Thoughts About Pro AV’s Path Forward in ’23

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to provide today I'm your host, Ben Thomas. One of the things I love to do early on in every year is kind of level set, especially coming out of the pandemic and really being in a new world for end user demands, product lifecycle support demands, things like that. We wanted to have a conversation today with we're really two people that are really in touch with the industry on a very, very granular level. So we could just have kind of industry conversation about where we are in 2023 to start the year two of my favorite people coming on today, brandy Alvarado, Miranda and Gina sans Vero. Ladies, Thanks so much for coming on the show. Thank you, Ben, for having us. We're so excited to be here. Likewise Thank you so much. Well, look, coming out of shows like AMC, it's always important to look back a little bit. Right and whether that's from trends, technologies, maybe some things that we're hearing directly from the market, I'll kind of kick it to you guys to start. You know, Gina will have you go first and then Brandi respond to the same question. But what are some of the main trends you're seeing coming out of IAC this year? I think that we're seeing a lot more software evolution. Software seems to be the thing that is not bound by supply chain issues, bound by labor issues, software developers, software engineers, but not necessarily bound by supply chain issues. So we're seeing software evolution and we're seeing software evolution such that functionality is enhanced for hardware. So firmware updates that increase capabilities, increase system capabilities, increase interoperability between manufacturers. You know, long gone are the days when you can say you have an end to end solution and that's all that you know, your customer needs. Unfortunately, while we all want to have that end to end solution, supply chain issues can sometimes make that almost impossible. And you have to give your end user clients that flexibility to interoperate between other solutions. So I think that's kind of what we've seen coming out of this. Yeah, I think, you know, we're seeing a resurgence right where we're back in person, you know, to a higher level and to a higher degree. But we're also seeing manufacturers that are sort of in a better place than they were a few years back. Right the supply chain issues are still there, for sure, but they're definitely getting better. And I would echo what Gina saying. Software is definitely where it's at the moment. I think, you know, companies are seeing that, you know, hardware is sort of like, you know, the great white hope, right. We've got we've got know, we've got issues with getting certain things. To Gina's point, you know, it used to be like you have this end, end solution, this Black box that kind of comprises and encompasses everything. It's your one shop, it's your one stop type of thing. But now we know that we need, you know, widgets in between to kind of extend and switch and all that kind of stuff. So I think there's more of an emphasis on software for sure that we're seeing. Well, I love that both of you said that. Right and I pride my show a little bit or pride myself a little bit on this show to have a level of candor. Right and we look the industry is looking for recurring revenue models. Right and transparently, software and support are really one of the best ways to do that. But, you know, jean, I'll kick this back to you. One of the things that I've really enjoyed about the work that you guys have done at atlas, and this is not a plug or paid for or anything like that, but you guys have kind of been on the forefront of integrating that software and hardware side. Right and it's not I wouldn't necessarily even call it just like here's a standalone app that kind of does some things. You guys have really invested heavily, whether it's through the atmosphere, tools or not in the software side and in merging that software and hardware worlds, how are you seeing other manufacturers do the same? So yeah, I think that unfortunately I would love to say that we are bleeding edge and we, you know, we are the ones that are trailblazers. And to a certain extent, that's true. But I think that many of the manufacturers are just as savvy. I think that when it comes to the ability to kind of give your clients something new and innovative without having that, the ability to have a whole new Black box or, you know, the chipset that you need to extend that capability, you really do naturally turn to software. And the great thing about that is, you know, you're also creating this capability to remotely monitor. You're also creating these capabilities to be able to do things like self-testing systems to make sure that there is no degradation in the success of the system or the outcomes of the system. Right or the end points of. The system. So so I think that many manufacturers are seeing that and they're seeing it as a true benefit, not just an add on benefit. And so when you see it as a true benefit, you continue to invest in it. This is not going to be a short term trend for our industry. I think that this is going to be a long term trend. When you talk about tying this into a recurring revenue model, you're seeing a lot more manufacturers giving that capability to the integrator and even to the end user. We have a lot of friends who are their own in-house integrators is what they call themselves. And so what they found is that they're now able to have a, you know, a remote office off campus or at a different campus and still know the health of all of the systems that they have running on a campus that's across town or across the state. And Brandi, I'm going to send kind of the same question your way, but but morph it a little bit, right. Especially through the lens of recurring revenue. You know, we talk about software not only enabling experience in hardware, but obviously from the integrator perspective to wanting to be able to support infrastructure. Right wanting to be able to find ways to better support clients in the long run. What are some of the ways that you're seeing the integrators and even some of those down chain manufacturer dealer partners implement some of these same tools? Yeah, I think, you know, looking at it from a strategic standpoint is a model that a lot are following at this point. In other words, it's one thing to say you're going to buy this system. Right? but it's another thing to say over the course of three, five, 10 years, this system will pay for itself because it's going to save, you know, energy when you're know, when you're turning off the lights every night or you're turning off certain interactive, you know, exhibits or what have you. So there's, you know, there's this whole theory of like total cost of ownership, right, over the lifespan of the display or the system and what have you. So I think, you know, we're going to see a lot of that kind of thing be more prevalent in terms of the strategy. The other thing that, you know, it's one of those things. It's kind of like the last thing you think of when you're selling a system. And that's content. And so what I've actually seen of recent are integrators actually sort of bundling content and not just, you know, like subscription type of content packages and templates and those sort of things. But actually custom jobs, right, where they have a model where they go in and refresh the content every quarter, every year, whatever that needs to be. Because let's face it, not everybody has an insight, you know, inside marketing and and, you know, graphic artists and those kinds of people that can, you know, do content on the fly. So hiring a content company in that respect is actually kind of a smart idea because that's the worst of your, you know, your dreams. They're going in and having extremely stale and content that is, you know, past tense, if you will. I think that in our industry, the whole concept might not be new, but it's evolved into video. So what I think of when I think of like a subscription service for content, I think music, right? I think mood media that evolved from music where that was the audios side, the A site response to that decades ago. Decades ago. So now that video is in that same world. It's in, you know, hospitality, retail, restaurants, bars, it. It's about the immersive experience. It's all about the ability to make memorable moments. I think that video can now have that. That same content subscription model and be successful at it. And to add to that, you know, one of the things that my clients have, you know, I've got clients that are display manufacturers and I've got clients that actually are content providers and also people that actually drive the content with CMS systems and platforms and such. And one of the things that always flabbergasted me and them is that content is always such an afterthought. You know, people turn on the display and like our smart TVs and our smartphones, oh, Netflix is already on it. You got hulu, you got all these different streaming things, but you turn on a LED display or an LCD commercial display. It's not embedded. You have to actually have content. So it doesn't magically just appear on the screen as content. You know, I was in an install not too long ago and the same thing they, you know, flip on the switch and, you know, you have this lovely color pattern going and they're going, so Where's our logo? I hadn't thought of content at all. So it's an afterthought. An afterthought. And that's horrible. But it is. And, you know, I was talking to somebody about this yesterday, an editor from one of the publications, and he was saying, are you seeing a lot of what you're doing on the commercial side kind of bleed into the residential side? And I said, actually, it's the opposite. I said, what I'm seeing is the function. They want the functionality of their car and their home, the intuitiveness, the looking like the iPhone, the ability to have content whenever they just press a button, right? They want that functionality on the commercial side. They want to be able to walk into whatever environment it is and press the button and it works regardless of that. You know, Gina, you bring up a great point there, too, and I want to focus a little bit on the end users. Right, because that's one of the things that that, you know, we've seen as a community start to drive a lot of our decision making, whether that's through the design process, whether that's through the hardware manufacturing process. You know, talk a little bit from a manufacturer's perspective about that end user, right? And we've got digital natives aging into buying roles. And largely for the first time ever, we've actually got more millennials in the workforce than any other generation. These people are largely digital natives who are making Inforum Digital purchasing decisions. Talk about how that end user profiles changed a little. Well, I mean, yes, you're right. It is changing. I don't know that it is completely changed. Brandy and I are involved in a group that aims to change that at a quicker pace. And so we are definitely going to do the outreach necessary, the education necessary, because, hey, listen, digital natives were brought up with names like apple, meta, Google, Facebook, all of these. That's that. I mean, that's not us. We're not we're not that tech. We are a different tech. Just as cool, you know, just as everywhere. And yet people don't know about the audiovisual industry in the same way. So, yeah, Brenda and I are working to, with a whole group of very, very passionate, engaged women are going to increase that rate of adoption, of understanding and education of the AV industry so that we can change that demographic because then it is not changing that quickly. We like to say, say that there are more millennials in the workforce than ever before. That's just know, that's a. Part of just aging into the workforce. Right but that doesn't mean we're getting the same percentage of that. So we're going to go out and we're going to get the same percentage of that. And we're going to find the same diversity. And we're going to find the same talent. And we're going to find the people that we need in order to carry us forward, because we need that innovation. We need those different points of view, and we need that strength for the industry to move forward. And to add to Gina, this is going to I had this conversation not too long ago with one of my clients. And the interesting thing is that, you know, because we're in this digital age, where you can pop out your phone and, you know, get something from Amazon same day or next day or what have you, you know, end users typically, if you know, if they're running into supply chain issues, if they're running into issues, getting a certain number quantity of things right to fulfill their projects and their installations, they'll go to an Amazon or one of these other sort of, you know, online retailers. And because, you know, x product has really good reviews or, you know, has been bought by thousands of people, like go ahead and buy this and try to integrate that into their commercial a system. And what ultimately happens is, you know, epic fail, right. Right you know, you have something that looks good and has really great reviews, but it's really not a fit for, you know, those commercial grade type of installations. So it's a Band-Aid. Well, in brandy, I'll kick it back to you with this as well. Right we talk about not only digital natives coming in, but AV really being a supporting role for dozens and dozens and dozens of different industries. Right you look at digital signage, retail. Gina, you know, this works very well. Education, security, access, control, things like that. Courts, hospitality. You know, these are verticals that we've been in for a little bit. But it really is seeming like now. A.v. is stretching so far beyond its traditional comfort zone that it feels a little awkward to not start to absorb some of those characteristics. What are some of the industries outside of AV that are really making an impact on us internally as a community? Oh gosh, I think, you know, top of mind things that entertain us, right? Amusement parks, theme parks, zoos, aquariums, museums, pop up exhibits. I mean, we just were at a King exhibit a couple of weeks ago. Right from that is amazing immersive experience, right? I mean, so things like that are really huge. And I think, you know, some of those things were brought about during the pandemic, right, to we can have 10 people in a room and it's totally safe and, you know, we're not touching anything kind of a thing, you know. So we have this pandemic force that is borne out of COVID and all that. But I think, you know, those places are seeing a huge resurgence. Hospitality restaurants, you know, QSR, now that, you know, we're sort of, again, over the hump, if you will, we can sort of get back to fine dining. And that's really exciting. But, you know, other places that we're seeing like this is going to sound really strange, but other places that my clients are seeing sort of an uptick is things that are like due to wellness, right? Sound therapies and sound baths and places that, you know, need sort of soothing even in this going to even sound stranger, but like into hospitals where you can kind of calm patients and calm, you know, staff, even for that matter, because that's a tough job. Let's face it, e-sports. Huge, right? Not only, you know, prior to the pandemic, but, you know, definitely more so now. So those are just some of the areas I think, you know, with regards to most of that is we want to be entertained, we want to be inspired. And that's really kind of what those types of sectors are creating for us. But I would also say that for sure, as people come back together and they have been coming back together, safety and security is top of mind. Right and it's how can all of these disparate systems be brought together as a single hub? Right nobody wants to be managing 5' building technology systems. They want a facility that's going to work like a well-oiled machine. And so I think what we're seeing is the ability for us to take all of the trades, all of the different industries that fit within an envelope and control them and create metrics, create schedules, create one hub for all of them. And so that might be, to Brandi's point, the immersive experience, the music and the video that might be, you know, cleanliness, that might be lights, that might be shades, that might be each HVAC. It could be any one of those patient health sound masks. Any end all. You don't want all of these disparate systems, unfortunately, because I can control my entire house off of my phone. We're going back to that. I want I want my technology in my office or in my right place of work to function like it does at home or in my car. Well, you know, Gina, you brought up a great point earlier. You talked about not only the workforce kind of aging into a wave and different trends and ideas and whether that's the residential coming into the commercial side or vice versa. You know, one trend that I want to spotlight and I'm really passionate about this year in our community is this idea of humanizing the community, right? Whether that's through recruitment, whether that's through understanding our end users better, our dealers, manufacturers a little bit better. You know, don't to give you a chance to spotlight, you know, whether it's an organization like wave it that you guys helped launch or maybe, you know, some of the things that are happening from an individual empowerment recruitment level. What are some of the things that you anticipate seeing this year from a humanizing and individual empowerment level? I'll take that one up. I think, you know, what we're seeing is a lot of organizations working and striving towards a more diverse environment, not only, you know, physically, but like in terms of some of you can be at home, some of you need to come into the office. And these sort of like, you know, role reversals where I think that's interesting. But I think, you know, going back to the diversity issue, it needs to change. And that's one of the reasons why we brought about wave it, right? We need to stop talking about diversity and be about diversity because let's face it, we serve a very diverse audience. We look at our end users. If we look at those types of people, you know, that's a very diverse crowd. And if we don't have the same sort of makeup, if you will, we're not serving them properly. Not only that, but when you have a more diverse work environment, you know, you bring different ideas to the table. You have different views and perspectives that are you know, that are enlightening to some right into some situations. It also, you know, widens the talent pool, like immensely. Right well, let me give you an example. We had an end user here in Southern California that had a position open. He put the position out and was very emphatic and let us know, hey, we'd like to hire a woman on this team, right? He's very big on that kind of thing. And out of 200 applications got zero that were women. And that is really sad because, a, there's plenty of women that are out there that, you know, could have fulfilled this particular role. But either one of two things happen. You know, either the job description wasn't inviting enough for a woman to partake in it or a woman that potentially looked at the job application and went, boy, I only have four of those 10 criteria that I need to fulfill that job. So it could be a lack of confidence or it could be the way that we're truly writing our job descriptions, right? So that we're more inclusive in the way that we speak and inclusive in the way that we write them. Right one of the biggest things I think that I, you know, I personally love to see is that there are a number of organizations out there that have set the bar in 2025. We want to have half of our executives be women, you know, and those types of things are incredible. And those are in amazing benchmarks. And I would love to see more of that kind of thing going on in our industry. Yeah, I agree, Brandi. I think that women in leadership roles, a more diverse workforce, the ability to recruit outside of our comfort zone, I think is of paramount importance to this industry. And from a humanizing aspect, then I think that once you start to see individuals beyond labels, I think that becomes really important. So we talk about generations as millennials and Gen X and boomers and all of that. Unfortunately or fortunately, there are people that don't fit any of those labels. And it's not because yeah, you know, they were born within this decade to this decade. No, it's because their mindset is such that they span multiple generations in the way that they act, interact in the priorities that they have. So so we really have to stop stereotyping and labeling in a way that's going to continue to make us unattractive to other individuals, no matter what age, no matter what affiliation, no matter what gender. So so. I think that. That, that. The lack of labeling that. Very conscious understanding that's going to make us a more humanized industry as well. Well, look, one of the things and I'm happy to plug wave at the organization that you guys helped start. But one of the things I think that, you know, it doesn't feel like diversity for diversity sake or representation for representation. So could live legitimately feels like a group of people that have really come together to adequately represent our end user base and our buyer base and our customer and dealer base. And not so much. Look, I mean, they try to tiptoe a line here a little bit, but like sometimes diversity initiatives can be taken a little bit off the rails from A to where it inadequately represents the industry. Right and that's what it feels like is the opposite of what it feels like with you guys, where it feels like you guys have come together holistically to adequately reflect the industry that we serve, the people that we serve, and the communities that we serve. Is that is that correct or am I wrong there? No, I think you're absolutely right. And I think one of the things that we really share is a passion for this industry. And we know that this industry can implode if we do not get new innovation right. We pride ourselves on pushing the envelope we pride ourselves on. And you hear it over and over again, experiences, immersive experiences. And whether that's as simple as a boardroom conference room or it's as complex as the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit. Right like Van Gogh lied. Van Gogh. With that type of complexity, gosh, we are not going to be able to move forward unless we have more diverse, more innovative and stronger industry. We just don't want it to implode. I mean, selfishly, I don't want to see the AV industry go away. So, I mean. I think that's what we share is just this common passion and saying, we're done waiting, let's just do it ourselves. Yeah, I think Gina said it best in one of our board meetings. You know, we needed a firm headwind and we decided to create our own. And I really I think in a way that really embodies that. We're really tired of talking and not seeing actionable activations. You know, we really want to see people get behind this and move the needle. And that's something that we talk about a lot moving the needle, because, let's face it, COVID actually didn't do us any favors in terms of diversity and representation. Women left the workforce. We saw a plummet of women from 2019 to top current. And unfortunately, that's a stat that, you know, hits hard. And I know this like it's a knife in our heart. Gina and I are both, you know, so passionate about seeing more women in the industry and specifically. But, you know, we have to create pathways for the women of tomorrow. And that's a big thing. Right and that is not an easy challenge. And that's why, you know, we along with other organizations who are certainly passionate about the same sort of thing, we'll be working towards that, creating pathways, creating, you know, curriculum, because let's face it, we fell into AV. There are it courses, go to any college and take it, but there's really not an easy path. We all fell into it or ex musicians were ex, you know, band geeks were folks, you know, choir sound people, those sort of things, right? We all fell into this industry and and now we're here by choice and want to make a difference. So, yeah, our intent is, is, is to do that, to move the needle and to see more, you know, more women represented in this industry. Well, look, brandy and Gina there, there's probably, you know, two greater people that we could have on to just discuss really where we are as an industry and some of the things that, you know, we're looking to see in 2023. I appreciate the both of you coming on very, very much. And we'll find a way to get you both back on very soon. We'd love that. Thank you. And Thank you for tuning in as well. Be sure to join us next time.