Digital Signage Software

Newest Software Trends Enable Businesses to Better Engage Customers, Drive Results

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Art by MidJourney AI

by Martin Hagen, SocialScreen

Pushing the boundaries of what is possible, (from cloud-based software to interactive content and automation), the latest trends in digital signage make it easier for businesses to engage with customers, provide relevant and timely information, and gather valuable data and feedback.

In this article, we will take a closer look at some of the hottest topics within digital signage software and how they improve the way businesses communicate with their customers.


Cloud-based software

Cloud-based digital signage software allows users to remotely manage their digital signage content and network from any location with an internet connection. This eliminates the need for on-premises software, servers, and hardware, making it easier and more cost-effective to manage and update digital signage content. It also allows users to access real-time analytics and data on their digital signage network and make updates or changes remotely.

The use of cloud-based digital signage software is on the rise. With benefits such as remote management, scalability, analytics, and remote monitoring & support, cloud-based digital signage software is an attractive option for businesses looking to improve their digital signage operations. As technology continues to advance, we can expect to see even more exciting developments in cloud-based digital signage software in the future.


Interactive content

Interactive digital signage is another emerging trend capturing the attention of businesses. Interactive digital signage software allows users to create engaging and interactive content, including touchscreens, games, quizzes, and surveys. These types of interactive experiences can increase customer engagement and help businesses gather valuable data and feedback from customers. Interactive digital signage can be used in a variety of settings, such as retail stores, museums, and trade shows to provide a more engaging and memorable experience for customers.  

By giving customers the ability to interact with the content, not just view it passively, businesses can gain valuable insights and feedback. Personalization is another key feature of interactive content, that helps companies to create more relatable and memorable experiences for customers. This can lead to increased brand awareness and customer engagement. Furthermore, interactive content has the potential to drive sales, boost conversions and create promotions, coupons, or loyalty programs. With the advancements within digital signage, we can only expect to see more inventive ways of this trend, too.

 

Analytics and reporting

Analytics and reporting features allow businesses to track and analyze the performance of their digital signage content and network, including metrics such as viewability, engagement, and conversion rates. This data can be used to optimize the content and placement of digital signage for more effective communication with customers. Additionally, real-time analytics allow businesses to monitor the performance of their campaigns in real-time and adjust as needed.

Businesses need to react quickly to changes in audience engagement and ensure their content is always performing at its best: the analytics and reporting system allows businesses to gain a deeper understanding of their audience, improve the performance of their campaigns, and make data-driven decisions to drive results.

 

Automation and scheduling

Automation and scheduling features in digital signage software allow users to schedule and automate their digital signage content, making it easy to keep their displays up-to-date and relevant. This can be especially useful for businesses that need to frequently update their content, such as retail stores that want to promote new products or sales. It can also be used in public spaces like airports, train stations, and hospitals, where real-time information needs to be displayed to the public.


Integrations with other content systems

Integrations with other systems allow businesses to integrate their digital signage software with other content systems (social media, weather, news feeds, and more), to deliver real-time and personalized content. For example, a digital signage display in a mall could be integrated with social media to display the latest posts from nearby stores or restaurants, or a weather feed to display the current temperature and forecast. This allows businesses to provide relevant and timely information to their customers, increasing engagement and customer satisfaction.

 

Remote monitoring and support

Remote monitoring and support features can be especially useful for large networks or those located in multiple locations. This allows businesses to keep an eye on their digital signage network, even when they are not on site, to detect and to fix issues more quickly, minimizing downtime.

 

The net impact of these trends 

Today’s trends in digital signage make it easier for businesses to engage with customers, to gather valuable data and feedback, and to act on relevant and timely information.  All the latest high-tech features in digital signage software are more accessible to all businesses (not just the bigger companies) and cost less than ever before.

The advantages of affordable digital signage draw more and more companies into understanding the many uses of digital signage software for customers and for internal communication. For example, one large German factory recently replaced all their analog signage to add the expediency of digital signage to their public communications.

That’s right: a factory. Today even factory owners can see the attraction of the digital transformation to digital signage. Digital signage now plays a role in B2B as well as B2C businesses.

While many newcomers embrace digital signage for the first time, early adopters (for example, retail and malls) carefully evaluate their current software to make sure they too can take advantage of the recent trends in digital signage software.

These trends in digital software expand the marketplace by attracting companies (with more features, easier-to-use technology, and lower entry costs) and by compelling incumbents (through the latest tech like cloud, Big Data and AI) to look at their older software and consider new solutions.

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About SocialScreen

SocialScreen is a leading digital signage software solution. Developed in Norway to help businesses everywhere enhance their brand communication and customer engagement, SocialScreen software has been tested and proven in the Scandinavian market, considered one of the top technology adoption areas in the world.

Managing content for digital signage has never been easier with features such as drag & drop content and automatic dependencies (which can adapt to external variables like weather and fleet management support). No matter what size your business is, SocialScreen makes it easy to manage and optimize your digital signage displays when you are looking to showcase products, share company news, or inform/entertain customers.

Go SocialScreen 

Go for the free trial, to experience the ease and latest features of SocialScreen


4TheWall Intros Designer S for Videowall Control Management

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By design, Designer S operates on any standard computer as a video wall control without need for any special graphics cards. Computers (including mini-PCs) can be mounted behind the screen-- without requiring expertise in most projects.

4TheWall

A web (HTTPS) based software, 4TheWall’s Designer S targets customers who run crisis management centers, command and control centers, CCTV monitoring centers and operator centers with web pages such as NOC, SOC (dashboard, local sites or external sites) -- and anywhere IP-based sources are mostly used.

4TheWall CEO Cihangir Karalar notes, “We aimed for more effective software by developing additional features to our existing software. We have created an area where our customers can integrate the Designer S software to their existing systems, and this will provide flexibility to the customers.”

The new software provides borderless web page source view. Its easy-to-use interface is compatible with Android / Windows / IOS operating systems and has a web-based automation module that can be used in many devices. Audio and video sources in the environment can be controlled from a single point with the automation module.

Supported source types: 4K physical video and audio input (HDMI/DVI/SDI or analog), H.264 and H.265 decoding, IP stream, video, browser, YouTube, Google Maps, PDF viewer, image (JPG, PNG, BMP etc.) and others.

4TheWall developed its first version of a videowall controller management software (for crisis management center and command centers of defense industry in Turkey) in 2012.


4TheWall Designer 5

Signagelive Broadcast Player, Free until 30th June 2020

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Signagelive wants to assist their partners and customers to keep their teams informed while many are working from home during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Signagelive Player

So they developed a new Signagelive player to enable organisations to create and curate digital messages and broadcast to the laptops, tablets and mobile phones of their colleagues, keeping everyone informed during the pandemic.

Signagelive Broadcast Player is now available for free to anyone, anywhere to use until the 30th June 2020. The dedicated web page includes a video explaining how the solution works and a form for those that wish to request a free licence.

The Signagelive Broadcast Player allows for full-screen playlists or multi-zone layouts to be created and published to a weblink. The weblink can then be shared with a team for them to view on their devices. Any updates to the content will automatically be updated and displayed to the viewers who have had the weblink shared with them.

To help get started, they have added COVID-19 content feeds from their partner Seenspire, which update automatically as new information and updates from the WHO and offer official sources are made available.

Go Free through June 2020: The Signagelive Broadcast Player


Visix Releases Version 1.30 of AxisTV Signage Suite

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Visix releases version 1.30 of its AxisTV Signage Suite enterprise digital signage platform and V 3.11 of their Connect Room Sign software.

AxisTV Signage Suite

The AxisTV Signage Suite release adds an Adjust Message and Adjust Layout workflows to allow users to edit text and media files in fill-in messages and layouts. The Administer Players screen now displays version, last snapshot and last update--and it can reboot or shutdown players. Version 1.30 also includes enhanced SAML authentication configuration in the AxisTV Manage CMS.

AxisTV Design, the desktop content design app, adds improvements to the Delphi calendar data widget and synchronization with the CMS. A new widget, Data-Mapped Text Choice, allows designers to specify what text they want to display, based on data available from the source. A basic user scenario would be “show the floor name based on the room number or show the name when the floor name is not available.”

Version 3.11 of their Connect Room Manager application adds two new read-only calendar types – JSON and XML. The Connect Room Manager Console offers new backup and restore functionality, and administrators can now enter a room sign’s device shell without first rebooting the device. The release also includes an energy-saver mode, enhancements to the PIN feature and enhanced logging capabilities.

Both releases can be downloaded from the link provided.

Go Visix Releases AxisTV Signage Suite and Version 3.11 Connect Room Sign


Squirrels at ISE 2020, Ditto That

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No, not the ground squirrels. Squirrels is a USA technology company that specializes in wireless collaboration and presentation technology.

They launched two of the very first screen-mirroring apps — Reflector and AirParrot. Reflector, made waves in education. It was a first-of-its-kind technology that allowed students and teachers to wirelessly display, record and collaborate with many device types in the classroom. To date, it has reached millions of students globally.

At ISE 2020 Squirrels continues its position in the screen mirroring and wireless presentation space with a wireless HDMI alternative, Ditto, that provide companies with cost effective and easy-to-use technology for meeting spaces.

Screen mirroring with Ditto is simple: Ditto automatically connects you to the correct receiver. Anyone in the room can begin sharing content to the big screen in moments.

And now Squirrels has additionally tweaked Ditto for digital signage.

Ditto differentiates itself with the ability to instantly transition from digital signage to screen mirroring as well as utilize popular devices as receivers. Ditto receiver software runs on Apple TV and Windows devices. No proprietary Ditto hardware is required.

“We redefined Ditto without sacrificing what made it great,” Squirrels CEO and co-founder Andrew Gould says. “We gave people a way to make use of all their displays, all the time. People only used Ditto to screen mirror before. Now, Ditto is active even when you’re not presenting. The transition from displaying digital signage to screen mirroring on demand is seamless and intuitive to maintain the simplicity people love about Ditto.”

Ditto admins manage every aspect of digital signage from the web-based Ditto Account Portal. The Account Portal allows admins to create signage playlists, schedule signage, deploy emergency alerts and more. It’s also where admins delegate responsibilities.

“One person managing digital signage for every display across a large organization is not feasible,” Gould explains. “Signage changes often. Keeping up with it would become a full-time job. Ditto admins can give Account Portal access to others in their organization to manage signage for specific departments and locations.”

In addition to the new digital signage functionality, Ditto users can now mirror their device to multiple displays simultaneously. Devices could previously be mirrored to only one display. Users may also mirror up to four devices to each display simultaneously.

Go Ditto Wireless Presentation and Digital Signage Software


Scala Digital Signage at ISE 2020

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Scala ISE 2020

Scala highlights how organisations can modernise physical spaces and personalise messaging on any display at ISE 2020 with a showcase of a full range of solutions, including software, hardware and sensor-based insights.

Hardware from the company on show comes in both media player and display flavours. Scala media players include single-, double- and quad-output players, all designed for performance, stability and compatibility while ensuring reliable and timely delivery of rich media experiences. Scala also presents the results of a January 2020 partnership with Stratacache, bringing displays able to “unlock new functionality and capabilities including advanced power management, intelligent retail sensor support and extended lifecycle products for commercial 24x7 always-on use.”

The displays feature a slim bezel and commercial-grade durability, and promise high quality playback with "unmatched" optical clarity in a variety of sizes. Another offering seen at ISE 2020 are all-in-one intelligent tablets, a product combining high-performance computing with a slim design to deliver interactive retail experiences.

On the software side Scala has a preview of a cloud-based version of Scala Designer, a flexible web-based composition and design tool allowing users to create beautiful and engaging digital signage experiences. The tool uses established workflow and usability patterns to distribute projects to a Scala Enterprise solution. ISE 2020 also has experts showing how to leverage real-time analytics, mobile sensors and artificial intelligence using the Stratacache in-house platforms from Walkbase and X2O Media to optimise location-based messaging.

Go Scala at ISE 2020

DSE 2019: Netipbox Focuses on its Nsign.tv Platform

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Nsign.tv

At its booth at Digital Signage Expo 2019, Netipbox Technologies gave special focus to its Nsign.tv platform, the flagship for its Smart Digital Signage solutions.

Nsign.tv enables clients to set up all kinds of communication channels, ranging from menu boards for sales outlets to information points for the Hospitality sector, as well as decorative options for AV projects or corporate channels for specific business environments.

Nsign.tv is an easy to use solution that enables control over screens connected in network with a user interface in 10 languages, offering features such as a market place to access image banks, a survey launcher in points of sale, wayfindings implementation, etc.

Their built-in Syncro WOW software can create synchronized effects across various screens (whether these are different or not) adding contents and value to existing digital signage installation.

The core hardware with the Nsign.tv platform is the Nbox, an Android-based player developed in conjunction with MINIX from Hong Kong who specializes in manufacturing this kind of hardware device. Nbox is a plug & play player that transforms any digital support (screen, totem, kiosk, etc.) in a window that interacts with the consumer while at once capturing audience data for business holders, among other kinds of possible interactions. Netipbox Technologies has developed a native APK that allows the screen to be controlled 100% in a robust, totally scalable solution easy to use for all kinds of customers.

Toni Viñals, CEO and co-founder of Netipbox Technologies explains why they are exhibiting for the first time at DSE in Las Vegas, “… our goal is to position our Smart Digital Signage products and solutions for the whole American market at the very birthplace of our industry. Thanks to our portfolio of products, the company has grown and evolved towards an integrated concept of ‘Contents + Interaction + Data’ to give our clients added value. Our slogan is ‘Concentrate on your audience, Netipbox Technologies will take care of the rest’. We are also developing our presence in the AV sales channel in the supply and installation of Netipbox solutions.”

Netipbox Technologies has more than 10 years of experience and has invested more than 2 million euro in R&D over the last 4 years to develop a “platform + player” solution with its own technology. Netipbox Technologies offers turnkey end-to-end Smart Digital Signage solutions, also including the creation of contents for t/he client through IMPACTIVA, its own creative agency.

Go Netipbox Technologies

Debut of SaaS-based Carousel Cloud Platform

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Carousel Cloud

Carousel Digital Signage will come to Digital Signage Expo later this month with its Carousel Cloud platform for the first time (alongside its on-premise solutions).

Carousel Cloud is a subscription-based SaaS platform for organizations seeking an off-premise, hosted digital signage service with limitless scalability. Carousel Cloud brings the standard benefits of any cloud service, eliminating the expense and maintenance associated with traditional hardware servers in favor of a lightweight, software-defined architecture that is centralized within an offsite IT infrastructure.

“Digital signage is no longer a novel technology that sells itself through a “wow factor”, says JJ Parker, CEO of Carousel Digital Signage. “Deployments fail and ROIs fade when organizations fail to leverage the true communications power that digital signage offers. Our latest Carousel innovations give end users new flexible and easy to use tools that invite collaboration, and help businesses keep their content and messaging up to date. This is especially important in the corporate and education markets where Carousel Digital Signage brings especially strong value.”

Carousel Digital Signage’s embrace of Apple TV devices for content playout will continue to be a key focus. Parker notes that K-12 school districts have been the quickest to adopt the technology, due to familiarity of the device and a non-intrusive profile. For added value, a Carousel Player app, available through app stores or mobile device management (MDM) software, quickly turns Apple TV devices into enterprise-grade media players.

“Whether deployed in the cloud or on-premise, Carousel Digital Signage will help our customers deliver content that is always up-to-date for classrooms, conference rooms, and common areas, with exceptional ease of use and management,” notes Parker. “With our cloud solution and the Apple TV as a media player, we’ve made significant strides in making the technology disappear from the classroom and the corporate environment. Instead, we’re putting the focus on how to effectively use your digital signage network to support your educational, business and even experiential initiatives.”

Go Carousel Digital Signage, a Division of Tightrope Media Systems


SpinetiX shows ARYA at ISE 2019

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SpinetiX ARYA

SpinetiX shows ARYA at ISE 2019-- a turnkey digital signage solution for small and midsize businesses the company says provides an affordable visual communication solution combining cloud and hardware-based technologies.

ARYA allows customers to quickly set up visual experiences from own devices-- and deliver content in a highly secure way to any screen, any size and orientation. A guided user experience enables easy creation of visual content with personalised colour codes and logos, as well as images and videos readily available on the device.

The solution comes with a free tier service, enabling the user to gain hands-on experience with the cloud application through 9 templates with pre-built animations and transitions.

In addition, users can get different contents on any number of screens, and have access to a live help chat to get guidance and provide feedback.

Go SpinetiX ARYA