Sometimes being a digital signage solution provider can be a tough and challenging job. Not only do you have to represent the company you’re selling the product for but you’re also consciously looking after the best interest for the client and here’s a typical dilemma:

One of our clients requested a feature to a digital signage software component which wasn’t that much of an issue except we required the services of the digital signage software company and there was a cost associated with this feature (the client was happy to pay for this). But all this came with  a little  unanticipated catch – the client was required to upgrade to the latest version of the software before the modification patch would work. Many of us might be thinking,  “That’s easy, there’s no harm in doings so as the latest patch will resolve and fix previous bugs”…. Ummmmmm…. WRONG!!!

By upgrading the software we found quite a number of bugs and spend quite a number of hours investigating and then reporting the issue to the manufacturer whilst the client had to workaround the problem. Fortunately, we provided the client with a test environment and didn’t upgrade the development system with the latest software.

I’m not sure whether many of you have experienced this but upgrading to the latest version can actually introduce new bugs. What’s worse is that a considerable amount of time can be spent investigating the issue and the  time for this may not be chargeable – who do you charge for this type of work…. the client who has already paid for a working solution ? or the digital signage company who supplied the dodgy software?

This is a tough one and I’ll like to hear from anyone who has been through this experience.

So there are a few lessons that I have learnt from this:

1. ALWAYS make sure you test the upgrade or software patch on a test unit or environment

2. ALWAYS back up your content or system before applying any patches as you’ll  never know the state of the unit after the reboot

3. PLAN for any changes you make to the system and carefully provide detailed rollback plans in the event the change failed

4. TRUST and have some faith that the developers have done their testing but acknowledge that they cannot test all the different scenarios

5. Make sure you charge someone for your work or include this as part of your Maintenance and Support costs… or even better get the manufacturer to conduct intensive testing with your configuration before applying any patches or upgrades

6. IF IT’S NOT BROKEN LEAVE IT AS IT IS… sometimes making a simple change can break the entire system… but if you’ve done the above point 2 & 3 correctly then this shouldn’t be an issue.

Have you been in this situation? Tell us what you think.

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

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Category: Digital Signage Blog News

Who are we?

We are a group of technology enthusiasts who are passionate with the uses of gadgets and nifty pieces of equipment.
When digital signage came into our picture, we got excited and decided to take it for a ride. In fact, with the tremendous popular rise of digital signage and its applications everyday, it has now become part of our profession.

Our first success was Advertise Me, an established digital signage company in Australia.
Through establishing many clients and partners, we created the Digital Signage Portal.
And if that wasn’t enough, we decided what the heck – let’s blog about it!

So what is this Blog about?

We have been operating in the digital signage industry since its birth in Australia, and have come across many experiences in this line of business.

Apart from working, we also obtain many useful sources of news and information that we think would be beneficial to the digital signage community.

So where else would we collaborate all our experiences and news? Right here of course!

Contributors

There are currently several contributors to the digital signage blog.

From time to time we like to invite others to write something or submit a topic to us, and we will post it on the blog.
Having said that, if you would like to share a post with us, feel free to send it to info@digitalsignageblog.com.

Don’t forget …

To visit our Digital Signage Portal to interact with the digital signage community from around the world or visit the Digital Signage Articles for a mix of different digital signage articles from around the world.

Now if you’re looking to exchange links visit the Digital Signage Experts.

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Category: Digital Signage Blog Info, Digital Signage Blog News

If you haven’t heard, in Australia the Federal Government is planning to spend 43 billion dollars to upgrade the Australian network infrastructure. What’s been interesting is the fact that the government did not award this project to any of the major Telcos – it will all be in house. Well this may potentially mean the infrastructure will not be monopolised by any of the Telcos. This is definitely a good thing for consumers.
Now if you’re a digital signage company you may be wondering how this may impact you. The first thing that popped into my mind was “more bandwidth…. means more bandwidth intensive applications can be used on the digital signage system”.

Here’s a list of things that popped into my mind when this was announced:

• stream or cache high definition videos to the screens – this includes live TV,  Foxtel, and even live events (Youtube has already introduced the Live Events program)
• develop real time applications on the digital signage systems
• shorter waiting times for content synchronisations
• integrate the digital signage system with wireless hotspots
• integrate with the upcoming digital radio services
• develop interactive applications that require low latency and high bandwidth
• real time monitoring of digital signage networks and quicker troubleshooting/response times

Seeing several opportunities, advertise me will hopefully launch several innovative solutions in the next couple of years so watch this space.

What innovative digital signage applications do you see taking advantage of high speed networks?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

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Category: Digital Signage Blog Info, Digital Signage Blog News