Why the StudioLite is the Next Strategy Phase

I have conversations with old Enterprise users, newbies and current customers on a daily basis. I’m typically on the phone with them for long periods, answering questions, resolving concerns and giving my two cents on ideas for business strategy. In the conversations with previous Enterprise users, I often ask what it was that drove them away from us. We like feedback. It’s how we make things better. The following are some of the most common responses I receive:

• “Our business didn’t take off like we thought it would.”
• “We didn’t have a large enough customer base to justify paying the $99/month.”
• “The system was very impressive, but ultimately too impressive. It was overkill for what we were attempting to accomplish.”

The latter of the three statements is perhaps the most common I hear from previous clients. I know that sometimes our perspective might be a bit skewed. We have a great deal of high-profile enterprise clients, but the large majority of our active accounts are being used by those who’re less familiar with the technical aspects of Enterprise Software.

Our outreach gave us a great insight into our most active customer-base. And we’ve made adjustments accordingly.

Enter SignageStudio Lite 

Digital signage mainstream acceptance is coming, albeit more slowly than we initially would have liked. With the mainstream comes a push toward simplicity for the end-user. Perhaps Steve Jobs said it best:

Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.

Simplicity is truly the highest form of sophistication. If you can make it good, make it simple and –in our case–make it free, then it’s easier to acquire a broad-base of accepting and willing users.

We also made it open source and available on GitHub. So, if you’re technical enough to make your own adjustments, but want something for your end-user that provides a simple drag-and-drop system, the SignageStudio Lite will provide the necessary tools to make this happen easily and quickly.

We also believe that there are plenty of options for Enterprise digital signage, including our own, but we also recognize the need for investments in the future users of digital signage going forward. Our aim is to:

1. Get our clients using our “Lite” easy-to-use version
2. Once they’re familiar with “Lite,” move you over to the Free Pro Version
3. Transition from the Free Pro Version to the full-service Enterprise Edition

As anyone in this industry knows, the sales cycle can be extremely long and drawn-out. Education, therefore, is perhaps one of the most costly investments digital signage software firms need to make in order to win customers and get traction. Significant time investment is needed in user-experience to ensure the customers will still be yours when they are eventually ready to purchase. We hope that’s where SignageStudio Lite comes in.

How has your learning curve progressed with digital signage technology?