InfoComm 23: "Available" and "Shipping Now" might be the most important selling points for AV hardware. Period.

If there was a theme to InfoComm Show 2023, it was that "Available" and "Shipping Now" are two of the most important selling points for AV hardware.

Period.

With deliveries from some of the biggest names in the industry still six to twelve months out, any company that can ship product now has a major advantage. It is a primary differentiator across the AV industry, and hardware companies should market the heck out of that fact. CTI is using it to sell hardware through our Products You Can Deploy in 90 Days program! 

Do you really want to wait 12 months to begin your next project? Assuming, of course, that your equipment shows up in 12 months when it's supposed to? 

I know I mentioned post-mission debriefings last week and that Robert "Cujo" Teschner joined CTI's annual Leadership Meeting to discuss the process he details in Debrief To Win. It's all about figuring out what happened, then how to solve problems or maintain a high performance. I'll add now that as a leader, whether you're speccing out AV options as an engineer or designer, or you're the executive responsible for your organization's AV services making that final choice to go with the hardware from A, B, or C, you should be looking at all your options if you don't have a very flexible completion date for your projects.

Thankfully, the AV industry as a whole is working hard to give you more choices, or at least more quality alternatives for completing your next project, especially around AV control products. AMX debuted its next-gen automation platform, AMX MUSE, which promises to process multiple scripting languages simultaneously. Q-SYS ( QSC ) has followed Biamp partnering with Lenovo on "complete UC solutions." These ThinkSmart Cores for Microsoft Teams and Zoom Rooms, running either Biamp's Imperia or Q-SYS' platform, where you can tap a button and flip between calls and room controls like lights, shades, or volume on a single screen. Or, as Biamp puts it, "without two panes of glass on your table." 

The entire CTI team spent most of InfoComm engaging with actual end-users. Our Design Consultants can see a booth demo or read a press release. It's a very different experience hearing how end users see these products and why they might want to integrate or avoid them. 

In our booth and Tech on Tap gatherings, we had the chance to have those kinds of one on one conversations with hundreds of end users (and manufacturer's reps) at the show. Thank you to everyone that made time for us!

A special thanks to the folks that stopped to toss bags for our benefit for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Together we smashed our fundraising goal to help St. Jude fight childhood cancer; I couldn't be more proud of seeing the AV industry step up and make the time to help such a great charity during the biggest trade show of our year. Thank you.

#av #proav #avintegrator #infocomm23 #charity #thankyou