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Global AV Partnership Bringing Worldwide Standards of Excellence

Published: December 2, 2016

The Global AV Partnership is only about two weeks old, but founding members are already exploring other places to plant their flag.

But, while this won’t be an exclusive club, not every integrator will be welcomed into the worldwide consortium focused on bringing standards of excellence around the globe.

“We realized there was an opportunity for us to bring a level of reliability, consistency and quality on a worldwide scale,” said Scott Birdsall, CEO of founding member CompView on an introductory conference call with fellow GAVP founding members Barry Goldin, president of Unified AV Systems, and Darren Pitt, sales and marketing director at Digitavia.

“There are a lot of Fortune 1000 companies that are looking for ways to increase their collaboration around the world,” he said.

Goldin sees the GAVP’s main focus as bringing about a set of “well-defined standards worldwide.” The founding members represent the west coast of the U.S. (CompView), southeastern U.S. (Unified AV) and U.K. (Digitavia). They’re looking to add partners in several other geographies, including China, Japan and Mexico and welcome interested integration and consulting firms to apply online for membership.

What it Takes to Be a GAVP Member

To be considered for GAVP membership, companies must: support ongoing staff development and industry certification; operate within a sustainable business model; have a defined project management and installation process; and demonstrate a proven track record of successful large-scale project delivery with exceptional customer satisfaction.

Watch the video below to hear the founding members discuss the Global AV Partnership.

GAVP members will use InfoComm International’s APEx standards for its projects and partnerships and will rely on what Birdsall calls “in-country expertise” to address clients’ questions while supporting clients in 30 countries across five continents with its combined workforce of more than 500.

“This [partnership] isn’t about standardizing products, per se,” says Goldin. “It’s mostly about standardizing processes. It’s a global activity, so we want to find the best of breed. We’re looking for a certain like-mindedness and a certain set of abilities.”

The Global AV Partnership represents the second major worldwide collection of AV talent, joining the Global Presence Alliance. Birdsall is excited about the possibility of other integration firms joining the GAVP, which was hatched during discussions at NSCA industry events.

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“This is really about the philosophy of the partner,” he says, noting most members will bring a focus on the enterprise corporate market, but the GAVP will accommodate those who work in other verticals if the fit is right. “Our goal is to be a resource for our clients.”

The GAVP will host a meeting at ISE 2017 in Amsterdam in February to provide more information about the group and talk about possible membership for other integrators. The group also expects to have a similar get-together at InfoComm 2017 in June in Orlando, says Pitt.

The founding members will serve as GAVP’s initial managing council, but that group will change every year, says Birdsall. There’s no cost to apply for membership, he says.

“Great partnerships come through the cultures of the companies involved,” says Birdsall. “This is an exciting opportunity in a growing corporate market that needs solutions like this.”

The GAVP will offer a way to manage service agreements, with the particulars depending on the needs of the client and size and scope of the project, says Pitt. Clients will get annual reports as part of the managed service component, he says.

“This isn’t a new concept, but it’s something that was generated by our clients coming to us and telling us what they need,” says Pitt.

 

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