VistaCMS

VistaCMS is a self-hosted, multi-tenant digital signage platform built to replace OptiSigns for IT Pro Partner MSP customers. Instead of paying a third-party SaaS vendor $10 to $45 per screen per month, customers pay $39 per screen per month on a graduated schedule that falls to $25 per screen at 50 and above. Every screen carries every feature: no feature gating, no screen limits, no third-party dependency.

The platform is built on FastAPI + SQLite, hosted on existing netcup infrastructure, and played back on Raspberry Pi 4 or Raspberry Pi 5 players running Chromium kiosk mode, and on screens the customer already owns, such as a Fire TV stick, a smart TV browser or a tablet. IT Pro Partner controls the entire stack: content storage, playlist delivery, device registration, and customer management. Optional custom HTML menu board design ($299 one-time) is a service differentiator that OptiSigns cannot match.

Target: Migrate existing OptiSigns customers first (2-3 screens each), then expand to restaurants, gyms, medical offices, and retail businesses.

Break-even: Break-even: 5 customers / 12 screens at $436/month on the graduated schedule. Gross margin exceeds 95% at steady state.

Revenue Walking Out the Door

Every MSP customer paying OptiSigns directly is monthly recurring revenue the MSP does not capture. At scale (20+ screens), that is $200-600/month leaving the business every month - for a service the MSP could deliver on its own infrastructure at near-zero incremental cost.

No Control Over the Platform

When OptiSigns changes pricing, deprecates features, or alters plan tiers, the MSP's customers are affected and the MSP has no recourse. You are a reseller, not an owner. Your value to the customer is limited to being a middleman for someone else's platform.

What Customers Actually Need

Most small business signage needs are straightforward: show images and short videos on a TV, change content from a browser, have it "just work," and pay a fair price. They do not need Power BI dashboards, Salesforce integrations, or video walls. They need a reliable screen and someone who handles the setup.

VistaCMS - Own the Platform

VistaCMS replaces OptiSigns with a platform IT Pro Partner owns end-to-end. The customer experience is simple: log into a web portal, upload content, build playlists, and plug in a pre-configured Raspberry Pi. The MSP handles everything else.

Customer Journey

1. Customer signs up, gets login to their tenant portal (dark theme, Ops Portal design system)
2. Uploads images/videos to their content library
3. Creates playlists and assigns them to screens
4. Receives pre-provisioned Raspberry Pi players from ITPP
5. Plugs Pi into TV (HDMI + power) - it auto-registers and starts playing

Market Opportunity

The global digital signage market is projected to reach $45 billion by 2030, growing at roughly 8% CAGR. The SMB segment (restaurants, retail, gyms, medical offices) represents the largest installed base by unit count but is underserved by enterprise-focused platforms that are overpriced, overcomplicated, and self-serve.

Target Segments

Competitive Landscape

VistaCMS competes on per-screen pricing that scales with the customer, MSP white-glove service and custom HTML design capability. For a restaurant with 3 screens OptiSigns bills per screen at their published list, so $30 to $135 per month depending on the tier; VistaCMS costs $117/month on the graduated schedule, in exchange for white-glove setup, ongoing MSP support and professionally designed menu boards that no competitor can match. That is a deliberate trade: we are not the cheapest option for a single screen, and we do not sell on price alone.

Pricing Tiers

These are the volume tiers published on vistacms.com. The rate is applied automatically on active screens per account and falls as the account grows, so a customer on 12 screens pays $39 for the first 4 and $35 for the remaining 8. There is no separate platform fee, no per-user charge and no feature gating between tiers.

Why per-screen pricing, and where it sits

Per-screen pricing aligns our revenue with the customer's growth. One screen is $39/month. Five screens are $191/month. Ten screens are $366/month (4 at $39 plus 6 at $35). Twenty screens are $710/month. Fifty-five screens are $1,701/month. Because the schedule is graduated rather than retroactive, adding a screen never raises the rate on the screens already in place, and the customer can always predict the next screen.

The same rate applies whatever the screen is plugged into. A screen on one of our players, on a Fire TV stick, on a smart TV browser or on a tablet is billed identically, and it is billed per screen regardless of how many screens one player drives.

Per screen per month, against the published competitor list:

The competitor columns are their published list across four tiers: $10 (Standard), $15 (Pro-Plus), $30 (Engage) and $45 (Enterprise) per screen per month, or $9, $13.50, $27 and $40.50 on annual billing. VistaCMS competes on per-screen pricing that scales with the customer, MSP white-glove service and custom HTML design capability. We are deliberately not the cheapest option, and we do not sell on price alone: the buyer who chooses on price alone is not the account we are built for. What a customer buys is a platform their MSP owns end to end, with every feature on every screen, no plan tier that can be withdrawn, and now a choice of player hardware that no SaaS vendor offers.

Two ways to put a screen on a wall

Every screen needs something to play the content. A screen can run on a player we supply, on hardware the customer already owns, or on a mix of both. When we supply the player, the customer chooses at order time between buying it outright and leasing it from ITPP. The per-screen software rate is identical either way, and screens are billed per screen regardless of how many screens one player drives.

Our benchmark player is a Raspberry Pi 4 running Chromium kiosk mode, in a silent aluminium case that doubles as the heatsink, with a spare imaged card in the box. A Raspberry Pi 5 build is available as an upgrade. Both drive a 4K display.

Option 1: buy the player

$399 per player, one time for the Raspberry Pi 4 build, or $439 for the Raspberry Pi 5 build.

After the warranty year, a replacement player is $249, covering the hardware, the imaging and the outbound shipping, with the failed unit returned using a prepaid label. An on-site technician visit is quoted per site.

Option 2: lease the player from ITPP

$16 per player per month on a 36 month term, or $18 for the Raspberry Pi 5 build. Nothing up front, no hardware on the customer's balance sheet, and one invoice carrying both the software and the hardware.

A failed player is replaced at no charge for the full term, which is the part customers value most: nobody has to find a spare unit, and nobody re-images anything. The lease rate does not graduate with volume, because the hardware cost does not either.

Which one fits

Bringing your own player is always an option. If the hardware is already the customer's, or if the screen is a Fire TV stick, a smart TV browser or a tablet, we configure the screen once for a $49 one-time provisioning fee and then it is billed at the ordinary per-screen rate. No hardware cost, no lease, same software, same support.

What it costs, worked through

Figures exclude the one-time design service and assume every screen runs on a Raspberry Pi 4 player on the same path. Three year totals are software plus hardware across 36 months.

A mixed account: 12 screens across 3 locations. Nine screens run on leased players, two on players the customer bought, and one on the customer's own Fire TV stick that we configure once. Month one is $1,427. Months two to twelve are $580 per month. Three years, including the two purchased players and the one-time provisioning, comes to $21,727. The customer gets twelve screens live without buying a single player, and there is no hardware capital request to approve.

Fleet access, stated plainly

Where we offer private network access for fleet management, it is passed through at our cost: one dollar per tagged device per month beyond the first fifty tagged devices. It is not a margin line, and it is not required for the platform to work.

Screens, players and the platform all live on infrastructure IT Pro Partner owns. There is no third-party signage vendor in the path, and no per-account plan that can be repriced or withdrawn.

Stack Overview

Multi-Tenant Data Model

One customer = one tenant = unlimited devices. Content libraries are per-tenant. Playlists can be assigned to one or multiple devices. A device plays exactly one playlist at a time.

Player Lifecycle

1. ITPP flashes Raspberry Pi OS + player scripts onto SD card
2. Registration code generated in customer portal
3. Pi shipped to customer (or hand-delivered locally)
4. Customer plugs in HDMI + power
5. Pi boots, auto-registers with code + serial number
6. Receives device token, begins polling for playlist every 60 seconds
7. Plays content in fullscreen loop - auto-updates on playlist changes

Option A: ITPP-INFRA Shared Recommended for most customers

VistaCMS runs on the infrastructure that already powers IT Pro Partner day to day: the existing netcup RS 4000 and RS 2000 estate, fronted by nginx, with media and database dumps protected by the Wasabi S3 backup pipeline already in place. Nothing new has to be bought, racked or learned.

• Compute: the existing netcup RS 4000 and RS 2000 servers, alongside the rest of the ITPP service estate
• Backups: the same Wasabi S3 pipeline that protects the other ITPP workloads, with scheduled offsite copies and periodic restore tests
• Operations: patching, TLS renewal, monitoring and alerting run through the runbooks ITPP already uses, so incidents are handled by people who know the stack
• Speed: screens are onboarded in days because the platform is already live
• Fit: the default choice for 1 to 15 screens and for customers who want signage as a managed add-on to their existing service

Option B: Dedicated Isolation or scale

For customers who need their own footprint, VistaCMS is deployed on dedicated netcup or Hetzner instances, with a dedicated S3 bucket holding that deployment's content and backups. Managed by IT Pro Partner from provisioning through patching, monitoring and restore testing.

• Compute: dedicated netcup or Hetzner instances sized to the screen count and expected media volume
• Storage: a dedicated S3 bucket for content and backups, isolated from every other deployment
• Operations: same ITPP runbooks, same monitoring, same support path, applied to a single tenant footprint
• Fit: regulated customers, multi-site retail and restaurant groups, and deployments above roughly 25 screens
• Commercials: dedicated hosting is quoted per deployment; the per-screen tiers above are unchanged

Shared Responsibility

IT Pro Partner manages everything below the application layer. That covers the operating system, web and API runtime, database, network, TLS certificates, monitoring and alerting, patching, and backups with tested restores. The customer manages what only the customer should manage: their users, their content, their playlists and the layout choices on their own screens. ITPP also manages the players themselves, including provisioning, registration and replacement, so a failed screen is a service call to us rather than a project for the customer.

Both options include the same portal, the same per-screen licensing and the same escalation path into IT Pro Partner support.

One portal: my.vistacms.com

Every customer signs in at my.vistacms.com. It is a live production service, not a prototype, and it is where the day to day work of running signage happens: uploading content, building playlists, assigning them to screens, and seeing device health at a glance.

Isolation is enforced at the API layer: a customer session is scoped to its own tenant, so the content, devices and playlists of one organisation are never visible to another. The administrator view is the only place the whole estate is visible, and it is the same dashboard ITPP uses to run the rest of its managed services.

Self-service that does not create tickets

• Customers keep their own profile and notification contacts current, so billing and alert emails reach the right people
• Package changes and additional screens are requested in the portal and take effect from the next billing cycle
• New screens are added with a registration code generated in the portal; the player plugs in and appears automatically
• ITPP retains oversight of every device across every organisation, so a dark screen is visible to us before it becomes a complaint

Phase 1: Migrate Existing OptiSigns Customers Month 1-2

IT Pro Partner's existing MSP customers who currently use OptiSigns are the first targets. Offer free migration: ITPP handles content transfer, provisions Pis, and cancels their OptiSigns subscription. Position as "same service, lower cost, direct support from us."

Target: 3-5 customers, 6-15 screens.

Phase 2: Expand to New MSP Customers Month 3-6

Once the platform is proven with existing customers, bundle signage as an add-on service for all MSP clients. Offer "first screen free for 30 days" to current MSP customers. Target restaurants, gyms, and medical offices in the service area. Leverage existing MSP relationships.

Phase 3: Direct Sales to New Verticals Month 7-12

With a stable platform and reference customers, expand through outbound sales, POS vendor partnerships, and content marketing. Target restaurant chains, gym franchises, and medical/dental practices. Produce case studies, ROI calculators, and demo videos.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) Estimate

VistaCMS vs OptiSigns

Feature Comparison Matrix

VistaCMS does not compete on being the cheapest option for a single screen. It competes on being the best option for businesses that want someone else to handle everything - from setup to ongoing management to custom menu board design.

Key Risk: OptiSigns Retention

The biggest risk is customer inertia. Businesses that already have OptiSigns working may not see a reason to switch. Mitigation: target pain points (cost at scale, support quality, desire for custom designs) and make migration zero-effort for the customer. ITPP handles everything.

Startup Costs

12-Month Revenue Projection

Assumptions: Start with 2 migrated OptiSigns customers (5 screens total). Add 1-2 customers per month. Average 2.5 screens per customer. One design service sale every other month. Graduated per-screen pricing: $39 for the first 4 screens, $35 for the next 15, $29 for the next 30, $25 beyond 50. Player provisioning at $49/screen for new customers.

Key Metrics at Month 12

What We Need to Launch

1. Development time: 2 weeks to build the MVP (backend API, customer portal, admin portal, Pi player scripts)
2. One Raspberry Pi 4 for development and testing ($0: the existing Apex-day unit, repurposed as device 1)
3. Customer agreements: Identify 2-3 existing MSP customers currently on OptiSigns willing to pilot the migration
4. Go decision: Authorization to begin development and cancel OptiSigns subscriptions upon successful migration

Why Now

• OptiSigns is recurring SaaS cost walking out the door every month
• The platform can be built on existing infrastructure at near-zero incremental cost
• Custom HTML menu board design is a genuine competitive moat that SaaS competitors cannot replicate
• MSP customers already trust IT Pro Partner with their IT - signage is a natural extension
• The digital signage market is large and growing, but the SMB segment is underserved by enterprise platforms

What Success Looks Like at 12 Months