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AV Insider Spotlight : Omer Brookstein – Technical Director, Israel

Each week, I am highlighting on some of the incredible people who are in the Audio Video Industry. As this blog is mostly about AV insiders, today we are profiling Omer Brookstein .

Here is a brief intro about him.

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Omer Brookstein has worked in the Audiovisual industry for over 10 years. He is currently serving as Technical Director at Crestron Israel.

Please drop your questions in the comments below and i will make sure that he sees them.

1.Describe your journey in the AV industry? How did it start?

My father used to manage a local AV integrator that my grandfather started, and I used to work almost every summer break from a very young age. At the age of 14, I took my first Crestron programing training (Anyone remember workshop for DOS?), and since then I was hooked on Crestron. After graduating high school, and just before I was done with my military service, I joined my father on one of his business trips, in which we met with Mr. George Feldstein. George offered me to come and work at Crestron, and the next day I had my interview. A few months later I was on the plane, relocating to NJ. I spent almost one year working at Crestron HQ before coming back to Israel to start my B.Sc at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Soon after I graduated, we opened the Israeli office of Crestron.

2.What do you think is the challenges that are facing a new person who wants to join the industry.

We work in an amazing industry, at the most challenging and exciting times, while everything moves so fast, and expands in so many ways. But still, it seems that you must be born or brought to this industry by someone you know. There’s almost no training or structured path to become a professional in this industry. Therefore, a new person joining our industry has a very challenging (but also exciting and rewarding) path to take.

3.What are the positives of working in this industry

First and foremost – I think it’s exciting – everything that we do is very rewarding, as at the end of a long-hard day, you get to experience the most beautiful UHD video, high-end audio, and see how great products comes together to form great solutions that truly changes people lives – in their homes, and workspace.
In addition, I think that the IT and AV convergence, as well as the larger demand for AV and UC solutions in modern organizations, added even more excitement to what we do. It has raised the bar as far as for customers’ expectations from us, and our technology. While it definitely creates a good challenge, it also allows us to differentiate ourselves in ways that we could not do before.

av-insider-spotlight-omer-b-4[RELATED] : If you have missed any of the previous interviews, please click here.
At last, I think what’s great about this industry, is that in many ways, it is still “one big family”. It’s constantly growing, but we still feel like everyone knows everyone. Even globally.

4.What in your opinion would you change in the industry? What are the negatives that are prevalent ?

I think that too often some are too much focused on criticizing the competition rather than focusing on what their company does great.

5.Describe your ideal client? What do you wish clients to know before hiring you.

Our ideal client is both technical and user-experience oriented. I’d like him to understand the benefits and advantages that a Crestron solution can bring to his organization, and its performance. I love working with customers that are interested in enhancing their users’ experience, and willing to get into the details, and work with us, openly, to design the best solutions for their needs.

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I wish that every potential customer will know that in addition to great products, more than anything else, Crestron is a great partner. I keep telling everyone that comes to our office, that we are not interested in a “one-night stand”, and that we are always, truly, look for long-term partnership with our customers. This approach is very demanding, but has been extremely successful for us in Israel, and worldwide.

6.If you were going to start over, what would you do differently ?

I’d start younger!

7.Describe a typical work day for you. What are your daily disciplines?

I usually be at the office around 8am. We try to have our internal meeting as early as possible, as we have customers coming to our experience center later during the day. Most of the days are full of presentations and discussions with customers, in the office and outside. In between, I’m battling my inbox, and keep an eye on everything else that’s going on in the office. I also try to exercise three times a week.

8.Describe the apps and gear that you use daily which makes you more productive?

There are so many – my iPhone of course is sewed to my hand all day. I use Skype for Business more and more, and we use our RL2 room for our Fusion kick-off meetings with customers. We use Crestron gear in our meeting and huddle spaces in our office every day to control everything, and recently we added Amazon Alexa to control our meeting rooms as well.

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9. How is the market different compared to the rest of the middle east ?

Unfortunately, due to politics and the current situation, we do not do any business (from Israel) with our neighboring countries. I wish this will change in the future. I think that in such a chaotic part of the world, Israel in many ways, provides the necessary stability.

For more information about Omer Brookstein , please find a few links.
LinkedIn

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