When’s the Right Time to Hire an AV Integrator?
Published April 30, 2021
Cooking a meal from scratch, building your own computer, running your first marathon. The joy of learning and accomplishing something all by yourself is a feeling everyone likes to bathe in. Small talk, at least here in the mid-west, consists of asking what you did that weekend, followed by a response about building something, hunting, or our often-unpredictable weather. That’s generalizing Midwesterners but we as an American people take pride in doing it ourselves.
When it comes to your business, venue, facility, or house of worship, you quickly realize you cannot do it all by yourself. Hiring a team or outsourcing is a cornerstone of scaling to be able to serve out your mission more effectively. When it comes to outsourcing your audiovisual systems, a professional integrator is going to be a worthwhile financial investment. This leads to the question: how do you know when is the right time to work with an AV integrator?
In this article, we will break down three signs it is time for you to partner with an AV integrator.
Sign #1: Your Big Vision Goes Beyond Your In-House Expertise
You don’t just have big goals for your team, but HUGE goals in mind with the growth stats to back it up. World domination might be on the horizon for you.
Most likely you don’t have an internal audiovisual team to manage, install, and maintain your AV systems so your facility and team can operate efficiently. Your maintenance or IT person can probably hang a display on the wall without a problem; they’ve probably done it at home before. But have they ever mounted a direct view LED video wall, managed acoustics in an atrium, or automated a presentation system? These tasks are probably beyond their expertise.
Some good questions to ask yourself or your team to see if it’s beyond your expertise:
- Have we done something like this before?
- Do we know the industry standards for a system of this scale?
- Do we have the appropriate tools to engineer, install, and test the system?
- Do we know how to troubleshoot, service, or support the system if something goes wrong?
- Do we have an existing relationship with manufacturers?
- Do we know the safety laws regarding this type of construction?
- Do we have the time, money, and want to invest in any of the above that we don’t know?
If you answered “no” to any of the above, it’s time to talk with an AV integrator. Even if you only have an end goal in mind, a good AV integrator will listen and help you explore your options.
Sign #2: You’ve Decided to Work with an Architect or General Contractor
Construction or renovation projects are a big decision. You probably hired an architect or GC because you know how complicated these types of projects can be and how detrimental they are to the safety of your guests and employees.
When it comes to audiovisual, have you ever thought about…
- What will the acoustics sound like in a space that hasn’t been built yet?
- Will the sound need to be dampened so people aren’t overwhelmed and are still able to effectively communicate?
- If you want to add background music, how will that affect the space?
- How will you publicly communicate with employees and guests?
- Will you need to page people throughout the building?
- Bulletin boards are a waste of time, what about digital signage?
- How will you make this space accessible for those that are hard of hearing or have any other disability?
- How big should the displays be for presentations and digital signage in a given space?
- How are you adapting to the trending hybrid work style?
- Are your conference rooms capable of video conferencing AND collaboration?
- Could any new team member or guest walk into the room and easily use it?
- Maybe your employees talk about sensitive information. Do they need noise masking to help keep conversations private?
- How can you leverage AI and intelligent technologies to save money in the long term?
- How will you control everything?
- How will you safely rig heavy equipment above people’s heads like speakers or displays?
- How many other questions are there specific to my needs?
With modern life revolving around IT and AV, great architects will have an audiovisual integrator or designer in their back pocket. Ask your architect what audiovisual integrator they normally work with and don’t be afraid to vet them yourself to make sure they’re the right partner for the project.
Sign #3: You’re Way Too Busy to Even Think About This
Maybe you do have a small number of in-house staff with the skills and are capable of delivering quality audiovisual systems, but they are way too busy maintaining other existing systems or providing help to others to update those 30 classrooms, conference rooms, and huddle spaces with new technology.
AV integrators can help from start to finish, handling everything from needs analysis to procurement, project management to final commissioning and end-user training and maintenance services. This route ensures high-quality work from qualified technicians at scale so your staff can continue operations.
Explore the Next Step
While doing something all by yourself can be rewarding, realizing you need help can be even more rewarding in the long term.
Do any of those signs click for you? Send Arrow AV Group a message to set up a free consultation.
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We are a premiere audiovisual integration firm serving corporate, government, healthcare, house of worship, and education markets with easy-to-use solutions that drive success. Family-owned and operated from Appleton, WI for over 35 years.