How Can Digital Signage Assist AV Integrators in Growing Their Businesses?

Digital signages are becoming an integral part of mass-market and targeted communication for businesses and organizations of all sizes. They have helped everyone from coffee shops, supermarkets to banks and universities to engage with their audiences. Increasingly, they’re becoming crucial for AV integrators to optimize and grow their businesses.

Digital signage and AV integrators

At times, certain audio-video integrators may find it difficult to include digital signages into their offerings. This initial skepticism happens because of three factors:

Inexperience: Since it’s relatively a new technology, some AV integrators fear that they don’t have the skills to operate a digital signage solution. But digital signages are exceptionally easy to use and more user-friendly than most software that audio-video professionals already use.

Perceived complexity: Some might feel that a digital signage integration will make their operations complex. Nothing could be further from the truth. Digital signage solutions are designed for clients to use without seeking any external help.

Difficulty in selling: AV integrators may also fear that their sales personnel may find it challenging to add digital signages to the list. This is because traditional audio video solutions didn’t have these and so they fear clients may be reluctant to agree to it.

These challenges would occur whenever you integrate new technology. But that initial reluctance shouldn’t force you to ignore the immense potential that digital signages can offer AV integrators and their clients.

Why AV integrators should adopt digital signage software

In every industry, there are early adopters, those who wait to see how things will pan out, and then those who feel that the new technology is unnecessary and end up never adopting it.

The ones who adopt early will gain disproportionate benefits while the second group will have to play catch up. The last cluster will find it difficult to be relevant, will have to reduce their margins, and move down the ladder and find low-paying clients.

Adopting digital signage software will help AV integrators deliver enhanced experiences for their clients and their audiences. As several of EasySignage’s AV integrator partners have found out, this has demonstrable advantages:

Higher prices: With a digital and feature-rich product, you’ll be able to command higher prices. The elevated user experience will convince clients that the premium they pay is worth it.

Recurring revenue: It won’t be a one-off bump in the initial stages. AV integrators will be able to increase and maintain their revenue in the long run. This is primarily because the feedback loop will encourage clients to demand digital signage systems.

Advanced functionalities: All customers want the most modern solutions as they don’t want to be behind the curve. Even those clients who may not be in the technology sector and are in the consumer-facing retail business, for example, will prefer technologies that optimize their operations.

Brand differentiation: Technology is the most compelling differentiator in any sector. With the integration of digital signage software, your brand will be identified as advanced, dynamic, and reliable.

What AV integrators should look for in a digital signage solution

From our relationships with clients across sectors, the one thing we’ve learned is that every piece of technology should be rolled out to serve a larger business goal. It shouldn’t be out of peer pressure.

Secondly, the difference a piece of technology makes will always be secondary to its ease of use. However efficient a technological solution is, if it’s difficult to manage, its deployment and usage will be ineffective.

The third learning has been that for it to be beneficial, technology has to be customized to the objectives, operational needs, and constraints of a client. Ignoring any one of these factors will prevent the client from utilizing the technology and discourage them from entering into long-term relationships with you.

That’s why AV integrators must know what features to look for and value in a digital signage solution.

Remote management

Businesses have hundreds of display units and they need to efficiently manage them. They need to know the content being delivered on each display and whether it has any issues. The ability to remotely monitor and manage would save them time and money. This calls for a smart, easy-to-use, and centralized dashboard.

It should make content creation, scheduling, and monitoring easy. It should also give reports in real-time and alert you of problems as they happen. The clients should know what’s being relayed, its engagement statistics, and diagnostic data.

For you to efficiently manage it from a remote location, the system should be up-to-date. It will happen when all updates are timely installed with zero need for site visits. When the solution gives free updates which are remotely installed, there will also be fewer needs for unnecessary patches or fixes.

Importantly, remote management shouldn’t be complicated. The focus should be to deliver a solution that even someone from a non-technical background will be able to manage. If they require IT experts from outside, there will be delays and cost implications.

Think about it this way: Is your digital signage software as easy as the various applications that you already use? Can you use it with the same ease as that of email? If not, all other functionalities are academic and irrelevant.

Scalability

Technology deployment is always in a context. You would offer solutions based on the short and medium-term opportunities and challenges your clients would face. But this context can rapidly change. Some of these changes could have been anticipated by the client but several might have been unpredictable

The solution you offer should be able to accommodate those changes. If they become inefficient to handle the new reality, they will become redundant.

For most clients, the number one issue would be whether what you deliver would be scalable. It needs to be deployed keeping in mind the growth potential of the client. As and when their business expands, the digital signage system you integrate should make it easy to add and manage displays.

This is why you should choose hardware and software based on how you expect the client’s business needs to grow. What you deliver should be flexible and easy to manage as the digital signage footprint increases.

At EasySignage, plug-and-play scalability is a key differentiator. By plugging it into a network, you’ll be able to scale it effortlessly.

Like all effective digital solutions, EasySignage can also be implemented across verticals and sectors. Each implementation produces learnings and best practices that are incorporated into its next deployment. This means that digital signage solutions will be a reliable and credible partner no matter what project your AV integrator business would be involved in.

Simplified content creation and management

Content is what drives the world. Businesses and brands that can deliver engaging and enriching content will have a demonstrable edge over others. That’s because they would be building an audience that would look forward to what they have to say.

But far too often, content creation becomes a time-consuming and complex affair that leads to amateurish outcomes. The solution is a digital signage solution that can enable AV professionals to become content creators without having to seek any external help.

You can get started immediately and be confident that you’ll be able to manage it on your own. This is one of the biggest advantages of integrating a digital signage solution.

EasySignage, for example, allows you to create everything from posters to infographics to menus to sales collaterals. With Canva, the app that lets you create everything a business would need to communicate to its employees and external audiences, you don’t have to worry about hiring a designer or graphic artist.

You can also share social media feeds and help in wayfinding. You’ll also be able to integrate social media, news, sports, and business apps to make your content diverse and interesting. What’s more, all of it will happen automatically once you integrate them.

In short

If you’re an AV integrator, you know that clients hire you to address certain problems and make the most of the available opportunities. With the right digital signage solution, you’ll be able to deliver impactful, dynamic, and cost-effective solutions irrespective of the category that the client operates in.