Article

The 25 gotchas of digital signage, part 5

Common mistakes and what you can learn from them. (Part 5 of 5)   

August 7, 2008 by Mike White — pres, mms

 

Mike White, president, Multi-Media Solutions

Throughout the years, Multi-Media Solutions has seen its fair share of easy and troublesome digital signage deployments. But through it all we persevered and learned from all the experiences, which ultimately proved to be more important than any profit from any specific job. 

Below is a list of our most memorable (and painful) mistakes, numbers 21 through 25 of the 25 gotchas of digital signage.

21) Change ordersI believe those words provoke more bad feelings than any other. My experience tells me that no matter how much experience I have and how well I've prepared, there will always be something that I did not think about when writing the contract or proposal. You must proactively establish how you are going to handle change orders and what will define a change order. Remember, failure to consider the other gotcha's are not grounds for change orders; they are challenges that you will have to eat financially if you do not plan for them.

22) Contracts and understandings with big companies Most big companies will not directly sign our contracts. They will send it to purchasing and they will issue a purchase order that we work from. It is very important to do everything you can to get them to reference your contract and understanding on the P.O.  At a minimum, get a clear understanding and buy in from the most senior manager you can. The bigger the company the more likely you will have a challenge with this.

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24) Putting all your eggs in one basket Never have just one person trained to do a specific task. That will make you vulnerable and hiring someone at the last minute to finish a task could cost you more money than you have budgeted in profit for the job. If you have only one person trained and that person quits, get sick or hurt, you pay big time.

25) When the nuclear option happens Just know that sometimes no matter how much you prepare, no matter how hard you work, no matter what, your loving customer is going to press the "nuclear button." They panic, send out a ton of emails, and usually target the integrator as the origin of the problem. My suggestion is to meet with it head on and fix the problem to the best of your ability. Running and hiding is simply not an option. If you are not a person of integrity and ready to stand accountable, you should not be in this business.