Three Areas Where AV Can Realize the Vision of UC&C
- It’s All about the Physics
(it’s a long post – but I think it might be a good one)
In my last blog I talked about the vision of Unified
Communications and Collaboration (UC&C) and how UC&C can be better than
being there. I of course acknowledged
the importance of face-to-face meetings.
To recap, I emphasized that when you use UC&C, you have all of your
resources available to you and thusly your meetings can be very productive.
In this article I will expand on how AV designers and
integrators need to bring their expertise to the forefront as they ADD IT to
their solution mix. The important key
point to remember is that AV can successfully enter the AV/IT market (or the
UC&C market) and even dominate their area in it as long as they stay
focused on the fact that what they are doing is ADDING IT to their current AV
solution offering. If AV is their core
competency, they need to go into IT knowing that IT features and
functionalities can and should be leveraged as an add-on to their core, but
this should not be an attempt at going head to head with IT integrators or
resellers. This may even be an
opportunity to partner for some. Simply
picking up IT products and IT integration and competing with those who have
been doing it for decades is a tough row to hoe and is often a losing
proposition. This article focuses on
what AV has to add to IT and how that makes UC&C a complete offering.
I will do one more clarification because I know this will
generate a lot of discussion as discussions like this has done in the
past. I am not advocating that AV is
here to stay just the way it is for the long run and that change does not
needed. I am also not stating that AV
companies should all go out and become IT companies because of impending
doom. What I am stating is that AV is
due for a natural evolution in their business.
I am stating that there is a shift that is being driven by; new
technologies, the way space is being used in business and the way that
businesses are setting policies, procedures and process to support more
collaboration and the way global teams work together. This evolution must be addressed by AV
companies and better yet, there is great opportunity in it.
I guess I should clarify what I am saying when I discuss
UC&C and IT. When I mention UC&C
– I will give you my definition (sorry Wikipedia), I am referring to the space
where telephony, computer networking, data networking and collaborative
technologies all come together. Some of
the most common examples of UC&C are video conferencing, but those often
lack the collaboration element and use very little of the data networking element. Fully integrated rooms where videoconferencing,
interactive whiteboards that allow for Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) are
integrated with the phone system, computer system and also allows for
interactivity and integration with the entire network system including
desktops, servers and network resources are better examples of full
UC&C. As for IT (again my own
definition – not Wikipedia), I am talking about the network and the network
appliances. This general term can also
include the Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN) technologies,
applications and appliances. I guess I
am saying that IT is a smaller part of UC&C and is also higher on the
hierarchy when you look at the bigger picture.
This is because IT can cover an entire enterprise where UC&C can fit
into a smaller subset at times (for a better definition of UC&C and AV/IT
check out this post by Corey Moss).
Another important thing to remember is that the terms being used are
subject to the speaker’s definition.
When you are talking to an IT guy about his network he gets to define it
how he wants and you shouldn’t correct him.
A network is an IT guy’s baby and when you correct him about terminology
he is using about his baby, you might as well be telling him he has an ugly
baby.
It is important for AV companies to focus on their core
competencies and then grow their IT and UC&C branch to add the following
value to these UC&C evolution areas:
1. The Technology— I am amazed by all of the advancements in
UC&C. It is hard to break them all
down, but if we look at a few of them like networked AV, encoding and decoding,
FPGA v. ASICS, gigabit networks, fiber optic networking, 4K, HDBaseT camera
technology and size, OLED, touchscreen tech, wireless applications, etc. we see
that you don’t have to look far to see that technology in UC&C has come a
long way in a very short period of time.
Just as amazing is that the price points for these technologies has have
come down exponentially. A lot of these
advancements and pricing advantages have happened in the very recent past. These advancements have found their way to
implementation in consumer products as well.
The fact that these advancements have been implemented in consumer
products is has a significant impact in the corporate market for UC&C. There was a time when UC&C was a black
art. The only people who knew what new
technologies were available were the technologist and really high-end geeks,
but now that these leading edge technologies are prolific and in the hands of
the masses in home theater and home office.
These end-user consumer applications are often driving what goes in the
boardroom and conference room. The
consumer looks at the fact that they can make a clear video call with clear
audio to their child who is studying in South Korea and wonder why they can’t
easily make the same call from a huddle room in their office to a business
partner around the world. The IT guy had
better make it happen regardless of network security, bandwidth issues, service
provider problems or mismatched protocols or carriers. “It works at home via consumer off the shelf
products”, thinks the consumer, “so it had better work in my boardroom.” The
evolution of expectations has gone from when there was a time that only the
fortune 100 had it so that made some companies want it. Then it went to people in Hollywood had it
(like Jack Bauer (24) had it, so some companies wanted it. Now, we see that the evolution of expectation
has come to the realization that a teenager installed one’s house and now those
people want it at work.
What can AV do about the Technology Evolution? In order for
AV to add value to the technology evolution in UC&C the emphasis still
needs to remain on the fact that AV is adding IT to their solutions mix and
that their core competency is still enhancing the physical environment. Marketing and selling the value that AV has
in enhancing UC&C is where the challenge is, but it is also where the
greatest value is. Once the end user
understands the value that AV adds to the solution, end users will realize that
using AV to complete their UC&C deployment makes perfect sense. A lot of people will argue as to why one
should try to market something or sell something that the end user or target
customer doesn’t know they need or isn’t asking for. To that, I respond with a quote that is
sometimes attributed to Henry Ford: ““If I had asked my customers what they
wanted, they would have told me a faster horse.” The quote may or may not have been made by
Henry Ford, but the point is well made and his grandson believes he said
it. The point is that sometimes it is
our responsibility to educate our customers as to what is best for them and
deliver more than what they are asking for and more than they had ever hoped
for.
The fact that AV can speak IT and do it with a UC&C
result as the end goal will drive the business their direction. The competition in the UC&C market is
most often an IT or Telecom integrator.
Trying to compete with them on a technology level is going to be
tough. So where is the unique value that
AV can bring? To be highly differentiated I still stand by my earlier
posts/blogs/articles that state that AV maintains value in lighting, acoustics,
camera placement, control system design, AV signal routing and signal integrity
design, microphone placement, audio reinforcement design, display type, display
size and display location selection, etc. This is to say that the physical
space is still where an AV designer and integrator is still the master and has
much to offer. We still find that many
UC&C or videoconferencing systems are not used as often as intended due to
these three main reasons: they are not easy to use, the conferencing does not
feel or sound natural and the system is not compatible with the system they are
trying to connect with. AV designers and
integrators are well suited to overcome these top three barriers and can best
adapt to the use of cloud technologies to maximize the capabilities that the
latest collaborative and bridging systems offer. AV designers and integrators can spend the
time to become specialist in the UC&C areas that end users need with the AV
expertise added that will bring the system to its highest functionality
possible. It is important that AV add IT
to their solutions mix by educating their staff and investing in the new technologies
while still maintaining their strength in AV.
I have said this before as well that the investment in IT can be done
through partnerships, but should not be done halfheartedly. The evolution is here and AV companies must
evolve as well.
2. Process and Policies- One of the other challenges we face
is the shifting in the way business is being done. No longer are we using technology to get
things done, but we are seeking out technologies to match how we expect to get
things done. Our users expect to be able
to collaborate the way they can meet online and share information in social
media at work. Therefore policies and
processes have to evolve as well. Things
that used to be forbidden on networks or forbidden as a matter of corporate
policy are now business requirements. We
used to have strict policies against the usage of computers for social media
and we had strict rules against iPads, Tablets or other personal devices being
added to corporate networks. These are
policies of the past and now we have policies and process that not only allow
this type of behavior, but we have process in place that encourage it. We have meeting spaces that encourage
impromptu meetings that require no prior scheduling through the corporate email
system and the meeting space is an open space that looks almost like a café’ or
even a garden area. Policies and
processes have evolved to encourage collaboration and open communication. Corporations are looking for new and
innovative ways to make their workforce more productive and more
profitable. Can these things all be
combined? There is a strong belief that
using UC&C to build a more collaborative and team centric workforce will
quickly yield more profits and higher productivity. With AV implementing UC&C we must find
ways to help the evolution of processes and policies that will drive this in
ways that other industries can’t.
What can AV do about the Process and Policies Evolution? -
Seizing the opportunity in the evolution in process and policies for UC&C
will involve understanding process improvement and having a strong business
acumen. Personally, for this I used my
LEAN Six Sigma training and Project Management Professional training and
certification. These trainings,
certifications and experience lend the background, knowledge and skill I need
to support customers in changing their business approach along with the
implementation of technology. Having
your AV project managers be more than elevated technicians is key here. The AV industry is a little unique in that
most of our project managers come from the technical side of the business. In many other industries project managers
come from the business side of the house.
Having a business education and background gives them an edge when they
are working with large enterprises. For
AV we need to adopt that approach. For
those AV companies that have moved to this, I am sure they can attest to the
fact that in dealing with large enterprise accounts having a project manager
who knows project management and business pays in dividends. I have seen this work for others where the
team approach is used and the account manager takes the role of business
manager as well. The important thing to
know is that there needs to be an approach where someone with a strong business
acumen and an understanding of the industry that your customer is in needs to
work on the team to help the customer with the development of an evolved set of
policy and process to support UC&C.
Executive buy-in is key to the successful deployment of AV in
UC&C. If executives are not using
the system and if they are not setting policy and process that support and
drive the usage of the systems if will all be for not. The policies and process need to be built on
the WHY of the system. Way back at the
needs analysis the root causes, explicit and implied needs were uncovered. Now is the time to make sure that policies
and procedures are developed to make sure the system that is developed and
deployed is used in such a manner to address those needs. As an AV designer and integrator we need to
take on the role of business process and UC&C consultant. This may require your organization getting
some additional training like I have in LEAN Six Sigma or (Project Management
Professional (PMP®) or similar business process related training and
certifications.
3. Space Planning– Throughout my AV career I have heard AV
designers and integrators discuss the importance of being included in the
design process early. Architects and
General Contractors are often overlooking AV in the initial phases of a project
and that is often detrimental to the successful AV implementation or it at
least makes the successful implementation a more difficult task. That has never been truer than today and in
UC&C. With UC&C space planning
is critical. The challenge continues
that consumers are blasted regularly by manufacturers with the message that
products are off the shelf, easy to implement and require minimal set up. The truth of the matter is that in a
corporate boardroom environment or in a conference room these products require
a lot of special handling and even more care when being integrated into a space
that many people are using or a space that is used for a lot of different
purposes. The evolution of space
planning involves the user’s expectations just like the technology evolution
did. For the space planning evolution
I’ll use the Apple Store example.
Everything in an Apple Store is sleek and clean. An Apple Store is used to demonstrate
technology, but you see no wires and actually you see very little technology
compared to the space you are in. You
actually see a lot of clean white space instead. The evolution of the corporate boardroom and
conference room has a very similar evolution as the Apple retail space
did. The expectation is that there
should be a lot of technology in the space, but nearly none of it should be
seen. The space should remain clean and
sleek yet highly functional.
What can AV do about the Evolution of Space Planning? – The
space planning evolution is an area that AV can address better than almost any
other industry. I will point out that
furniture companies with space planning design capabilities that have a
technology element can have the upper hand when they want, but that usually involves
the expertise of an AV design and integration firm as well. I believe AV can best address that evolution
of space planning because the unique requirements for lots of technology with a
clean and sleek look challenges the acoustics, lighting placement of technology
more than ever before. Telecom and IT
provider who integrate UC&C will not have the knowledge, skill or
experience to overcome the challenges that these environments bring (with major
consideration to lighting and acoustics).
AV designers and integrators will be there to save the day. AV will master the physics and bring
solutions that balance the esthetics with natural sound, great looking video,
properly placed cameras and microphones to give the feel of face-to-face
meetings even when the meetings are taking place thousands of miles apart. The AV integrator that takes on the
challenges of UC&C knowing that the value they bring is still their core
competencies in AV and how they apply that competency in space planning will
dominate their market. They will
dominate as long as they can send the message right and to the right
people. There is an aspect of this that
goes far beyond enhancing the AV and making it work in the environment or
making adjustments to the environment to better suit AV. When collaboration comes into the mix,
considerations can be taken into account as to whether the users and
presenters/collaborators will be sitting or standing. When space planning is done well in a
collaborative environment, the space enhances the communication by making
people comfortable and at ease. Here is
an example: when all the participants are seated at bar height and the
“presenter” is standing, everyone is actually at the same eye level. This makes it to where everyone feels a level
of equality and is more likely to contribute to the collaborative discussion
than if they are all seated at a lower level and being talked down to. Once AV integrators understand the IT side
and combine this all together and work in the space planning aspects the
environment becomes part of the reason people are more open and communicative.
Conclusion
Now that we have addressed three of the reasons market is
growing (evolving), we can know how to address its growth. AV companies will approach these a little
different, but ultimately the core ideas are the same. The end user’s goals are to better use their
physical space, use their technology more efficiently and to set the right
policy and process to support their team’s productivity and profitability. If your company can help your customers do
this by giving them a UC&C system that is better than being there and that
meets these three evolutionary goals, how can you lose?
Next week I will discuss how companies can be more
collaborative by creating a TEAM atmosphere for their collaborators. TEAM = T=Trusted, E=Empowered, A=Active,
M=Motivated. A great read to kick off this thought is from Cory Schaeffer.
About the Author:
Max Kopsho, CTS-D/I, PMP, CQT, CCNA R&S and Security,
CompTIA Network+ and CTT+
Max has worked in the AV industry for over 18 years in
various management and technical roles.
Over the last 28 years Max has acquired an extensive background in
supporting AV and IT systems, computer networks, telecom, and VTC systems. Max developed one of the industry’s first
networked AV solutions and that product is now deployed in a single network
with over 15,000 network attached AV devices.
Max has made considerable contributions to the InfoComm Education area
in AV/IT and CTS preparations. He was
awarded the 2010 Educator of the Year for InfoComm and has prepared over 1000
candidates for their CTS exam. Max has
recently joined Thorburn Associates as a Principal Consultant focused on
Unified Communications & Collaboration. By combining his knowledge and
skill in AV and IT with his decades of experience, Max will be responsible for
driving Thorburn Associates' Unified Communications and Collaboration Division
(UC&C). Max will be instrumental in the anticipated “exponential growth” of
Thorburn Associates' UC&C Division by solving the toughest of customer
AV/IT problems with his technical prowess and keen insight into their business
needs.
The views in this article are strictly the views of Max and
do not necessarily reflect the views of his employer or business partners.
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