Editor’s Note: This article featuring AVI-SPL’s Julian Phillips and his 2026 predictions is part of Commercial Integrator’s series running throughout the month of January. In this series, we spotlight forward-looking insights from some of the pro AV industry’s most notable luminaries.
As we look ahead to 2026, the pro AV industry stands at the cusp of exciting opportunities and transformative trends. To explore what lies ahead, Commercial Integrator turned to Julian Phillips, SVP, global business development, managing director, XTG at AVI-SPL, for his expert predictions on the technologies and strategies that will shape the future of pro AV.
Julian Phillips 2026 Predictions
Commercial Integrator: Without getting into any specific vendor or particular branded solutions, what technology category or solution area do you see as 2026’s ripest, most profitable growth opportunity for pro AV integrators and installers? Explain your reasoning.
Julian Phillips: Not so much a technology, more of a methodology. The workplace experience is disjointed because we design, sell and deliver different solutions in silos. The companies that join together building management, workplace management, unified communication, experience technology, cybersecurity and management support will prosper in 2026 and beyond.
Commercial Integrator: Which emerging AV technologies do you think are overplayed? Which ones do you think will truly transform the practice of integration in the coming years?
Phillips: I am going to say AI, but not for the reason you think. A recent MIT study showed that 95% of enterprises failed to realize any real business value form AI deployment in the workplace. The reason, I believe, is that they are trying make an old organization and business practices faster and cheaper with less humans. You cannot get any more blood out of that old stone. The companies that succeed with AI are those that unmake, re-imagine, and build new models with AI working alongside humans.
Commercial Integrator: What’s getting better about the pro AV industry these days? What seems to be getting worse?
Phillips: Integrators are getting better at defining and delivering customer value and services. Too many AV manufacturers are digging deeper into product sheets and features and benefits selling – move on please.
Commercial Integrator: What’s liable to catch some pro AV industry integrators and installers off guard in the coming year?
Phillips: The competitor you did not see coming. With AI especially, the barriers to entry are lower than they have ever been. Customers demand speed and agility. The old slow horses will start losing customers to nimble start-ups and you won’t see them until it’s too late.
Commercial Integrator: What’s the single most pressing challenge that professionals in the pro AV industry must tackle right now? And how would you suggest tackling it?
Phillips: This is a call-out to the owner-operators of the AV integration community and to all senior leadership groups. Have you got your succession plans in place and what are you doing to prepare the next generation for the “new world” which is not the same as the “old.”
Commercial Integrator: Finish this sentence: 2026 will be remembered as the year that the pro AV industry…
Phillips: ….adopts AI as an ally and changes it’s course for ever.
Stay tuned with Commercial Integrator as we gather year-end insights and 2026 pro AV predictions from the brightest minds in the industry. If you’d like to be featured, contact our editorial team (Alyssa Borelli, Amala Reddie and Dan Ferrisi).
