Figuring out what customers want and how to provide it to them in an efficient and profitable way, well, that’s pretty much the essence of business.
Easy, right?
The problem is that neither of those things is usually easy to figure out. So when information is right in front of you, it makes sense to take advantage.
Integration firms that design and install technology have noticed an undeniable trend—their customers across all markets (corporate, higher education, K-12, government, retail, hospitality, house of worship, you name it) are creating more video content than they did a few years ago.
In fact, it’s likely that most customers’ organizations created close to zero video content five years ago and now they are focused on creating a whole heck of a lot of videos for training, internal communication, branding, recruiting, marketing and endless other reasons.
Integration firms know this very well because they’re benefiting from it. They’re installing displays and providing video distribution solutions.
North America’s largest AV integration firm AVI-SPL entered 2016 riding a tidal wave of momentum. It had two consecutive record-breaking months in the second half of 2015 and the catalyst, according to VP of marketing Kelly Bousman, was AVI-SPL’s ability to win a cluster of very big and very video-centric projects.
To a certain degree AV integration firms are taking advantage of the opportunity before them, but to a significant degree they’re squandering it.
Why is it that audio-video integration firms tend only to be involved in the distribution of video content and not in the creation of it?
Video content creation is a different animal.
Yes.
Obviously.
No argument there.
But for many organizations looking for guidance and assistance as they take on their content creation goals, it makes sense for them to ask their trusted AV integrator or consultant. After all, the “V” in “AV” does stand for “video.”
It’s a different animal, but is content creation so far-fetched for AV integration firms that they’re willing to let pass by a revenue opportunity and a chance to provide value for customers? Are they so confident that they’re current offerings will remain indispensable to customers over the long term?
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Savvy integration firms are extremely focused on created managed services offerings for customers. Doesn’t video content creation and ongoing management of video and storage make sense as a value-add managed service for customers that indeed need video?
Integration firms should position themselves to be full-service, soup-to-nuts video providers. Whether it’s through in-house or third-party offerings, they should provide expert solutions and service for video content creation, management and distribution.
It’s provides new revenue opportunities, strengthened relationships with customers and potential recurring revenue through managed services.
Since it’s not possible to flip a switch and become a full-service video provider, integration firms should start by creating a strategy around ramping up their expertise. CI encourages you to take advantage of two educational opportunities along those lines.
“How to Build Your Broadcast Technology Capabilities” is a webcast that brings together experts that approach video from three different angles—video capture by Lumens Integration; production by Roland; and content delivery and management by MediaFusion. The goal is for audience members to gain an understanding of the products and technology needed to deliver live production and streaming solutions.
That’s the technical side. At Total Tech Summit, CI will tackle the business and logistics sides of becoming a soup-to-nuts video services provider in a panel discussion, “The Light Broadcast Opportunity.”
There are few integration firms that are actually offering full-service video to customers, but we found some that are doing it successfully, profitably and not looking back. The panel includes a representative from Yorktel, which created an in-house content creation division with fast-growing revenue. It also features an integrator that chose not to take content creation but to offer those solutions to customers through a third-party production company—and that production company is also on the panel.
The discussion will address that fact that adding full-service video to an integration firm’s infrastructure isn’t easy and highlight best practices and options for doing so.
Most importantly, the panel will outline the revenue opportunity. After all, adding a creative content element to an integration company will take time and investment. It better pay off.
It’s paying off for some of your competitors already.
Interested in attending Total Tech Summit? Find more information here.