A professional installation can make all the difference.

Installation is often an aspect that is overlooked when discussing a digital signage project. There is more to it than simply hanging a screen. Digital signage installations need to look professional. You need to start thinking about access to power, network cables, ceiling mounts, wall mounts, custom surrounds, all sorts of things. 

It is important when considering a budget for digital signage that often 20% or more of project costs can be related to installation.

Screen height is important. In Australian public areas, screens must be a minimum 2400mm above floor height to meet regulations. Think about the best position for viewing the screens and decide on whether this location is better suited to a wall mount, a column mount or perhaps a ceiling mount. As a rule of thumb ceiling brackets are the most expensive to purchase and install. Some cheap ceiling brackets look horribly industrial too. Make sure you ask what sort of brackets are being used before you install.

Some of our installation have been in heritage listed buildings. Special care needs to be taken to adhere to the rules and regulations of these special buildings.If you are installing into a heritage listed building chances are you are aware of the difficulties. Make sure you advise the digital signage company you are workingwith that they will need to consider this for the installation. It is important that the signage fits into the overall look and feel of the building.

Consider also how the screen may look from behind. We regularly install into shopping centres or hotels where the back of the screens are visible. Cable management is essential for a professional finish and custom designed surrounds or backing panels should also be considered. Make sure if the screen is low that people cannot turn the screen off or pull the power cable out from the screen.

When it comes to digital signage you want people to notice the screen's content, not the cables and hardware needed to make it run. Don't distract them from the message you are trying to send. Make sure that you allocate some of your budget for a professional installation.

This concludes the 10 blogs from this series. Time for me to rack my brains and start to think about the next series I have to start.

Aeris Solutions is a dedicated digital signage company, thats all we do. We offer expert digital signage advice and solutions. Contact our sales team on 03 9544 6902 for further information or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Raphael Owen

Making sure there is room for growth

We have seen during the past 6 years of installing digital signage solutions that many people have either grown their signage systems, or wanted to but have not been able to due to technical limitations of their current equipment or indeed limitations of a budgetary type.

During our pre sale consultation with our clients we get them thinking about the long term requirements for their digital signage system. This usually involves two areas. Content and Management.

Content requirements for the initial roll out of a digital signage system may be as simple as showing a few still images which change every 3 months. Not really much of a challenge for any digital signage system.

Think about however how your business may want to the signage to grow with it. Will you want to play a wider variety of media files types such as Flash or Web pages? Will you perhaps want the content to be more dynamic, updating news, weather or social media content automatically without intervention? Simple solid state media player may be good for simple solutions and if this is all you will ever need, great. If not think about how you may need more advanced capabilities further down the track.

The second area we discuss is the overall management of the system. This is somewhat discussed previously in my Blog "Digital Signage network requirements" But we have some clients who chose to install a sneaker net system and have, a few years later, realised that a networked solution may have been a better solution. Or at least a solution which allowed them to upgrade to a networked solution now they are ready to.

Even if you don't want to manage or shell out for a fully networked digital signage system but you think you may want to go down this path in the future you owe it to yourself to look into the options.

The correct choice of software is also imperative when thinking about growth. Most software now will manage and operate for a small quantity of screens, they start to show limitations when you grow your system. "Free software" is usually so for a reason. We have seen this many times. Make sure the software you choose is well established and has the proven capability to run a system large enough for your requirements.

Aeris Solutions is a dedicated digital signage company, thats all we do. We offer expert digital signage advice and solutions. Contact our sales team on 03 9544 6902 for further information or email   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Raphael Owen

In the world of digital signage software the options are wide and varied. Essentially they boil down to two different types. Software as a Service (SaaS) - now getting known as Cloud based, and Enterprise Software. In a nutshell, the difference is that SaaS software is software which resides online or "in the cloud", and an Enterprise base software is one you install and manage yourself on your network hardware. There is no right or wrong decision, the features are very similar, it more gets down to how you want to manage the system.

To help you choose which is more suitable for your requirements here are some of the main reasons our customers have chosen one or the other. 

SAAS (Cloud based):

• Easier to set up players, simply install the software, give them internet access and they are ready to go.
• No set up required for content management software.
• Lower Initial Capital Expense
• Upgrades are done automatically by the software provider as a part of the subscription so you always have the latest version.
• Can be accessed from any computer with internet access. This adds great flexibility for those companies that have multiple people accessing from a variety of locations.

ENTERPRISE:

• Is generally seen to be more suitable when you have all the signage system under one roof.
• Software is generally more flexible when dynamic updates from other software pplications such as SQL databases, local text or csv files.
• Software tends to run faster when installed locally.
• No ongoing costs unless you choose to upgrade to the latest version and then discounts are generally offered.
• More control over screens and the network management aspects of the software are more detailed.
• Uploading of content is faster when done over a local area network rather than having to upload to the software server first and then download to the player.

Some clients we speak to simply insist on owning the software outright and don't like the thought of a subscription service. Others prefer to be able to keep the costs of the software as an ongoing operational expense and not a capital expense. Some clients have very sensitive networks such as Banks, Courthouses and Large Corporates and would rather keep the digital signage off their own network. Some companies don't like the idea of their content going "to the cloud" in case it gets leaked somehow, no matter how unlikely this is.

I guess what I am saying is there is no right or wrong answer. Very few of the above mention features, it's more about management. You should make sure you figure out the best way you want to manage your system before you choose to go either SaaS or Enterprise. As part of our consultation Aeris Solutions sales staff make sure that we find out which is the most suitable before we deploy. We hope you do the same.

Next time we talk about making sure that your digital signage solution is able to grow with your needs and requirements. Any software can send content to one screen.How do you make sure that the software can also deploy to 500 screens. I'll discuss this next time.

Aeris Solutions is a dedicated digital signage company, thats all we do. We offer expert digital signage advice and solutions. Contact our sales team on 03 9544 6902 for further information or email  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Raphael Owen