For a long time, AV systems were treated like a short-term relationship. You installed the gear, trained users, and checked the box. When something stopped working, support was called in. When enough things stopped working, the room was replaced.

That approach worked when AV lived at the edges of the enterprise. It supported meetings, but didn’t define them—if a room struggled, people adapted. Decisions still happened and the business moved on.

That environment no longer exists.

Today, AV systems sit at the center of how everyday work happens. Leadership meetings depend on them. Distributed teams rely on them to collaborate effectively. Sales, training, and culture-building all flow through spaces that are expected to work every time, without explanation or warmup.

At the same time, the technology inside those rooms has become more dynamic. Collaboration platforms update constantly. Cameras now use AI. Systems are connected to networks that change far more often than the physical rooms themselves.

Yet many organizations still implement AV as if none of that were true.

Danger of the Drift

The problem is that the technology drifts, rather than failing outright. Over time, rooms fall out of alignment with the platforms they support. Firmware updates lag, new features get introduced without context, and settings change gradually as users try to “fix” small annoyances. Nothing seems urgent until suddenly the room feels unreliable. Not broken, just unpredictable.

That unpredictability has consequences: When rooms earn a reputation for being difficult, people stop trusting them. Meetings move back to personal devices, and leaders avoid certain spaces and systems. Hybrid participants feel like an afterthought. You may have invested in the technology, but the experience undermines the intent.

This is where the project-centric model starts to show its limitations.

AV today behaves more like infrastructure than equipment. It’s integrated into the network and intersects with security, and it depends on platforms that IT teams manage actively and deliberately. When a room fails during a critical meeting, the cost is reputational as well as technical.

Despite that reality, many systems are still delivered with a “finish line” mentality. Once the install is complete, ownership becomes unclear. If the integrator doesn’t maintain involvement, internal teams inherit systems they didn’t design and don’t have time or training to manage properly. Support becomes reactive by default, focused on restoring basic order instead of improving performance.

Living System Mentality

Managed AV changes that dynamic by treating rooms as living systems rather than static assets.

With managed services, performance remains visible after deployment. Updates are planned instead of avoided or reacted to. Issues are addressed early, before users notice them. Training keeps pace with how platforms actually perform, not how they worked at launch. Over time, rooms get better instead of slowly falling behind.

Just as importantly, stewarded AV restores accountability. Without it, AV almost always becomes an unofficial IT problem. When something goes wrong, the call lands on teams who are already overloaded and often ill-equipped to diagnose AV-specific issues. That creates frustration on all sides and leads to short-term fixes that compound long-term problems.

A managed services model establishes clear ownership and creates alignment between AV, IT, and overall business operations. Decisions are made with context instead of urgency. The focus shifts from putting out fires to maintaining reliability.

Consistency and Confidence

Hybrid work has rendered that reliability non-negotiable. Employees now judge conference rooms against their home setups—and if the office experience feels harder to use or less dependable, people disengage. Attendance drops. Collaboration suffers.

The issue is almost never aesthetics or feature depth but, rather, consistency. Managed AV helps organizations deliver that consistency across rooms and locations by guiding the evolution of systems. The goal is confidence, not perfection: People should walk into a room assuming it will work … and be correct.

There’s also a financial reality to consider. Treating AV as infrastructure allows organizations to plan for lifecycle costs instead of reacting to failures. Budgets become more predictable. Emergency replacements become less frequent. Leaders gain visibility into what they own and what it takes to keep it performing. That predictability often proves more valuable than chasing the lowest upfront price.

None of this is about adding services for their own sake. It’s about recognizing that AV is no longer a one-time purchase or a side project. It’s a critical layer of how modern organizations communicate and operate. Treating it like a short-term commitment leads to frustration and erosion of trust. Treating it like a long-term marriage builds reliability, confidence, and spaces people actually want to use.

The companies that get this right will be the ones that stop dating their AV—and commit to it.

SCN: How long have you been with AVI-SPL, and what are your responsibilities?

John Zettel: I joined AVI-SPL back in April of 2000. Hard to believe it’s been 25 years. I started as CFO, focused on strengthening our financial side, and about five years later I stepped into the CEO role. My role is to ensure we’re moving in the right direction and creating the kind of company where our people and our customers can be successful.

SCN: How has the recent acquisition by 26North impacted AVI-SPL?

JZ: The partnership with 26North has been very positive for us. It gives AVI-SPL financial backing and strategic support to accelerate our growth, expand globally, and continue investing in innovation. What’s important is that our leadership team and culture remain intact, so our customers and employees get the benefit of added resources without losing what makes AVI-SPL unique. It really helps us to deliver even greater value to the organizations we serve.

SCN: Speaking of acquisitions, AVI-SPL sure does a lot of them, including CCS Southwest not long after the 26North acquisition was completed. What’s the strategy here?

JZ: CCS Southwest is a very respected provider of AV and UC in Arizona. Bringing them into the AVI-SPL family strengthens our overall presence in the Southwest and helps us expand into new market verticals that we previously did not have to focus on, like education. The cultural fit is what makes this acquisition especially meaningful. Over the past 34 years, CCS Southwest has built a strong reputation for helping clients transform how they communicate and collaborate, and we see a strong cultural alignment that’s dedicated to doing what’s right for our teams and communities.

Acquisitions are an important part of our growth strategy. They help us reach new markets and go deeper in the ones we’re already in. But the truth is, less than a third of AVI-SPL's growth comes from acquisitions. Most of it is organic, driven by the great work our teams are doing and the deep relationships we have with our customers.

SCN: How important is sustainability to AVI-SPL, and are you seeing it growing in importance for your customers?

JZ: Sustainability is central to how AVI-SPL operates and creates value for our customers. It’s not a separate initiative. It’s embedded in how we design, deliver, and support technology solutions worldwide. We’ve now published two annual ESG Impact Reports to demonstrate this.

Our customers are on similar journeys. Many now include ESG and sustainability criteria in RFPs and procurement decisions, looking for partners who can help them reduce their carbon footprint, manage electronic waste responsibly, ensure cybersecurity, and verify their impact with real data. Sustainability is moving from being a differentiator to being a core expectation.

SCN: How important has managed services become for AVI-SPL?

JZ: Organizations today need more than just great technology. They need a partner who can make sure that technology runs reliably, scales globally, and adapts as their needs evolve. That is where AVI-SPL’s managed services come in. It is one of the fastest-growing parts of our business, because it allows our customers to focus on their core priorities while we ensure their digital workplace is performing at its best every day.

SCN: What can AVI-SPL’s Symphony do for customers, and how popular is the service?

JZ: AVI-SPL Symphony takes the complexity out of managing collaboration technology. It gives IT and workplace teams one powerful platform to monitor, manage, and support meeting spaces across their entire organization. Today, Symphony is trusted by many of the world’s largest companies, managing tens of thousands of spaces globally and proving the real value of simplifying how the world works and connects.

SCN: Is hiring still an issue for Pro AV integrators?

JZ: The demand for skilled talent continues to grow as the market expands and technology evolves. At AVI-SPL, we have put a lot of focus on building strong career pathways, investing in training and development, and creating a culture where people want to stay and grow. In 2025, our global employee retention numbers reached 91%. We’ve made the training and certification of our employees a key advantage in the marketplace, and our employees, in turn, are happier and stay with us longer. Hiring top talent remains a focus, but it’s the retention and upleveling of our existing talent that must also be a priority.

SCN: What are some of the other significant challenges facing integrators today?

JZ: The pace of change, supply chain pressures, and higher customer expectations are real challenges in our industry. What sets AVI-SPL apart is that we have the scale, partnerships, and expertise to turn those challenges into opportunities and deliver consistent, innovative solutions worldwide.

SCN: What’s the secret to AVI-SPL’s success?

JZ: We have built a company over the last two decades that we believe is uniquely differentiated in terms of our size, presence, and platform of what we offer. All of that has allowed us to work with global companies and be their strategic partner throughout their lifecycle, which not only goes into design and integration, but also the services that manage that on a continual basis. The secret comes down to our people and their commitment to our customers. With rapid changes in our industry, our team continually adapts to customers' needs by staying abreast of the changes in technology, committing to training, and obtaining certifications to instill confidence with our customers.

SCN: What’s the next big thing for the Pro AV industry?

JZ: It's all about elevating the user experience. That means creating immersive environments where people can see, hear, and truly feel the technology at work, while also enhancing everyday life in meaningful ways. The technology we deliver should make work and life easier, more flexible, and more enjoyable. A specific example of the continued evolution within the industry is the deeper integration of AI and data analytics into the workplace experience. We are moving beyond just connecting people to enhancing how they collaborate, using intelligence to make meetings more productive, spaces more efficient, and support more proactive. Coupled with continued advances in immersive technologies and sustainability, we are on the verge of a new era where AV is not just enabling work but actively shaping the future of how people engage and create together.

The AV industry continues to thrive through tumultuous political, social, financial, and technological riptides. However, the seemingly firm ground on which we stand is anything but a solid foundation. We feel the tectonic shifts of our industry often as small tremors and sometimes as transformational sea changes, such as from box sales to system sales or from analog to digital. Now, perhaps we face another pivotal evolutionary moment.

[On Your Business: Sales Is Not a Four-Letter Word]

Our industry is a frog in a pot of water warming ever so slowly. We need to face the realities rather than hope everything remains the same. Because it won’t. Change is constant and inevitable.

Consolidation and Commoditization

Over the past several years, we have witnessed the consolidation of the integration channel, as large dealers acquire other dealers, big and small. As the sales channel shrinks, the remaining dealers are simultaneously refining their product catalog. Integrators realize that offering several similar product lines is an operational, technical support, and financial nightmare. It’s much more efficient and profitable to focus on only a few brands of each product category.

And it’s easy for integrators to pare down vendors, because manufacturers often design their products using the same chips—and even outsource their engineering and manufacturing to the same OEMs/ODMs. As a result, there is little or no difference among the many branded devices on the market today (and if there are unique value propositions, marketers struggle to clearly communicate them).

The commoditization of hardware is driving prices down in a race to the bottom. Profit margins on hardware for integrators are decreasing, leaving dealers to make up the difference in labor. Unfortunately, labor hours are dwindling, too.

[Making the Case for Managed Services]

Sorry for stating the obvious, but technology continuously (and with increased rapidity) evolves and improves. Most manufacturers now realize the market will no longer tolerate complexity. Even companies that built their businesses and reputations on customization are now touting “out-of-the-box functionality,” “interoperable ecosystems,” and “simple web-based configuration tools.”

Replacing Profits

Integrators simply won’t be able to make up for lost hardware profits with more installation and programming labor hours. Once the hardware is installed, there’s a 60% increased need for technical support, according to ConnectWise. Plus, the same 2022 study showed 70% of institutions look to managed service providers (MSPs) for technical support.

Managed services mitigate reliance on hardware and labor as profit engines. Integrators can maintain robust profitability from existing customers rather than from new projects, which is more stable. Managed services provide consistent engagement with customers, delivering value and building loyalty. Retaining customers is the most efficient path to profitability and consistent cash flow.

Recurring monthly revenue also makes financial planning much more accurate and realistic. Rising operational expenses, including rent, cost of goods, and even interest rates are cutting into shrinking profits. Couple increasing overhead with longer sales cycles (project close rates were down 15% in 2023 from the previous year) and lower revenue per project (also down 5.3% YOY in 2023), and cash flow quickly becomes inconsistent.

Financial planning becomes challenging, if not impossible, when you can’t accurately forecast revenue. This has a chilling effect on investments in inventory, headcount, marketing, vans, equipment, showrooms, and more.

According to the NSCA 2023 State of the AV Industry report, 57% of integrators earn less than or equal to 20% project-based profit margins. Financial experts state that gross profit margins below 30% are considered “dangerous” and not sustainable long-term. Meanwhile, the average profit margin for managed services is a healthy 52%.

Explaining Value

Services are the most profitable product integrators have in their portfolio, yet sales teams rarely offer it. Many integrators don't view managed services as a strategic priority and don't structure their businesses or commissions to focus on selling services.

Plus, sales and marketing don’t know how to express the value of managed services. Integrators must go beyond a simple break-fix offering or providing “receipts” for a required SLA. Customers want 100% uptime, device and room usage analytics, asset management, immediate response time, budget planning, and warranty and license renewal tracking.

It’s not surprising that the attach rate for those who even offer services is an anemic 10%. To thrive in the future, managed services will need to account for about 40% of revenue.

[Cloud Power: Pricing Modern Infrastructures]

A feature-rich, reliable, and user-friendly software platform is required. It seems almost every hardware manufacturer is promoting their own “single pane of glass” software. In fact, most platforms are aspirational and are not nearly as robust as they claim. Many are difficult to implement. Manufacturers should offer pre-loaded appliances, robust training and certification programs for integrators, and direct technical support (at least to support the integrator on their first installation).

The backend financial operations of most integrators are not structured to support selling managed services. Today, accounting and compensation packages are designed for project-based CapEx transactions. The CapEx financial model does not align with OpEx budgeting or sales. It all becomes an accounting nightmare.

The Right Workforce

Staffing is another challenge. To deliver on the promise of managed services, humans are needed to constantly monitor systems and/or immediately respond to alerts. Expertise in implementing, updating, servicing, and utilizing the managed services software becomes much more important to earning and maintaining customer trust and loyalty.

Highly skilled technicians will always be needed, but maybe not in the same numbers or used in the same ways. Most support calls are Level 1 user errors or an easily remedied issue, such as cycling the power or switching an input. Those corrections can be done automatically and remotely. Level 2 issues, which require some technical experience, can also be handled remotely. Only the limited Level 3 issues require a truck roll and expert technician, allowing your top techs to focus on mostly new installations.

No one likes change—and fundamentally changing a business model that has worked for decades requires bold, courageous leadership. Establishing the need, commitment, patience, and vision within an organization to transition from a pure CapEx model to at least a partial OpEx model is critical for success, and it can be done.

Along with the SCN Top 50 Systems Integrators 2024 list, we polled a selection of leading firms on current Pro AV industry trends.

How important is managed services to your business model?

Joe Gillis, VP of Sales, New Era Technology
Managed services is a cornerstone of our AV business. We have established a global Video Network Operations Center (VNOC), staffed by specialists across three time zones, to support standardized and complex environments. This insight into customer operational efficiency enables us to provide impactful guidance, ensuring AV systems bolster, rather than hinder, digital transformation.

[Top Integrators 2024: Biggest Challenges]

Jeff Stoebner, CEO, AVI Systems
Our commitment to managed services is a key strength of our business model. It remains a pivotal piece of our project process that ensures the ongoing success of our customers' audiovisual estates. Because of our strong focus on managed services, we maintain a professional service team that is dedicated to managed services and separated from the integration team to ensure that service levels can be maintained without the need to pull the integration team off projects to conduct service. There is also a growing trend AVI Systems is leading with a managed services offering for any project integration work. This has led to our managed services offerings being some of the fastest growing services provided within our company.

Bill Chamberlin, VP of Sales and Marketing, Verrex
I cannot emphasize enough that managed services are extremely important to our business model. Managed services—particularly remote monitoring and staffing—are strategically positioned as our most substantial growth area. We have two dedicated global managed service account managers who work hand-in-hand with our account managers to ensure the managed services conversation is part of the sales process. Our emphasis on managed services, a recurring income source, reassures our stakeholders about our proactive approach to evolving business models.

Curtis Heath, President of Business Solutions, Guitar Center (GC Pro/AVDG)
Managed services currently make up a smaller percentage of our revenue, but it’s a growing area as we expand our offerings. This is a major focus for our growth strategy.

Linda Lentz, VP of Sales Operations, IVCi
IVCi's managed service program is essential to our business model, distinguishing us in the AV integration industry. We provide comprehensive, U.S.-based support that maximizes clients' AV investments through technical assistance and strategic guidance. We actively monitor systems remotely to reduce interruptions and improve overall performance, while our event management services create a user-friendly environment for successful collaboration. Customization is key; our flexible program adapts to each client's unique needs. By building long-term partnerships and continuously integrating the latest technologies, we ensure client satisfaction and effective meeting experiences. Ultimately, managed services drive productivity and deliver significant value to our clients.

David Riberi, President and CEO, LightWerks
Managed services are a cornerstone of LightWerks’ business model. They provide clients with ongoing support, regular system updates, and troubleshooting, ensuring maximum uptime and user satisfaction. With LightWerks PlatinumCare, clients benefit from preventative maintenance and proactive solutions, giving them peace of mind and enabling them to focus on their core business objectives without technical interruptions.

Ashish Maru, Director of AV Technology, Red Thread
Managed services are increasingly important for ongoing support and maintenance, ensuring our clients' AV systems operate efficiently.

[Top Integrators 2024: Hiring Issues]

Andrea Nicholson, Chief Strategy Officer, American Sound
Managed services are in our DNA. Everything we design and sell is optimized for Day 2 support and an ongoing partnership with our clients. We have an entire team in our U.S.-based Remote Operations Center that focuses only on educating, selling, and supporting managed services. While the recurring revenue of services is critical to any AV company, we approach managed services in a way where we team up with our clients to be proactive, maximize their ROI, and allow for transparent management and reporting of all AV/IT assets including AV, security systems, networked devices, and beyond.

Sponsored Content

So, can we finally stop talking about supply chain disruption? SCN content director Mark J. Pescatore asks Exertis Almo EVP Dan Smith about current trends in Pro AV distribution, including supply chains and the surprising growth of managed services. Plus, learn what you can expect to see and hear—including immersive demos—this month at the Exertis Almo booth (W1912) at InfoComm 2024 in Las Vegas.

About Exertis Almo

Exertis Almo is the largest value-added North American Professional AV distributor offering its reseller partners the most expansive range of products, managed services, technical support and training to drive business growth and generate profits. Formed in 2022 following Exertis’ acquisition of Almo Corporation, Exertis Almo harnesses the combined sales, service, marketing and subject matter expertise of Almo Professional A/V and Exertis Pro AV to deliver customized business development strategies, programs and educational events that enable partners to thrive. With a highly-accomplished joint leadership team, more than 300 employees, 12 distribution facilities, and 2.7 million square feet of warehousing space, Exertis Almo provides the specialization and resources its partners need while maintaining the personal distribution approach they expect. For more information about Exertis Almo, go to www.exertisalmo.com.

Just a couple of years ago, industry experts reported that digital signage was slightly underperforming when compared to the overall Pro AV industry. But that news is so 2022. Today, digital signage is outpacing the field.

[Editorial: Ballad of the Broken Signage]

For the numbers, let's go to the experts. As explained in AVIXA’s 2023 Industry Outlook and Trends Analysis (IOTA), digital signage is currently a $39.7 billion solution area, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.2%. According to a June 2023 report published by MarketsandMarkets, which focuses on B2B research, the global digital signage market should reach $26.1 billion by 2028, up from $18.7 billion in 2023 (CAGR 6.9%). And there are encouraging numbers from the International Market Analysis Research and Consulting (IMARC) Group: The global digital signage market, which hit $26.9 billion last year, is expected to reach $45.5 billion by 2032, with a CAGR of 5.8% during that stretch.

Estimates vary, of course, because methodologies vary, but researchers seem universally convinced that digital signage is a healthy, growing segment of Pro AV. While North America had the highest market share in 2022, MarketsandMarkets indicated that the Asia Pacific (APAC) region will be the top digital signage market by 2028.

It’s not just the researchers; manufacturers are also bullish on digital signage possibilities. I talked with Steve Durkee, CEO of BrightSign, at ISE 2024 in Barcelona. His company, known for its digital media players, is now focused on solutions, specifically on “experiences we can create and problems we can solve.”

To that end, BrightSign announced Bright Alliance, a comprehensive global support effort for its content management system (CMS) partners, at the show. Durkee also said he is having a lot more discussions about interactivity and immersion for digital signage installations, with the ultimate goal of delivering personalized experiences. “The sophistication is going to increase,” he added. “You can see that trend for sure.”

[Viewpoint: The Burden of Burnout]

Not every digital signage vertical market is thriving equally. While digital signage can be part of improving the work experience and return-to-office efforts, enterprise and higher education are “taking a breather,” according to Sean Wargo, AVIXA’s VP of market insight. During the pandemic, these markets made significant investments that cut across solution areas, not just conferencing and collaboration technologies. Spending has slowed down in these areas, but Wargo expects increased activity when inflation comes down and recession fears recede.

IMARC identified retail as exhibiting a “clear dominance in the market.” While AVIXA doesn’t generally separate data by market, Wargo said it’s safe to say retail will continue to see the lion’s share of digital signage purchases. “Customers are spending,” he explained, “even in the face of inflation and interest rates. “Shoppers are trying to find the products they are looking for. Digital signage helps them do that.”

If you're looking for a thriving digital signage vertical, head over to your local quick-serve restaurant (QSR), because digital menu boards are poised for big growth. CapEx costs are always challenging, but Wargo said it makes sense to deploy digital menu board systems for upsell opportunities, pricing flexibility, and clarity of offerings. “And the prices are conducive, too,” he added.

The integrator channel can benefit from a managed services offering to help QSRs use digital menu boards more effectively and avoid the pitfalls of poorly designed (read: do-it-yourself) systems. Speaking of managed services, this potential revenue stream for integrators is growing faster in digital signage than in any other service area, Wargo reported. Customers can benefit from remote monitoring and content updates, as well as potential equipment leasing and maintenance programs.

When it comes to labor in general, employers are all too aware that it’s a buyer’s market. Companies in every industry are struggling to fill gaps in the workforce, and Pro AV is no exception.

[Real Problems with Fake Products]

Recently, SCN sat down with companies that offer AV integration, managed services, and live event production to gain an understanding of how difficult finding the right talent is. Needless to say, the struggle is real in every area. Here are some of their observations and potential solutions.

Integration and Managed Services

As we all know, the pandemic taught people they could work remotely—and, in many cases, on a flexible schedule. Dave Van Hoy, president of Advanced Systems Group (ASG), an AV design, integration, and managed services firm headquartered in Emeryville, CA, said many workers are reluctant to give this up. “That’s definitely one of the challenges, a high degree of resistance to people returning, physically, to where they once were,” he explained.

Coupled with this is a shortage of younger talent. ASG, which supports a strong list of clients in the broadcast market, has trouble finding young people with these skills. “There is only a handful of schools in the United States today that turn out people with actual broadcast engineering as either a degree or part of their degree,” he noted.

On the managed services side of the spectrum, meeting support resources are hard to source. Chris Jamison, director of the managed services practice at AVI Systems, an AV design, integration, and managed services firm headquartered in Eden Prairie, MN, believes this is due to two things: Customers are downsizing their internal AV/IT teams, and an increasing number of the firm’s clients are bringing employees back to the office.

“It’s really creating this need for meeting support and training and adoption,” Jamison said. “For the most part, customers are asking for full-time [managed services staff], but there are some that are exploring part-time options to fill gaps in their workplace.”

Chance Turner, director of recruiting at AVI Systems, explained that the company strives to attract and retain talent by offering a healthy work environment. The firm’s Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP) is also appealing. “There’s a lot of value in the company being 100% employee-owned,” he said. “I think driving a positive company culture in which people know they’re valued for their contributions is extremely important."

Live Events

Arguably, live event production houses have faced the most challenges when it comes to hiring talent these days. At the height of the pandemic, there was no work, either driving people to seek out other employment opportunities in AV or leave the industry outright. Now, with live events back in full force, there aren’t enough skilled professionals to go around, especially in the freelance pool.

Mario Educate is president and CEO of OSA International, a live production and AV integration firm headquartered in Wood Dale, IL. He said his company’s biggest challenge right now is securing freelancers to support live events.

“Corporations or producers will delay getting the information out there, which makes it harder for all of us to lock in crews,” he explained. This leads to a scramble for local talent or an investment in airfare and accommodations to bring people to a job. “We’re running up against what everybody else is: finding talent that is available," he added. "And the better they are, the less they’re available.”

“If you’re really good at what you do and you’re very skilled, you have something squared away—either five companies that you work for all the time, or maybe a full-time gig—so those people are taken out of the realm,” explained Mel Baglio, director of operations at AV Chicago, a Chicago-based AV production and event management firm. As a result, she said companies have to seek out people with less experience and teach them the skills they need. “We’re trying to reinvent how to get people to come on board with us, how to train them, and how to get them up to speed so that they can start working with us more consistently.”

AV Chicago is partnering with schools to develop a new talent pool, and is seeking out training opportunities from manufacturers. For example, the company will send people for training at Shure’s nearby headquarters. Baglio said the firm will also approach those with transferrable skills, such as recording engineers or theater techs.

In general, referrals from employees and freelancers produce the most success. “I think that almost half of our company has been hired by word of mouth,” Baglio added. “We call it unicorn farming—finding those people that are fantastic, that fit with your dynamic, that fit with your culture and your team.”

What Workers Want

“It is a good time to be an AV professional and a challenging time to be an AV integrator,” noted Peter Hansen, economist at AVIXA.

While there is much discussion around the desire for flexibility (usually through hybrid or remote work) and the chance to work for an organization that aligns with their values, AVIXA’s research shows that earning a good salary remains the highest priority for job candidates. “Salary is the first reason we work—it’s the core of the equation,” Hansen said. “It’s the number one thing businesses should be thinking about. If you’re struggling to hire, think about your pay first. If you’re having retention issues, think about your pay first.”

That said, candidates are also seeking organizations that offer development opportunities and the chance for advancement. “If you’re a company that’s struggling to hire, and you’re maxing out the compensation that you can absolutely manage, the next place that I would think about are promotion pathways and really making that clear,” Hansen offered. In AV, he noted, a young professional can realistically envision being in the C-suite at some point, and integrators should make them aware of this.

And while it may not be the highest priority, many professionals want the ability to work remotely. In AV, of course, not all job roles allow for this, but Van Hoy said ASG is offering more flexibility than it did before the pandemic. He admitted this is a significant challenge, but one considerable benefit is that remote work expands the talent base.

“If the position can be remote, that means our pool of applicants can be much larger—we’re not limited to a certain geography,” Van Hoy said. However, he underlined, this depends on the specific role. “Some positions really can be done from home, as long as you have the right tools and procedures. Others really can’t.”

Talent Development (and Awareness)

To fulfill the need for talent, many AV companies are focusing on upskilling their labor force. Tom LeBlanc, executive director of the NSCA (National Systems Contractors Association) in Cedar Rapids, IA, cites IoT-driven tech as a key opportunity for AV integrators, but not all of them have the necessary skills to take advantage of this.

“Integrators are well-positioned to be at the epicenter of an IoT device explosion,” LeBlanc said. “The labor-related question the integration company leaders are asking themselves is: Are we ready for this IP endpoint environment? Are [our] people skilled for what we need today and tomorrow?” 

If the answer is “no,” he said, integrators will lose out. “The industry and demand are moving ahead regardless of who is ready and who isn’t,” he noted.

According to LeBlanc, one of the biggest recruitment-related challenges AV integrators face is that people outside of the industry don’t know it exists. “It’s like we’re in a bubble,” he said. “We aren’t on the radar of the young professionals we want most.”

[NSCA Revises Labor Installation Standard Data for 2022]

This was driving factor behind the NSCA’s launch of its Ignite program. Designed to create industry awareness, Ignite provides resources to AV integrators to help them educate potential candidates about the careers that exist within the realm of Pro AV. “They can be the boots on the ground at career fairs, technical schools, and universities, casting a wider net and helping the industry to burst through the bubble,” he explained.

In conjunction with these efforts, AV firms should also solicit tech talent from related professions. “They need to be looking in the IT and MSP space and other adjacent technologies/industries,” said Mike Abernathy, director of business resources at the NSCA. “These candidates have the networking certifications and experience integrators need to install and manage the mission critical systems.”

Because good help is so hard to find, it’s wise for AV integration firms to concentrate on keeping the employees they already have. One way to achieve this is by providing them with the chance to grow their skill sets. Some organizations may do this by developing their own internal training programs, while others can take advantage of the courses offered by trade organizations and schools.

“It’s important to focus on how they can keep people interested and motivated,” Van Hoy said. “Pay for people’s time for them to go to junior colleges or trade schools to pick up relevant skills. We find that those are some of the things that have helped with retention the most.”

Skills in Demand

Some skills are harder to find than others. According to our experts, here are what Pro AV firms are struggling to find right now:

Live Events

• LED engineers

• Media server technicians

• PTZ camera operators

• vMix engineers

“You could have 150 stage hands on your roster, but you probably only have 7-10 really solid LED techs that exist in the city alone. And we’re not the only company in town, and other people have video walls,” said AV Chicago’s Mel Baglio. “We actually have to go out of city [or] out of state to bring people in, because that’s the only way that we can continue to do work for some of these bigger, heavy-hitting shows that we have.”

Integration and Managed Services

• Design engineers

• Field engineers

• IT skills

• Meeting services positions

• Networking skills

• Programmers

• Skilled installation technicians

“If you want to watch a system integrator’s eyes roll, just say, ‘Crestron programmer,’ and they’ll lay on the ground in a fetal position and cry,” said ASG’s Dave Van Hoy. “I don’t know how the market ended up this way, but there certainly aren’t enough of them. And the variation in skill is wide, and it’s hard to judge without seeing somebody actually do some work.”

Harnessing the Accelerated AV/IT Digital Transformation - Register Now! 

March 22nd, join AV Technology's content director, Cindy Davis as she moderates two important discussions for today's AV and IT decision makers:

Session 1: Digital Workplace Management at 1:00 p.m. ET

Session 2: The Managed Services Ecosystem at 2:00 p.m. ET

The past two years have accelerated the digital AV/IT transition punctuating the need for corporate enterprises, institutions, organizations, hospitality, and entertainment to adopt an agile methodology to enhance collaboration and productivity while improving operations. 

In partnership with Sony Corporation’s B2B division and its partners, AV Technology has designed two panels to discuss how to successfully implement holistic workplace management and the role of a managed service ecosystem.

Session 1: Digital Workplace Management

It has become imperative for AV and IT departments to enhance collaboration, increase the flow of information and productivity in workspaces—whether in the office or “from anywhere.” With the power of compute, interactive visualization devices now have the ability to engage, impart, collect, share, and analyze data. They have become key to implementing holistic workplace management.

This panel of solutions experts share the foundation of a well-designed workplace management ecosystem.

By 2025, 25 billion IoT devices are projected to be deployed globally, with more than 20% of that number in North America.

Session 2: The Managed Services Ecosystem

To address the fast-paced and often evolving digital transition, managed services have become the go-to for enterprises to remain agile. These offerings have also evolved to provide a complete ecosystem from software and hardware to cloud strategies, customer experience design, operational optimization, and distributed security.

This panel of managed services experts discusses the new managed services ecosystem.

“By 2025, cloud-native platforms will serve as the foundation for more than 95% of new digital initiatives — up from less than 40% in 2021.” — Gartner

$329 billion by 2026. That’s the forecast for the global ProAV market, according to AVIXA’s latest research. To capitalize on new opportunities, integrators must implement long-term strategies and strengthen their presence in growing segments. Leveraging data will prove to be essential in the post-pandemic landscape.

Proactive vs Reactive

There’s a new approach to maintaining footholds and expanding business with reoccurring revenue streams. This strategy hinges on a fundamentally integrated portfolio: a trio of supporting services, hardware, and software. The unified structure of this trinity and the depth of insights it furnishes help enterprises navigate changing markets.

Consider what’s happening at the Services layer? It’s where companies are switching from reactive to proactive. 24/7 support and consultation mean teams are no longer unrealistically bogged down with diagnostics and problem resolution. Enhanced service offerings, including managed services, cloud storage, software-as-a-service (SaaS), and predictive analytics, eliminate guesswork for businesses. Lifecyle management becomes more transparent. Data-equipped AV systems provide metrics to plan better procurements.

A unified service strategy results in bigger wins and noticeable efficiencies. With predictive analytics, for example, a team can act decisively before any problems arise.

OpEx: Smart Move

From Fortune 500s to local retailers, every organization has unique AV and IT needs. The equation gets more complex as hybrid work, real-time data access and remote collaboration becomes standard. Outsourcing services like tech support and training give stakeholders more control of operational expenditures (OpEx) versus capital expenditures (CapEx). Remote management, managed services, and subscription-style programs help tech teams save time and money while deploying tools needed for productivity.

Few could have forecasted the immense need for remote collaboration spurred by the pandemic. But companies with agile infrastructures and cloud-based services weathered the storm. Enterprises large and small need ways to keep operations tight while reducing overhead. 

Growing Appetite for Service Models & Subscriptions

It’s been a steady march toward software since the analog sunset of 2012. 

The global IT SaaS market continues to soar; it’s expected to hit $436.9 billion by 2025. The ProAV industry is tracking along a similar software-reliant trajectory. More endpoints are connected via the network, and installed AV applications are migrating to software-driven environments. These typologies represent a vast improvement over siloed AV cul-de-sacs.

The rapid shift to remote teaching, learning, and working during COVID-19 underscored the need for software-driven systems. According to AVIXA’s research, the pandemic “will not only drive software as a service (SaaS)-based distance-learning solutions but investment in remote teaching aid software, connectivity, and cloud and managed services as well.” 

The takeaway: Consider a unified, data-driven approach to ProAV software, hardware, and services. The need for intuitive software and managed services will only increase.

Benefits for Integrators & End Users

Managed services options are integral for high-growth companies that want to scale. They are key in industries going through a flux with in fast and furious pace of data inflow and changing landscape. They need services that can meet their needs, and Barco understands this.

The nature of AV bids is evolving. In a high-end meeting room, for instance, clients want much more than a standard video setup with 16:9 aspect ratio. Now, it’s about creating—and maintaining—truly multifunctional enterprise solutions that unite onsite and remote workers. Clients are demanding versatile tools with access to the cloud, collaboration software, and video conferencing apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

That’s a tall order—and it’s where Barco comes in.

The company’s services framework — Enable, Protect, Optimize — was designed to bring its AV hardware solutions together with support and managed services in “a consultative approach,” said Chris Wisbrock, Vice President of Service for the Americas, Barco.

With installation support from the initial setup to 24/7 assistance and cloud-based management, Barco services are supporting customers, end-to-end, start to finish.

To help clients succeed, Barco supports integrators’ installation projects as much as possible. “In some markets, we might be working directly with the end user, as well,” Reeve explained.  For example, if a client needs external management of their day-to-day fleet, they can now have that peace of mind, with Barco Optimize services.

Strategy for Enterprise Success

The importance of services cannot be understated in today’s marketplace. Services are the crucial side of the visualization triad, along with hardware and software. When adopted in conjunction with hardware and software, services offer a scalable building-block approach for full enterprise visualization. Packages can be tailored to meet a client’s specific needs, growing as the company grows. With outsourced services, like managed services, teams are free to innovate.

Barco’s took a deep look at the changing needs of its customers to optimize and restructure a services program, with these goals in mind. The program ties the advantages of its hardware and software suites together with comprehensive care and management resources for ProAV customers. The downstream operational efficiencies will touch every user in the enterprise.

The three pillars of Barco services are Enable, Protect, and Optimize.

Enable

AV installations are becoming more complex by the day, with systems needing to strike the right balance of fully functional, flexible, and supremely easy to use. From immersive video to crystal clear audio, AI-enabled cameras to integrated streaming, AV represents the convergence of precision and creativity.

To help its clients and partners streamline AV processes, Barco created its ‘Enable’ program. ‘Enable’ covers all aspects of an installation, including product expertise, deployment, training, and project management. “We can provide this directly with an end user or through a partner,” said Wisbrock, “as a piece or a whole.”   

One of Barco’s offerings is a “‘guided install,’ where we can assist clients gaining skills,” Wisbrock added. Need to put out how does it help long term.   

Protect

The bottom line: Maximized uptime, fast issue resolution and shipping, and every Barco product working reliably, for the duration of its lifecycle

With such significant investments, the RoI of an AV project must be realized. Every purchase needs to be justified. If a system doesn’t support a company’s mission, increase productivity, or work reliably, it’s lost budget and lost opportunities.

That’s why Barco leans into enhanced protection. ‘Protect’ extends far beyond a warranty,” stated Miki Reeve, Barco’s Director of Commercial Service Operations for the Americas. “It’s all about making sure that your product is going to work for its lifetime.”

“’Protect’ builds on the standard warranty, enhancing it with Barco’s EssentialCare offerings, maintenance contracts, and supplementary support services,” according to Wisbrock. 

Optimize

The nature of technology is flux, but AV applications must stay relevant for the duration of their lifecycle. Without proper future proofing, a company risks investing in systems that gather dust, waste space, and lower morale.

Keeping every Barco installation optimally functional is another goal of the hardware, software, and service trinity. The ‘Optimize’ feature encompasses future proofing and true device optimization with Barco’s web-based, cloud-based services. These enhancements gather critical data and provide “insights into device performance,” Wisbrock noted, “to keep every device operating flawlessly.”

 Reeve pointed to Barco’s cloud services as central to the ‘Optimize’ tenet. “Our cloud services allow us to do everything from fleet management to facilitating insights on use pattern,” she said.

 ‘Optimize’ is also realized by Barco’s predictive analytics and consultive services, such as examining warranties and upgrade paths to customize packages that meet client’s specific needs. These smart service capabilities complement the Barco Management Suite, a platform that allows for remote monitoring, diagnosis, and centralized control.   

 Here are a few other ways Barco is streamlining workflows and transforming enterprises.

Data

“Data is also beneficial in telepresence and collaborative meeting environments,” said Wisbrock.” As more workplaces embrace hybrid scenarios, data can help managers improve room occupancy and scheduling.

When a user inputs a device serial number into a Barco-enabled dashboard, they can gain seamless access to the product’s usage, power consumption, performance, environmental conditions, health status, and more.   

With usage data, integrators and technology managers can create smarter procurement plans, rotations, and upgrades. “This can help with budget planning,” Reeve added.

In the Rental & Staging segment, data-informed management can become a recurring revenue stream.  

ROI

Reeve said that Barco’s strategy to unite its connected services, customer success services, and managed services together with its diverse product range, delivers maximum ROI. Maximum RoI translates into better long-term performance, fewer replacements or servicing, quicker installation, and dependable support.

Reeve said, “It's about getting the most value out of your product, for the long term.”

Today’s ProAV and AV-IT customers need that confidence more than ever.

Nurturing Relationships

“We can connect the dots,” Reeve added. “We listen and help clients come up with the best solutions.”

Its services framework is another guarantee that Barco will be there for clients, long after the sale is over.

“Working with our customers on our regular quarterly meetings, we listen to them about some of their challenges,” Wisbrock said. “Where are they losing money? Where can we add value that we're not currently doing? Then there'll be choices. Do we want to get into that business? [These] are the conversations we're having from a service leadership perspective.”

MORE INFO

Barco Services Framework

Black Box has announced the Digital Workplace, a service focused on unified communications and collaboration (UCC) in today’s increasingly digital and virtual workplace environments. By adding managed UCC as a service in the cloud to its existing on-premises UCC offering, Black Box addresses companies’ evolving requirements for business continuity and the expanding need to support an increasingly remote, multigenerational, and geographically dispersed workforce.

Related: Black Box Releases Emerald PE IP-Based KVM Extender

The Black Box Digital Workplace solution is delivered in three components: 

• Premises UCC, in which Black Box will work with partners to create a customized UCC solution that meets the customer’s specific business requirements and provides modern, premise-based voice, video, and collaboration solutions.
• Managed UCaaS, a subscription-based UCC service managed by Black Box leveraging cloud offerings from two key partners. UCaaS bundles best-in-class UCaaS solutions together with professional deployment, migration, and support services to help clients move from legacy to modern UCC environments.
• Premises-to-Cloud Upgrade, a service that allows customers to transition to the cloud at their own pace and build in flexibility for future UCC requirements. 

“The pandemic has accelerated many organizations’ adoption of digital workplace solutions and exposed a critical need for effective business continuity in times of crisis,” said Doug Oathout, senior vice president of strategy and partnerships, Black Box. “There’s never been greater demand for solutions that deliver the seamless connectivity and collaboration workers need to be productive, from any location in the world. Black Box is ideally positioned to help customers transition from legacy operations to the new Digital Workplace. Not only are we deeply invested in these types of solutions, but we understand our customers’ current and future needs and have the tools, processes, and expertise to help them be successful in the ‘new normal’ of remote collaboration.”

Onepath, a provider of managed technology services for small and midsize businesses (SMBs), has debuted a unified communications service for companies that have an urgent need to support increasingly decentralized employees.

SMBs across industries are facing the challenge of supporting employees who have been forced to work remotely due to coronavirus. And now, with many states and cities reopening and some employees returning to the office, the challenge increases, as companies must find a way to connect workers in a wider variety of locations. SMBs have limited financial and technical resources as compared to larger companies, making them more vulnerable during this transition; over the past few months, many SMBs have had a difficult time providing remote workers the tools they need to be productive. Under “normal” circumstances, a lack of access to basic tools such as fax and phones might stunt an SMB’s growth. In a pandemic, the impact could be devastating.  

Related: Crestron Debuts Flex R-Series Mobile UC System 

To address this need, Onepath is launching Cloud PBX, a unified communications-as-a-service (UCaaS) solution designed specifically for SMBs confronting coronavirus-induced challenges. Onepath Cloud PBX aims to provide everything a worker needs to do her/his job remotely or from the office, including the ability to receive and transfer calls and manage voicemails as if using an office desk phone, secure document sharing and storage, and videoconferencing and screen sharing. Onepath Cloud PBX can be deployed to WFH and office environments in two to three days, is offered in three flavors—Engage, Accelerate, and Optimize—and starts at $15 per user.

“This is all about helping companies adjust to the new normal as far as supporting workers wherever they are,” said Brian Kirsch, SVP at Onepath. “With Cloud PBX, SMBs can get up and running quickly with integrated call, fax, and collaboration capabilities, with zero hardware requirements, and companies can easily add users and sites without needing to purchase additional infrastructure. We think it’s a slam dunk for any SMB, and we look forward to helping companies transition smoothly to the new normal.”

Ricoh has partnered with Utelogy to launch AV Managed Services, designed to give customers better control of their meeting room and workplace experience. Part of an integrated service delivery model and infrastructure, Ricoh’s AV Managed Services are tailored to help customers make best use of space, improve the employee experience, and achieve cost savings. The provision also helps businesses to realize low-touch working practices needed in the post-pandemic business world.

Services relating to AV remote control, monitoring, and troubleshooting have been created to keep workplaces running. The three packages from Ricoh—ranging from purely reactive response to remote monitoring, all the way to the most comprehensive option of proactive monitoring, control, and support—allow for smarter use of energy consumption, room booking functionality, and device management. They are each quick to deploy and underpinned by Ricoh’s extensive network of service engineers. 

Related: Supporting Remote Work with Managed Services 

With a team of experts based at Ricoh’s AV Network Operations Center, customers are supported with dedicated skills, tools, and best practices in remote management. The facility forms a center of excellence and single point of contact to ease customer burden and provide a dependable resource. The support provided also includes an easy-to-use request tool with correspondence handled personally by staff based at the center.

“The current conditions are tough for businesses, regardless of size and industry,” said David Mills, CEO, Ricoh Europe. “Crucially, our track record of delivering as-a-service solutions and ability to offer global coverage means that customers receive leading managed services technology and support regardless of the challenges ahead.”

Ricoh is leveraging monitoring and control platform Utelogy to support customers in overcoming challenges brought about by the need for actionable intelligence. The platform supports Ricoh’s commitment to providing best-in-class user experience by proactively managing and monitoring the connected workplace. 

For some time now, organizations have been acquiring their IT-related solutions as a service. With IT as an ongoing operating expense, companies aren’t forced to make a large capital investment when it comes time to upgrade systems—and as a result, technology can remain perpetually up to date. The next logical step, then, is to take the same operating expense (OpEx) shift to AV.

While logical, this transition is not happening as quickly as one might think, according to Julian Phillips, senior vice president, global workplace solutions at AVI-SPL, an AV design and integration firm headquartered in Tampa, FL. He attributes this to history: traditionally, AV was procured as a capital expense, and furthermore, it was linked to facilities and workplace services—not IT. “As we know, in the last three to four years, pretty much [all] ownership for AV has moved to IT,” he said. “Facilities and workplace services become the consumer of the technology, but the owner of it is IT, and these are the same people who are having conversations about buying Azure services, and Office 365, and Teams, and everything done on an as-a-service business model.” Still, many companies continue to view AV as a capital expenditure. “So we’re in this lag. We’ve got the people who own and operate it used to [the as-a-service] model … but [companies are saying], ‘we have to [purchase] it as a capital procurement. Moving away to a new model is not what we’re comfortable with as of now.’”

Related: Supporting Remote Work with Managed Services

This may be the case for many organizations, but not all. Mathew Slack, service designer, digital workspace at CIBC, a financial institution headquartered in Toronto, said that in moving into an AV-as-a-Service (AVaaS) model, tech managers need to examine the impact that traditional, capital-intensive AV technology investments have on the run costs for the business. “What’s really important is looking at the net present value of those costs, and [determining] if it’s better to spend those dollars today, or spread that cost over a longer period of time,” he said. An OpEx model, in many cases, could be the better path to take, he said.

AVaaS also lets organizations focus on what they’re supposed to be doing—and most times, that’s not AV. “[We’re] in the financial business—we’re not in the AV business,” Slack said. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense to build out a big AV team when it’s not our core business.” With an as-a-service model, AV is the supplier’s core business, and organizations like Slack’s benefit from this subject matter expertise. 

One major advantage of adopting AVaaS is the flexibility it provides in lifecycle refresh planning. It is also a better model for keeping systems up to date, noted Stephen Jenkins, senior director of Intelligent Technology Solutions at Diversified, a global technology solutions provider headquartered in Kenilworth, NJ. “[In the] as-a-service model, we’re maintaining software revisions and firmware upgrades, so you’re staying on the latest and greatest software—similar to how you are on your mobile phone, or Office 365, or anything else,” he said. “Then, if you’re on a lifecycle refresh of three or five years, you can now align your as-a-service model to that so that when you’re looking at refreshing technology, you roll into another monthly recurring model that allows you to consume technology as a service.” Once again, an organization’s technology remains up to date, always.

For companies that are considering making the jump to AVaaS, Slack advises them to conduct thorough pre-planning. “It can’t be: you just install some hardware and then the service is kind of an afterthought,” he said. “You really need to invest the time and effort to really think about what’s important to the business, and what you need to see in a contract with the supplier for a service model.” He added that this is where developing room standards is important, in order to define what a company’s needs actually are—and what, then, should be included in the service-level agreement. “Once you’ve developed your standard offering, then that becomes very easy to repeat globally, or across the enterprise or organization.”

The SLA will also be tailored to the size and type of enterprise, Jenkins said. “[For] large enterprises, it’s going to be relatively custom, because the business drivers are so unique that you’re going to have to work together to create this [to reach] the business outcomes that you’re trying to achieve from this agreement,” he said. On the opposite end of the scale, small to mid-sized organizations tend to prefer a more standardized offering. “[We also have] an as-a-service model that takes a lot of the complexity out of it. We’ve identified the business outcomes we think are important [to our clients]; we understand remote connectivity, room standardization, remote monitoring, and we’ve packaged that all together so we can very easily help a company that doesn’t have the resources of a [large enterprise].”

Slack noted that for AVaaS to work, it’s important for AV tech managers to build strong relationships with their suppliers—and this has a lot to do with embracing IT. “AV is just another endpoint on the network,” he said. He urges AV tech managers to incorporate IT service management (ITSM) best practices and tools. “Embrace those, as they are how you develop a long-term, meaningful relationship between a client and the supplier. It allows you to be very tightly integrated with the organization that you’re working with.”

While the AVaaS model may not be as widely adopted as some expected it to be by now, Phillips believes that the COVID-19 crisis—and more specifically, the challenges it has presented to organizations across the globe—will drive companies to take the plunge. “One of the biggest arguments for the as-a-service as a business model is not necessarily cost reduction,” he said. “When people say, ‘If I pay for it over 36 months as a service, am I going to save money?’ Well, you might, but you might even pay a little bit more. But what you do get is agility,” he said. And, what these last number of weeks have demonstrated is that being able to adapt to the times is exactly what is required in the new normal. “I think agility is going to be the new operating procedure that all enterprises around the world have to live by. [The] invested infrastructure which I own and operate—and that is actually going to be difficult to upgrade and shift and change and what have you—actually becomes a legacy and a boat anchor for your organization. It doesn’t become a valuable asset.” 

Brock McGinnis, managing principal at avitaas inc., an AV/IT consultancy based in Toronto, views as-a-service as a model for financial sustainability that enables organizations to continue to provide the latest audiovisual systems to users on an ongoing basis—rather than the latest AV in year one of the refresh lifecycle… and obsolete technology in year five.

“It’s not a sales pitch; these are compelling, logical arguments that are based on the way that companies have paid for the technology that have already occurred over the last decade in computing,” he said. “Even the movement to the cloud was almost less about ‘the cloud is this magical place,’ [and more] about ‘we can’t afford to continue to buy the storage and build the networks and the facilities that we need on premises.’ So how do we do this? How do we find a more cost-effective way to ensure that every day our users have the technology they need in order for the company to operate at optimum efficiency and production? Let’s bring AV into the same operating realm—the same level of importance, the same level of always current, always up-to-date, always on, always available, [like] every single one of our other business tools.”

Carolyn Heinze is a freelance writer/editor. 

Beyond the devastating human and economic toll of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, the crisis comes at a time of an unprecedented availability of communications and collaboration technologies. Save for first responders, healthcare workers, and those within service industries where “work from home” (WFH) is not possible, these technologies are enabling millions of people globally to stay at home and continue to work.

By mid-March 2020, many cities and towns throughout the U.S. were under orders for employees to work from home with little notice. Providing guidance, backup communication services, and equipment, consultants and integrators have a long history of being first responders to help clients through times of disaster.

Related: Industry-Leading Companies Share Their New Roadmaps

We asked technology consultancy Shen Milsom & Wilke, and technology integration firms Cenero, Diversified, and Verrex to share insights as to how they were supporting customers during the COVID-19 crisis. 

An Agile Team

For the teams at Shen Milsom & Wilke (SM&W), the transition to working from home was seamless and initial concerns around the bandwidth needed to share massive files such as those sent to and from facilities did not manifest.

“We were able to quickly move into virtual collaboration,” said Mark Peterson, a principal at SM&W. Already utilizing the agile project management framework, Peterson added, “a key was morning scrums and frequent check-ins during the day. I was impressed by how little an impact we experienced in terms of project schedules and being engaged with our clients’ designs. In fact, we are more productive than ever before, and we expect a continuation of high responsiveness to our clients’ projects.”

An interesting and unintended consequence of conducting video calls with clients in their home environment is that you gain personal insights that would not otherwise be seen. “This has provided us greater context for understanding our clients,” Peterson said. “The video calls provide details as to personalities and what they find important, such a pets, or kids’ toys. Having this information is very helpful in establishing the vocabulary and tone of the conversation.” 

The multidisciplinary SM&W is already charting the course for when the world returns to the corporate office environment. “We are being asked for advice on IT, security, and AV changes that need to be considered to make the workplace healthier in the new normal,” Peterson said. He contends that the changes will be significant. “Not only are salad bars a thing of the past, so are the touchscreens in conference rooms.” If wireless sharing and BYOD weren’t already becoming the preferred way to collaborate in meeting rooms, “No one will want to touch the HDMI connector or the room PC’s shared keyboard and mouse,” he said. “Turnstiles and badge readers will be evaluated for upgrade, as soon as landlords realize the cost to keep them clean becomes greater than installing the newest frictionless technology.”

More than any specific technology, however, Peterson said one of the most important lessons learned from the pandemic is the dependency on accurate data for organizations and governments. “The huge drop in the economy will reinforce the need to make smart decisions that are backed up with analytics and accurate predictive modeling,” he said. “There also will be a greater investment in enterprise-wide monitoring tools, and mining utilization data from collaboration and room reservation platforms for space planning.”

Collaboration Lifecycle

Technology integration firm Cenero has always provided robust collaborative solutions that allow clients to connect and share from any device, anywhere. With the stay-at-home mandate, its focus quickly turned to advising its clients and partners on what solutions will work best in a remote environment. “We take into consideration how people will interact remotely within a specific company and the types of meetings they will conduct, and put together an overall recommendation based on use cases and specific requirements,” said Chris Henry, CEO of Cenero. “We make sure to address the entire meeting lifecycle—things like scheduling, launching calls, sharing content, recording critical sessions, streaming, archiving, training, and end user support are all essential in making collaboration initiatives successful.” Cenero also establishes collaboration standards, so everyone knows what platform to use, how to use it, and whom to contact if there are any issues. “This includes providing solutions that are flexible enough to accommodate future needs such as working with room-based systems and allowing people to connect with clients and partners that might be using other collaborative platforms,” Henry said.

As companies are adjusting to connecting remotely, some are facing issues when using collaborative technology. Recently, a CEO of a Fortune 500 company was having trouble with launching an audio call from his home office. “Since the company takes advantage of Cenero’s Constant Connect Proactive managed services offering that provides on-demand support with any AV technology issue, we were able to immediately help him with connecting the call,” said Cenero’s president, Rob Gilfillan. “We resolved the very time-sensitive issue remotely and the CEO was able to conduct the critical call as scheduled.”

Every office environment has workers who embrace new technologies and others who prefer the old way. The sudden shift to WFH has forced people who have never used video collaboration solutions into a new paradigm. 

As the teams at Cenero support clients during WFH to connect and collaborate remotely, they are also preparing for when its clients return to the office and for those who will inevitably continue to work remotely. “As people return to an office environment, we will adjust course to accommodate those who will need a deeper level of collaboration,” Gilfillan said. “Solutions will need to evolve based on the new way of working. With more people continuing to work remotely, we will need to design programs that integrate remote platforms with meeting room technology to allow everyone to collaborate effectively.”

Resetting the Stage

Diversified has sold, deployed, and supported a robust suite of virtual collaboration solutions since its inception. “We understand that the shift to working from home has potential impacts concerning these collaboration tools, different workflows, productivity, and security,” said Stephen Jenkins, senior director of Intelligent Technology Solutions at Diversified. “We are uniquely positioned to assist our clients and enable the transition by providing upfront support of integrating new solutions like Webex or Zoom for video collaboration, UCaaS and CCaaS solutions for remote productivity communications, and cybersecurity product suites to ensure end-to-end security is extended to remote workers.”

This transition can be challenging for end users due to their daily workflow and applications being affected. “We have made sure our Global Services organization was trained and up to speed on the latest remote collaboration and cyber security tools to act as an extension of our client’s IT organization and handle the surge in demand for support in these areas,” Jenkins said. Diversified teams have been at the ready through its 24/7/365 network operations centers to empathetically support individuals remotely or onsite, as permissible. 

Diversified’s initial engagements varied from client to client. There was a combination of denial of how long the stay-at-home mandate would last or how much a client would need to change the way they work, to fear about how they could continue to serve their clients and maintain revenue generation. But everyone had the same urgency and drive to adapt and change as quickly as possible to stay ahead of the curve. 

“Our initial engagement was to listen, analyze, and consult,” Jenkins said. “We had to understand where [clients] were in the process, what challenges they had, and ultimately how we could provide value to ease some of their burdens.” After this assessment, Diversified quickly jumped into the action phase. The one consistent element of the COVID-19 crisis is the fast pace at which things change. “We understood that we had to accelerate everything to help our clients’ transition as quickly and efficiently as possible to allow them to keep working,” Jenkins said.

Most of the company’s clients have active service agreements with Diversified, which enabled them to help scale licensing more quickly, offer remote diagnostics, provide network and system testing, and schedule in-the-moment trainings as needed. “We quickly understood that our nature of support during this time had to shift,” Jenkins said. Our staff was trained and able to shift our focus of support to providing value with enabling collaboration and productivity from remote workers versus conference rooms. At no additional charge to our clients, we turned our entire Global Services organization into a remote help desk for collaboration tools on end-user devices.”

Diversified’s vice president of Advanced Visual Environments, Derek Paquin, described how the company helped various vertical market clients get up to speed quickly. 

“We had a boot camp-style fitness franchise looking for ways to provide consistent value to their subscribers who are accustomed to a certain culture, workout regimen, and personal interaction with their trainers,” Paquin said. “We quickly got them set up on Zoom to provide remote workouts from their local trainers, two-way interaction for instruction, and personal one-on-one coaching sessions.”

A large pharmaceutical client reached out because the executive team wanted to host an all-hands call to address the COVID-19 impact and their company response. “This would typically be handled from a very controlled studio environment,” Paquin said. Like most during this crisis, the executive team would need to join a webinar from their homes. “Our customer support team quickly engaged with them to rehearse the presentation, perform test broadcasts, and ultimately, provide virtual white-glove support for their executive team,” Paquin said. “This led to a flawless execution and a sense of comfort for their executives to deliver a very important message.

“We have clients who use our onsite specialist services. Because there were pre-established relationships between our technical teams and client senior leadership, we were able to set up a remote video production studio within our client’s home so they can maintain a consistent cadence of communication by video with their teams. Additionally, the video messaging enabled a much more personal and engaging large-group touchpoint than an email.”

Diversified was proactive with early communications related to its commitment to practicing social distancing and responsible sanitation. “Because of that, we were able to gain permission to enter several buildings that were operating with limited staffing to complete installations—all done with zero disruption to employees,” Paquin said. The integrated spaces will be ready when people return to their on-premise offices. 

Nobody knows the timeline or speed at which normalcy will return. “We feel that the current situation will likely transform work forever in the sense that companies will likely learn new ways of working that were never realized before,” said Diversified’s Jenkins. Principles learned during this time that will inform and evolve businesses moving forward. “Our goal is to assist these companies in understanding how the next phase of digital transformation will be structured after this season is over,” Jenkins said. “Our internal experts are already analyzing the market and our end users to plan for this.”

It’s likely that work-from-home policies will become more liberal. Enabling more remote collaboration will have some companies looking to reduce their physical office space footprint, transforming the current workplace environment. “We also anticipate a surge in requirements for installation, service calls, and preventative maintenance once this is behind us,” Jenkins said. “We are putting plans in place to address this surge both for projects and service.”

Diversified has stressed that the way they are doing business with its clients hasn’t shifted due to the pandemic. “The way we’re doing business with them hasn’t changed and may have illustrated that we are integral to their business,” he said. “We’re still just as committed to doing everything we can to help them be successful,” Jenkins said. “Maybe even more so with today’s volatility and uncertainty.”

On the Frontlines

For most of Verrex’s corporate clients, work from home is not a new concept—but now, the platforms needed to be scaled. “What we are finding is that clients do not have the equipment, such as high-quality cameras and headsets, which can be utilized with their new virtual rooms,” said Charmaine Torruella, Global Managed Services account manager at Verrex. “Being able to source these items and other critical spares are key to support their WFH ramp-up. Having access to additional supply should other devices and equipment fail will be important for continued support of their new business operations.” 

Internally, Verrex has transitioned its live product demos and meetings to virtual to support its customers’ business continuity. “We conduct virtual updates for clients to help educate and navigate them through the impact of COVID-19 on supply chain and recalibration of AV standards and applications,” Torruella said. “This will help better outfit and manage their collaboration requirements once the coronavirus pandemic has subsided.”

Verrex has two major NYC Critical Care customers that are at the frontline of the COVID-19 crisis. “We are providing essential ground support to assist with decommissioning of AV spaces to enable turnaround into critical care rooms, to support the ramp-up of patient bed capacity as ordered by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo,” Torruella said. “Verrex is packing, securing, and storing the decommissioned equipment at our facilities so they can make the most of their real estate for PPE and critical care equipment housing.” 

As the stay-at-home mandates are gradually lifted, Bill Chamberlin, vice president of global sales at Verrex, said, “We feel that this end date will not be a set milestone time, but will be a lessening of field and travel restrictions with new safety and social distance requirements.”

To support the return of field integration activities, Verrex implemented a structured training plan for its employees that includes OSHA, AVIXA, and manufacturer training and increases the technical capabilities.

“Verrex continues to focus on our communications, both internally within the organization and externally with our clients,” Chamberlin said. “Internally, our project management, operations, and sales teams continue to support client requests and deliver professional services as available under current regulations.” The teams have also developed new implementation plans and priorities of field-based projects to ensure there are no inefficiencies once various field operations resume. “There will be resource challenges, and Verrex is using this time to proactively plan our reentry in order to mitigate those as much as possible for our clients,” Chamberlin said.

Verrex continues to update its clients on what the company is doing to proactively support the safety of its employees and its clients’ employees, “and all our families while continuing business operations,” Chamberlin said. “Verrex and our clients collaborate and strategize on best practices to continue forward with projects that can be supported in our WFH business environment (professional services, procurement, etc.). Our collective goal is to emerge out of the current environment in a strong position to support the return of field-based operations and not just ‘pick up where we left off.’”

The New Normal?

Nearly everyone agrees that once the COVID-19 crisis is in our rearview mirror, that “normal,” will look and feel very different than at the beginning of 2020. 

When the workforce “returns,” it’s unlikely that people will touch surfaces without wiping them clean or conduct remote calls with colleagues and clients using just a telephone. For those thousands of workers who had not yet embraced digital collaboration tools, a whole new world will have been introduced. Managers who were reluctant to trust that workers could be efficient and get the job done from a remote location will be delighted by sustained productivity. 

When we return, it will be impossible to go back to the what was considered normal. Consultants and integrators are already planning how to help clients take full advantage of digital communication and collaboration tools and reshape the way we work.

Almo Professional A/V has expanded its Contract Labor and Project Support offering to now include Engineering and Drafting Services. The expansion comes as Almo partners are looking for ways to keep projects moving forward while providing a smooth and coordinated installation from start-to-finish.

“We are all acclimating to an inevitably changed world,” said Cory Allen, director of contract labor and project support. “With that acclimation comes redefined procedures, processes, and whole new ways of doing business. While our partners are concentrating on those changes, we are right alongside them with resources such as engineering and drafting—as well as our entire suite of managed services—to help them ignite their projects.

Related: Almo Offers ‘Work-From-Home’ Portable Conferencing Kit

“Through this service expansion, Almo can take conceptual ideas and convert them into meaningful designs. We can now provide integrators with a valuable technical resource, particularly if they are looking to scale beyond their normal ability, source cost-effective pricing, or are in need of specialized expertise.”

The new service offering includes:

Drafting: With minimal information, the team can turn concepts into thorough designs in any CAD template.

Engineering: Provides turnkey engineering from start to finish for a wide range of projects in industries such as commercial AV, education, entertainment, and more.

Consulting: Decades of experience to create streamlined CAD standards for drafting practices.

AV integrator Solutionz, Inc. has launched SecureAV, a new cybersecurity service. Enormous amounts of critical information are commonly exchanged via electronic meeting rooms, as well as unified communication environments every day. SecureAV protects organizations from inherent known vulnerabilities that exist in AV equipment. Through SecureAV, Solutionz proactively prevents, detects, responds, and reports on security concerns specific to an organization’s AV/UC environment.

[Playing IT Safe: The State of Networked AV Security]

SecureAV is designed to address these specific security needs and protects that information on an ongoing basis, without utilizing scarce IT/security resources. SecureAV looks at every data packet coming into and out of the environment and uses machine learning to determine if the traffic is a threat. It then reacts according to personalized policies and protects the IoT environment against common attacks including eavesdropping, botnets, denial of service attacks, man in the middle attacks, LAN hopping, open relays, and other common security issues.

According to Shawn Fernandez, vice president of cybersecurity business development, “We have been watching and assessing the ever growing problem of malicious threats to the IoT environment for some time now, and are acutely aware that AV is now a part of every organization’s IoT landscape. We feel that it is imperative to respond with a service that will protect our customers from these growing threats.” Shawn will continue to expand the cybersecurity portfolio at Solutionz.

“I am excited about what this game-changing new managed service offers to our customers,” said Bill Warnick, chief executive officer of Solutionz. “We have partnered with some of the brightest minds in cybersecurity to provide the best possible protection for AV and UC environments. SecureAV gives our customers the confidence that Solutionz is on the job, vigilantly monitoring and taking action against any online threat.”

Solutionz’ SecureAV managed service offering is available to organizations regardless of where their AV/UC equipment was purchased. It offers remote support 24/7/365 and is fully customizable to meet budgetary needs.

Planar has launched its EverNew Managed Service Program, a multi-year leasing program for Planar display solutions in the United States and Canada. The new managed service offering simplifies the buying process by enabling customers to lease Planar solutions at a fixed monthly cost. 

With Planar EverNew, customers can finance the total cost of their projects—including display hardware, software, extended warranties, installation, and the Planar Premier Service Level Agreement—under a single contract as an ongoing monthly payment. 

Planar says EverNew also offers customers the control and flexibility to meet their requirements or adjust terms as needed in case situations arise. For example, customers can choose to purchase outright or lease during times of uncertainty where large capital expenses are not ideal.

[The Integration Guide to Video Walls]

“Organizations across the globe understand the tremendous benefits of using Planar display solutions, yet for some the cost is prohibitive,” said Adam Schmidt, executive vice president of sales, marketing, and pro services . “Planar EverNew extends our cutting-edge solutions to a wider range of customers by giving them quick access to the technology they need without having to purchase it outright.”

According to Planar, EverNew offers flexible leasing options between two to six years, ensuring customers have access to Planar display solutions for the length of time needed. At the end of the term, customers can upgrade to the latest Planar displays and begin a new lease, continue leasing their existing solutions at a lower rate or purchase their leased displays at current fair market value. 

With the move to networked equipment running over IP, today’s AV facilities have become more complicated for AV managers to maintain. This is because they are now taking care of complex software-driven computer equipment and virtual connections rather than the standalone components and hard-wired switches that most were trained on. These managers didn’t sign up to be IT professionals, but now they are.

This is precisely why many organizations that use IT-based AV are turning to managed services to keep their AV facilities operational and up to date.

Provided by AV integrators and installers, often the same people who built the customers’ existing facilities, “managed services are basically whatever services that a customer requires,” said Charmaine Torruella, Verrex’s GMS account manager. “It doesn't require hardware per se. It's just really providing an AV service to the customer that they really don't have the bandwidth to manage themselves.” This can include tracking the data carried and generated by the customer’s IP-based AV equipment and connections.

“There are multiple benefits to organizations leveraging managed services,” said Laurie Berg, AVI-SPL’s director of product management. “Customers utilize our services to reduce tech and real estate costs, enhance end-user meeting efficiency and productivity, focus on core business, improve vendor management, and enable scalability with new technologies and resources.”

How Managed Services Can Help

The basic logic behind managed services—which are typically provided in exchange for a regular subscription fee—is to free AV managers from the ongoing monitoring, maintenance, and repair of their networked AV equipment. 

Being networked means that this equipment can now be monitored and tweaked remotely by managed services providers like AVI-SPL, Whitlock, Verrex, and Diversified. Support technicians can also be sent onsite as soon as a physical issue is detected, rather than waiting until someone at the customer premises notices it.

“We’re constantly watching remotely for faults in any piece of our customers’ AV devices,” said Will Amos, director of Diversified’s Digital Media Group. “We also have agents (diagnostic software programs) already deployed and connected to these devices, so that we can troubleshoot problems and fix from our network operations center.”

Having a third-party integrator/installer provide managed services also eliminates the need for a customer’s own AV department to keep up with every new equipment upgrade and software update. 

“It makes sense for AV managers to rely on managed service provider because we’re constantly retraining and recertifying on the equipment they’re using,” Torruella added. “We're always learning about upgrades. We're always learning about new technology.”

Customers Want More

Now that managed services are catching on, many AV customers are moving past remote monitoring/maintenance and onsite repairs to demand more from their managed service providers.

“We’re seeing three shifts in this space,” said John Bailey, Whitlock’s vice president of technology. “First, customers want to have visibility and support for their systems over the entire enterprise—on a local, national and global level.” This kind of visibility is something that Whitlock and other managed services providers are able to provide, thanks to their remote monitoring infrastructures.

Second, “customers increasingly see the benefits of standardized end-user adoption training,” Bailey said. Adoption training focuses on end users actually embracing and utilizing technology to achieve their goals, instead of simply training them on how to use the systems.

Third, “we offer online solutions catalogs that are tailored to a customer’s technology standards,” Bailey said. “Those catalogs are secure, integrated into the customer’s purchasing systems and workflows, and populated with predefined and budgeted solutions that significantly speed up new system deployment, while also reducing the cost and complexity of traditional supply chain models.”

Managed services providers are stepping up to meet these additional demands. But they are also offering new services that customers may not have thought of. A case in point: “We can go beyond monitoring whether a display is on or off to keeping an eye on operating temperature in media servers and other heat-sensitive devices,” Amos said. “This allows us to react to potential issues before they led to failures.”

Keeping an eye on such metrics is a growing responsibility/opportunity for managed services providers. “Networked systems open up many new possibilities in how we help customers look after their ‘technology estates,’” Bailey said. “The most basic metrics include the collection and monitoring of device data like usage, uptime, and device health. Our goal is to give AV managers fewer channels of information to deal with—ideally a single ‘pane of glass’ with which they can manage the entire facility, campus, or global enterprise.”

Predictable Costs

Managed services provide AV managers with predictable maintenance costs (barring unforeseen equipment replacements). This is better then coping with unpredictable and unbudgeted repair bills whenever something goes wrong.

The result: “With the ability to utilize a subscription-based model, organizations can budget and plan accordingly,” Berg said. “Meanwhile, they gain the benefits of having signed support and maintenance service level agreements (SLAs) that fit their specific needs.”

Growing Demand

The many advantages outlined above explain why managed services have been gaining traction among AV users.

“We are seeing accelerated market demand for the full spectrum of managed services,” Bailey said. “Both remote and onsite services have become the norm for customers, when just a few years ago, they were considered options or potential ‘nice to haves.’”

“The demand for services has increased, but it has also evolved,” Berg said. “Technology is changing, all with a key focus on the user experience. It is no longer enough to bring collaboration solutions and technologies to the end users, and it is no longer enough to have cost savings. The end user must have a positive user experience, to increase usage and adoption.”

The AV sales cycle is also driving demand, with many customers trying to maximize the lifespan of their current equipment until money is allocated for the next refresh. “The time when customers don’t have capital for a rebuild is when they lean more on service,” Torruella said. “This when they turn to managed services providers like Verrex.”

Finally, AV managers are getting smarter in how they manage their facilities, with their goal now being to maximize system availability. “In the past, customers would call us when they had black screens or other catastrophic failures, which they hoped to cover under warranty,” Amos said. “They still do this, but increasingly they are looking for proactive solutions that can keep this from happening, and keep their AV facilities available for use more often.”

The Bottom Line

Using managed services providers gives AV managers a way to ensure that their AV facilities offer maximum uptime and minimal problems, based on regular payments that are predictable, and ideally, budget-friendly. Managed services free AV managers to focus on day-to-day customer service in their organizations, and reduce the number of unexpected failures and content delivery interruptions to users. This is why managed services are growing in popularity in AV, and are likely to continue to grow in the foreseeable future.

The What: RTI has released its RTiQ intelligent remote monitoring solution is now available for free to RTI dealers. A complete remote management solution for RTI systems, the cloud-based RTiQ makes it simple for dealers to monitor their clients' AV installations, get real-time notifications of failures, and quickly resolve issues with the touch of a button.

The What Else: RTiQ can be configured to monitor RTI control ecosystem and components controlled by an RTI XP control processor. Dealers can monitor the status of these devices via a dashboard from anywhere in the world and receive email and text notifications that alert them if a failure occurs. Once alerted, the dashboard helps them identify the cause of the issue and allows custom actions to be triggered to restore the failed system or component. Customizable actions include anything the control system is capable of, whether it's rebooting devices, running macros, or sending commands.

The Bottom Line: Easily configured using RTI's Integration Designer APEX programming software, RTiQ gives dealers the tools they need to deliver a better experience to their customers. System downtime is dramatically reduced since RTiQ eliminates the need for service calls to address simple issues such as locked-up components.

RTiQ will be on display in RTI's booth 2627 at CEDIA Expo 2018, taking place Sept. 6-8 at the San Diego Convention Center.

Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge will be the keynote speaker at NSCA's third annual Pivot to Profit event on Oct. 23-24 in Atlanta.

Ridge, alliantgroup chairman of cybersecurity and technology, first U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, and 45th Governor of Pennsylvania, kicks off the event by sharing insights regarding how the industry’s businesses and clients can protect themselves while still implementing the technologies needed to compete on a global level.

His session—“Manage Cyber Risk Before It Manages You”—teaches integrators how to play offense vs. defense when it comes to data breaches. Pivot to Profit attendees will learn how to do as much as possible to equip and defend themselves against this new style of warfare.

During a long and distinguished career that has spanned the public and private sectors, Ridge has established himself as an authority in areas as diverse as intelligence analysis, national security, economic development, education, health, and the environment.

In response to the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, Ridge was appointed by then-President George W. Bush as the first director of the newly formed Office of Homeland Security. In January 2003, the Office of Homeland Security was designated by the Bush administration as an official cabinet-level department. Ridge was appointed as the nation’s first Secretary of Homeland Security.

At Pivot to Profit, integrators will also hear from technology experts about:

• Merging digital and physical workplaces
• Ways to create immediate recurring monthly revenue streams
• What’s moving to the cloud next
• Smart buildings and their stress on network infrastructure
• How managed services change marketing/client messaging
• Healthcare, K-12, and higher-education technology solutions of the future
• Building a managed services sales machine

“For years, we’ve talked about how change is coming for systems integrators,” said Chuck Wilson, NSCA executive director. “That time of change is here, and it’s time for integrators to examine their technology, services, processes, and structure. Governor Tom Ridge will help them do that, and give them tips and strategies they can use to prepare for these changes.”

Registration for the two-day event is $295 through Aug. 31, 2018. After Aug. 31, pricing goes up to $495. For more information, contact NSCA at 800.446.6722 or visit www.nsca.org/p2p.

The What: VuWall is now offering its TRx solution as a fully functional AV management system, including encoders, decoders plus their control software.

The What Else: TRx 2.0 is VuWall’s next generation of distribution of AV signals and content over standard IP networks. The solution combines high-end quality streaming up to 4K resolution to drive unlimited numbers of inputs and outputs designed for presentation rooms, control rooms and complex distribution across multiple buildings.

Using VuWall’s Tx series of single stream (Tx100) or multi-stream (Tx400) encoders, the system is centralized on a VuWall TRx server before being switched to a choice of single end points or multi-stream outputs for video. End user experience is simplified by drag and drop GUI. The system is wholly scalable and operates with 3 party hardware including Matrox Maevex and AMX/SVSI networked solutions, as well as all the devices compatible with the SDVoE standard.

The TRx software platform makes it easy to configure, operate and maintain the pool of encoders and decoders on a large AV network. Being compatible with any Windows, Mac, OS, and Linux operating system, the TRx software is preloaded on an appliance server, which is included in the package. Video runs at H.264 compression – allowing for high quality and low bandwidth distribution for AV over IP.

The solution comes with a preconfigured standard 1GBit Network switch (24/48 Port). The switch is configured to handle large numbers of streams in unicast or muticast mode. By adding multiple switches, it is easy to upgrade; and with 10Gb uplink, a big network can be built with stacked units.

The Bottom Line: Although engineered to work seamlessly with VuWall’s Tx and Rx hardware, TRx is also designed to work with third party hardware. Just like all other VuWall products, VuWall’s TRx is open to multiple hardware platforms and already supports some of the major manufacturer brands as well as all hardware which is SDVoE compliant.

RoseWater Energy Group, a provider of integrated energy management HUBs, announced the opening of their Ft. Lauderdale-based headquarters, as well as a newly redesigned website.

RoseWater’s new South Florida headquarters, located on North Hiatus Road in Sunrise, FL, will provide dealers, and their potential customers, with a location to view the HUB in-person prior to purchasing the energy management device. The new headquarters is RoseWater’s first managed showroom, which includes a partner showroom at Boca Theater and Automation in Boca Raton, FL.

“We have heard the feedback that the HUB delivers on the promise of being an all-in-one energy solution. As the energy grid becomes more and more unreliable the HUB is needed in more and more installs,” said Joe Piccirilli, managing director and chief executive officer of RoseWater Energy Group. “Our technology has advanced to meet those needs, and with such large developments we have updated our website and product offerings to meet those needs, including a new location where we can meet with local dealers at the location.”

The newly redesigned RoseWater site features news and thought-leadership articles from energy expert Joe Piccirilli on energy management and reliability, breakdown of utility power, and other energy solutions on the market. The site boasts a modern design with detailed product information.

Square Box Systems announced that the Edmonton Police Service (EPS), the municipal police force for the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, has passed a key milestone in its use of the CatDV media asset management (MAM) system: archiving of more than 200,000 video assets. Through CatDV's search, automation, and storage management capabilities, EPS can cost-effectively access and manage its large and growing library of content for outreach, training, and internal communications.

EPS employs almost 1,800 sworn officers and an additional 700 civilian staff, operating out of 15 stations throughout the city. With such a large workforce, effective training and consistent communications are a priority for the EPS digital media unit. In addition to managing the department's website and social media presence, the digital media team produces many terabytes of video content every year, the majority of which is used internally for officer and employee training.

"We are primarily a video production unit, with a minimal crew to produce and manage high volumes of output," said Bob Allman, video producer with the EPS digital media team. "When we migrated to HD production and a fully digital production workflow almost seven years ago, we looked for a robust media asset management system that could help us store, manage, and access our video assets. It was also important that the system scale to support our future growth. We're very glad we chose CatDV from Square Box Systems, and it has exceeded all our expectations."

EPS has built a smooth and seamless workflow using CatDV for ingest, categorizing and tagging, and archiving. Assets are primarily video footage for internal training but also include video for public outreach campaigns and a large volume of still photos. Once video footage or stills are ingested, the CatDV Worker Node uses predefined workflows to save the clip to the appropriate folder and archive the assets to the EPS shared storage system, with simultaneous backups to nearline and offline storage. For large files, Worker Node automatically creates a low-resolution proxy for user access and review, preserving system resources by enabling sharing of the proxy rather than the full-resolution file.

"We realized right from the beginning how much more efficient we could be with CatDV, but it's especially valuable now that we've begun to work with 4K and very large files," Allman added. "Our team members can start ingesting a file and then go home for the evening, and then when they come in the next morning, Worker Node has backed it up and put it in the media pool, ready for cataloguing in CatDV."

CatDV's customizable interface has allowed the digital media team to adapt the system over the years as its needs have evolved. As the organization grows and requirements change, the team is flagging types of content that might not have even existed a few years ago. CatDV's on-screen customization makes it very easy to adapt the system to the team's workflows.

"The seamless integration of CatDV with storage systems means that the EPS digital media team members can always find the content they need, without having to worry about where it lives and without ever having to leave the CatDV interface," said Dave Clack, CEO, Square Box Systems. "Plus, CatDV's ability to handle large volumes of content and scale with the organization is particularly valuable to EPS, all enabled by its metadata-handling capabilities. When EPS recently celebrated its 125th anniversary, CatDV played a big role in the celebration by helping the team access historical footage and photos. We are confident that they'll still be using CatDV when the 150th celebration comes around!"

Get your free copy of SCN's Service & Training Guide!

http://www.mazdigital.com/webreader/55236

The Training and Service Guide is a special supplement to Systems Contractor News that provides integrators with details on some of the best industry training and service programs available.

This special issue includes:

• Service & Training News
• Service & Training Profiles
• 2018 Stellar Service Award Winners
• Viewpoint: Know Your Brand

Name: Charmaine Torruella

Position: Global Managed Services Executive

Company: Verrex

SCN: How long have you been working as a global managed services executive at Verrex, and how has your background prepared you for the role?

Charmaine Torruella: I’ve been working as the global managed services executive since October of 2017. I’ve had a long history in technology, since 1998. I started out working for phone companies in New York, resellers of Verizon, dealing with PBX and Centrex phone systems and circuits. Then from there, getting into conferencing solutions for enterprises that needed audio conferencing On-Prem and/or hosted conferencing solutions. As communications started to develop I got into video and I started working for AV integrators like AVI-SPL and RTS, and working with Yorktel and some others, and then also working with networks, working for Global Crossing, which later became Level 3, which I think is now CenturyLink today.

So, I kind of touched a lot of a lot of IT technology predominantly in the beginning, and kind of grew into the AV side, where customers needed help when video came onboard, to really integrate that into their sites. That prepared me a lot for doing service on those different levels—for business phone service customers, for IT cloud solutions customers—I dealt with a lot of service plans and training for those customers.

SCN: What are some of the latest developments in collaboration spaces, and why is ongoing service of them important?

CT: Collaboration spaces, for example huddle spaces: there’s a sharp rise in that. A lot of enterprise clients are really not looking to put a 44RU rack in their spaces, because it’s a lot to maintain, so they’re simplifying their rooms. In the simplification of their rooms they’re taking, say, one big integrated room, and they’re cutting it up into five or six different rooms. It’s creating more rooms, and it’s happening a lot through the huddle space. Also, we see a lot of clients who are using soft video clients, so they’re integrating whatever equipment with a soft client, as opposed to a hard client like Cisco or Polycom. So the service then changes, and becomes a different kind of service required to maintain those rooms, and it can be more of a cloud solution service that has the ability to look into all these different rooms, and not necessarily have someone come onsite to do that.

Ongoing service for these spaces is very important because, again, there’s so many more of them because they’re a more economical solution for the enterprise that they can multiply much faster and set up much more quickly. But they have so many more rooms to manage now, and the resources and staff internally are still the same. So they rely on an integrator like myself more to help them with the management service, to help them to oversee that. And a lot of the companies that we deal with at Verrex are global or national. We do jobs in Dallas; we do jobs in California—all over. So those clients, their teams, do not have the ability to travel, but we do. We have the ability to touch those points, those different areas and regions and help them with that.

SCN: What factors do you take into account to structure maintenance and service plans?

CT: I start with their workflow. People usually ask how much it costs, and I say ‘That’s really last on the list.” So I have to take into effect how their technology team or department works: what their responsibilities are, what they’re doing. In a lot of cases, you’ll have a technology team internal to the company that really is, say, their facilities people mingled with some telecom people and resources, and they are just now taking on the AV side because that was the initiative directed through management. Not that they’ve always done this; but now AV is becoming a place in a lot of these companies that was an afterthought but now has to be factored in somehow with the IT department’s thinking and strategy. So I have to understand the people internally in that enterprise—what their workflow, day-to-day is—and from there I can structure the maintenance plan.

For example, there’s a very large financial client that I’ve worked with for a very long time. They’re a global client with a very small team that manages over 1,000 rooms. So over a 1,000 AV groups, managed by fewer than 10 people. So I have to look at that and say, “Out of these people, who does what?” and out of those less than 10 people, only two are responsible for making sure the service is there. So I have to look at where their offices are, the type of offices that they have, which offices are the older offices. Then I take into account the age, if they’ve done a refresh, if they’ve done an upgrade or not. Some have started the process of upgrading these spaces; a lot have not. So I’ll come into a situation where the space has not been serviced for nine years, in some cases—15 years in some scenarios. And I’m finding that occurring quite frequently with a lot of clients I’m working with on a service level. And so they are the optimal service clients because they don’t always refresh. And because of that, they need to pay more attention to the service and maintenance of their rooms.

So that’s how I approach it when I start to structure that service plan. I also determine if they need a high-touch type of service—in other words, do you need 24-hour access to my service guy to come on site? We have a transportation client that needs never to be down, so we have to be very responsive, under 24 hours. So I have to take that into account also. Those are just some of the main things we take into account when I structure the maintenance and service plans for the clients.

SCN: It sounds like you must never have time to sleep!

CT: You don’t and you do; you don’t have time to sleep but you know what, this is one of the pieces of advice I give to a lot of my clients: Always think about service as you’re thinking about the integration piece; think about it hand in hand. Because that’s what a lot of clients don’t do, and that’s why a lot of clients’ service expense is high, and you want to manage that. I tell a lot of clients, “Yes, it’s part of my job to make revenue from selling service, but it’s also my job to help you get the right plan that makes it cost-conducive to your effort—not to just charge you.” You want to manage it to where the expense is manageable, and doesn’t get out of control. So that’s what I’m teaching clients now. It’s a very hard lesson for a lot of clients, but it’s a lesson that they’re starting to learn.

SCN: How are data and analytics shaping the solutions you provide?

CT: One of the things I do a lot of is the analytics of huddle spaces, the kinds of purchases customers use. For example, Cisco has a great solution in terms of security and the equipment, and I know when it comes to Cisco equipment, maintenance is very important and can also be a little bit complex. Crestron is another one.

You also have the analytics of what your clients are buying into in terms of manufacturer, what types of technologies—those analytics basically help me shape the type of solution. So other than just sending an onsite person, I also have the other type of solution, which is virtual—having a remote person who has a certain expertise, and a certain knowledge, that can probably resolve the issue without even touching your site, which is economical for the customer, and time-conducive to their efforts and their end users’ efforts.

It’s also very important in dealing with service to look at market trends, what’s going on in the market. As we noticed in the last week, the market has been going through quite a bit of fluctuation and some uncertainty in some sectors, especially in FANG (Facebook, Apple, Netflix, Google). Looking at that and where customers are going to and how those markets are doing determines if you’re an environment that’s more of a service environment, or more of a build-out, integration market. For this market, there’s so much uncertainty that certain customers, depending on how their valuation is, may rethink upgrading or doing new technology. In that instance, if that customer is in that position, or in that thought process, they’re more of a service client than they are a “let’s refresh and move to the next thing” [kind of client]. So that’s one of the things that the data analytics and the market can tell you.

SCN: Do you face any challenges in working with clients’ IT/technology managers?

CT: When it comes to AV, a lot of people in the technology world know what AV is; they don’t understand what AV does and where AV fits. And that’s predominantly because there’s really not a school or a degree of some sort that teaches you AV. The only one that really does is AVIXA, that really has structure into the education of the AV integration world. In the IT world, they have different areas of study, whether that be programming, networks, or security, and it’s pretty straightforward to them in their world what needs to be managed from an IT perspective. For them to learn the AV perspective, they don’t have a starting point.

So they basically learn through their resources onsite, if they have a colleague who has done an AV space, or an AV partner learning what is involved in AV. AV, as I like to say, is a combination of the construction and the technology worlds. A lot of your knowledge comes from the onsite touch and feel and experience of the equipment, of knowing how the different vendors work together—that’s where a lot of your training comes from. So the challenge with the IT and technology managers is not always understanding what it takes. And thinking that it can be minimized in terms of cost—“Oh no, that’s too expensive; can’t we make it less?” “If we make it less,” I tell some of them, “it’s going to cost you more in the end because you’re not factoring this.” There’s so many different components to the AV world that make up an integration and they don’t always understand it at first glance. But now that they’re taking it on more and more, they’re starting to understand it a little bit better. But there are a lot of IT managers that don’t, and they think that whatever their IT solution may be can always fit into the AV solution and rectify the problem with an AV room. And that’s not necessarily the case.

And in terms of service, IT deals with a lot of service contractors, so I don’t have the challenge in getting an audience with the technology manager; I just have the challenge in having them understand the importance of AV service and the difference between that and regular IT service.

SCN: What’s the next big thing in managed services?

CT: I’ve always thought of cloud managed services as the next big, big, big thing—Utelogy specifically. Because Utelogy works off of the standards, it doesn’t have a closed system. In other words, you could have any type of equipment, it will interoperate with pretty much anything. And I think [a big area will be] cloud and network managed services, in terms of security. We all know that a lot of clients are concerned with having a display or camera in their room, and being concerned as to whether someone has access to the camera and if it’s on when it’s not supposed to be on, and it’s capturing information that it shouldn’t. I think managed services in terms of security, and checking whether your equipment is vulnerable or not, is another path that is probably going to come along very soon, and Cisco is definitely on that path.

Also, another thing that used to be “a big thing” but there’s a resurgence of right now: managed professional services. Actual physical people, not performing maintenance, but performing the management of an event, with all of the equipment, with the cameras, setting up a video call—setting up a multi-divisible event space with all the AV and managing that, and managing the content on the display. That’s another thing that I see coming back.

SCN: Anything you’d like to add?

CT: I think customers should see service and managed services not just as another overhead expense; it’s guidance as well. In a lot of cases, service has been able to educate a lot of the customers on the next best step in treating their room, or the next best technology to use. So a good service partner can be a very good educator to the customer, because that person is looking at all different types of service aspects, and not just one scenario within one client. And that’s a good education for a client to have and work with in order to help them with their technology roadmap.