Digital Signage CMS Software Benchmarking So Far Suggesting They’re All Pretty Darn Similar
February 9, 2024 by Dave Haynes
Sixteen:Nine’s German content partners Invidis did a micro-conference last week during ISE and I finally had some spare time today to review notes about the session they did about the CMS software market.
The company, which also does a lot of consulting, set aside time to talk about the findings so far from what they call the Digital Signage Software Compass – an effort to compare and benchmark the many, many, many, many CMS software platforms on the market globally.
There are 100s, and walking around the show last week, I yet again saw new companies showing, as well as new and unfamiliar logos on the partner lists of display vendors like Vestel.
Invidis consultant Marco Wasserman, an integrator who has been around software for 20 years, is doing the work – and he has dug into more than two dozen so far. What he’s found to date confirms my impressions, and those of many others who don’t have a direct involvement in a software company (Disclosure: Sixteen:Nine is owned by the software firm Spectrio, but I have no role in product management or development).
What Invidis is finding is that all the ones looked at are pretty good in terms of capabilities, but also all pretty much the same in how they work and what they do.
“What we see is that they all look very, very similar,” Stefan Schieker of Invidis told the crowd. “They all take very, very similar approaches to what digital signage is, and should be. And for me, the question is where is the innovation coming from?”
“For me, the fundamental question is: With pressure on the traditional CMS markets, where’s that market going? Where’s the innovation happening? Who’s driving that innovation?”
Most of the software options on the market, Schieker says, do what they are expected to do, and some have been around for 30 years or more. That’s a sign of maturity. But as I said before, the question is, where does innovation come from? We see pressure on that market. So we see, we have the question of the big guys like Samsung, making big investments, trying to create CMS platforms. What’s the role of Adobe pushing into the market? What’s the role of the CMS system?”
“And you can ask the question, are the digital signage CMS platforms going to be marginalized, or commoditized?”
These are very real, very legitimate observations. When I see new companies popping up, and making marketing and value proposition statements that read like scores of others, I wonder, “Why??? Did they not do any market research first?”
No one would dispute that there are too many software options out there. That happens across all kinds of technologies and markets.
Some companies will rise up and be dominant. When I started going to pro AV trade shows almost 20 years ago, Scala was the dominant player. It is still a big player, but it has many other serious competitors now.
While there are 100s of companies, the list of those doing big trade across multiple countries and regions is quite small. There are also some companies that are very big in countries like France, and not really active elsewhere.
What I always say when talking to small and new companies is that they will struggle to succeed if they just have very general offers and solutions, as in “We do digital signage, what do you need?”
I encourage them to find a niche that’s not already heavily tapped. Retail is not a niche, but subsets like luxury retail and auto retailing are kinda sorta niches, albeit busy ones.
SMB is not really a niche and a lot of companies that start in SMB shift to enterprise – where there is scale and the end-users are not typically as fussed about costs, as in “Why can’t we just use TVs???”
It is important for software companies to be very well defined in what they do and offer. It is VERY helpful to be known as “the guys” who are particularly strong in functionality, like data handling, or a vertical market, like airports.
If you are not differentiated in some way, you are left to work VERY hard on marketing and building top of mind awareness … or you are just competing on price.
It will be super-interesting to hear of the sameness that exists now with this embryonic compass continues as more companies are analyzed. Marco, as the saying goes, is doing God’s work. 🙂
Anyone successfully (and profitably) selling digital signage software has solved the challenge of uploading, scheduling and displaying content on screens, reliably. Invidis are doing a great job of validating this.
The value comes in providing first-class pre and post-sales support, security and compliance and ensuring the CMS integrates with the systems and processes already established within a customer’s operations.
Differentiated value comes from:
API-first, data-driven solutions that turn data and media into auto-published content.
Seamless integration of network and device data with customer support systems.
Extend device capabilities to interact with established local systems such as lighting, audio and fire systems.
Integration with computer vision and sensor technology to prove the value of digital signage and optimise content based on insights.
This is where value is created. Remove the friction and replace manual processes with automation aligned with the customer’s objectives.
Only 100s??? (Thank the maker – I thought it was 1000s) And yes, we all “push media files around” and pull from multiple data sources… AND … JasonC is right: Differentiation is after the sale.
I agree with Jason on his analysis in the previous comment. I would like to comment because we made the same observation at Touchify and are trying to provide a complete solution:
– a powerful and integrated content creation tool
– digital signage and interactive display
– support for a large number of operating systems and devices
– APIs, sensors, hardware interoperability
– a significant effort on pre and after sales support
We are many players in this evolving market. And we still have a lot to do to best meet the expectations of our customers and end users.