If you’re looking to step up your digital signage efforts, a Content Management System (CMS) can be a life-saver. However, not all CMS solutions are one-and-the-same, and given the myriad of options available, choosing the right one for your unique needs isn’t always easy.
With that in mind, we’ll attempt to make things a little simpler for you. We’ll begin by bringing you up to speed with what exactly a Digital Signage CMS is, before sharing with you the 7 essential features that any CMS worth your time and money should possess.
Let’s dig in!
What is a Digital Signage CMS?
A CMS, in the Digital Signage sense, is a software solution that allows users to deploy and manage their Digital Signage content across one or multiple screens. It can do this locally as well as remotely.
But this definition applies to most CMS solutions in the market. To truly understand what separates the wheat from the chaff, consider these 7 features.
7 Essential CMS Features
1.  Easy and Intuitive Content Management
When it comes to content management, good CMS platforms do most of the heavy lifting for you. They typically come packed with a whole host of flexible design tools and templates that greatly simplify content creation and management.
Moreover, with easy-to-use dashboards and drag-and-drop interfaces, they let you easily incorporate widgets, apps, and dynamic elements like news feeds, videos, and social media streams into your Digital Signage.
2.  Remote Management Over the Cloud
To ensure your message always gets across to your intended audiences, a good CMS lets you upload, schedule, deploy and monitor your digital content over the cloud, helping you maximize user engagement and, consequently, ROI.
With only an internet connection and screen needed for you to get started, this feature also saves you from having to bother with any inconveniences and costs associated with on-site installation, configuration, and OS compatibility.
3.  Support
Since problems are bound to arise, a CMS (or any solution) is only as good as the support that comes with it. Besides being great on its own, the provision of comprehensive CMS support also serves to highlight that a company believes in its product (which is always a good sign!).
Therefore, it’s vital to ensure your CMS provider offers clear and effective channels of communication so you may conveniently approach them to resolve any issues as you encounter them. In our experience of 15 years working with leading Digital Signage brands, we’ve found Creative Realities to fare really well in this regard.
4.  Customization and Integration
With each business having its unique requirements and objects, a one-size-fits-all approach simply doesn’t work when it comes to managing your Digital Signage Content. Moreover, with new threats and opportunities always on the horizon, even the needs of individual businesses are subject to change.
It’s vital that your CMS can be customized or integrated with third-party apps to perfectly address your current situation and evolve as your campaigns, business rules, and customer requirements change over time.
5.   Health Monitoring
Ideally, a CMS should also let you remotely monitor the status of all the screens in your Digital Signage network and provide details into any problems that might occur during their operation. You should be able to see exactly what content is being displayed on your screens in real-time and be notified immediately if any displays are not functioning as they should (or at all). It may also provide you with vital information that you can use to troubleshoot the display.
6.   Scheduling Tools
A CMS should have a robust scheduling component that lets you sequence and play-list content according to your specific needs and requirements. You may schedule the content by zone, region, location, DMA, daypart, or a host of other triggers such as weather or foot traffic. This lets you factor real-time requirements into your content strategy while coordinating them with your broader marketing campaign.
7.   Data Analytics and Reporting
With the right CMS, communications don’t necessarily have to be one-way. Your audience can inform your content strategy just as well as your marketing initiatives inform their decisions. Solutions like those by Creative Realities let you leverage big data and audience measurement techniques to better navigate the performance of your Digital Signage content and digital environments and ensure your customer communications are always on point, so you may effectively influence their decisions and drive their behavior.
Key Takeaway
The features we just discussed are absolute must-haves if you want to get more out of your digital signage endeavors and a great place to start your search for the perfect CMS.
About Intagleo Systems
Intagleo Systems has over 15 years of experience in the Digital Signage space and helps companies around the globe craft Digital Signage Software solutions from the ground up or enhance the capabilities of existing ones.
