Digital Signage Experts | Saturn

If you’re thinking of investing in a digital signage network, how do you minimise the TCO of your system? Put simply, the only way to achieve complete cost control is to be clear on all potential budget implications from the outset.

Firstly, whether you decide to deploy a digital signage solution on your own network or, instead, let your system live on the ‘cloud’, really depends on two key factors:

1. The scale of your organisation’s IT resource base.
2. How bulletproof (secure) the solution needs to be. Whilst for some corporates it’s still unthinkable for internal systems to live on the ‘cloud’, many businesses are starting to see this as a viable and cost effective proposition.

But beyond the initial implementation costs, clients should also consider ongoing maintenance issues. Digital signage networks are underpinned by complex systems where components can be affected by many factors that are beyond your control: hardware faults, power downs and connectivity issues can all cause frustration. Consequently the internal cost for optimising network display and uptime can be drastically underestimated.

Digital signage is, after all, still a relatively new medium that requires a unique blend of expertise in software, hardware and content, but most importantly – the knowledge of what works best to make your system an effective communications medium.

For organisations that aren’t über techy, often this knowledge can be best acquired through managed services that can provide extensive network support expertise. A combination of remote engineering and network monitoring can ensure the seamless 24:7 operation of your chosen solution. In fact, if you enlist the right third party support these functions can go unseen (as the business’ perception is that the system just works), and become recongised by the board as an invaluable (and uncomplicated) way of delivering a credible and reliable communications service.

Another cost aspect of signage that is also underestimated (or ignored) pre-implementation is that, by its very nature, a screen is a content hungry beast. It needs a dedicated team of media producers to keep the content pipeline full and if this resource doesn’t exist then outsourcing could be the best and most cost effective way of keeping the beast and, more importantly, its audiences satisfied. Taking this approach cuts through the usual steep learning curve of training someone internally too, but be careful, as with varying aspect ratios, frame rates and media transcoding options, you need to be sure that you select a partner with true digital signage content production credentials.

In short, whether you choose to go down an internal or outsourced route for your network, be sure that you understand the variables and how they stack up within your particular project permutation. Simply adding together the various line items on a quote rarely represents the true cost of ownership. Ensure that you include internal as well as potential outsourced costs of other specialist content vendors, on top of the initial quote for implementation.

But above all remember, if you want to optimise your digital signage network, the TCO should very much be considered as an ongoing business investment, rather than as a one-off purchase.