What Are Digital Signage Managed Services?
by Tara Nichols
What Are Digital Signage Managed Services?
by Tara Nichols
Managed services have been around for many years, but the market for them continues to rapidly grow and evolve. The global managed services market is valued at US$152.02 billion and is expected to reach around US$274 billion by 2026. While dominated by North America, the market is experiencing its fastest growth in Asia Pacific.
What are managed services?
Managed services involve the outsourcing of computing and IT processes and infrastructure. Many companies, for example, outsource their IT security and infrastructure to large tech companies and providers.
Digital signage managed services are a more recent trend, but demand for them is expected to grow in line with overall demand for managed services globally as organisations seek to reduce costs and maximise business efficiency in the wake of the pandemic. According to Ernst & Young, 84% of organisations are adapting to address deficiencies in current operating models, and COVID-19 has accelerated the need for businesses to look at moving operations to a managed services model.
This shift applies to business operations across the board, including marketing and communications.
3 key benefits of digital signage managed services
Cost savings
Similar to digital signage software-as-a-service and cloud-based services, managed services present significant cost savings for businesses. Cloud-based digital signage, for example, comes without the high upfront costs of purchasing on-premise server hardware and software – costs that can add up and prove prohibitive for businesses. Instead, Software-as-a-Service (also known as SaaS), cloud-based and managed services models operate on a subscription basis. This pay-as-you-use model offers businesses significant cost savings and greater flexibility.
In addition, digital signage managed services supply the full suite of content management services (including content creation, scheduling and network monitoring) at a small cost and enable businesses to minimise graphic design and marketing resources.
Automatic maintenance and updates
With digital signage managed services, customers need not worry about downloading the latest hotfixes or product versions, as automatic fixes, upgrades and new features are readily available. This optimises performance and ensures maximum uptime.
Hassle-free
Compelling and targeted content is the cornerstone to a successful digital signage campaign. If you lack the expertise or time, don’t worry! Simply work with your digital signage managed services solutions provider and let them manage all aspects of your digital signage network – from content ideation and creation, to content scheduling and monitoring. Let your digital signage managed services solutions provider optimise and scale your digital signage strategy so you can focus on other critical aspects of your business.
What’s included in digital signage managed services?
Content management services (design, creation, scheduling and updates)
With digital signage managed services, all aspects of a digital signage are managed by the solutions provider. Scala Managed Software-as-a-Service (m-SaaS) for example supplies customers with the full suite of content management services, a hassle-free approach that enables businesses to focus on their core operations. This includes content ideation, graphic design and animation, scheduling and updates to ensure your digital signage content always remains fresh and relevant.
With digital signage managed services, the supplier also takes care of monitoring the digital signage network and can remotely manage media players, screens, content scheduling and playback. These services are included as part of the subscription and can translate to greatly reduced overheads for businesses (staff time, IT resources etc.) in managing the network.
Maintenance and upgrades
As with cloud-based solutions and software-as-a-service (SaaS), all maintenance is covered by the digital signage provider, with automatic upgrades to the latest versions of software and access to the latest fixes to ensure the system continues to run smoothly and efficiently at all times.
Reporting
Digital signage managed services also include a reporting component, where businesses can have access to content reports, information about how many times content was played, and audience analytics (how many people saw the digital signage content, demographics and so on). This allows businesses to have insight into how effective their digital signage is and adapt as needed.
Scala Managed Services enables easy and efficient digital signage content management
Partner with the experts at Scala and ensure that your daily to-do list is focused on what matters most. Scala managed services provide full-service support and creative services to allow businesses to focus on their core operations while their digital signage runs smoothly and achieves their desired results. Find out more about Scala cloud-based digital signage and managed services.
Scala Managed Services enables easy and efficient digital signage content management
Partner with the experts at Scala and ensure that your daily to-do list is focused on what matters most. Scala managed services provide full-service support and creative services to allow businesses to focus on their core operations while their digital signage runs smoothly and achieves their desired results. Find out more about Scala cloud-based digital signage and managed services.
Tara Nichols, Marketing Consultant at STRATACACHE Asia-Pacific, has a diverse background in marketing, social media and communications. Based in Australia, she supports STRATACACHE APAC’s social media and marketing activities, providing content ideation, writing and creative support services.
