In my March 2020 blog, written before COVID-19 changed the world, I wrote about “Digital Transformation.” At the time, very few organizations had truly invested in a digital transformation strategy. It was still a buzzword corporate leaders did not understand or were not able to fully implement. Before we move any further, let’s get a […]
Several months ago I started a podcast here on rAVe called #DearVendor. The idea behind the podcast is the AV industry is an ecosystem — we are only healthy if all parts of the industry are healthy. In the podcast, I give tech managers (aka in-house integrators) an opportunity to tell manufacturers, integrators, programmers, designers […]
In this episode, I speak with Don Merritt of the University of Central Florida. Don talks about what he is expecting in the year ahead — he is thinking not only about the changes we will see based on what faculty have learned over the past year but also how we need to prepare to have faculty and students in […]
In a recent blog, Gary Kayye wrote about the current global supply shortage of semiconductors. Take a moment and read the blog and the linked Wall Street Journal article. They both raise some important concerns about what the next several quarters will bring in regards to this shortfall. Unfortunately, my blog is not going to […]
In this episode, I speak with Erin Maher-Moran of Johns Hopkins University. Erin gives some great insight into how Johns Hopkins has a hybrid approach to design and installation; she also offers advice about how strong relationships with integrators can be extremely valuable. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS
Over the past 14 months, higher ed technology professionals have been scrambling. Whether we were sticking webcams on tripods, placing cameras/mics in classrooms or working with faculty on how to use all of the above — the past year has been more about preparing for tomorrow than for the next six months or year. While […]
I always anxiously await the arrival of my copy of the Harvard Business Review. While I realize that may sound a bit nerdy, I think it is an amazing resource for anyone who thinks about leadership, management and business operations. In the March/April edition, there is a story called “How to Shift from Selling Products […]
In this episode, I talk with Jimmie Singleton from the University of Southern California. USC has a student enrollment of over 40,000 students, and Jimmie’s department supports about 280-300 spaces. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS
First let me say thank you, with a title like this one, I am surprised anyone is reading this blog. Let’s face it, asset and inventory management is not exactly a topic that sparks interest and debate. Part of the reason for that is that no one really enjoys doing this tedious, boring work. Yet, […]
Introducing the newest podcast on the rAVe [RADIO] network: #DearVendor. For over a year I have been following the #DearVendor hashtag on Twitter. People often use the hashtag to make jokes or express frustration at vendors. Typically, the jokes are about cold calls or relentless emails. As I watched the communication on this over several […]
During End User Day of LAVNCH WEEK 3.0 in February (in partnership with HETMA), I enjoyed listening to end users speak about AV security. It was particularly interesting to me since I had just written a blog on how the SolarWinds hack should serve as a lesson to the AV industry. I was tweeting a […]
For educational institutions far and wide, public and private, kindergarten to graduate school, Google services have one thing we all love — the price was right! For many of us, that meant it was free. There have always been some premium services that you can choose to pay for if you are a Google school, […]
In mid-December, news broke about a massive cyber breach that occurred through SolarWinds software. There is a chance (I hope not) that many in the AV community briefly looked at this, decided it was an IT issue and moved on. If you did, I think that was a mistake — and want to tell you […]
Higher ed just lived through what may be the strangest semester we have ever had. At my school, we held in-person classes, and — knock on wood — we were very successful, with limited numbers of COVID cases and no serious cases. Like many other schools, we employed social distancing, lower limits on people in […]
Skype, FaceTime and now Zoom. Each of the past several iterations of videoconferencing have a few things in common. First, they became part of the consumer lexicon, becoming verbs, in fact. Second, they became popular because of their use by, and availability to the general consumer. Only Zoom, however, grew at what can be described […]
Being a technology manager in AV has been a wild ride. For years, many of us have felt like we were crashing the party. At first, we were not welcome at InfoComm, then that slowly changed. Then, when manufacturers started communicating directly with us, visiting us on-site, offering training, etc., integrators were not happy. Then […]
Over the past several months, authors on rAVe [PUBS], such as David Danto, have written about the future of the office. This has also been the speculation of newspapers and magazines as of late. In fact, the most recent edition of the Harvard Business Review has a cover story on the Work from Anywhere Future. […]
In the beginning of April and again in May, I wrote updates about the state of higher education for integrators, who may be wondering what their business model would look like for the rest of the year. Paradoxically, it seems like a lot has changed since then, and nothing has changed at all. We are […]
As we continue to struggle worldwide with the pandemic, I try to keep my eyes open for what is changing in the industry and how we can react to it. I think both about temporary opportunities that we should be working on to keep our businesses afloat and permanent change(s) that will outlive our experiences […]
For years, many of us in higher ed have used the various laws associated with the Americans with Disabilities Act to determine what was required for accessibility in classroom and campus spaces. We thought about things like closed captioning for movies, support for hearing aids and the ability to view a screen properly. However, this […]
In case you were not paying attention during the month of September, a few news stories broke regarding industry trade shows: Sept. 16 — ISE announced it was moving from February to June for 2021. Soon after Sept. 16 — InfoComm announced it was keeping its previously planned June dates. Sept. 21 — DSE announces […]
Dear Zoom, We began using Zoom three years ago as a corporate replacement for Skype. The technical staff and our faculty and staff absolutely loved it. Slowly, we acquired more and more licenses. Then in March of 2020, COVID hit, and Zoom went from an essential tool to a business-critical application. And that is when […]
As technology people, we in the AV world are not immune to being drawn to new, fancy, shiny objects. We know we need to ask the right questions, make sure it fits our needs (or our customers’ needs), but wow, that new tech can be exciting. On occasion, we are also drawn in the opposite […]
World Wrestling Entertainment is a sport that relies on fan engagement and interaction more than any other. A big reason for that is the fact that it is staged. Yes, there is a substantial degree of physicality that goes into it, along with choreography and excellent timing. Yet, in the end, we know it is […]
According to Kenny Chesney, “We all have a song that somehow stamped our lives, takes us to another place and time,” I know that I certainly do. But can technology do that too? Here are the facts: We know that numerous studies have shown the effect of technology on teenagers, along with the results of […]
Back in the late fall of 2019, I first heard of Teleportivity. It was in a demo video that Gary Kayye posted right here on rAVe [PUBS]. My initial thought was that the idea was great, but I wondered about the product’s efficacy at smaller institutions like mine, or even mid-size colleges and universities. My […]
On infrequent occasions, I write blogs that do not relate directly to technology or AV. I do this because I feel as though I should stick to the things that I know and have experience with. Yet, there are times when something is so important, I feel like I need to say something. Due to […]
Over the past several weeks, the higher ed world has become more widely acquainted with the term “HyFlex.” For some, it’s a vague word that leads to more confusion than clarity. Let’s take an opportunity to think about it and what type of AV installs and equipment would support a HyFlex classroom. Interestingly enough, this […]
Mike Tyson once said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” This quote is reasonably relevant today, as we have all taken a beating from COVID-19. Most successful firms had developed strategies years ago and have been consistently and successfully following them. However, what we’ve experienced the past several months — […]
It’s June of 2020, and colleges and universities have finished their crazy spring semesters. Most are pivoting, rooted in planning for the fall semester of 2020. A few themes seem to be emerging that will begin to shape what this next school year looks like, and therefore how the AV market will play a role. […]
Many of us are approaching our third month of stay-at-home orders (while others on the West Coast are looking at their fourth month). We — or at least I — spend much of our time thinking/dreaming about when this will come to an end so that we can get back to a normal routine. However, […]
A month ago, I wrote a blog about how financing at higher education institutions works. In that blog, I wrote about how most places, for various reasons, were going to have some tough budget decisions to make due to COVID-19. In the current environment we live in, things change day-to-day. So, I wanted to take […]
