Odd way to start a post but hear me out.
Is this REALLY a rise of your internal audio visual department or simply a resurgence of something people had before, just with different clothing?
A bit like Snap (Snapchat) and X (Twitter), except this is driven by end users and definitely with better results.
Audio-Visual Landscape Ten Years Ago
Scary to think that ten years is only 2014. Maybe we need to go even further back but there was ALWAYS one person in the business who knew what was going on. Everybody called on them to come and resolve whatever issue they experienced. If they had a lot, there would be a team of in-house audio visual engineers to save the day and manage the rooms. To a degree, this still happens and there are many businesses who have a dedicated engineer on hand every day.
Fast forward to 2020 ish and everybody went mad for hybrid working technology. And rightly so, it helped so many businesses to adapt and grow and become what they are today. There had been a steady increase to integrate the equipment closer to the IT world so this fell (largely) to the IT department to handle. And what an amazing feat of training so many IT managers did, carrying out their day jobs and learning about AV.
AV Today
When we look around at the landscape today, many businesses are far more knowledgeable about what a video conferencing system can offer a business, what experience they need and how easy a control system can run their boardroom. It is refresh time and clients are looking to upgrade from the existing system but the one thing that many are missing is the in-house AV engineer. And there are several reasons for that
- IT managers have a full-time day job and don’t want to be travelling around, fixing issues
- Facilities managers don’t want to deal with it either
- Departments around the company will play hot potato with AV projects, not wanting to be responsible for the complicated design and maintenance
- It is expensive to have an in-house specialist
Many businesses have impressed upon the IT department to deal with it (because it’s technology so it is ITs remit, right?) and we’ve spoken to many clients who have one person to walk round EVERY meeting room, testing the system and then getting on with their day. In a year that could be £2000-£10,000 just walking around. And then you might have multiple sites which often get overlooked. Many businesses are already utilising virtual walkrounds handled by device management software specifically for AV to manage multiple sites and be proactive in ensuring rooms are ready for use, rather than discovering the problem when it’s too late.
Technical knowledge has grown…but has it?
Whilst this game of hot potato goes on, clients are definitely more clued up about the meeting room technology but from an experience point of view. Users know what they want to achieve in a town hall space or a small meeting room, they know that technology can enable that but they often don’t know how to implement it. That was often John’s role who came to the rescue ten years ago but he’s now moved on, or retired, or he is the manager and now expects somebody else to fulfil that role. It’s not surprising because even just a simple search for a video conferencing bar brings up a huge array of choices from different manufacturers, different models and different use cases. So which one do you use? And who do you turn to when you need to make the project happen?
You call….the AV Team (sorry, I saw my chance and I took it).
Case Study Time
Terry, an IT manager in the food manufacturing industry, had exactly this issue. He had been given the unenviable task of refurbishing their meeting room at their head office and so they did what anybody else would do. They did some research, found something that might do the job, got a demo and did some testing with other members of the IT team.
They hated everything about the tech but it wasn’t the technologies fault, nor was it their fault. It simply wasn’t in their skill set to manage such an awkward space whilst dealing with their day-to-day and the technology simply wasn’t right for the environment. But they didn’t have a single person in the building to advise them, nobody they could just quickly turn to and ask ‘hey, what would be a great solution here?’.
One of our partners called us in to support them and we spent time going through the system, testing, trying various scenarios, being that knowledgeable person IN their business, not just a random external supplier. We became part of their team as an extension of the IT team. Once the first meeting room was completed, it got the notice of upper management in the business. Suddenly their meetings were transformed and messages were being heard loud and clear. A little too clearly as there were some initial complaints that they couldn’t whisper about the far end users but they were so impressed that it became a priority for the company as a whole.
They trusted our experience so much that they have asked us to support them across multiple sites around the UK whilst they stay at their head office, managing the day-to-day. We visit one of their sites as part of their internal team, ensure that the rooms are correctly configured and they do their bit remotely. Deployment of meeting rooms isn’t down to the hope that they won’t need to attend site to alter something because it was done incorrectly, it’s just full trust that the team will deliver as good as the business believes it should.
They aren’t the only ones
This is being echoed around many businesses that we speak to. So many are playing hot potato, not wanting to deal with it as part of their day-to-day, and wanting something more than just a supplier. They are looking for an external AV partner to be part of their business, someone they can call when they have that urgent issue or need to be at the other side of the country deploying a meeting room and not have to worry.
So what’s in it for me?
It is easy to see why businesses are integrating more with their audio-visual partners but what are they getting that you aren’t?
- Cost effective. You don’t need to waste money on walking around or hiring somebody in the business.
- Flexibility. They can be ANYWHERE you want them to be when you need them to be.
- Wide range of services. There are a lot of products and working with experts who follow the trends can ensure that your business is up to date.
- Accountability. External partners are dedicated to getting it right and making sure the technology works for you.
- Ease. It would be so easy for you to pick up the phone or send an email and have the entire project dealt with for you by experts.
- Trust. By forming an integrated relationship you can build trust and continue to deliver to your high standards.
After all, we all want to trust somebody that is going to help us and deliver for us to our standards, not just swan in, leave us with a mess and do a disappearing act.
Want to find out what having your OWN internal AV team would look like without the cost? Get in touch today.