From the Signage Desk: How to Leverage the Spike Cloud

During my signage sales and design days, the Spike Cloud was a valuable tool for getting the most accurate measurements for my estimates, especially when using Spike on my smartphone. Sometimes it’s difficult to capture the tiny corners of a signage area, and with a bigger screen, I could dial in more closely. With the Spike Cloud running through my desktop, I could also use my mouse to grab each corner, which made for a more accurate measurement.

Not only is the Spike Cloud great for increasing your accuracy if a small screen is a problem for you but it also helps you work more efficiently in the field. I can’t tell you how many times my day was filled with site survey after site survey. While all those site surveys are great for business, it meant I couldn’t start working on estimates until I was back at the office.

Here’s what I would do to speed up the process: I’d snap a Spike photo, click on Upload to Cloud, and I’d be on my way to my next survey. Meanwhile, my estimator back at the office could log into the Spike Cloud account and get started on the estimate right away. I was free to tackle as many sales as I could fit into my day, and we still attended to the prospect’s estimate immediately.

Even from a design perspective, the Spike Cloud was a helpful tool. Using the Spike Cloud I could download a JPG with and without measurements at the same time. The images are the same size, so I’d bring them in together into my design software and centrally align them. This gave me an image with the measurements on top and another image without the measurements below, which made it easier to scale.

When you set up your Spike Cloud account, I suggest that you take the time to organize your folders. Keep in mind that photos go into an imported folder by default. Over time, it will be difficult to track if everything is in one master folder, so I prefer to organize my Spike Cloud by the job name. Some users like to organize by client name, and there’s nothing wrong with that if it works for you. However, if you have multiple jobs from one client, it could get tricky to manage.

If you haven’t incorporated the Spike Cloud into your measuring process, I highly recommend you give it a try. Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions about how to leverage the Spike Cloud for your business. You can reach me at [email protected].

TIP

For tips on using the Spike Cloud, including export options and folders, view this support article.

About Glenn Chambers

Glenn Chambers, business development manager for ikeGPS, is a 15-year signage industry veteran. Prior to joining ikeGPS, Glenn was an enthusiastic Spike user.