I’ve spoken about the things that keep an AV professional up at night — in part the growing rise of one-box, easily configurable solutions sharply reducing the need for highly skilled integration in simple spaces. That trend continues with both industry stalwarts like Crestron and smaller upstarts like Owl Labs selling single-device collaborative solutions. That’s […]
Technology is an ever-changing environment, and the world of AV technology is no different. Change allows technology industries to thrive, given that the people working in the industry see it for the opportunity it represents and embrace their new futures to pursue it. Many times embracing change means that it’s time to retool our businesses and part […]
One of the joys of the AV business is that as networked-capability increases the performance potential of integrated AV, it also increases the complexity, which means increasing the potential for service issues. “Keep it simple,” is a great mantra to live by, but it only goes so far. However, network-connectivity cuts both ways and while […]
It’s been a year since the massive fires my fellow Sonoma County, Californian’s and I had to experience. Many homes, businesses, state parks and lives were lost, to say the least. For us who made it through to the other side, we are reminded again of the tragedy that brought our community together in a […]
Over the past several years my job has evolved more and more into the IT world. This has given me an interesting opportunity to see how vendors act differently between the AV and IT areas. This hit home recently as I began to talk with value-added resellers that want to do business with my college. […]
The connected era we live in is pretty amazing. A huge proportion of my job can be done by phone, text, and email. But there’s still replacement for meeting customers in-person. Even video conferencing isn’t quite the same. If you’re a sales rep there are a lot of good reasons to travel your territory and […]
The most often ignored or forgotten problem in AV/IT systems can be summed up in this quote from Benjamin Franklin: “By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.” Technically speaking, a failure is declared when the system does not meet its desired objectives. Therefore we can consider any system that cannot meet minimum performance […]
Barco announced today a restructuring plan to align the organization with changing market demands and growth opportunities while enhancing the company’s long-term profitability. This comprehensive plan addresses specific aspects of Barco’s organizational structure and effectiveness particularly in the areas of product management and commercial and service delivery processes. The plan also includes the re-investment of […]
If you have been paying any attention to the video conferencing world over the last several months, you have undoubtedly witnessed the incredible growth of the software-based Zoom video conferencing platform. We have been using Zoom for several years at my institution and we continue to be impressed with it. The new features however, are […]
So it turns out that I can still be surprised. That I’m not as jaded and world weary as I thought. That I have not yet seen everything. Long story short, we switched our home internet and TV from Shaw to Telus Optik. That necessitated an installer to come over with a new modem […]
Some of the most impressive properties that I’ve helped design and create into smart controlled experiences for their occupants all included a healthy mix of controlled and zoned lighting, with audio and video as well, in order to shape some truly incredible experiences in the residential, commercial and industrial spaces. The truly impressive ones, however, […]
Last week, I attended Oculus Connect, the conference for Facebook/Oculus virtual reality developers. It was one of the best glimpses I have yet seen into the uses of a new technology that will change the way we do business in industries with events or communication and collaboration with remote people (rental and staging, collaboration, education, […]
As you may know, I have been teaching both new media advertising and branding at the University of North Carolina (UNC) for more than 10 years now. Nearly my entire professional life has been spent in marketing and branding and I was excited when the dean of the School of Media and Journalism (where advertising and PR live at UNC) […]
I don’t know if “As a Service” has replaced “experience” or “convergence” in the AV buzzword bingo game, but it certainly has been a hot topic as of late, opening some interesting questions as to how the business models of traditionally hardware-centric AV companies fit into a software — and software as service — based […]
This month at CCUMC, I will be discussing how Bates College began to turn around its service operations by using data, metrics, SLAs and dashboards. This is not an earth shattering new business tool, but it is something that I think many organizations still don’t use quite enough or don’t use it in the right […]
Back in the spring, I launched a series of blogs on The Hard Truth about Selling Soft Service(ices) focusing on why AV has had a hard time turning the corner to managed services, software, video over IP and AV as a Service (AVaaS). I wrote about the first two hurdles in separate posts dealing with […]
I spent part of the weekend with some friends who are in the early stages of a new startup. While we don’t always talk shop, it’s inevitable that someone will open up about their latest challenges. The conversation we had ended up being interesting enough that I wanted to cover the topic with my readers. […]
As the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Gaming now occupies a place in end-users entertainment options that is as mainstream as a cable box. It’s entirely typical now for a media room or theater room install to incorporate at least one gaming console as a source and quite […]
“I’m a white male, age 18 to 49. Everyone listens to me, no matter how dumb my suggestions are.” –Homer J. Simpson I’m with you, Mr. Simpson. Even if my ideas aren’t all crazy, I understand that as a cisgender, heterosexual, Caucasian male living in the United States of America I have just about every […]
Despite our industry’s change from box sales to services, I still see some integrators who don’t seem to understand how a service must deliver value to a customer. As I wrote about last month, I see some who still look at what can deliver money to the firm, independent of value to the customer. With […]
Every week, I am highlighting some of the incredible people who work for the Audio Video Industry. In this post, we are profiling Michael Frank. Here is his brief introduction. Michael Frank is an electrical engineer with over 17 years of experience in the field of design and integration of high end audio-visual systems. 1. Describe […]
There has been a resurgence of Hi-Fi over the last several years, and it’s a trend I’ve watched both develop and blossom from format wars and reshape itself into a new audiovisual experience for generations to come. It is one that could truly be amazing for anyone willing to appreciate it and one that has […]
By Tom Vanthuyne Business Development Video Products, Silex Insight Ever since ancient civilization, people have been compressing goods; think olive oil, wine, flour, tomato paste… it is simply the most efficient way to store and transport bulky stuff. You preserve the essentials and get rid of the redundancies. When it comes to video, it has […]
One of the items that popped up in my feed this week was the news that Google no longer requires job candidates to possess a four-year degree. Further discussion among friends and acquaintances in the tech sector pointed out that this isn’t an earth shaking development. It’s been the case for decades that tech companies, […]
Every week, I am highlighting some of the incredible people who work for the Audio Video Industry. In this post, we are profiling Peter Kolak . Here is his brief introduction. Peter Kolak has over 20 years of experience in communication technologies such as videoconferencing, telecommunications, messaging and other emerging technologies. 1. Describe your journey […]
Photos by Sara Abrons 70 youth ages 14-20 years old direct, produce and execute the broadcast operations at MiLB AAA baseball team the Durham Bulls and have been for the past 20 years. As a part of a an Explorer Post under the Boy Scouts of America, both male and female participants fill roles ranging […]
Everyone, everywhere is talking about the so-called Internet of Things (IoT). And, every tech company is trying to find a way to claim their products are part of IoT, too. And, most of it is hype. Pure hype. But, some of the companies that do have IoT things are being stupid. Why? Security. The Internet […]
Next month, I have the opportunity to be part of an amazing panel at CCUMC on AVaaS. Being part of this panel has made me think more about the service and do some research on it. I don’t want to spoil the entire panel here, after all, I know that we will have a huge […]
No industry is immune to change, and this is even more true for technology-based economies whose life cycles can be measured in time spans as short as three months. If you’ve worked in the audiovisual (AV) industry in the past decade, you’ve witnessed a hardware-centric community transform itself into one driven by software and innovation. […]
Collaboration is so far past being a buzzword that it’s almost become kitschy. Nearly every booth at this past summer’s InfoComm show figured out a way to entwine the word collaboration in their messaging somewhere. But collaboration is truly important. It’s at the core of how the workplace is changing to accommodate modern work styles. […]
There are, within our space-time continuum, some immutable constants. For example, we can be assured that the earth will revolve on its axis every 24 or so hours and produce a sunrise and a sunset. In the sound system world, the number of absolutes is far more constrained by reality but there is one that, […]
About a week ago, I wrote about the death of what I referred to as the “Generalist” AV firm. In case you missed it, you can read it here. As you may imagine, I received a lot of commentary on this blog through the comments, through Linked In, and through Twitter. Based on those comments, I […]
