The Challenge
It should no longer surprise anyone to see IT vendors showing up in the AV space. This often begins in videoconferencing installations.
So does the trend toward Unified Communications (UC), including Lync deployments, come as good news or bad news for AV integrators?
It’s an important question, as UC is mostly IT and services, not hardware.
Good news: that is the very thing that creates opportunity for any AV integrator who is knowledgeable and comfortable in UC.
The Opportunity
These new conference rooms are usually NOT video capable; and simply installing a VC system doesn’t make them so. Only 25-30% actually are video-centric. The fact is that everyone who has a new conference room immediately looks for ways to add collaboration and connectivity, if not control. So who are the experts in video, lighting, audio, collaboration, interactivity, and control? AV people.
“Things like that are known in our building as ‘tribal knowledge,’” says Jamie Stark, Microsoft senior product manager for Lync. “There’s a bunch of tribal knowledge that the pro AV integrator community can bring as a tremendous amount of value to customers.
He then cites a perfect example of IT knowledge vs AV knowledge:
“Somebody who has great facility for networks and deploying clients on PCs has no idea about the sound-absorbing properties of different materials. AV integrators know that off the top of their head. They can walk into a space and instantly realize what’s going on.”
Our new best friend Jamie is pointing out that there is a high demand for slick, functional conference rooms that go well beyond a basic conferencing facility. For example, Vaddio’s Easy USB line integrates full AV multicamera conference and training rooms of any size with Lync.
A note about vendors like Microsoft: does Microsoft want a bigger role in AV? Yes. Is that going to affect us as AV professionals? Yes. Could that be a net positive for AV? Absolutely.
Microsoft will become another vendor, and they have taken a few interesting steps in that direction lately (Surface Hub, anyone?). The rest remains to be seen, but I am not so sure how much time they will ever spend trying to work a niche industry.
The Investment
Are any integrators ready to add people in pursuit of the larger UC pie, including VoIP and SIP trunking, for example? I ask because it’s not that big a stretch from the video capabilities of Lync to the rest of the system.
You may not be ready to go that far, but a good start might be to at least dump the phones and use Lync ourselves. When we are actually experienced in using their systems, we are better able to address what corporate users need and want.
The Big Picture
Corporate AV gives people windows and controls for their existing systems. That means that we must conform to every new wave of best and common IT practice in the business world or be left behind.
It helps to remember what we have that no others do: unique “tribal” knowledge that comes from 50 years or so of conference, display and control technology. If we update our way of designing business environments that enhance current methods of communication, our business will always adapt, grow and change no matter what the time or the technology,