Latest headlines: Sharp and NEC Display are merging their display divisions into a new company, DSE postponed until the fall, plus news from Martin Audio, Black Box, VuWall and more
March 25, 2020 | Volume: 18 | Issue: 12
Big news happened early this morning — Sharp and NEC Display announced that they are merging their display divisions into a new company, still to be named, that will be owned 66% by Sharp and 34% by NEC Display. Read the full story below.
Joel Rollins, our resident rental and staging expert, has also written a column for the rental and staging vertical about what to do next with all events being canceled for an unknown length of time. It has some valuable advice for any integration firm about how you can pivot your business to the sectors that are in deperate need of technology assistance at the moment (primarily, government, education and of course, medical).
Katye McGregor Bennett also has a nice pick-me-up piece on what you can focus on now to keep your business moving and take advantage of downtime without going crazy. And if you want to read a really interesting technology piece that has nothing to do with COVID-19, check out Anthony Coppedge's column on artificial intelligence and machine learning.
P.S. rAVe's LAVNCH WEEK, which you can sign up for here, is a week-long virtual event we're putting together with Zoom to fill the void of many events that have been canceled or postponed in recent weeks. It's our agency's hope to create a necessary home for the innovative products that were scheduled to launch in the coming weeks at trade shows and live events.
A couple of months ago, I wrote an article that talked about protecting your staff from the current epidemic. A lot has changed. Obviously, the virus becoming a worldwide pandemic has thrown the industry into a tailspin. As an industry, we have spent a lot of time in the tailspin condition, as we are an industry accustomed to constant and rapid change. In fact, most of us have made our living by inducing constant and rapid change for our customers. The problem this time is that our customers are in the same tailspin we are.
Focus on what CAN be done at a time like this, when the world slows and all are in a similar position. Things that you never have time for, that get de-prioritized because other, more pressing issues take the lead. Here are five things you can do to stay sane.
Whether your firm has joined the chorus touting “AI” or is more conservatively accurate in the programming of “machine learning,” there’s a non-stop buzz in the industry around the advancements of computing power and advanced algorithms used to analyze dizzying amounts of data from an ever-expanding networked technology install base. Either way, an opportunity for the audiovisual (AV) industry is the chance to both connect to these devices and capture useful information for providing next-level service, support and even new sales from data trends and insights.