I fully agree with what criley said. We're in the exact same position regarding clients who need their presentations overseen and managed by an admin, but also want user friendly control options at their disposal. I initially thought that this is what Lite aimed to be. But the fact that is has no interfacing with Pro, makes it useless, in my opinion. Sacrificing capabilities for a slightly more user friendly interface doesn't make sense.
I've said this before, but someone who actually takes the time to research and setup a digital signage platform for their office/business is likely going to be advanced enough to operate Pro with no hassle, or at least figure it out in a few days. They will immediately recognize that Pro is better than Lite, and likely go straight to Pro. You guys have said it yourself, "Lite is a stepping-stone to Pro". Most business owners are wanting to hand over the content updating to their staff. So while the owner might be tech savvy, his staff are not.
My 4 years of experience in this industry shows that the business owner who wants digital signage doesn't have the time to figure out hardware, setup, workflow etc. They hire a digital signage to come in and set everything up, and they just want to know how they can quickly and easily update the content. They don't want to worry about software updates, system crashes, no signal messages, scheduling, timelines, polling, aver media bugs, and all that other nonsense. That's what they pay me to take care of. They want it to work and they want it to be quick and simple to update. They don't care what software it is, they just want it to work. Lite is still too advanced for the average staff member to operate. You guys might disagree, but take it from someone who deals with staff on a regular basis handling support issues. Things that seem incredibly basic for us, are impossible for them.
As criley suggested, I see a portal being the best solution holding massive potential, with absolute basic control such as paste content in folder and have it populate to campaign. My company has invested a bit into such development, but it's ultimately still a proxy that doesn't directly interact with SignageStudio or SignagePlayer. It just makes my workflow easier for managing, but still has many limitations.
There is a huge gap in the marketplace for this. People like me and criley, and hundreds of others, who manage networks using your software, deal with those who run digital signage in their workplace on a daily basis. We're the go-between for the developers and the business owners. But this is resulting in a disconnect, because the developers are developing based on what they think the business owner wants, instead of listening to the network manager who is actually providing the service.
Please listen to us and bring about some change that will benefit everyone.
