Software

How to get what you need from your SaaS provider

George Preston, VP of sales for Spinetix's North American region, wants to make sure companies are getting the most out of their SaaS providers. That was the focus of Preston's presentation 'Why Software as Service matters for digital signage and how to make sure you’re getting the real thing.'

Photo: iStock

May 31, 2022 by Kevin Damask — Editor, Digital Signage Today

George Preston, with more than 15 years of digital signage experience on his resume, has seen the exciting growth of Software as a Service and can't wait to see future possibilities.

But Preston also knows that before companies jump into purchasing an SaaS platform, they must find out if they're getting the best bang for their buck.

That was the focus of the webinar, "Why Software as Service (SaaS) matters for digital signage and how to make sure you're getting the real thing," hosted by Digital Signage Today on May 24 and sponsored by Spinetix. Preston, the vice president of sales for Spinetix's North American division, leads sales strategy for the company's North American segment. Along with his digital signage expertise, Preston has years of experience in the AV and networking fields.

George Preston, provided

"I really hope that by the end of today's session, it will have inspired some thought about the choice that either you or your customer are about to make with a digital signage investment," Preston said.

During his presentation, Preston dived into strategies of how to leverage digital signage to bolster client relationships by featuring an SaaS approach. He also talked about ways to decrease risk and avoid unplanned costs, all while keeping customers delighted.

Finding a 'true' SaaS provider

Spinetix launched its SaaS platform in 2019 and Preston said the digital signage provider has spent the past three years learning and working to improve the technology.

"One thing that we never predicted was how many of our customers would say that they've realized that they've never actually used a real Software as a Service product in signage before," Preston said. "They're all products that look like SaaS and were built like SaaS, certainly, but that's where it ended."

Preston compared SaaS to a shared office space or a multi-tenant serviced office. Typically, someone outside the company using the office, such as a building manager, handles the maintenance and utilities.

"Software as a Service takes one application, one program and then very securely breaks out spaces for other customers to have with a wall all around them, just like you have with your shared office space," Preston said.

Preston outlined several important features of a strong SaaS provider, including:

• Upgrades should be frequent, at no additional charge for implementation and managed seamlessly by the vendor.
• It should be configured, rather than customized.
• Customers should be using the same instance of code or program.
• It should be scalable through use of global cloud providers.
• New customer accounts should be ready to use in a few days, no longer.
• Integrations are maintained through upgrades.
• Total cost of ownership is clear and predictable via consistent annual prediction.
• It should have processes and policies that encompass physical, network, application and data-level security, as well as full backup and disaster recovery.

"One thing that a building service provider does is make sure everything is secure. It's just the same in Software as a Service," Preston said. "A service vendor in true SaaS should be able to show you the processes and the policies, globally, with all of their tenants that encompass the physical network application and data-level security. These are layers that certain security tests and penetration standards will address. And they should address all of them."

Software should be scalable, flexible

Preston also discussed changes in digital signage and how an effective SaaS provider can easily adapt to those obstacles. He cited the COVID-19 pandemic. Many businesses had to pivot and make changes on the fly and they used digital signage to communicate those updates with staff and customers.

"It's no good just keeping something up-to-date because that's what everyone else is doing," Preston said. "Your SaaS vendor should think 'What are people going to be using our software for because of what's happening now?' Another valuable feature is addressing customer questions in real time."

Also in the presentation, Preston broke down how good SaaS is measured through renewal rate, organic adoption of new features and system expansion. In addition, he discussed unique SaaS demands within digital signage, client-vendor relationships and how a good SaaS system can strengthen that partnership, tips on how to get started with the software and what users should expect, the scalability of a true SaaS provider and how it can work on cloud-based systems.

Preston also addressed security concerns based on what device the user is working on. To learn more about SaaS from Preston's presentation, click here.

About Kevin Damask

---

Included In This Story

---

SpinetiX

At SpinetiX, we inspire businesses to unlock the potential of their story. We believe in the power of digital signage as a dynamic new storytelling platform to engage with people. For more than 15 years, we have been constantly innovating to deliver cutting-edge technology that helps our customers shine.

Request Info

Learn More