2021 is here, which means we have had a chance to say goodbye to what was a challenging 2020 officially. We are all hopeful that 2021 will be a year filled with opportunity. But it will not come without some uncertainty, and that will hold true for the AV industry as a whole. As an integrator, this does not mean you can’t plan to scale your business. Yet, prediction and preparation are not mutually exclusive!
There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected your business in some way, shape, or form. For some, the impact may not have been as severe, but for others, tough decisions were made to keep businesses alive. Those decisions were likely in the form of reducing headcount, most often from the outsourced technicians.
Now that we have rolled into 2021 with some optimism and renewed energy. It’s time to start moving into growth mode. One of the fastest ways is by augmenting your staff through outsourcing and reduce risk. This is the simple practice of augmenting your labor force to help assist your skilled W2 technicians/project leads out in the field.
This form of outsourcing has become very popular in recent years. The need to augment technicians through an outsourcing program was accelerated due to the pandemic’s impact. With technician augmentation capability, you no longer have to pass on jobs due to lack of employees, keeping your calendar full for 2021.
Now is not the time to lose control!
You have spent a considerable amount of time and effort building your business, so it is understandable that the reputation you have made through your relationships and proof of performance means everything.
They are possibly the biggest reasons for your success. By using technician augmentation it could be perfect for your business as you wade through uncertain times. Let me explain: Augmentation and supplementation are two very different things.
Augmentation gives you access to technicians that will work alongside and take direction from your on-site staff members, whereas supplementation is relinquishing an entire job to be outsourced.
It is often vital to consider technician augmentation rather than supplementation to ensure that specific processes are followed, control is maintained, and the project outcomes are as you desire. Technician help allows you to perform the job YOUR way.
We all understand the importance of kids being in school from an academic and social perspective, and it’s clear an aggressive effort is being made to get kids back on the school bus! In preparation for the upcoming school year, technology implementation will be crucial to accommodating in-room distanced and virtual learning.
So what does that have to do with technician augmentation? Well, it’s simple. Whether public, charter, or private, most schools have at least a handful of classrooms and often hundreds, if not thousands per district. Most of these classrooms are cookie-cutter in terms of technology deployment for clear reasons.
Teachers and students are trained on how to interact with the same systems, no matter what room they are in. An assisted technician staff best fills this type of repeatable work. From wire-pulling to display mounting to disposal of waste, outsourcing technicians in multi-room environments can prove to be very cost-effective and very efficient—no more hiring and firing based on a single job.
You can take comfort knowing your organization can complete the work without incurring any unwanted pre and post burden. We should all have a shared enthusiasm for what is next in our industry. The collective ability to adapt and overcome in 2020 has been remarkable, but there are more audible calls to come. The AV industry will continue to shift and change rapidly, as it did in 2020 (let’s never speak of it again). I cannot stress enough the importance of making sure outsourced Technician Assistance is a Key Part of Your 2021 Business Strategy.
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.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok
