After 3 long years, InfoComm finally returned as the Pro AV industry descended upon the Las Vegas Convention Center June 8th through the 10th. Having experienced a cancellation in 2020 and a scaled-back version in 2021, you could instantly feel the excitement surrounding the show and the joy of being around colleagues again in-person. Although the temperatures outside routinely reached 110+ degrees, the buzz inside of the Convention Center was far hotter! To add to this excitement, this event marked the official launch of the new Exertis Almo Pro AV, as the two companies have integrated into one. We have traded our Almo blue shirts in exchange for Exertis Almo red, and dare I say, our booth could be seen from one side of the North Hall to the other. Never been to InfoComm before? Allow me to describe why it remains a must-see industry event for Pro AV.
The week started off very quickly with the Exertis Almo-sponsored Opening Reception on Tuesday evening, which was held at the Hard Rock Café. Complete with cigar rolling, giveaways, and our always-famous Bourbon and Bacon tasting, the evening was definitely the kick-off to the entire show! We had multiple vendor sponsors in attendance, including Samsung, Legrand, LG, Sharp NEC, Absen, BrightSign, Yamaha, Epson, and Jabra, along with a bustling crowd of customers so large that wait times grew just to get in! Later in the week, a vendor informed me that he overheard people in the elevator talking about how excited they were to attend, so it sounds like our marketing team knocked it out of the park, as usual!
Fast-forward to the opening of the trade show floor. The expo ran from the 8th through the 10th, and all 3 days offered the kind of value that you can only find at InfoComm. When walking in for our morning booth tour, you immediately noticed the registration line wrapping around corners, and attendees were excited to be out amongst their colleagues and partners. Remember how I said our booth could be seen from one end to the next? Well, when your logo is bright red and your booth is multiple stories, it definitely stands out! Featuring multiple private meeting spaces as well as several featured vendors and additional meeting tables on the show floor, the Exertis Almo booth had something for everyone. You cannot attend an AV event without featuring a little “A” and a little “V”. To help achieve this, we had displays from Samsung, Sony, Absen, LG, and Avocor, along with various audio solutions
from Yamaha UC, Nureva, Jabra, and others, all present in our booth demoing the latest and greatest in their product lineups. In fact, several other vendors made sure to come by to visit and offer their feedback on the impressive attendance at our booth. What really differentiated us from others was very clear – our team. Quite frankly, the sight of 25+ red shirts was impressive, but once you realize that our team came from throughout the US, Canada, and even Europe, it showed just how powerful the new Exertis Almo will be moving forward.
The crux of any InfoComm has always been the meetings. Getting to sit face-to-face with customers, vendors, rep firms, end users, or even colleagues of past and present offers the most value for any attendee. You cannot normally find all of these folks under one roof, so it’s always imperative to take advantage of everyone’s presence. My meetings certainly fell into this spectrum, and each one provided me the chance to either learn or educate. One minute I was sitting with a customer from the northeast, describing our service offerings to uncover new opportunities, and the next minute I was walking through the West Hall, meeting with the VP of Audio from Harman Professional Solutions and learning about their strategy for the next few years. The ability to have these varying level of discussions will always be beneficial to all attendees.
Not to be outdone, we have to talk about the products and technology. After all, it is a technology showcase, right? Any chance you have to get up close and personal should always be seized, because that is how the real learning is done! You can attend launch calls, webinars, and multiple PowerPoint Zooms, OR you can stand in a demo room while an audio engineer demonstrates why their product outshines the rest, all while cranking the volume to 10. Talk about an “a-ha moment”! Not only were there two halls filled with vendors, but there were also multiple private demo rooms dedicated to some of the best in the audio field. Harman’s space was filled with AMX collaboration tools, installed audio products like ceiling speakers and amplifiers, as well as a small showcase of their latest product introductions. However, the real eye catcher was the large truss at the front of the room, containing the new SRX900 series powered arrays. This new product has been very well-received since its recent launch, so to see it and experience it live was definitely a perk of the week. Other impressive booths I saw were from Legrand, BrightSign, Sharp NEC, and Panasonic. While I wasn’t able to dive too deeply into each, you could tell there was a great deal of planning that went into the designs of each booth, on top of the products being featured.
I love about product discussions at InfoComm happen organically. These aren’t your typical trade-show-level sales pitches where the vendor is trying to close a deal. This is someone who is there to educate you on what their products with a legitimate interest in you receiving value. I experienced this personally with Tom Roberts, Channel Manager from Jabra. Tom spent the week in the Exertis Almo booth, and as crowds started to wind down on Thursday, I approached him to strike up a conversation about their consumer products with which I was familiar. By the time we were done with the 35-minute talk, I had learned more about their line of conferencing cameras, like the Panacast and Panacast 50, than I had previously known. That is where the value lies!
And of course, we can’t forget the parties! The opening reception was only the tip of the iceberg to the Peerless AV–sponsored “Glow Up the Night” party on Wednesday. Held at the Zouk Night Club, the preferred attire was bright colors which matched the venue’s bright lights and glow-sticks, necklaces, and more. Exertis Almo had their own private VIP section, and the night lived up to all expectations amongst the attendees! While I will be the first to admit I am no longer the “late nighter” I used to be, everyone who closed the party down certainly didn’t regret a thing. Everyone had a tremendous time indeed.
If you aren’t already impressed by all that InfoComm has to
offer, I saved the best for last. As the now-combined Exertis Almo Pro AV, our team took home the rAVe award for Favorite Distributor for a 10th consecutive year…YES, I said 10th! When we say Best in Class, we mean it! For all the work our collective teams do day-in and day-out, this was the icing on the cake.
After traveling to Las Vegas for my 10th time and attending my 3rd InfoComm, this one was the best. The past couple of years were certainly a challenge, but the second you step off the plane and see the InfoComm banner hanging in the airport, you know you are ready for the exciting events to come! I look forward to InfoComm 2023 in Orlando, FL, and hope to see even more first-timers attending the experience!
The human body has roughly 5 million sensory nerve receptors inside. The receptors help trigger the sensations of heat, cold, pain, and so many others that we have grown accustomed to. Being that I just turned 41 in March, it is quite easy to overlook these sensations outside of the frequent times I would yell “I CAN’T STAND THE COLD WEATHER ANYMORE!” Having just returned from a trip out to California while attending Almo Pro AV’s award-winning E4 Experience, it really dawned on me of the importance that the sense of touch has on all of us. It had been 3 long years since I last had gotten on a plane and roughly 2 ½ years since I last attended an E4 or any other industry events. It is absolutely true that you don’t know what you have ‘til it’s gone and having the Pro AV industry (and the world for that matter) shut down the past couple of years really caused me to miss being on the road and interacting with all of you. With that being said, I found myself immersed in the opportunity to be around the product that we all sell, train, manage, and communicate on the daily.
Dating back to my days selling the first consumer Plasma TV’s and 500lb console televisions (slight exaggeration!) in retail, I have always had a belief that to be successful in sales, you had to be a customer yourself. How could I honestly and accurately sell products if I didn’t use those products myself? There is something to be said about taking a new audio receiver home, connecting it yourself, and spending hours, days, or weeks adjusting the settings to your preferred listening levels. This practice dates back to the late 1990’s for me and holds true to this very day. I am a visual, hands-on learner. I enjoy the art of “trying to break something,” meaning I like to test the product, possibly disassemble it, and try to understand how and why it functions the way it does. Looking around my office right now, I can count a minimum of 10 products that are available through Almo Pro AV. If I look around my house even further, I see internet, cable TV, security, and even solar services, which I had sold previously in my career. Again, if I don’t use the product, how can I accurately sell it?
How many times a week do we find ourselves quoting out product specs for a particular item? Half a dozen? 10-12? I’d venture to guess quite a bit. Let’s take a portable loudspeaker as an example. All week long I can be on email, zoom, and phone calls and recite the following to a customer: “Yes, this speaker has a vertical array containing 12 2.5” drivers with copper-capped pole pieces to minimize distortion. This model contains a 2000-watt fully-bridged amplifier and a 7-channel digital mixer. Each speaker weighs roughly 55lbs and measures 33x19x25” in size.” Ultimately, reciting those specs to a customer is probably going to be good enough to close the deal, especially if it is a speaker the customer has previously used, or maybe they need an upgrade to a more current model, etc.
However, imagine being able to attend an event like E4 Experience, where you walk up to a manufacturers booth, you see this particular loudspeaker on display, and you are ENCOURAGED to be HANDS-ON! The E4 Experience is hardly your 5th grade trip to the Museum. These manufacturers want you to touch the product, examine at your own speed, and ask questions about how to best utilize those products! There is a lot to be said for the ability to do this and immediately earns you a layer of credibility with your customers when you can speak from personal experiences.
During this most recent E4 Experience, held in sunny Anaheim, CA, I had the opportunity to talk with Cassidy Alley, Account Manager from Almo’s National Business Team. Cassidy is newer to the Almo Family, having just started in the fall of 2021, and this was her first ever E4 Experience. In our show floor discussion, she said, “Being able to attend the E4 tour is a great experience as it provided the opportunity to learn about products through a live demonstration, build relationships with the vendors, and interact with end-users. This opportunity has helped with driving business as relationships and knowledge grew. The E4 tour is an invaluable way for dealers and end users to connect with key players in the industry. Going to an E4 presents an amazing opportunity to really dive deep and have a personalized interaction with the newest in AV technology.” The two things she said that really struck a chord with me were learning about products through live demonstration and also how attending an E4 presented an opportunity to dive deeper. Cassidy, like the rest of us, can only go so far reciting specs from online data sheets. She took the opportunity and ran with it like so many others and I find that extremely commendable.
For those of you who are familiar with past blogs and articles I have written, you will know that I am a big proponent of seeking out ways to educate ourselves in order to move further in the comfort model. The E4 Experience is an excellent example of this, and it is a way for us to get our hands on the latest and greatest in technology that the Pro AV industry has to offer. As the country continues to open back up to pre-2020 normalcy, it is imperative that we all seek out these opportunities to not only get in front of the manufacturers we all know and love, but also get in front of the products we have been talking about for years and really gain a physical understanding of how the products work, how they tie together to complete a project, and even pick up some tips and tricks on how we can better sell them to our customers through live demos.
I hope to see you all in Chicago on May 3rd at the next E4 Experience, and don’t be afraid to walk up to a booth and get hands-on with everything that Pro AV has to offer in 2022!
As the trite saying goes, the only constant is change. The trials and tribulations of COVID-19 underscore this idea by testing our ability to navigate uncertainties, a continually evolving “new normal,” and pivoting business models. Our schools are among the hardest hit in all three of these areas. Safety, new teaching and learning methods, unfamiliar technology, and daily go/no-go uncertainty of in-class instruction dominate many teachers’ and students’ thoughts. Simultaneously, many speculate on the potential long-term emotional impact on children of the COVID generation.
I am mostly optimistic. One life-skill contributing to long-term success is adaptability to change, and now is the perfect time to master this skill. I am not a child psychologist and expect to get some comments on how feeling safe and other factors shape the young mind. While I agree, I also believe we have an opportunity to favorably influence the long-term implications while building resiliency in our children through the example we set in our responses to our circumstances. A vital part of the modeling includes the attitude teachers demonstrate for students in the face of challenges. But teachers need help too. The AV community can minimize instructor stress and maximize adaptability by suggesting distance learning solutions requiring limited teacher intervention or training. Having taught for many years at the college level, I know firsthand that instructors and professors have enough on their minds that mastering a new classroom tool can increase anxiety and reduce education delivery quality. In the process, this stress response potentially adversely impacts their ability to adapt to the new COVID-induced realities and negatively influences students’ attitudes and long-term adaptability. Conversely, if we maximize teacher comfort in their new HyFlex and distance learning environments, they are more likely to model the adaptability needed for long-term student wellbeing.
When we first moved to remote models, leveraging Zoom got remote classes up and running quickly. Many schools rapidly adapted, and teachers learned the new technology. But as time progressed, they discovered they needed something more. The wish list and questions raised included several of the following items:
Zero teacher interaction – Start class and the technology works. When teachers need to remember to start recording, then the recordings often do not happen.
Minimal training requirements for the teacher – The more training needed, the lower the retention, adoption, and proper utilization, and the higher the stress
Reduced resource impact on teaching computer – Who thinks their computer is fast enough? Presenter PCs sometimes bog down. Running capture, streaming, or soft codec software on top of presentations further stresses the machines.
If the instruction PC seizes or needs a restart, what happens to the stream and recording? Does the instructor need to remember to restart the application?
After class, how does content get to remote students? Does the teacher need to upload the lecture content to an LMS or provide a link to students?
Could the network experience bandwidth issues while uploading content to the LMS during peak times? Does this potentially interfere with live classes running concurrently with the uploads?
Does the recording contain tags to simplify playback and searches? If so, what are the post-production requirements to embed the information?
How can we create student experiences similar to the classroom, where the students can individually control what they view and when? For example, sometimes they want to see the teacher, sometimes the content from the presentation computer, and at other times the whiteboard. Globally switching the content may cause some students to miss content when they need to see a source longer than presented.
What if the teacher moves around the classroom? How do you maintain their image on camera while ensuring they have good audio pickup? Speaking of audio, how do you pick up questions from students in the classroom well enough for far-end participants to hear?
Each of the items above represents a potential stress-inducing pain-point, reducing instructional quality and the student experience. Finding an ideal solution that addresses all of these issues could take a rack of equipment, control systems, and programming. Additionally, while there are technical solutions to address all of the above questions, how do you do it all without breaking the bank?
Frankly, in some cases, you can’t do it all without the end-user spending money. But, there are methods to make it more palatable. First, identify the priorities. Sometimes schools want everything but are willing to accept some trade-offs. Understanding your customers’ priorities can save you time hunting for the unicorn solution that fits their budget too. Second, familiarize yourself with some of the potentially lesser-known options on the market with user- and integrator-friendly feature-sets designed to address schools’ preferences. Some of the items to familiarize yourself with include:
CatturaCaptureCast – A recording, streaming, and publishing appliance that automatically captures classes, tags the content, and posts to an LMS with zero teacher intervention or burden on the presenter’s PC. The choice of HDMI or SDI inputs makes them source agnostic, and student controlled multiview playback emulates the classroom experience from the far-end. Remarkably affordable for the value.
Stem Audio ecosystem – Broad coverage or a controlled, narrow pickup area, Stem provides ceiling, wall, and table, mics with speakers and integrated DSP, in a simple to design and implement format. A couple of units cover most classrooms, while PoE convenience, USB connection to a soft-codec, and system self-tuning help the budget while ensuring intelligibility for all participants.
VDO360 AutoPilot and CompassX – An auto-tracking camera that does not require a lanyard or third-party control, along with a decent conventional PTZ camera. With the Autopilot covering the teacher, the CompassX on the content and connected, to a CaptureCast (with Stem Audio), provides the “killer app” in lecture capture.
It seems like I have the same conversation with integrators daily. They have a school system that tried the lowest cost mic and camera connected to the presenter PC, but now they need something better. They need something easy to integrate and low stress for the teacher that provides a positive learning experience – and all three of the items above, along with new other options, frequently receive favorable responses from all parties. Most importantly, however, is the impact on students. As a father of three remote high school students experiencing varying Covid-19 outlooks, and teacher influences, I appreciate students’ need to see role-models successfully navigating today’s challenges. Technology in the new-classroom can enhance or impair the teachers’ experience, and by extension, the students’. So, the next time you are working on classroom projects, remember your design may impact the teacher experience, and by extension, the long-term resilience of the students in their charge.
I welcome your insights. Please share your thoughts on balancing quality distance learning solutions with teacher comfort and budget constraints. What are your views on how the teaching experience can impact student adaptability and the long-term resilience of the COVID generation? Feel free to comment below or reach out to me at [email protected].
In any given career, you will find opportunities that present themselves and your job is to take that opportunity and run with it. In past blog posts I have written about my opportunities like being offered the role of Business Development Manager for Harman, being asked to visit the Harman Experience Center in Northridge, CA, and utilizing Almo’s Tuition Program to further my education and development. In a year full of challenges and obstacles, the latest opportunity came in the form of sadness turned to generosity and happiness. Allow me to explain.
My wife’s grandmother had been experiencing failing health for quite some time and sadly, she passed away in the beginning of 2020. Her services were held at Groveville United Methodist Church in NJ where she had been a longtime and very active member. After a few days had gone by, my mother-in-law approached me to mention that her mom had always wanted to update the sound system at the church because during the sermons and choir concerts she had a hard time hearing everything. Apparently, it was always a thorn in her side! Certainly, I was glad to help and began looking for someone who could not only install the needed hardware, but also handle the situation with the care, understanding, and delicacy it warranted. Through a recommendation from our Regional Sales Director, I was brought to Jak Daragjati and DARA AV from Staten Island, NY. Jak was more than willing to help us and offered to make the drive from NY to conduct a site visit. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to not only help my mother-in-law and the church, but also attend the site visit myself to gain a better understanding of what it entails and to learn more about the House of Worship vertical. What we found that day was an antiquated system that certainly lacked the technology, not to mention organization that this house of worship deserved. There were some items we found that were not even plugged in and functional, not to mention switches and cords that younger members had easy access to. What I learned from attending this site visit was not only was Jak very thorough with his questions and with surveying even the tiny basement of the church, but he was knowledgeable to boot. Jak knew about different forms of religion from all over the world and could tell us what type of system would work best for the types of sermons they held on Sundays. He was thoughtful enough to ask about the members who might have trouble hearing and what they would want. It all blew me away to be quite honest.
Thanks to many generous donations from family, friends, and the congregation, the church was able to move forward with the entire set up that Jak had recommended. No thanks to the Covid-related delays we experienced this year, the church reopened recently and Jak wasted no time in scheduling the install. Now, when members show up on Sundays they will be greeted by two Samsung UN75RU7100F displays hanging on Chief RLT2 mounts with a pair of JBL CBT70J arrays, so not only can the members see what is being presented but also they will certainly hear it from all corners of the church. Additionally, there is a Crown DCI2x1250 amplifier powering this and a BSS Blu-100 for the control functionality. All of this is sitting in a Middle Atlantic rack with a Middle Atlantic PDS-615R Power Sequencer for organization and safety. As I was writing this, my mother-in-law received a call from the minister simply telling her how thrilled he was the amazing outcome. He could not wait for Sunday!
In the end, this opportunity was unlike any others I had been presented with. We were able to honor the wishes of my wife’s grandmother while at the same time I was able to experience what our integrators are capable of when presented with a project. Jak and the team from DARA AV went above and beyond in our time of need and left all of us thoroughly impressed. I would ask all of you look for opportunities similar to this in which we have a chance to help someone solve a long-term issue while at the same time continue to further our own education and development by learning something new every day. A special “THANK YOU” goes out to everyone at Groveville United Methodist Church and DARA AV for being the best choice when it comes to any house of worship project!
Q. What will school look like this fall – and beyond?
A. We are living through precedent times. While it is typically difficult to predict the future, I think it is safe to claim that there will be more volatility, uncertainty, chaos, and anxiety on the part of administration, faculty, students, and families. The primary concern for higher education needs to be the safety of students and faculty alike, which is why so many institutions are pivoting to online and hybrid learning in order to maintain the continuity of meaningful and authentic learning. However, many higher education faculty have little or no experience as online learners, and so the prospect of becoming an online teacher is a lot like becoming a lifeguard without knowing how to swim. Some learning systems are committed to following the guidance provided by research about online learning that works. These institutions are making more intentional choices about the fall term and, as a result, they will be more successful than institutions that are less committed to intentional online learning.
Q. How can we do a better job of AV setup for hybrid learning?
A. Again, we have to follow the guidance provided by the highest quality research available about online learning that works. Panasonic has partnered with Dr. Sonny Magana, an online learning pioneer and Oxford Research Scholar to embed his methodology, what he calls the T3 Framework for Innovation, into the Panasonic higher education solution. The peer-reviewed strategies in the T3 Framework has shown to have an effect equivalent to quadrupling learning performance. The T3 Framework was recently inducted into Oxford University’s Research Encyclopedia for Education, which is what prompted us to partner with Dr. Magana. Our intention is to package AV tools with The T3 Framework’s concrete strategies, protocols, and resources so that our AV equipment is not just used, but used in the most reliable way possible to improve learning outcomes. It’s not just about the AV, but it’s about reliably improving remote and hybrid learning based on the research evidence on what works. That will make all the difference in the world.
Q. The student experience – can they get what they need being remote?
A. There are different levels of need. The human social/emotional aspect of learning is not only foundational, but it is difficult, but not impossible to reproduce in remote learning environments. So, having said that, students can get their learning and social/emotional needs met by practicing what Dr. Magana calls “Contributive Learning.” Contributive Learning theory suggests that meaningful learning is a function of both active participation in the learning experience and collective interaction. Many faculty see learning as a solo experience, like long-distance running, in which learners consume information from a lecture, commit that information to memory, and then demonstrate their recall ability on some examination. Contributive Learning Theory indicates that learning is more like a team sport–we learn better together than we do in isolation. That means shifting remote learning conversations from monologues to dialogues. That is a shift that is ideally suited to remote learning–with the right tools, training, and resources to help faculty and leadership make this shift.
Q. How do we avoid overburdening tech support, short of turning teachers into broadcast engineers?
A. There is going to be an amount of “front-loading” by tech support folks in higher education, let us make no doubt about this. But that should be seen as a starting point, not an ongoing situation. The evidence indicates that building faculty capacity with research-driven online learning methods and strategies will reduce the burden on tech support personnel. This logic follows the old “teach a person to fish” allegory: when tech support don’t build capacity–in other words they give away fish–they are building dependency. Many higher education learning organizations are falling into this trap. However, tech support personnel who work with trusted, knowledgeable partners, like Panasonic, to build instructional capacity with online learning that works, it’s like teaching teachers how to fish. That model is much more sustainable, and, in the short- and long-term, will serve to reduce the Pandemic Slide Effect, so that higher education learning curves upwards rather than continuing to spiral downwards.
Q. What is your best advice for resellers and schools/universities as we approach the 2020-2021 school year?
A. There is no question about it: learn about the recent breakthrough findings by Dr. Sonny Magana on online learning that works. He has based his T3 Framework for Innovation on four decade’s worth of investigation on finding the sweet spot between learning and technology. We invite interested faculty and leadership to enroll in what we call Project Moonshot–our effort to build instructional capacity with the T3 strategies and protocols in order to minimize the Pandemic disruption on learning continuity, and begin to shift the learning curve upward. Disruptive situations must be met with disruptive innovations to first minimize losses and then begin the road to recovery. We are currently seeking about 10-15 more faculty members who want to become Project Moonshot Pioneers who learn how to implement the T3 strategies and protocols, and then, with the help of Dr. Magana, evaluate the impact on student learning and engagement.
Author: Rob Goldberg, Panasonic Group Manager of Visual Systems
As the powerful Joe Rogan says “we are living in strange times”. Who could have anticipated a virus would shake up our world to the degree it has? We have all been forced to adapt to a new way of living in such a short period of time. Through that adaption though has come a new wave of ideas, innovative ways to achieve results, and an overall sense of evolution.
Outsourcing Audio Video work is not a new concept to our industry, but much like the Zoom Boom we have experienced as of recent, this new world has caused many of us to re-think our approach to business. Zoom was also not new to the industry previous to the Covid-19 outbreak, but it has allowed us in these turbulent times to connect with our peers, customers, and partners in ways we never took advantage of before. Taking advantage of outsourcing capabilities now could mean the difference between AV integration businesses thriving or folding.
Here are 5 reasons why your business should start thinking about outsourcing AV needs moving forward.
Overhead – During these times many AV integration firms have had to make very tough decisions in either furloughing employees or in the worst case scenario, laying them off, and while I always support the effort to bring folks back to full time employment, I think there is an increased need to do so methodically and cautiously. Outsourcing can help you achieve the results you need out of your business while minimizing potential risk and liability.
Time equals Money – Many AV business owners and personnel are currently trying to figure out how to re-open their doors, follow the guidelines of new state and federal regulations, strategize for growth in a new environment, and re-organize the 80% of mass that is the iceberg underwater we don’t see. Spending time managing design, installation and service, means time taken away from strategizing for the future. Outsourcing can minimize the impact on time spent on task level work and insure that you are focusing on the long term sustainability of your business.
Economic repeat – Many researchers and epidemiologists speculate a potential re-occurrence of the Covid-19 virus spike in the fall time frame. I think its safe to say we all hope that doesn’t occur but it is still wise to prepare in case it does. This first wave has not been friendly to the AV industry, essentially putting all projects on hold, restricting cash flow and profit to the bottom line. Interrelated to reason #1 its important to mitigate risk and outsourcing common tasks that are profit generators that don’t necessarily require the deployment or effort of your internal work force is a great way to insure your business stays healthy during troubling times.
Expansion – Many businesses have and will continue to react to this pandemic in a “Woe is me” fashion and while they are reflecting on better times, other businesses are looking through with windshield and gearing up to create positive opportunity for themselves. Outsourcing can help as an organization is throttling up for expansion. You can increase your geographical footprint by outsourcing labor/installation in regions that would not be considered in your immediate focused geography. You can also expand your capability which could be inclusive of things such as drafting, rendering, digital content creation, programming, as well as ongoing managed service agreements for the end client. These are all areas you can create expansion in and do so quickly and confidently with the help outsourcing.
Expertise – It’s impossible to be a master of all trades and often times you find your business walking away from opportunities because your organization simply doesn’t have the internal expertise to meet the demands of the end client. Outsourcing is a great way to insure you can capture those projects and do so knowing the expertise to complete the project is there. Also consider this: To be considered an AV expert, we often create an association with the obtainment of CTS, CTS-I or CTS-D credentials. In the fiber and networking communications it’s RCDD, and for project management it’s PMP. There are many industry credentials and in some cases they are required if you want to work with particular hardware equipment or software. My point is, to be an expert in any one area, requires a serious time and money investment in the area of ongoing training. You can mitigate the expenditure impact simply by outsourcing the expertise that you need, when you need it.
There is no doubt outsourcing in AV has become less taboo over the recent years and more widely adopted as a part of regular business practices. The COVID-19 Pandemic has certainly accelerated the need for outsourcing adoption. Distributors like Almo Pro AV have recognized the importance of thoughtful outsourcing early on and during these challenging times. We (Almo Pro AV) have worked diligently to evolve our services program in a way that closely aligns itself with the ongoing needs and demands from our integration partners and their customers. There is no better time than now to start integrating outsourced AV services into your business.
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