How to Choose Your Digital Signage CMS

Digital Signage Essentials - Part 2

Welcome to the second instalment of our Digital Signage Essentials series!

It’s now time to explore the heart of your digital signage solution, the Content Management System (CMS). In this part, we'll explain what a digital signage CMS does, why it's critical for your setup, and how to choose the right one for your business.

What is a Digital Signage CMS?

A digital signage CMS is the software that lets you create, schedule, and manage content across your digital signage network. Whether you have one screen in a cafe or multiple screens in-store across a retail network, the CMS controls what your audience sees and when.

Why You Need a CMS for Digital Signage

The CMS is the control room of your digital signage network.

A digital signage CMS lets you:

• Create engaging digital signage content
• Upload and manage your content
• Schedule content at designated times and locations
• Monitor your displays, get playback reports, and troubleshoot remotely
• Manage user access and permissions
• Maintain the security of your digital signage network

Cloud-Hosted vs. Self-Hosted CMS

Before choosing a CMS, consider where it will be hosted - on the cloud or on-premise (on servers that you own and operate).

Cloud-Hosted

For small to medium-sized businesses, a cloud-hosted CMS is typically the best choice. A cloud-hosted CMS is:

• Low maintenance - no server hardware to manage
• Managed and secure - with infrastructure and updates managed by the provider
• Supported - with helpdesk support when you need it
• Cost Effective - costs can be lower than self-hosting, including hardware, IT maintenance, and upgrades, thanks to a fully managed, scalable service
• Scalable - Easily add new screens to your network as your business grows

Self-Hosting

Self-hosting meanwhile offers some different benefits and considerations:

• Complete control over your data (you will however require in-house servers and maintenance)
• Involves a higher total cost of ownership
  - Server costs
  - Installation costs
  - Software Licencing costs
  - Admin Fees
  - Upgrade Fees
• Better suited to organisations with strong technical requirements/resources

Whether cloud-hosted or self-hosted, an open-source digital signage CMS such as Xibo gives you even more flexibility, control, and cost-efficiency. Together with our Windows player, we provide a fully functional open source digital signage solution, for free!

What to Look for in a CMS

Your choice of CMS will depend on your needs, budget, and infrastructure. However, some key things to consider include:

• Ease of use: Is the user interface intuitive and simple to use? Does the CMS make it easy to create content or offer standard templates?
• Compatibility: Does it support your devices and OS? (e.g. ChromeOS, Android, Windows). Can it integrate with a wide variety of third-party apps and data sources (e.g. Canva)?
• Scheduling: Does it offer dayparting, playlists, and location-based scheduling?
• Security: Is the architecture secure with the latest security fixes? Can you restrict access and define user roles?
• Remote management: Can you restart, update, and monitor screens?
• Proof of play reports: Can you verify content was displayed?
• Scalability: Will it grow with your business as your network grows? Can you easily add new displays if needed?

A cost-effective, and versatile solution such as Xibo offers all of the above and more. With a variety of plans offering cloud hosting, excellent support, and the flexibility to adapt as your needs evolve, you have everything you need to power your signage.

Up Next

In part three, we’ll be sharing everything you need to know about player software: what it is, why it’s essential, and how to choose the right player software for your business needs.

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