Companies considering deploying digital signage often have a list of questions they plan to ask prospective vendors. But what questions should a vendor ask of its prospective customers? Following is a list developed by Rise Vision, Inc. that will help companies be prepared for information they will need to provide in order to make their digital signage installation a success.

1. What is your ultimate goal for your digital signage installation: Do you want to grab attention? Communicate brand messages? Be able to provide instructions and emergency alerts? Offer customers a pleasurable distraction during wait times? All of the above? Let‘s start with the big picture so that we can make the details work.

2. Do you have a set budget committed to the project for initial roll-out and ongoing upkeep/updates?

3. What internal resources are available to you for this project, including IT and project/construction management, and what type of support will you require from your integrator and vendor?

4. Does your company have or plan to invest in infrastructure to support an in-house software platform for your digital signage system – including secure, fault-tolerant servers – or can you benefit from an ASP (Application Service Provider) model that ensures reliability and security?

5. What is the long-term expansion plan for the display system and how many total displays should the infrastructure be designed to support?

6. What types of media files do you want to display? The more intensive the files, the more processing power will be required.

7. What kinds of live information would you like to display, including time, weather, headline news, or financial quotes? Would you like to display multiple forms of information in one screen via “windowing”? This information will help us determine software, content sources, and media players required.

8. How many users will need to access the software to contribute content and schedule playlists? Will you need content approval controls over messages and playlists before they are published to displays? These questions will determine whether web-based access or a separate executable software application are the best fit for your organization.

9. Do you need, or want to be able to turn your displays into an emergency alert system?

10. What are your system monitoring requirements, and how do you want to receive notifications in the event of a failure?

If you have questions of your own you’d like to add to this list, or would like more insight, contact Ryan Cahoy at Rise Vision, Inc. at rjc@risevision.com.