Digital Signage

Welcome to NoviSign's blog of Digital Signage

[clould-digital-signage]

Carousel slideshow digital signage

Carousel slideshow digital signage is the most used element in our digital signage solution, no matter how many widgets and features we have.

great way to present pictures on the screen

[clould-digital-signage]

Watch line digital signage templates on a screen

[clould-digital-signage]

Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort engages guests with Chrome signage

[clould-digital-signage]

Big Screen Countdown

In the spirit of the soon coming Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations, it is clear that digital signage countdown, especially high visibility count down feature for big screens, is a must widget.  

The digital signage platforms, replacing a lot of traditional manual, printed or human managed procedures/announcements/ceremonial activities is embracing the countdown widget, not only for the obvious Sylvester/New year's eve parties, but also for almost any other public event, at the education sector (as a large timer for classroom countdown for schools), college/university, at the local bar, at any size of a retail and for any other moment that the digital signage owner wants to use to enhance the drama, call for action and even promote business.

Since the advanced digital signage solutions are SaaS based, it is usually quite easy to deploy and manage a counter widget, for the most part it is as simple as drag and drop, together with simple countdown timer or scheduler to set up the time for the countdown to start and the intervals (minutes, seconds, etc.).

In many ways, the countdown widget, which we have in NoviSign, is the natural extension of one of the most basic digital signage widgets - the clock and behaves as a big timer clock. It is actually, an on screen timer for Windows, Android and Chrome OS. But the countdown widget is all about the drama - from counting the hours for a big sports event at school, to the beginning (or end...) of the happy hour at the bar and up to the birthday of one of the employees in the office, where the digital signage software is simply a form of internal communication.

So, for whatever you'll need a big visible countdown and wherever a big screen can be located, a basic digital singe feature, can provide you the best solution for a dramatic, easily set solution.

The digital sign countdown widget, which is time visible, combined with the social network functionality of the advanced signage platforms, can be even more powerful tool, creating a unique experience for visitors and customers of any business.

Digital Signage Countdown, a great way to start 2017!

Avi.

[clould-digital-signage]

Digital Signage in education

As the Digital Signage stepping rapidly into more and more areas of our day to day life, leaving the old comfort zone of the airport, other transportation terminals and McDonald's style huge food chains, it is not surprising to see the growing demand for digital signage in the educational domain.

Education institutions are usually not the first to implement new technologies, but they are certainly in the 'early adopters' list. Education establishment started adopting Windows and Android digital signage in the last 3 - 4 years, due to several reasons: one of the most important is having in-house IT personnel to support the adoption of digital signage in schools, high schools and even universities and colleges.

But not only the personnel promoted the digital signage within the educational facilities. The need was always there - from generic messaging to sharing of experiences, from announcements to school sports events from infotainment to social networks. But the cost used to be too high and the implementation was complicated. During the last few years, digital signage software and signage CMS (content management system) became simpler and cheaper (cloud based CMS, effective low cost player software) and together with the appearance of standard players, Android at first and lately the Chrome OS based players (Chromebit digital signage ), the education digital signage was never easier, cost effective, yet rich in content.

Educational software prices are traditionally lower than the regular pricing, giving schools another incentive to implement Chrome OS digital signage.

Another aspect of the educational digital signage is, well... educational, especially at schools and high schools, the teachers and management are assigning the task of mangling the signage platform to the students, by that teaching them a lot about the digital capabilities.

Education signage - where do I sign up?

Efrat.

[clould-digital-signage]

Point of purchase displays software

There is a war going on and seems that not only that no one cares, but everyone is in it. This is the war on the customer's money! It is one of the most impacting and long lasting wars. Important war for the economy.

The peak of the war is the last frontier - the point of purchase. It is well known that in this special minute, when the client is about to pay, you might be able to add something - and increase your revenues.

The point of purchase displays is one of the most effective weapons in the retail’s arsenal, in this never ending war. Point of purchase displays come in all sorts of sizes, shapes and technologies. In the past, point of purchase display software providers, such as NoviSign, were providing an easy to implement solution (also known as a digital signage software) which is a cloud based CMS (Content Management System) and players, based on Windows, Android and lately also on the fast growing Google Chrome OS technology, connected to a TV screen.

These points of purchase (POP) display software products provide end to end solution for broadcast, manage, measure and analogize the data (using periodical and on-demand reports) the content displayed on the point of purchase displays. 

Additional capabilities, added by NoviSign lately, allow the customers to use the point of sale software to integrate with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology, or the good old barcode to learn more about products on the shelf, near the point of sale (POS) itself, as this world is moving toward internet of things (IoT).

The RFID/barcode technology, seemingly integrated into the point of purchase displays software, can be a game changer in the ongoing war, on the heart (and pocket, let's admit) of the customer, at the strategic point - the point of purchase.

Point of purchase displays software - don’t lose the war!

Nathon.

[clould-digital-signage]

Internal communication for software companies

Internal Communication is no less important than external... every company understands that... does it really?

We are all convinced that external communications is a must  - press releases, conventions, sales and marketing events and many more different tools to engage the outside world, in order to present the company's goods and eventually do...you know - the one thing all companies get up in the morning for - SELL!

Internal communication is not always neglected. It is clear that it is not in the same magnitude of investment, but more and more organizations realize - it is quite important that all employees at all levels will understand the company's goals, the market, major and recent achievements and even, yes it is hard - failures... sharing the progress on the screen. eventually - every man is a point of sale, everyone is somehow exposed and it is better to invest in this area, at least in a level that brings everyone up to speed.

The good old traditional way of 'company wide spread mail' seems to fail. No one has the time. Many organizations decided to deploy digital signage as a simple, yet not too expensive internal communication solutions. It seems like Android or Chromebit digital signage for internal communication is especially popular for large software and technology companies. These giants are anyway into technology. They are not planning to develop digital signage software, but deploying an Android digital signage internal network is not a big challenge.  The cost of such deployment is not that high anymore as most of the modern and effective digital signage solutions and products are cloud based. (SaaS).

Internal communication for hi-tech, startup and software companies is usually managed by the marketing team, with someone specifically in charge on the internal communication content.  The content differs by size of the company and by the site and culture.  Most of the software companies combine 'heavy' and serious content displayed on the signage network - business information , software releases, marketing messages, new products and general important messages, with 'lighter content' such as: new employees, family and personal events, employee of the month/year and so on. Sometimes the content on the digital screens is combined with pure "Infotainment" like news and weather and even, "god forbid" some funny stuff...

As internal communication becomes an important market for Chrome OS, Android and Windows digital signage software providers, these providers realized the importance of combining social networks into the signage software, to be used a powerful communication tool. For Software and hi- tech organizations, that anyway are considered as 'heavy users' of social networks (let's face it - they don't have 'real life'). this makes the social networks features of the digital signage extremely important for these companies, from the common Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to more 'professional' kind of social networks like LinkedIn and Yammer.

Digital Signage for software companies - the natural choice for internal communications.

Efrat.

[clould-digital-signage]

Digital Signage app

“But everything is an app these days, daddy”, said my 9 year old daughter in the mall, when I refused to buy her something, just because I wanted to compare the prices with other stores. I can simply compare right now, I have an app! No need to move...

Well, this is indeed the sigh of the times. It is not even new, it has been like that for the last half of a decade, but it just occurred to me, that my generation - we used to build software! And we thought how cool we are... has moved to simple apps. Fast, ready to be installed in a split of a second and most important - simple to use!

As a player in the digital signage software domain, we identified and join the app trend long ago, started with Android. NoviSign's Android digital signage app was one of the first digital signage apps in the market. The concept of app for a digital signage player, that can be downloaded from a market and immediately used by any user, at any business, at any size, backed up by a rich and flexible, SaaS (Software as a Service, or cloud, in other words) based CMS (Content Management System), seems very appealing and indeed this has proven itself. It is clear these days, that digital signage players must be a simple app, easy to install and ready to be used with minimal setup.

Last year, we identified the growing need of digital signage managed players. One of the best solutions was developing a digital signage app for Chrome. Chromeboxes are a rising star in the digital signage world and it was clear that investing in Chrome OS digital signage app is the right decision. Chromebox digital signage is catching up (or app :-), especially in educational institutes and medical facilities.

As my own daughter mentioned, everything is just an app... digital signage player app is no different - simple, easy to set, backed up by strong cloud based management system - this is all what the modern user expects for.

Katy.

[clould-digital-signage]

Real estate window display signs

Real Estate agency and Technology? Is there a connection? When you think about a real-estate agency, you usually picture an office with a PC as the top of the technology, a front window facing the street and few paper stickers, mentioning the bargains offered at this time. The most advanced will present a color picture of the real-estate property available for lease/rent/sell. So, how can technology in general and digital signage specifically support this business?

Ohh, this is more obvious and simpler than you think - real estate agencies work in the neighborhood/area they are located in. That is why they are located in the local trade area, with the window facing the street and not in some fancy downtown office tower. Their 'presentation layer' must improve. It must become more dynamic, social and real-time. Most people step into a real-estate office, after seeing something that caught their attention. It can be on the internet - but it can happen on the street as well. This front must not be neglected!

Instead of the static, boring stickers on the front window, a set of well-designed digital signage screens that dynamically present the available properties, including videos, images and information that can be easily loaded minutes after the real-estate agency gets the customer's approval, including relevant information from web sites and even Facebook, about the location, the area, the neighbors and the neighborhood. It is so much more relevant presentation that a simple printout. And when a property gets sold/leased/ - this can be shared on digital signage screens using the social network functionality which is now an integral part of digital signage capabilities.

The real estate agent has now a new set of digital tools available for him in a price that a business of any size can afford. The dynamic nature of digital signage and simplicity of the operation, together with the social networks and other interactive features, can be easily implemented and open new marketing options. The real estate digital signage software is easy to get and operate and can be Windows or Android digital signage based.

Digital signage for real-estate – it is a real-opportunity.

Gadi.

[clould-digital-signage]

Digital Signage? Signage TV!

Did you find yourself stopping for a second and thinking how everything became so simple in the last decade? Personalized? A decade ago we were waiting patiently for the next episode of our favorite TV series... and if had to be in a wedding on that day? You had to ask for a favor of someone to record it (!) or if you had the patience, you would have put the timer on you DVD or VHS video recorder (Yes, this was the cutting edge technology).

The bandwidth revolution personalized everything! You build your own stream of interest, and you use it whenever and wherever you want it.

Same revolution is now affecting (a bit late, yes...) the digital signage software industry. From simple signage capabilities providing infotainment and marketing content, one can build his own TV network, providing relevant content to his customers/visitors/students wrapping it with personalized, real time messages that are easily managed by the digital signage cloud platform (CMS - Content Management System), in the cost that a decade ago you couldn't have purchased a big flat screen TV!  

Collaboration between content providers and digital signage service providers is the next thing in the industry. Using content from 'Fashion TV' for a beauty salon and wrapping it with relevant and personalized (for the local business and its customers) messages of sales, announcements and even social network feeds - is a great value for millions of relevant types of business and obviously to the content provider itself. The traditional digital signage is gradually becoming a signage TV - personalized, social, directed and dynamic! In Israel, content providers such as 'Mako' or 'Nana10' which are actually a digital extension of the leading broadcast companies, are exploring the option of sharing their content with digital signage providers, to increase their exposure on specific niches (beauty and life style, sports, economics, food and restaurants, health care, etc.).

The somewhat 'sleepy' Windows and Android digital signage industry is discovering the power of the 'niche' and the ability to personalize the message while using an external source of content - these trends are here to stay and change the way digital signage operates.

Avi.

[clould-digital-signage]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqDQ35FnyzY)

[clould-digital-signage]

The Chromebox device management question

Few months ago, I bought my very first Chromebox. An Acer Chromebox. Then I bought few more Chromeboxes, while I was intending to use them for my school as Chromebox digital signage to be a school TV, showing school messages, school pictures and videos, social feeds and more.

Playing it on those high quality TV boxes went fine. But I wanted more from those boxes. Then I read, somewhere in the web, that Chromeboxes can be managed. That means, I can manage them remotely (not remotely like VNC or TeamViewer), that is, being able to apply some policy all over my Chromeboxes to behave in a certain way I would like it to (similar to login script of Microsoft network).

At the same time, the work “kiosk” came to my ears. Kiosk mode means that the Chromebox is dedicated to run only one app. That’s ideal for Chromebox digital signage as it needs to run 24/7 with nothing else interfering.

So, I took an initiative and started digging in the web. As I was digging more and more, it turned to me that I found less and less. There was nothing much about the Chrome device management, except some few support posts. Eventually, I couldn’t make it done.

For the Kiosk mode, it was also frustrating. I had to make some settings changes, run the Chrome browser of the Chromebox in a different mode in order to try to make the Kiosk mode work. Still didn’t get the results I wanted.

Recently, I found an interesting post of how to setup the Chromebox device management console. That did the difference! Not to mention that in a couple of clicks on my PC, all my Chromeboxes immediately entered the Kiosk mode. Halleluiah!

Boaz.

[clould-digital-signage]

The Education Sector and the Digital Signage

The education sector, especially in the U.S.A. has already adopted the digital signage as the replacement of the good old carton signs. The trend started with the Windows based digital signage which was (and still is) based on PCs (now they're getting smaller and smaller when you have such mini PCs as the NUC or the dongle style Intel Compute Stick). Then it moved to Android based digital signage which is combined of tablets, TV boxes, streamers and dongles. It is still in the Android domain, but the new wave is taking schools in the U.S.A. toward the Chromebox (probably because the Chromebox is widely sold in the states, but very hard to find in many countries), which is based on Google's operating system: Chrome OS.

So, why the Chromebox conquers more territories in the education sector? Quality, brand and good public relations of Google and the popularity of the Chrome browser.

The education system is just beginning to be exposed to the new features of digital signage: interactivity, social widget and more to come.

Watch the following video to get an idea about the social education digital signage:

Ronit.

[clould-digital-signage]

Starting a Digital Signage business

How many times you saw a successful business and thought to yourself, I can also do it! Hell, I might even do it better!

It might happen when you get a poor service from someone and you still have to pay, it might happen when you work for someone and feel you can do it better, or at least not less than he does. I have a surprise for you - if you jump into the cold water and indeed open your own business, you'll pretty soon discover that maybe your boss was not so stupid as you thought and that everything which you thought to be easy and simple, is actually not so... but this for another blog...

Starting a new business, besides the fact you need the skills, knowledge, market understanding and… well... the balls for it, it usually requires a serious initial investment. But in some technology based businesses, if you play it wisely and use technology that was developed by others, you might find the initial investment is not so dramatic.

Digital signage is a great example for a technology driven business that can be easily established with a limited investment. One can easily find a strong digital signage software, cloud based that provides a white label solution for partners, and with limited investment of around 100$ per month - you have a business in your hands - from that point on - it all depends on you!

Digital signage white label will allow the digital signage business owner to present his digital signage solution under his own brand. Of course there is a limited investment in hardware for demos, testing and so on, but there is no reason to buy hardware before you have a project in sight, therefore the initial cost of the business is indeed limited and affordable.

Digital signage services can be differed by the level of support, service, commitment, pricing (the digital signage white label provider must surly leave enough 'margins' for profit), creativeness and many other parameters, that are left in the control of the business owner. Sometimes all you need is the right kick-start and you can take it from there - the digital signage service is a great example for this, using the white label solution, you got all you need to start selling; you don't even need an office...

The digital signage service business can make a dollar from each step of the implementation - installation, hardware, content management, content creation, support and even the software service (margins, remember?).

If you have the balls, spirit and initiative; and the initial investment is what kept you from starting, digital signage white label is a great solution for you - to start your own digital signage business.

Ori.

[clould-digital-signage]

Digital signage in venues – שילוט דיגיטלי - היכן ואיפה

Usually we write in English in this blog. However, this time we would like to write a post in a different language, the hi-tech language of Hebrew, about locations and venues of digital signage:

שילוט דיגיטלי הפך בשנים האחרונות כמעט לנחלת הכלל. בעבר הרחוק, רק חברות גדולות יכלו להרשות לעצמן שילוט דיגיטלי שהיה יקר מפז, הודות למחירי הציוד, מערכת ההפעלה וכמובן הטלויזיות היקרות (מי זוכר שטלויזיית פלאזמה לפני 6 שנים עלתה עשרות אלפי שקלים?). כיום, הכל זול: מחירי הטלויזיות צנחו, מחירים של נגני מדיה מבוססי אנדרואיד הינם זולים ביותר וכמובן האינטרנט הפך לזול גם הוא. וזהו. לצורך שילוט דיגיטלי, זה מה שצריך: 1. טלויזיה; 2. נגן (אנדרואיד או חלונות); 3. אינטרנט; 4. תוכנה לשילוט דיגיטלי (כמו תוכנת הענן לשילוט דיגיטלי של נוביסיין).

והיכן נמצא היום שלטים דיגיטליים? כאמור, כמעט בכל מקום.

שילוט דיגיטלי שבעבר היה בחברות גדולות ובצמתים התפשט כפטריות אחרי הגשם. ניתן למצוא אותו בבתי ספר, במכללות, באוניברסיטאות, בבתי הדרכה, בחנויות, במרכולים (ליד הקופה וברחבי הסופרמרקט), בקניונים, במסעדות (תפריטים דיגיטליים), בברים (על הקירות) ובפאבים, בתחנות דלק, לצידי הכבישים, בבתי מגורים, בלובי ובמעליות, בבתי מלון, באתרי נופש, על גבי ובתוך מוניות ובאוטובוסים, בתחנות רכבת, בשדות תעופה, במרפאות (בחדרי ההמתנה), בבתי חולים (בין היתר בלובי), במוסדות דת כגון בתי כנסת וכנסיות, בחברות בינוניות וגדולות, בארועים ציבוריים ופרטיים שונים. ובעצם, היכן לא?

מי יודע? אולי יבוא היום ועל גבי הירח יהיה שלט דיגיטלי מבוסס led-ים יום אחד...

ניר.

[clould-digital-signage]

5 things you do not like to broadcast to a digital sign

Many businesses, at almost any size, especially with high visibility of clients in their venue are implementing digital signage these days. The reasons are clear - while providing useful information and entertainment content (Infotainment), the digital signs are used for the business' marketing messages, it is by far more dynamic than the traditional printed signs and obviously much more interactive as the business owner can easily implement social, interactive content, set up polls, games and even handout coupons directly to his clients’ smartphones.

Still, many businesses are lacking the experience of what is the 'right' content and 'wrong' content on the digital signage screens. Obviously the rules are different between a bar and a church, between retail and education, but still... Let's try to set up few basic ground rules on 'what would be considered a 'wrong' content:

1. Offensive, provocative and racist content, bad taste jokes and content - while this looks like a 'needless to say' kind of statement, make sure you think one more second before publishing. Something may look funny or even harmless at first glance, but when you think deeper it may be offensive. Using Humor is always right, but take extra caution, the one thing you don’t want is to offence your clients (or worst, your potential clients...). 2. Stale/wrong information - The digital signs are dynamic - use it, do not leave old non-relevant info, if it is boring and reflects on the business as 'non updated'. No one likes old news. In retails or commercial implementations of signage it might cause other problem  - sale is over, the product is not in stock - this is highly frustrating). 3. Boring, static, 'armature' designed messages - again, looks like it states the obvious, but, when a business wants to promote something fast, it sometime can be published with less attention on the details - the content is the king - make sure you respect it. Digital Signs are screens, it is always preferred to use a 'moving image' (flash, video) instead of simple one. 4. 'Crowded' layout - a common mistake is trying to put 'everything' in one screen layout (i.e. video, message, social content, clock and weather) - too many details on the same screen are confusing and cause the potential clients to lose focus. Avoid this as much as possible. 5. Copyrights and intellectual property - be aware that some content may be protected under intellectual property rights. This may apply to logos, music, videos, images and other content, even from the web. Hope these rules are helpful - enjoy your signage!

Yahav.

[clould-digital-signage]

Genesis by Google: In the beginning Google created Chrome(box)...

Citing from the imaginary Google Bible: Google created the great search engine; and Google saw that it was good. Then Google created the cool gmail free mailbox service; and Google saw that it was good. Then Google created the most popular Chrome browser; and Google saw that it was good. Then Google created the Google services (Google earth, Google translate and Google docs); and Google saw that it was good. Then Google created the awesome Chromebook; and Google saw that it was good. Then Google said, "Let us make a TV box in our image, according to our likeness; and let them rule over the TV box domain and over every digital signage thing that displays on the earth.”

Was it good? Personally, I bet it will be!

In the end of those genesis days, Google has recently brought us the Chromebox. Even though it is manufactured by other third party giant hardware companies (such as HP, Asus, Dell and Acer), it is still branded as “Google Chromebox”. I do not recall any other hardware product combined with software product which was heavily branded as the Chromebox: for instance, when I used to buy a PC, it had a sticker that says ”Intel Pentium inside” or “Microsoft Windows inside”. But that was just a sticker and feature of the PC. In the Chromebox case, it is much more than that.

Why? The Chromebox is not just a TV box, it is supposed to be THE TV box. Good for running one dedicated app such as digital signage or any other app which can be downloaded from the Web Chrome Store.

So, Google invented Chrome... I remember an old film with Arnold Schwarzenegger from 1982: “Conan the Barbarian”. In that film the god deity of the hero is called Crom (spelled as “Chrome”). So maybe back then, someone already new that the word “Chrome” is something that should rule the land and the heaven.

Moses.