You want to make sure a set of individuals can benefit from the content a TRMNL device can provide, but you aren't sure what the best method is for providing the devices and content for these individuals. Here are three options.
Terminology
primary: Individual who owns the devices, is defining the strategy, and main account holder.
secondary: individual who receives the device from the primary.
Managed Device Distribution
The primary purchases, loads plugins/playlists, and distributes the devices.
See the full guide on preloading and maintaining managed devices.
Benefits:
Secondary setup is minimal: WiFi only.
Device content is strictly controlled.
Devices cannot be repurposed by secondary individuals because it is linked to a single account controlled by the primary provider.
Downsides:
Changes and updates require exclusive effort by the primary.
Low battery notifications all go to the primary.
Distributed Device Accounts with Unlisted Plugin
The primary loans the devices to the secondary who onboards to usetrmnl.com like any other customer. However, the primary distributes a private plugin that connects to company information via an unlisted publishing link they can distribute directly to secondary.
Benefits:
Secondary has full agency over their playlist and schedule.
Primary creates and publishes an unlisted private plugin to specifically benefit the secondary.
Downsides:
Device is linked to the secondary, so they are being asked to do additional steps and cannot be monitored without user/password credential sharing.
Primary would need to create guidance for onboarding the individual with the proper plugins and recommended setup.
Self-Hosting Server (BYOS)
Terminus is the open source self-hosted server maintained by TRMNL.
It is still a work in progress that is catching up to usetrmnl.com in features and usability, but is not yet at its 1.0 release.
The primary uses a Bring-Your-Own-Server solution to provision devices, monitor screen generation, and manage users. The secondary sets up the device using existing guides.
Benefits:
Secondary has full agency over their playlist and schedule.
All data flows through primary's managed server solution with enterprise-minded design features.
Downsides:
Managing your own server and server resources.
BYOS learning curve for setup and usage is higher for both parties.