Are you the CIO of a company who needs to install the right, integrated AV solution for your business? Are you an AV integrator who is not able to have a conversation with the CIO of the company where you are installing an AV solution? If so, you both need to move to common ground regarding collaborating for designing the right AV solution.
In the past, many businesses have traditionally put AV under the ambit of the real estate/facilities/building management department. While this made sense when AV mainly consisted of islands of projectors and displays, this no longer works today. Today AV consists of networked, enterprise systems, such as Unified Communications and Collaboration. This is why, increasingly, AV projects are being managed by the CIOs of businesses.
In this white paper, Infocomm International discusses what CIOs and AV integrators need to do currently, and in the future, to move to common ground regarding setting up enterprise, customised AV solutions.
Some important points from this white paper:
When it comes to enterprise AV, working only with individual business units or departments in an organization can cause a disconnect. Such arrangements run the risk of information getting lost in translation when AV professionals then try to explain a solution to the CIO’s office.
When IT takes complete charge, it’s often because something went horribly wrong, such as an investor presentation in which a video stream kept freezing, or a board meeting in which remote participants who couldn’t hear what was being said half the time.
Many integrators say the first step to take with any new client is to inventory all the AV gear the organization has amassed. These reports set the stage for the AV firm to educate CIOs and IT executives about the cost of fragmentation and exactly how and where the AV firm can help.
The focus is no longer on the project or room, but is rather on the platform. CIOs are now looking at standardised, scalable meeting solutions.
To stay relevant, AV integrators need to flip the way they approach the market. Currently, it is about 80 percent custom solutions and 20 percent standardised templates. It should be about 80 percent standardised templates and 20 percent custom solutions. This will ensure that the AV integrator looks holistically at the AV solution that is needed.
If you are an AV integrator talking to the CIO, your technology must live up to IT industry standards. If your solution supports a series of standard security protocols, such as HTTPS, TLS, SSL, 802.1x, can integrate with Active Directory, and can be managed by SNMP, you can possibly have a fruitful engagement with the CIO’s office.
So, now you know a little bit more about how to engage with the CIO’s office, so that you can design the best and most relevant AV solution for their business. Do keep in mind the key points and you will be well on your way to designing an optimal enterprise AV solution that will satisfy the CIO of any and every business. Here’s to a fruitful AV integration experience!
To know more about how a customised AV solution can benefit your business, get in touch with Actis at 022-30808080 or at contact@actis.co.in
(Content and Images courtesy: www.infocomm.org and www.polycom.co.in)