We are regularly called to networks somebody else installed, usually because the customer wants them working again. The causes repeat, and only one of the five is about technology.
The five causes, in order
01
Nobody owned the content
The most common cause by a wide margin. The screens went in, the launch content was loaded, and publishing was never anybody's actual job. Six months later the same four slides are playing and people have stopped seeing them.
02
The screens were wrong for the room
A standard display in a sunny window, a screen too small to read from where people stand, or a fine pitch LED wall nobody gets close to. All decided before anything was ordered, and all expensive to correct.
03
Nobody was monitoring
A screen fails, nobody is alerted, and it stays dark for weeks. By the time it is reported, confidence in the whole network has gone and people have stopped expecting it to work.
04
Publishing was too hard
The platform was configured by a technical person for a technical person. The marketing coordinator who was supposed to use it needs twenty minutes and a phone call to publish a notice, so it does not happen.
05
It was never clear what they were for
Screens bought because a competitor had them. With no defined purpose there is no way to decide what belongs on them, and the loop fills with whatever anyone sends.
What a healthy network looks like a year in
Something visible changes at least weekly
A named person is responsible, and a second person can cover them
Publishing a routine message takes minutes, from a template
Somebody is alerted when a screen fails, and there is a record of uptime
Every piece of content has an end date
Somebody can say what the screens are for in one sentence
Questions people actually ask
Can an abandoned network be revived?
Usually, and it is often much cheaper than starting again. The hardware is frequently fine and the platform can be reconfigured. What has to change is the ownership and the content rhythm, and if those do not change the network will simply stall again eighteen months later.
How do we avoid this on a new project?
Decide the content owner and the publishing rhythm before you order hardware, and write them down. If nobody in the organisation can be given that responsibility, buy fewer screens and be honest about why.
Keep reading
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