REACH Reviews

An honest consumer review for the Reach CMS

Comments: Ultimately, Reach has allowed for quick updates to our client ads. Although most features offered by Reach are not something our company needs, they do however open potential opportunities for us to offer to our clients and utilize in the future. Furthermore, Reach did not have a specific feature that one of their competitors does offer (Watchfire Ignite), but I was able to provide the details of this new feature to a Reach Support Representative and they promised to submit this as a potential feature for the Reach CMS. This may or may not be implemented, but my concern was gladly heard - as such, the Reach customer service has been a very positive experience for myself.

Pros:

Features available enable us to compete with most of our competition and surpass others. Which in our case, allows us to offer our clients state-of-the-art service.

Cons:

Due to this being a web-based system, certain clunky response times for content updates, caching concerns, CSS consistency errors, etc - all account for a demerit in consumer value. Most of which can be addressed with future front-end updates to the Reach software. Largest concern from a front-end development standpoint would be major inconsistencies in responsive view (mobile, tablet). There should be no limitations between devices. Granted, although many of these appear concerning, the web-based route allows for flexible updates on a diverse set of systems, web-based integrations for RSS Feeds/Social Content, and many other valuable features which would hold its weight in limitations if Reach were a standalone application.

Great Digital Signage Solution with Awesome Support

Comments: VERY good support. Always receive a quick and supportive answer and resolution to our support needs.

Pros:

All-in-one management platform for our campus signage needs.

Cons:

Not all information is available on theie website...requires conversations with their tech support folks to figure out the best way to handle certain situations (such as multi-monitor displays).

Frustrating User Experience

Comments: Overall we were not impressed with Reach.

Pros:

We have been using Reach media for many years and really liked the web portal.

Cons:

We didn't like the digital players we kept having to reset them and reboot them. then we switched to firesticks and encountered issues with the app just not starting. lots of frustration working with the product.

Reach's ease and convenience has allowed us to step up our marketing and promotion efforts.

Pros:

I love the ability to create our own custom graphics and add them to our Reach screens. The screens look so professional and consistent throughout our buildings. We have six facilities with screens, and I like being able to manage them all from one place. We've been able to step up the promotion of our products and services while saving time and money.

Cons:

So far, it's been a great experience. I don't have anything to add here.

Reach Media platform is great and easy to use

Comments: Our experience with Reach has been great. They have good support and the players just work. The content managers love the playlist management and how simple it is to use.

Pros:

We liked the simplicity of web portal, the playlist management and the remote management of our devices. Their support is also very good.

Cons:

Once in a while we need to reinstall the application on some devices.

REACH makes my job easier!

Comments: I am so HAPPY to be using this product, I use it everyday. It's a joy to use.

Pros:

I like the fact that you could demo the product before purchasing, it's user friendly, you can schedule training, I love the layout of the product. Response when you need help is available and timely. There's just so much I love about this product!

Cons:

In the filter status I like to be able to see what I have scheduled because sometimes I'm asking myself did I schedule something. I schedule my events at least 2 weeks in advance.

REACH Digital Signage

Comments: Awesome. From the sales team to the support team, I have had NO bad experiences or long wait times for information and support over past 4-5 years.

Pros:

Easy to install, setup and maintain. The simple interface on using different calendars and layout templates. LOVE the fact that we do not pay for new/revised template creation!!

Cons:

Having to call to register each player during setup.

Reach Media displays in Matrix Distribution Centers

Comments: Our experience has been great, the our team in multiple facilites has appreciated the ability that Reach Media has provided to present time sensitive and important information.

Pros:

The application was easy to setup for multiple devices that are located across our national network of distribution centers.

Cons:

It would be nice to have more built in applications for showing previous days results for sports teams.

We like REACH!

Pros:

I like that I can set the time a posting shows on REACH.

Cons:

I am unable to insert a posting where I would like it and that would be helpful.

Reach Digital Signage Review

Comments: My overall experience with Reach is very good. I can do my job without any problems and concerns.

Pros:

We use Reach Digital Signage to announce our weekly colloquium. Also We announce Graduate employment opportunities, Award nights, Screening of special seminar related to our department etc. I could announce it all easily and faster with the help of Reach digital signage. It has option to add start, end date with start and end time. I like that you can add multiple slides and decide content duration.

Cons:

It does have preview option which should give you preview of the screen on your laptop/desktop. But This preview option doesn't always work.

Easy to use content display system

Comments: REACH has been good to work with in implementing and supporting the product.

Pros:

REACH offers a number of different player options. We've used the built-in support for Amazon FireStick devices to serve as players.

Cons:

No complaints with the REACH Media system.

Good, but can be intimidating

Comments: REACH has very strong customer service. Overall, our experience with the service has been positive. Our display improves our brand recognition and helps our facility in looking professional and clean versus our competitors who use other systems. We enjoy having a display so custom to us.

Pros:

I like that our REACH display is just "plug and play". It displays our facility schedule on it, and it updates as events pass and loads upcoming ones. We have static logos on the bottom off the screen under the schedule. It looks great and incredibly professional in our lobby. We are happy to have something so custom to our branding.

Cons:

REACH feels intimidating when setting up any changes to the display. We occasionally display "Welcome" signs to teams visiting our sports facility, and I always dread having to prod around to get it to display right without screwing something up. I haven't actually had problems with it, but I definitely err on the side of caution and I only trust technologically very specific staff to use it.

Good bang for your buck

Comments: works good. Accepts several different platforms.

Pros:

I like the quickness of being able to post

Cons:

I don't like that I have to convert files to image.

Versatile, Intuitive, and Endlessly Customizable to your needs

Comments: In my humble opinion, communication and pre-planning are the cornerstones of good business and project management. The lack of them is the downfall of success. REACH software solves both problems with considerable ease. REACH Media is really the first product that proactively communicates with anyone who sees the monitor display, and it's always there. Good Job!

Pros:

Overall ease of use, with little training required. The overall layout is visually appealing.

Cons:

After using the software for about two months, I have no real cons, but instead a couple of suggestions. 1) I frequently have the REACH site and an Excel window open on one screen, with the windows reduced to the data being transferred. When a new calendar event window opens, it is fixed and cannot be moved, which greatly restricts window size. Please consider making the event box moveable as a click-and-drag; 2) Within the same new event calendar box, there is a button for more details, but the only addition is adding location. I think the original box could be slightly increased or tightened up to have location on the main screen; 3) When uploading new media library assets, it would be helpful if there was a crop/zoom function make the asset more readable or focus the content, and if it would be possible to have the option to have an asset scroll down automatically if the asset content exceeds screen height (Calendar events scroll just fine). Thanks

Very satisfied with REACH TV

Comments: My overall experience with REACH is great! The customer service is very helpful and answers my questions right away and also follows up after a problem is resolved. The ease of uploading our flyers has saved a lot of time. The REACH program is very user friendly. I have been able to navigate the program without problems.

Pros:

I like the ease of uploading our flyer images (already designed) for each of our programs at the Bartlett Park District and not having to recreate the messages. I also like the preview feature on the desktop without having to be in front of the actual screen. Also, I like that I can change the order of our messages under the change order tab. And lastly, adding videos are as easy to upload as images.

Cons:

I am not sure if this problem is on our end (internet connection- I have contacted our IT staff and they cannot detect a problem), but under Dashboard - the Network health is offline. When viewing the screen in the lobby, my recently uploaded announcements are running correctly. So I am not sure why it would say it was off line? Also, sometimes when uploading a jpg, Reach will skew the jpg. The image won't fit the total space. I can enlarge the image (by pulling out the corners), but I cannot stretch the image horizontal because the proportions are constrained (skewed). This doesn't happen often (maybe twice a month) but when it does I have to snag (program) my jpg and save it again. So I am not sure if something happens to that file when saving it to a jpg or if something happens to the file when it is uploaded to REACH?

Reach for the Best

Comments: Students know more about class offerings besides just the one they are in. They are more aware of our program as a whole vs the small piece they are currently interacting with. There are less office questions about what room is my class in.

Pros:

Our students find the information informative and easy to digest.

Cons:

There are times when it needs to reboot which can be an annoyance especially over the weekend.

Easy to use and manage

Comments: Totally positive. Would recommend this system to anyone .

Pros:

The scheduling feature is a huge positive for me. It is a set it and forget it thing. I can schedule the words of the week for the whole school year, and I don't have to worry about it. same form College shirt day and any other regularly appearing information.

Cons:

None! I am completely satisfied with the product

A Great Way to REACH Your Audience

Comments: We have participants who come in specifically for one class to our building, and may not know what else is going on that we have to offer. REACH gives us an opportunity to very easily advertise to our customer base with a visual display that we were able to tweak to show exactly what information we want, when we want it.

Pros:

The software is easy to use and very user friendly. Having had the software for a few years now, I'm always impressed by each new feature added, and the ease it takes to learn how to best implement it.

Cons:

Tweaking a display just the way I want it is slightly harder to do than it was with a previous design, but the more I get used to the software, the easier it becomes.

I really like working with the REACH program and it's support help.

Pros:

The software is very easy to learn and the support from the team is wonderful. Training went smooth and was easy to follow. The potential this program has is endless. There is such a wide variety to the stock images available that I am able to make any announcement style I would like. Another aspect that I like about the REACH program is the ability to "work ahead" on items that you would like broadcasted. What I mean by that is the option to set start and finish timelines. I am able to work ahead on different events two or three months ahead of time and then just set the broadcast date and not worry about it. There are many useful options that are attached with this program I however just named a few.

Cons:

One thing that can be a bit frustrating is the way Windows updates do not sync with my end of the program. Here is an example of when happens...Windows has an update and when they do my monitor will go down. There is a big blue ribbon across the screen that lets you know you must perform a reboot. Well I am not able to reboot that in house. I have to make a ticket for tech support at REACH to do. Now with that being said the support at REACH responds right away and it doesn't take more than an hour to get things back up and running. The communication on their end is great I know exactly when they get the message and when they fix the issue. So that helps make it a bit less frustrating.

REACH is a great tool that integrates with eSPACE.

Comments: We've been able to create a culture that no longer contends for meeting/conference rooms based on who needs it most. :) Now it's only about who put it on the calendar first.

Pros:

REACH is integrated with our eSPACE event scheduling system. There is minimal set up that seems a little daunting when creating the first display? But once you understand what it's asking, as long as you follow the steps you can't go wrong. The team at REACH does a great job of asking what's needed and knowing exactly how to set up the displays to show information for spaces/events approved in eSPACE so there's never a conflict when somebody goes to use a meeting/conference room. If it was scheduled, it will be on the display!

Cons:

Initially, there was a little bit of misunderstanding with the support team that helped us to implement displays based on what we were needing, but after this, we've had no negative experiences. Every once in a while I have to reset the software, but that's usually only because updates were pushed to our iPads.

Advanced media solutions, simple integration and management.

Comments: Increased impact range, ease of communication with clients, quality of service.

Pros:

REACH has done an incredible job of furthering our ability to "reach" our customer base to a level we did not imagine was feasible for us. Not only did they do this well, but quickly, simply, affordably and with wonderful customer service and human interaction. I have been nothing but impressed with their quality of service and committment to their clients.

Cons:

I do not have any critiques on any of the services provided to us by REACH. In fact we look to further involve ourselves with the company down the road.

Easy to Use Product with Great ROI

Comments: Reach helps us communicate to all of our audiences in a timely, visually appealing way. We've used other systems in the past, and Reach is the most affordable and easy to use. The customer service and support teams are fast and helpful. My overall experience is very positive.

Pros:

What I like most about this software is the user friendly interface, fast customer service, stock image options, and preview modes.

Cons:

As a designer who uses an iMac, the editing tools are less sophiscated and a bit cumbersome to operate when I need to fine tune an area. Some great upgrades might include an alignment tool for text boxes and shapes.

Easy Transition to digital display implementation - and great Customer service/response

Comments: Reach has allowed us to integrate video and graphics in one layout/zone and play them, whereas we didn't have that capability before. It has also freed up the daily/ weekly updating of the screens, as you can schedule ahead and specify dates as to what announcements/graphics appear in each playlist. I currently have 2 displays at different locations displaying different content- i have four playlists going at once. Each monitor has 2 graphic zones, each with it's own playlist - Reach makes this seamless and "easy-peasy".

Pros:

ease of use and customization of layouts playlists make importing media easy and simple the ability to make different playlists in different zones makes updating and changing things simple scheduling announcements/graphics ahead of time makes daily updating unnecessary scheduling screen was easy to use and very intuitive Most people can get this software up and running in no time, once again very intuitive layout and design

Cons:

The only downside i have found is in the postitioning of Title/Label text boxes - I have had to adjust these several times when putting a static text box/label next to a playlist box. The position on the editing screen is slightly different once it's previewed on the actual screen. It just takes tweaking to get them exactly where you want them to appear.

Easy to use product

Comments: Allows for an easy single point access. Quick and easy to deploy

Pros:

The product is easy to use and setup. Creates a great single point to manage communication amongst multiple locations

Cons:

The media library can be hard to manage with a large number of files

Marketing Rule of Seven

Comments: It's seldom down, but when it is, tech support is quick to answer the call. The video quality is good.

Pros:

I like that users of our facility are being marketed to unbeknownst to them and the more hits, the better (Marketing Rule of Seven). Whether they are a parent waiting for a child to get out of skate lessons, hanging out on the front entry to catch some air, or waiting in the concession line at intermission, it reaches out to the patron where they are without requiring them to actively search, and may just intrigue someone to check an activity out.

Cons:

It's difficult to delete a text box once created and sometimes it doesn't project like it previews.