Digital Signage Today
00:16:36 · Judy Monnel, Darryl Kuder
[00:16:36] S0: Right. [00:16:36] S1: And as long as we put in the right piece of hardware upfront, we can actually very easily switch them over in the future. We've been doing that quite a bit to find that right CMS that fits perfectly. [00:16:51] S0: So, given your years and years of expertise, what are some of the biggest trends that you've seen when it comes to CMS and CMS strategies?
00:17:02 · Darryl Kuder
[00:17:02] S1: Well, think it's what I just mentioned. A lot of these CMSs are starting to build out little widgets or apps within their CMS that become more or less a drag and drop widget. So if I want to run Power BI, or I wanna run, like, YouTube live, like, a streaming video or, you know, something like that that, like, those are the things that we're starting to see that customer... Or CMSs are incorporating, and I think it has a lot to just do with customer demand. Know, maybe a Canva integration. If a client's been using Canva, you're starting to see a lot more CMSs add that. Ironically, Judy, one of the things that I struggle with is trying to work with a CMS that is not producing those types of things. Right. You know, we get approached a lot of times by a CMS who would like us to start using their product and they're not all built the same. Right. That's definitely, those are some of the big differentiators for us specifically in the markets that we serve are... Does your CMS have the ability to... Like, are you building out these additional widgets? Because they're definitely making a huge difference from an end user standpoint. Are you allowing us to deploy these on multiple types of hardware? Like, obviously, we like BrightSign, but if we need to deploy them on a system on a chip somewhere, you know, to satisfy some hardware they already have, like, are you doing those things and are you keeping up? With the new trend of AI? You know, I think we're still waiting to see sort of where things are gonna flush out. You know, there are some CMSs out there like Wallboard who are implementing AI and trying to be on the forefront of that, which I think is wonderful. But I think we're still a ways away from seeing what this next round of technology with AI is really gonna provide to the CMS platforms.
00:19:07 · Judy Monnel, Darryl Kuder
[00:19:07] S0: It's funny, because that one's kinda like my next question, what you see coming, or trends in the future. And obviously, AI is huge. Anything else maybe though, in [00:19:19] S1: terms [00:19:19] S0: of the client expectations or, you know, and I think it's amazing that the CMS companies are, you know, constantly innovating because after all, content is king, right, when it comes to digital signage.
00:19:19 · Judy Monnel, Darryl Kuder
[00:19:19] S0: of the client expectations or, you know, and I think it's amazing that the CMS companies are, you know, constantly innovating because after all, content is king, right, when it comes to digital signage. [00:19:39] S1: Yeah. You know, sometimes it's hard... I mean, we're not a software company. So, you know, from our standpoint, you know, we're somewhat at the mercy of what they decide to develop. But I can tell you, you know, we have conversations with the CMSs that we work with all the time, offering insight, like real world feedback saying, okay, this is what our customers are saying to us. These things are working, you know, it'd be nice to add these features. You know, one of the things that's actually becoming more and more important, not that it hasn't been important, so don't misunderstand what I'm about to say, but the, you know, the idea of being able to update firmware and, from a security standpoint, make sure that the hardware endpoints are secure and things like that, that is actually becoming something that, you know, outside of the content creation side, the other departments that are on these large enterprises are extremely concerned with. Right. And so having the CMSs build these tools in that make firmware updates easier and keeping the devices more secure and things like that, being SOC two compliant, like, all of these things that we're getting asked for by end users on a regular basis. A lot of companies won't even consider a CMS that is either not SOC two compliant or some type of iOS compliant. It's a big thing right now.
00:21:12 · Judy Monnel, Darryl Kuder
[00:21:12] S0: Yeah, because it's just one incident. The brand damage can be immense. Even And the customer damage, when a message or something is hacked, you know, and that's what we're talking You know, you really can't afford that today. The consumer is very, very picky and, you know, they're quick to move to another brand. [00:21:36] S1: Yeah. And their IT department sometimes requires it. There's no documentation that says there's this amount of security, we have to move on. We can't keep going. [00:21:47] S0: Well, it's been great talking, Darryl. I wanted to give you a chance to make any last points on the CMS strategy. [00:21:56] S1: Yeah, I appreciate that. I mean, the only thing I'd probably end the conversation saying is that, you know, we feel like it's a really important thing to not only offer end users and the integrators alike different options, but to actually go through the process with the end user and show them firsthand, like, these are the features that these CMSs offer, and open that conversation to them and explain to them why, hey, it's okay to have two different CMSs. You know, oftentimes, the people that are managing one type of deployment may not necessarily be the same people managing content on the other type. Exactly. And so I think the myth really is one CMS is easier, and we don't necessarily think that's true. We think the right CMS is easier, even if it means you've got two. [00:22:50] S0: That's right. As we've talked about, there's so many limitations with one CMS. It's So definitely an important conversation for any client to have.
00:22:50 · Judy Monnel, Darryl Kuder
[00:22:50] S0: That's right. As we've talked about, there's so many limitations with one CMS. It's So definitely an important conversation for any client to have. [00:23:01] S1: Yeah, I would definitely agree. Those limitations, by the way, don't always come up until you're fully deployed and are trying to do something. So you gotta be careful for that too. [00:23:12] S0: Yeah, I mean, like we said, what you wanna do today is not maybe the same thing you're gonna do in five years. And who wants to strip down and rebuild and learn at that point? That wasn't the right CMS approach. [00:23:26] S1: Yeah, you're absolutely right. [00:23:28] S0: Well, you again, Darryl, being here and sharing your expert insight. [00:23:32] S1: Yeah, it's my pleasure. Thank you, Judy. Appreciate it. [00:23:35] S0: To our viewers and listeners, please bookmark the Digital Signage Today podcast page, and you'll be able to keep up on future episodes and not miss one like today, which was great.