The University of Utah wanted a system where, among many feature requests, it could create a main account with multiple sub-teams for each individual department of the university.
Can you describe your role?
“My name is Jake Sorensen. I am the Director of Sponsorships & Advertisement for the University of Utah. I work closely with the faculty, campuses, students, teachers, and staff to create the best options and future for the university and its students.”
How easy was it to get started with Play Digital Signage?
“Setting up wasn’t exactly a ‘plug and play’ thing at first. We had complex needs for our digital signage with the implementation of our emergency system and setting up different sub-teams for each division of the university - it’s all pretty custom. But Lars, CEO at Play Digital Signage, Inc., was there every step of the way. He helped us build the teams and set it all up. The rest was a breeze for us to handle.
Whenever we come up with new ideas to expand our use of Play Digital Signage, Inc., the development team is right there to support us and make it happen.”
How did you first hear about Play Digital Signage?
Jake had done thorough research and also had prior experience with digital signage.
“I discovered that someone on the campus, in a different department, already used Play Digital Signage, Inc. I tested it out for myself and decided to reach out to the development team at Play Digital Signage, Inc. to create a very custom solution for The University of Utah, which we have running on all our campuses today.”
What was the initial reaction to Play?
“Everybody loves it. It’s user-friendly, the interface is elegant and it works great for all purposes”.
Why did you choose Play Digital Signage?
“Initially, I chose Play because of the price – no one can compete with the price, you get so much for your money. But also because of the API, and the integration with our emergency system. And Play is just easy to use. I also love features like scheduling, tags, and teams, they are essential tools here every day”.
- Easy to use, and specific features like scheduling
- Incredible backup and help from Lars Normark, CEO of Play Digital Signage, Inc., and his development team.
- Very accommodating and competent help from Lars Normark and all his developers.
- The price – no one can compete with the price, you get so much for your money.
- Huge feature-base
- Scheduling
- API
- Amazing customer support
Challenge
Jake experienced a decentralized form of communication throughout the University of Utah; different campuses used different software and it was not possible to gather and send out centralized information. They could easily have 5-6 different systems at the same time, which made it nearly impossible to streamline information, send out joint information, and have the same visual expression throughout the university.
“Everything was decentralized. Departments were using different software, we could easily have 5-6 different systems at the same time, which made it nearly impossible to streamline information, send out a communal message, and have the same visual expression throughout the university”.
“No one had taken on the incomprehensible task of gathering all campuses, buildings, and faculties in one software and helping all campuses execute their messages in an easy way. Everyone knew the task could be massive and time-consuming, but very necessary”.
“I discovered that a faculty member on campus was already using Play Digital Signage, Inc. I tested it out for myself and decided to reach out to the development team at Play Digital Signage, Inc., asking for help to create a very custom solution where all needs hopefully could be met”.
“I wanted a system where we, among many feature requests, could create a main account with multiple sub-teams for each individual department of the university. I wanted a cloud-based solution where every department could publish their own content and manage their own screens, but still be a part of the main team, where I could publish centralized information to all departments at the same time, like emergency alerts and general information. Play Digital Signage, Inc. gave us that!”
Solution
“Lars Normark, CEO of Play Digital Signage, Inc., helped create a unique solution that could fully integrate with our emergency systems. By centralizing everything in Play Digital Signage, Inc., and creating sub-teams within Play, now every screen on campus has the same visual expression, is controlled from the same place, same setup, and all screens are now fully integrated with the emergency system at the university”.
“By creating individual teams for each building, Play gives each department the option of creating its own content, without everybody being able to see each other’s content. This provides easy structure and easy management for Jake and the rest of his team”.
“Each department schedules its content and takes away a huge workload for all involved, and at the same time, informs students correctly, and keeps everybody updated at the same time”.
“I was also looking for a digital signage system that had an API that actually worked, was easy to set up, and could deliver what was promised. And that was exactly what Play Digital Signage, Inc. delivered”.
History
The University of Utah is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The University was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional state of Deseret, making it Utah’s oldest institution of higher education.
It received its current name in 1892, four years before Utah attained statehood, and moved to its current location in 1900.
There are about 37,000 students and 25,000 staff and teachers, around 60,000 people in all.
Graduate studies include the S.J. Quinney College of Law and the School of Medicine, Utah’s first medical school. It is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU) and is classified among “R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity”.
22 Rhodes Scholars, 4 Nobel Prize winners, 3 Turing Award winners, 8 MacArthur Fellows, various Pulitzer Prize winners, 2 astronauts, Gates Cambridge Scholars, and Churchill Scholars have been affiliated with the university as students, researchers, or faculty members in its history including founders of Nintendo and Pixar.
The University of Utah is very proud of its research and innovation, and of its technology and digital creations.
