AV Integration Project Work Improving Slowly, According to AVIXA COVID-19 Impact Survey

Weekly AVIXA COVID-19 Impact Survey shows uptick in paid AV projects, more companies working at full capacity and increasing optimism across most sectors.

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AV Integration Project Work Improving Slowly, According to AVIXA COVID-19 Impact Survey

More than half of AV integrators say they’ve seen the return of paid projects this week in the latest edition of the AVIXA COVID-19 Impact Survey, up more than 10 percent from the previous week, the surest sign yet that we’re inching ever closer to a return to more steady work in AV.

In addition, this week’s survey shows more companies operating at full capacity, thawing communication between providers and customers and hints that revenue prospects may be stabilizing, even while revenues are still declining in the short term.

But, at the same time the industry is getting its feet under it, and as companies are starting to see a clearer picture of what’s ahead, more firms are cutting staff and reducing salaries, according to the COVID-19 Impact Survey.

“In some respects, feedback indicates companies are getting a handle on demand and scaling to an appropriate level of operations,” according to the AVIXA report on this week’s survey.

This week, 59% of AV end user respondents to the survey fielded June 9-10 said their companies had been impacted negatively by the pandemic in the last seven days.

Roughly 57% of AV providers perceived a negative impact in the past week, down from 62% in the last survey and the first time that figure has fallen below 60% since AVIXA’s market intelligence team began collecting data in March.

More COVID-19 Impact Survey Findings

This week’s COVID-19 Impact Survey shows 28% of AV providers operating a full-capacity project load, up from 24% last week, and 62% reported working at a reduced capacity.

About 51% of this week’s respondents said projects had resumed (up from 40% last week), 21% said revenues had improved (up from 16%), and 54% said they’d seen increased inquiries (up from 45%).

While AV end users remained steady with about 40 percent resuming projects, according to the COVID-19 Impact Survey results, inquiries jumped from 20 to 27 percent this week.

That shows, the report says, that “as business units begin getting back to work, they’re starting to increase their requests for AV services.”

About 27 percent of AV end users expect work to pick up in July, with 22 percent expecting it to ramp up in September and 16 percent saying it should happen in August.

On the other hand, about 21 percent of AV integrators expect their workloads to pick up in September, followed by 18 percent in August and 12 percent in July, although the results vary by region.

In a separate survey, AVIXA Market Intelligence asked AV providers if they were likely to pass along to clients the cost of health and safety measures on projects. About 24% said they were likely to pass along some costs, while 31% said they were unlikely, while 44% aren’t sure yet.

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