Sept. 29, 2020
By Kris Wood
Success often boils down to the AV and communications technology you use.
For schools, success may mean providing safe learning environments for students online and in person. For hospitals, it translates to better workflow and improved patient care. In corporate offices, AV and communications technology can support efficient collaboration and superior communication to save time. In manufacturing plants, it comes down to productivity for a competitive edge.
No matter your goals, having the right tools can make or break the ability to achieve them. Is your AV and communications technology propelling you forward or holding you back?
An AV technology assessment can answer that question for sure by reviewing your current technology, determining how well it meets your needs, creating a roadmap to meet support future goals and growth, helping you better utilize unused spaces, and solving your biggest communications challenges.
With the increased reliance on AV and communications systems to support social distancing, reduce touch, sustain hybrid and remote work, and share reminders about COVID-19, now’s a great time to plan for an AV technology assessment.
Here are five things an AV technology assessment can do for you …
1. Reduce Unplanned Technology Downtime
An AV technology assessment can help you locate potential problems that could become larger issues later (from security risks to damaged cables).
When an AV expert takes a close look at your infrastructure, systems, and connections, they’ll be able to uncover red flags that may otherwise go unnoticed until something stops working and processes unexpectedly come to a halt.
2. Extend AV Equipment Lifecycle
Maintaining equipment is more cost effective than replacing technology prematurely. Almost any technology system performs better when it’s properly maintained: from updating firmware to cleaning dust and debris from hardware.
An AV technology assessment can help verify whether preventive maintenance is being done properly; if not, a plan can be created to help you keep equipment running for as long as possible.
3. Improve Communication & Productivity
How would it impact your organization if, by keeping your technology up to date, your employees or students could get even 3% more done every day?
Slow or malfunctioning AV and communications systems can create bottlenecks and lag time that drag processes down and frustrate users. A technology assessment can make sure more work gets done faster by identifying situations and devices that reduce performance and showing you how to address them.
You'll also discover new ways to utilize the spaces you have, taking advantage of dormant space due to remote work. These assessments can help you repurpose meeting and conference rooms for today's environment.
4. Save Money and Provide Data for Smart Spending
First, an AV technology assessment can help you accurately budget for hardware refreshes and replacements. But it can help save money in other ways, too.
By identifying the potential for automated tasks and standardization, and prioritizing what to do first, you can better manage your technology, reduce costs by eliminating processes or systems you no longer need, and directing funds to where they’re most necessary.
5. Ensure Compliance
Over time, policies, standards, codes, and needs change … whether those changes are in regard to ADA compliance, internal protocols, or COVID-19 protocols.
A technology assessment can compare your systems and infrastructure to current internal and third-party protocols and standards to make sure you comply.
Get Started with Your AV Technology Assessment
There’s nothing you need to prepare for, know, or do to benefit from an AV technology assessment. We start by discussing your organization’s goals and struggles (whether it’s lack of training on how to use the technology you have or frequent crashes that result in frustration). We’ll also talk about who’s responsible for the AV in your space, as well as their skills and comfort levels in terms of maintenance and troubleshooting.
After that, we begin the assessment:
- Review current technology systems and controls, documenting what you have, their condition, and performance issues
- Evaluate the effectiveness of current preventive maintenance procedures and make recommendations for possible improvements, including updates or upgrades
- Determine critical needs that should be addressed to keep performance levels high
- Recommend simple upgrades or improvements to reduce the need to touch devices and better support hybrid work
- Pinpoint currently unused capabilities offered by your current systems that could improve efficiency and communication
- Determine whether upgraded or new AV technology could improve collaboration, productivity, etc. – and what those improvements may cost
- Propose potential efficiency upgrades and cost-reduction strategies, including a new way you can get the technology you need through monthly payments instead of upfront capital investments
- Recommend ways that currently underused spaces can be repurposed for today's work environment
- Identify possible integration opportunities between your existing AV system and security, IT, healthcare communications, and two-way communications systems
- Answer your questions about new technology or current systems and help create a technology roadmap for the future
Our in-house team of AV experts is ready to complete a real-time analysis of your existing AV and communications technology.
The best part? CEC’s AV technology assessments cost nothing. We want to help you create a technology roadmap—with no financial commitment—so you're set up for the best possible outcome – no matter what the future holds.
To learn more, or schedule your assessment, start here.
Kris Wood joined CEC in 2014, bringing with him more than 14 years of AV experience. Today he serves as our director of AV, using his tremendous knowledge of and passion for AV to help attract AV talent, seek out new AV solutions, and build better processes for our customers.