KEEP EVERY SCREEN WORKING, IN EVERY BRANCH
Managed Services
A screen network is only worth what it shows. When a display goes dark in a branch three provinces away, nobody in head office finds out until a customer mentions it. We built our managed services so that you hear about it from us first, and so that it is already being fixed.
When your current arrangement stops working
Most organisations do not go looking for a new managed services partner. They arrive at it after the same conversation happens one time too many. A screen has been down for a week. Nobody can say who is responsible for it. The report that was promised monthly has not arrived since March. Renewal is coming up and the honest answer to “are we getting value here” is no.
If any of that sounds familiar, the problem is usually not the hardware. It is that nobody is actually managing the network, and a screen nobody is managing stops being an asset fairly quickly.
What we take off your desk
We run the network so your team does not have to. That means we see the faults, we log them, we resolve them, and we tell you what happened.
- Proactive monitoring. We watch the estate rather than waiting for a call. Most faults reach us before they reach you.
- One accountable partner. A single point of contact across hardware, software, content delivery and connectivity, so nothing falls between suppliers.
- Call centre, remote and on-site support. Resolved remotely where we can, and a technician on site where we cannot.
- A network operations centre. Continuous visibility of the estate rather than a snapshot when someone asks.
- Reporting you will actually read. What broke, what was fixed, how long it took, and what it tells you about the estate.
- Content delivery. Getting the right message to the right site on schedule, which is the part that quietly fails most often.
HOW A TAKEOVER WORKS
Moving your estate across without the disruption
Changing provider is less disruptive than most people expect. It happens in four stages, and you can see where things stand at every one.
- AuditWe audit what is installed and document what is actually there against what the records say.
- Take overWe take over monitoring and pick up support from a date agreed with you.
- Keep what worksWhere hardware is sound, we keep it. Replacing screens is not the point of the exercise.
- ManageOne accountable team runs the network from there, with reporting you will actually read.
Built for estates, not for single sites
We work with organisations running screens across dozens or hundreds of customer-facing locations. Banks, telecommunications providers, retailers and quick service restaurants, where the branch or store network is the business and consistency across it matters more than any individual screen.
Global Access has supported South African enterprises since 1995, delivers nationally and has run projects in Mozambique, Botswana and Zambia. One of the client relationships we started in our first year is still running today.
What changes when the network is properly managed
- Head office finds out about a fault from us, not from a regional manager
- The estate stops drifting, so what a customer sees in one branch matches what they see in another
- Your IT team stops being the escalation point for screens
- Renewal becomes a conversation about what to do next rather than what went wrong
- You get data about the estate instead of anecdotes about it
Moving from another provider
We do this regularly and it is less disruptive than most people expect. We audit what is installed, document what is actually there against what the records say, take over monitoring, and pick up support from an agreed date. Where hardware is sound we keep it. Replacing screens is not the point of the exercise.
Common questions
How do I choose a managed digital signage provider in South Africa?
Look at four things. Whether the provider monitors the network proactively or waits for you to report faults. Whether one partner is accountable across hardware, software, content and connectivity, or whether you are the one coordinating suppliers. Whether they can reach every site you operate, including outside the major metros and across borders if your footprint goes there. And whether they report in a way that tells you something useful about the estate rather than confirming they were busy. Price matters, but the difference between providers usually shows up in resolution times, not rate cards.
What does a managed services contract actually include?
A digital signage managed services contract normally covers proactive monitoring of every screen and player on the network, a support desk you can log faults with, remote resolution where possible and on-site technicians where it is not, content scheduling and delivery to each site, and regular reporting on faults, resolution times and estate health. Some contracts also cover hardware replacement, spares holding and connectivity. What varies most between providers is the response and resolution commitment, so that is the clause worth reading first.
What does it cost to leave a screen network unmanaged?
The direct cost is the hardware you paid for that is not doing anything. The larger cost is inconsistency. When screens fail quietly across an estate, the customer experience differs from branch to branch, promotional campaigns run in some sites and not others, and the head office team planning that communication has no reliable way of knowing which is which. Unmanaged networks also degrade in a way that is expensive to reverse, because faults accumulate until the fix becomes a refresh project rather than a repair.