes, in some industries, such as government, banking, or corporate, where it is critical to store data on an internal network for security reasons, on-premises solutions are still the only viable option. However, the number of such deployments is decreasing year by year. After all, the magic of digital signage software lies in the ability to manage content anytime, anywhere, not just from your workplace.
2. Multi-platform
Your software must support all the major operating systems used to run today's digital displays and media players. Why is this important?
The convenience and freedom of choice that users get when choosing a device for their digital signage project. They aren't restricted to Android or Windows and can select any device without compatibility issues.
It is also worth mentioning cases with TVs without an operating system, video walls, or LED screens, where the presence of external media players is mandatory. It's beneficial for software suppliers to offer their own digital signage players, as customers prefer a complete solution.
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3. Built-in Content Creation Tools
It's no secret that quality content is a must for any digital signage success.
This is why the presence of a built-in content designer, as well as a set of free templates for different business sectors, is now a must-have for any digital signage software.
Dynamic content based on news or social media feeds can add variety to your broadcast and draw the attention of your target audience to your displays via built-in applications. It is created with a few clicks directly in the management system. Last but not least, the ability to divide the screen into multiple areas and play different content in them simultaneously.
Pro Tip: With Look, the content creation process can be completely automated, since you can entrust it to our smart tool with artificial intelligence elements, called AI Wizard.
4. Content scheduling feature
The user should be able to schedule content delivery not only on a 24-hour cycle but also by date and day of the week. This is important, for example, for retail promotions, a weekend menu in a fast-food restaurant, or timely birthday greetings to an employee on the office screen.
5. Proof-of-Play Functions
Management systems have various visual indicators, such as online or offline screen status. There are also alerts for certain adverse events. For example, if content hasn't been loaded onto the screen. A notification appears in a personal account and can also be sent to the user by e-mail. Finally, the real-time screenshot feature makes it possible to check what exactly is being played at any time.
6. Integration with Third-Party Platforms
This can be done through APIs or services such as Zapier. This feature allows digital signage software to, for example, send statistical data about the content displayed to a customer's other infrastructure platforms or, conversely, play a specific piece of content based on a request or event sent from another system.
7. Interactive Features
In an age where people are used to getting information by tapping the touch screen of a smartphone or an information kiosk, the following criterion is of great importance. The ability to create and execute multi-page scenarios with clickable objects on the screen without writing a single line of code is what the best digital signage software should offer its users today.
In addition, the same client can have both regular and touch screens on the network. In this case, the presence of interactive features is a convenience for the user, who can perform all his tasks with the help of a single software product.
8. Technical support
No one wants to see errors, service messages, or frozen videos on their screens. Even more, no one wants to wait hours or days for the vendor's technical support team to take the time to answer their call for help. That's why 24/7 online chat right in your personal account is what sets digital signage software apart from the competition.
The Look DS service fulfills 100% of all the criteria described above and will be the right choice for a digital signage project of any complexity. Check it out completely free with our 14-day free trial or book a personal demo to experience all the features firsthand.
