Digital signage software is a tool that enables users to manage their digital signage content and screens. With digital signage software, users can schedule content, create playlists, organize their screens into groups, and even diagnose playback issues that occur with remote screens. Digital signage software is typically sold via a Software-as-a-Service model, and the software typically costs around $10 a month per screen.

To learn more about digital signage software and how it can be helpful for your business, take a look at our article below.

Why cloud-based digital signage software is important

In the early days of digital signage systems, users would have to physically visit each sign in order to change the displayed content. Users would first have to hook up a keyboard and storage device (such as a USB drive) to a digital signage player. Next, users would have to stand there as they transferred each piece of content. The process was labor-intensive and could require more than 30 minutes per screen.

For many businesses, digital signage of the past was too high-maintenance. Many businesses simply did not have the employee resources to run a digital signage deployment. In such cases, digital signage was either never deployed or it was deployed and content was rarely updated. Businesses needed a more efficient way to manage their digital signs.

Cloud-based digital signage software addresses this market need. The software allows users to manage their digital signs and update content from the comfort of their laptop. As this software exists on the cloud, users can change their digital signage content from anywhere. Users no longer need to physically visit each screen and manually update their signage screens. Instead, users can drag and drop their content onto the software’s web interface.

What are some important features of digital signage software?

Of course, the main feature of digital signage software is enabling users to remotely manage their digital signage content. This feature enables employees to more efficiently manage the company’s digital signs and focus their time on more productive tasks. However, the best digital signage software offers a variety of other features too.

With digital signage software, users can also create playlists with multiple pieces of content and schedule these playlists to run at predetermined times. This feature is key for teams who want to get the most out of their digital signs. With robust content scheduling abilities, users can devote a single session for content scheduling and then not have to deal with their digital signs until the scheduled content ends. With this feature, teams can set and forget their digital signs for as long as they have their content scheduled.

A third important feature is enabling users to manage multiple screens at once. With some digital signage software, users can organize related screens into groups. These grouped screens can then be managed together. For example, instead of having to assign a playlist to each screen one at a time, users can assign a playlist to a group. The playlist will then play on each of the screens in the group.

Real-time monitoring of your digital signage network

Some digital signage deployments span across several locations within a city. Other digital signage deployments can span across multiple cities or even countries. For these large-scale deployments, the employees who are responsible for managing the company’s digital signs may go for weeks without seeing a screen.

In such a scenario, the employees rely on feedback from customers or other employees to learn when a screen is having playback issues. However, without an individual assigned responsibility for this feedback, this feedback loop often fails. This failure results in unnecessary screen downtime.

To address this issue, some digital signage software allows teams to monitor the status of their digital signs remotely. The software displays the status of each screen on a central dashboard via a map visualization. Teams can then see the status of their entire deployment in real time, and any screens that experience playback issues can be quickly identified and fixed.

How do I get digital signage software for my business?

Screenly is a web-based digital signage software that you can get started within minutes. With Screenly, users can schedule image, video, and even live web page content from anywhere. Screenly enables users to create an unlimited number of groups and playlists, so managing a large deployment is just as easy as managing a single screen. To get Screenly, simply visit our sign up page.

Note that you will need a digital signage player to run Screenly. Screenly is compatible with the Screenly Player, a Raspberry Pi based media player. To learn more about digital signage players, check out our article on “What is a digital signage player?”