Implementing digital signage? Choose as-a-service!

Businesses are also seeing the benefits of this form of payment. IT departments are increasingly choosing not to buy hardware or software but to pay for them as-a-service instead. Despite this, some organizations still pay upfront for certain hardware, specifically digital signage, when the as-a-service solution is a more flexible alternative for larger projects like these. In this article we explain why.

Digital signage as-a-service

By switching to as-a-service, you get more than just the equipment or solution you choose. You enter into a relationship with a business partner who has all the necessary expertise in house, which means the cost includes many helpful services in addition to the equipment.

When you use digital signage, you have to deal with:

a data sources

a 'transmitter' (display or another image carrier)

software that links the two

It is reasonable to assume that your organization does not have a specialist in all three of these areas; the maintenance of the displays, the architecture of all necessary software or the data expert. However, if you purchase digital signage solutions as-a-service, you benefit from the expertise of your provider, without having to hire external IT support.

Predictable financing

If there's one thing finance departments hate, it's unexpected costs. If an organization is growing rapidly and needs to implement a range of IT applications, including digital signage for example, the cost of such an investment can be unpredictable.

Purchasing the solution as a service provides financial predictability, as the costs are fixed and spread over a longer period. When signing an agreement with Econocom, you know exactly what you will be paying for, when and for an agreed duration. This way, your company will preserve its investment capacity and credit lines for its core business needs!

Staying up to date

Development of digital equipment is rapid, the moment you get your head around it, the technology is already outdated. The depreciation period for buying IT solutions is often around five years. This means that your devices have to perform for five years before you replace them, which is usually too long. It's like buying a DVD player one day before Netflix, only to be forced to use it to watch a limited selection of films for five years.

In an as-a-service solution, organizations often purchase their signage for 36 or 48 months. This means they can replace the equipment earlier than the fiscal depreciation period. They therefore have a much better chance of staying up-to-date with market developments and strengthening their competitive position.

Interested in Digital Signage As-a-Service? Contact us at info@nexgenitsolutions.in.

10 Business Benefits of Video Conferencing

Video conferencing presents countless opportunities to businesses. Whether it’s engaging remote workers, collaborating across departments and locations, interviewing job candidates or managing suppliers, the technology is efficient, cost-effective and scalable.

In this post, we dive deeper into ten tangible benefits of video conferencing software and its potential applications for your business.

1. It’s More Engaging than Audio Conferencing

Participants in audio conferences tend to zone out and multitask because they feel disconnected from the other members in the meeting. With video, however, there’s pressure to maintain “virtual eye contact”, translating to superior levels of engagement. When each conference member is visible, you’re inclined to use the communication skills we’ve all practiced in face-to-face conversations.

2. It’s Efficient

Reduced commuting time is one of the most obvious but significant benefits of video conferencing. In-person meetings with suppliers, clients and satellite offices can take up valuable hours of your day; even an hour-long meeting can quickly eat up an entire morning when accounting for travel time, making it a frustrating and inefficient activity.

3. It Saves on Travel Money

Not only is travel time-consuming, but it’s also expensive. People often travel great distances for training, conferences and business meetings, and in most cases, these in-person communications can be accomplished via video conferencing. Save the money you would spend on business travel and put it toward other business priorities.

4. It Improves Communication

Research has shown that humans process visual information more quickly and accurately than text and audio. Therefore, when you have a meeting via video conferencing, your attendees will retain more information and comprehend it more effectively than they would if you held the meeting via audio.

5. It Connects Teams

Teams are becoming increasingly geographically separated for several reasons. Freelancers and even permanent staff may be working from home, some are contractors working from other continents, and some are simply on the road for business purposes. But vast distances don’t matter when you can bring your team together via video conferencing, either for regular meetings or spur-of-the-moment check-ups.

6. It Improves Productivity

Need a quick answer to a tricky question? Instead of sending an email to your colleague and hoping for an answer tomorrow, connect for a quick video conference conversation and use a screen-share function to move on with your project.

7. It Improves Attendance

It’s often challenging to coordinate busy schedules and bring staff together for in-person meetings. Video conferencing allows the kind of flexibility that can boost meeting attendance rates, and record the discussion for non-attendees.

8. It Provides More Structure for Meetings

Because people are calling in from different locations, the start and end times of video conferences are usually well-defined before the start of the call. This means less idle conversation and more productivity during the allocated time. You’re more likely to use an agenda and stick to it when you know the meeting must end on time.

9. It Helps Employee Retention

It’s no secret that a good work/life balance is essential to employee retention. The mobility and flexibility offered by video conferencing gives people more control over their work days, and this leads to improved retention. You can also keep remote workers feeling more connected and part of the team when they can connect face-to-face with their co-workers on a regular basis.

10. It Gives You a Sustained Competitive Advantage

When you consider all of these advantages combined, it’s easy to see how video conferencing provides a strong competitive edge for your business. With lower costs, increased team unity and more productive meetings, you can streamline many of your current tasks and increase collaboration at the same time.

CCTV Video Surveillance Security Camera System

 

Though most of our attention these days is focused on the transition to IP video technology, it's important to note that analog CCTV security cameras can still be highly effective for many surveillance applications, especially those on a budget. With traditional CCTV security cameras, the video signal is processed and transmitted in analog format for local viewing from one central monitoring location. But that doesn't mean you can't use analog cameras in an IP-based surveillance environment. Using IP video encoders and other equipment such as digital video recorders and hybrid DVRs makes it possible to leverage your existing analog cameras while migrating into the world of digital surveillance.

What is a CCTV security camera?

In its truest form, a CCTV camera is an analog video camera that transmits signals via coaxial cable to a single central location for monitoring, recording, and video analysis. While the recent trend is a push towards IP network cameras, CCTV cameras are still widely used, and offer a cost-effective answer to many common surveillance scenarios.

CCTV technology has been around since the 1940's, and became a major player in the security industry around 1970. The technology is tried and true, and there are CCTV security camera models for virtually any surveillance application. The two main categories of CCTV cameras are fixed cameras and pan/tilt/zoom models which can rotate horizontally and vertically to cover more area.

Pros and Cons of Analog Surveillance

These days, there's a lot to think about when putting together a video surveillance system. And the first question on most people's minds is “Do I go with traditional analog cameras, or IP network cameras?” There are pros and cons to both choices. Let's focus our attention on analog CCTV surveillance cameras.

Pros of analog CCTV

Lower initial cost - In most cases, analog cameras cost less up front than IP network cameras. Wide-spread compatibility - Mixing and matching camera models and surveillance equipment form different manufacturers is easy with an analog CCTV security camera. Lower initial cost - Analog cameras tend to handle low-light situations better than IP cameras on average, though IP camera technology is improving in this regard.

Cons of analog CCTV

Expensive cabling - For large-scale surveillance applications, analog cameras require complicated cabling schemes that can be quite expensive and also challenging to install. Limited features - Many of the advanced features now available with IP cameras (for instance: megapixel resolution, digital zoom, and video analytics), aren't available in analog CCTV models.

Differences between a zero thin client and a thin client

The difference between a zero client and a thin client is in the equipment of the devices. The zero client decodes the image in hardware, while the thin client decodes in software.

There are also so-called software thin clients. With a separate application, a regular PC can be turned into a thin client. This is often used by owners of outdated models - after the upgrade they can be managed centrally.

Thin Client Data Types

Such a device received the name “thin client” because its functionality is limited, for example, it concerns the available data types. Instead, a narrow set of built-in language is used, with the help of which programs and actions are displayed on the monitor, and you can also change information in memory. The server, in turn, works with the database and executes queries. The thin client only displays ready-made data processed on the server.

Thin client on Linux OS (Linux)

Thin clients based on Linux, a full-fledged multi functional operating system, allow you to work even on low-powered platforms. On the market you can find several of the most common types: thin clients Ubuntu, Linux. Ubuntu is an operating system based on the Linux kernel, distributed free of charge, unlike Windows, both for private customers and for corporate versions. Smart Office clients use Ubuntu OS to connect to the server in order to be able to work with large amounts of data and 1C. A thin client on Linux in this case is perfect.

For more information, see the pages Nexgen IT solutions and thin clients and Thin client based, ​​as well as call +91 9094676777.

Benefits of video conferencing

Saving time. Videoconferencing allows you to meet with remote employees, partners and clients without leaving the office. No travel time to the meeting place or business trip.

Ease of use. You can make calls and participate in conferences from a workplace or a meeting room using special video conferencing equipment, a computer or a smartphone.

Scalability. The number of participants is limited only by the capabilities of the videoconferencing infrastructure and your needs: you can communicate with one subscriber, a group of participants, or create a webinar that will be seen by thousands of people.

Realism. Video communication conveys much more emotions than a telephone conversation - this is important in order to establish contact with the interlocutor and resolve business issues. In addition, video communication does not allow distractions and focuses only on communication, as in a face-to-face meeting.

Security. Modern videoconferencing systems allow you to work in closed networks without connecting to the Internet, therefore, provide maximum data transfer security. When connecting to the network, TLS protocols are used, which allow you to securely encrypt information.

Ways to Implement Video Conferencing

There are three main models for implementing a video conferencing system:

·       A dedicated solution that is fully controlled by the customer and runs on the customer's network.

·       A cloud solution where the video conferencing service provider provides the infrastructure from the Internet, and the company uses its own terminals (usually a PC).

·       Hybrid. This method involves the use of both models. For example, a company uses an internal video conferencing system for communication within the company and a cloud service for connecting external subscribers or holding large video conferences when the capabilities or capacity of their system are not enough.