Digital signage is steadily shifting from an integration-centric business model to an operations-driven one, with managed services emerging as a defining feature. What began with outsourcing operational responsibility has expanded to encompass consulting, software development, and comprehensive end-to-end support.
As digital transformation accelerates, customers are moving away from fixed-price and time-and-materials contracts in favor of hybrid and gain-sharing models. These shared-risk approaches foster collaboration, improve cost efficiency, and encourage innovation, making them increasingly relevant for digital signage, digital-out-of-home (DooH), and retail technology.
More on Managed Signage
This post is an excerpt from the Managed Signage chapter in the 2025 invidis Yearbook, written by Florian Rotberg and Stefan Schieker. To download the full yearbook, click here.
Managed services often start with hardware, which remains one of the sector’s most significant cost and operational challenges. Unlike IT projects concentrated at central sites, digital signage deployments distribute devices across numerous locations, not only regionally but also nationally and internationally. Providers now oversee the complete lifecycle, including sourcing, financing, installation, remote monitoring, refurbishment, and remarketing.
Traditional Service Level Agreements (SLAs) focus on reactive troubleshooting, while managed services emphasize proactive monitoring, often through dedicated Network Operating Centers (NOCs). Though still uncommon in signage, NOCs such as Stratacache in North America and Samsung in Mexico highlight the growing importance of minimizing downtime in business-critical environments.
Managed services generally progress through three levels. Operational services place responsibility for day-to-day operations with the provider. Screen-as-a-Service requires providers to own the network and deliver it for a monthly fee, a model dominated by large IT integrators. The most advanced approach, Signage-as-a-Service, transfers full financial risk to the provider, which may also sell ad inventory and share revenues with the customer. Currently, most European and North American providers lack the financial strength to offer this model. As a result, large IT system integrators, often operating on a multi-billion-dollar scale, dominate the market.
As capital expenditures shift to operating costs, managed services offer enterprises flexibility, scalability, and a framework that is reshaping digital signage networks.