Advertise Me has been managing simple digital signage networks to complex networks that span across multiple states. We have worked with hospitals, universities and large corporate organisations to ensure their digital signage system is always operational. In today’s business world, managing a digital signage network is essential for companies that want to stay ahead of the competition. A failure with the digital signage network could lead to loss of sales and miscommunication. By implementing a robust digital signage system, businesses can easily and quickly update their signage without having to worry about all the technical aspects that come with a digital signage network.
A typical digital signage network will consist of the following:
- servers – we use various VPS which are hosted within Australia including AWS
- digital signage software – we are using our AdvertiseMe.TV platform which is a cloud-based SaaS tool
- network equipment – firewalls to prevent unauthorised access to the digital signage network. We have set up site-to-site VPN for some of our clients whilst others directly connect to the digital signage servers we host on the cloud. Network routers and switches to transport the digital content
- digital signage hardware – these are digital screens, digital signage players, wayfinding kiosks, information boards, interactive touchscreens, projectors, video walls etc
There are a few things to consider when managing a digital signage network and we have included a few tips below:
Monitor your digital signage equipment
There are various tools available on the market to monitor your digital signage equipment. We even built our own custom monitoring tool, that checks whether the device responds to ping or if it returns error codes. The monitoring tool then sends an email to notify there is an issue with the digital signage equipment.
There are also product-specific tools such as Samsung MDC and LG SuperSign Control that you can use to monitor the digital screens.
For our cloud-based servers, we use a tool called BetterUptime to monitor the servers. We also use the same tool to create status pages that shows the uptime of our servers. Here’s an example of the status page:
No WiFi
Don’t use WiFi to connect your devices to the network because you may need to manually change the WiFi password to all the devices when that changes. In addition, depending on the location of the device, the WiFi range will be limited and may even cause network dropouts. That’s why we always recommend using the LAN port and network cable to connect to the network.
Test and perform software updates when required
Before rolling out any software updates, make sure that you test this on a lab environment or test devices. Also only perform the upgrades when you know that the software update is actually fixing a bug or it’s introducing a new feature that you need. Also, test your content and schedule before hitting the publish button.
Support Team
Having a local and remote support team to help you manage the digital signage network is vital for any digital signage solution provider. We can liaise and work closely with your operations and IT team, to resolve any of the digital signage network issues. If you don’t have a digital signage support team, then you may want to hire us to look after your entire digital signage system.