As more state government leaders begin to ease the restrictions and closures in their municipalities related to the coronavirus outbreak across the U.S. and around the world, we’re starting to also see more optimism among integrators about getting back to more regular AV work. [related]
The eighth week of the AVIXA COVID-19 Impact Survey shows more end users optimistic about the opportunity to get back to a more traditional routine in the next couple of months, if not sooner, says AVIXA senior director of market intelligence Sean Wargo.
This week’s results show about 14 percent of the staffing reductions made among survey respondents are considered permanent, meaning more than 85 percent of them are in the furlough category, he says. That falls in line with the expectations of a return to consistent project work by June or July.
“We certainly hope to continue seeing our end users improving early because that has benefits down the line for the providers” says Wargo. “There’s a more stable outlook and expectation than we had been seeing early on. That shows us providers are looking forward to projects coming back.
“They want to be positioned and prepared to spool back up quickly. Instead of taking a hit to staffing that’s more permanent, they’re putting them on the bench, training them up and getting them ready so that once things open back up they can return to business,” he says.
Many state governors are eyeing June as a target for an end to their pandemic-based restrictions on non-essential businesses, so “it makes a lot of sense you’d see alignment between states and their plans and providers and their expectations,” says Wargo.
The AVIXA COVID-19 Impact Survey informs the association’s annual Industry Outlook and Trends Analysis report annual financial projections, which comes out in June and will be discussed at InfoComm 2020 Connected, says Wargo.
Inside the AVIXA COVID-19 Impact Survey
Projects with a component of temperature scanning and other security or life safety elements are the second-most popular in the next six months, according to this week’s survey results. That moves them ahead of content distribution for this week, but both are dwarfed by collaboration-based installations.
“One aspect of smart building is capturing, analyzing and utilizing data from residents and occupants,” says Wargo. “The need for people to return to work or other places with more comfort points to an opportunity for AV.”
The same mentality will carry into other vertical markets, including hospitality, retail, restaurants, sports, concerts, worship and other live events, says Wargo.
“All of our solution areas really cut across markets,” he says. “Maybe it’s a way we’re able to get back to watching live events. It enables some creativity and creates some challenges in terms of evolving our businesses.”
This week’s COVID-19 Impact Survey results show “continued optimism around digital signage and simulation and visualization technologies, says Wargo. He expects the collection of data through the life safety installations and other methods to lead to more opportunities in control rooms too.
