One of the main State of the Industry trends that we’ve tracked since we’ve been doing these annual forecasts for the year ahead in systems integration has been the sometimes-contentious AV and IT convergence.
Heading into 2020, it’s about time that we agreed the AV IT convergence is here—and that means AV and IT teams must work together to ensure the connected systems they’re building are meeting the needs of the clients who hired them in the first place. [related]
Today, AV equipment is overwhelmingly connected to the IT network—whether it be for remote management, remote access or remote collaboration. IT professionals are customers for AV integrators the majority of the time.
When managed services providers (MSPs) work with customers today, AV equipment is a clear and necessary concern in terms of bandwidth and security.
It’s not, however, the convergence people feared—the final Armageddon where AV integrators and IT providers fight in a righteous battle where only one emerges to handle all technology integration until eternity.
Those who scoff at the idea of the convergence never coming think of it in those terms. So why would they worry about a convergence that isn’t close to fruition?
In reality, that doom-and-gloom notion of the AV IT convergence is never going to occur. Instead the convergence is exactly what the name suggests: two industries coming together and evolving into one.
What does that mean for AV integrators as we move into the 2020s?
It means becoming more familiar with IT. If for no other reason than to have better conversations with the people who are more frequently becoming their customers on just about every AV install, no matter which vertical market they work in: IT pros.
Why AV and IT Need Each Other
The biggest detriment to the relationship between AV integrators and their customers is a failure to communicate. The language IT pros use is not the same language the AV integrator uses; in some cases, the same words, phrases, and acronyms mean completely different things.
Those who heard IVCi’s Dan Abrams emphasize this point in his impassioned presentation at Total Tech Summit understand the importance of AV integrators knowing how to speak the language of IT and the risks that come with not doing it in an ever-more-connected world.
It’s part of the reason why we’re launching a monthly department that comes from the perspective of managed services providers. The Service Desk [page XX] will serve as a way for companies on both sides of the aisle to understand why they need each other.
You wouldn’t travel to a foreign country where they speak a different language and expect everyone to understand your English. Why would you expect a customer to learn the language of AV?
Related: 4 Ways Integrators Can Earn IT Directors’ Trust
The ability to speak on their terms will result in grateful customers—both because they can understand what you are saying and because you can teach them about how your equipment works in terms of their networks.
It also means searching for partners in the MSP space. Think about it: very often, MSPs are brought into the process earlier than AV integrators, while in some cases AV integration work requires working with a customer’s MSP.
Why not work that out well beforehand?
Here is how it would work:
- AV Integrator A does its research and finds MSP B, an organization that it could work well with given both organizations’ strengths. They make an arrangement where each will recommend the other to clients when necessary.
- So, when MSP B is outfitting a new office that also needs digital signage and videoconferencing suite, they introduce the customer to AV Integrator A. When AV Integrator A is creating a communications suite that needs proper bandwidth, they introduce the customer to MSP B.
- Each firm now has an extra arm out there prospecting.
It can be more formal than that, of course.
In another model, MSP B may automatically contract AV Integrator A and vice versa, taking the customer out of it. There may be a finder’s fee that changes hands when one gets business from the other.
The unique details can be sorted out. The main goal is to start making connections across the industry.
With all the mergers and acquisitions we’ve seen across the integration industry in recent years, at least some of it is being driven by the desire by customers to find one company that can meet all of its technology needs and provide a single solution.
That means AV and IT companies are being pushed together and must understand how they can work together to help those common clients or they might both miss out on work they used to get from clients they’ve had on the books for years.
