Supply Chain Issue | IT in AV

I know this is an unpopular opinion but I feel the supply chain issue that higher education is facing, has been good for us. Before I go into why I want to be clear that I do not think overall the supply chain issue is good. When looking at it from the lens of higher education I feel there is some good to come from it. Let me dive into why I feel the supply chain in higher education is a good thing.

Downtime:

In my 14+ years of working in higher education, I have always joked that IT (which includes AV) does not get 'slow'. During the semesters we are in the break/fix mode and handling small projects. During the summer, winter, and other longer breaks we are doing our installs and upgrades. This cycle never provided us with any true downtime. When I talk about downtime I do not mean time that equipment is going down as that is a bad thing. Having downtime allows our teams and ourselves to recharge and even take those vacations we are always talking about doing. Mental health has been of importance lately and employees and employers are seeing that we all need to take care of ourselves mentally to make sure we are providing the best versions of us we can. Having this downtime breaks us from the rat race of the never-ending cycles of install/upgrade, fix/support, install/upgrade, etc... There is a quote from a book I am reading

To be successful, you can't just run on the fast track; run on your track.

Today Matters 12 Daily Practices To Guarantee Tomorrow's Success by John C Maxwell

and the supply chain issue is allowing us to find our track to run.

Review Time:

            Taking a look at another part of the time is review time. Taking the cycle I mentioned above we don't always have the time to truly review the products we put in our classrooms. We have our standards and try our best to keep true to those standards. The supply chain issue has made us take a closer look at our standards and ask ourselves 'do we really need to (enter gear name) here?' Also, it allows us to ask ourselves 'is (enter the company name here) the best solution for our school?' We want to be good stewards of our school but we are not always allocated proper time to review and research all the options out there. During my career, I have seen more companies come out with gear or solutions that seem like they would solve a need. I have tried to slate time to research and even test out these solutions but was not always lucky enough to have the proper amount of time to truly vet them. Now there might be some schools out there that can devote resources to put true R&D into solutions but not every school is that lucky. Looking at the book from above there is another saying that we only get 1,440 minutes in a day and no matter what we do we can not get more. (Today Matters 12 Daily Practices To Guarantee Tomorrow's Success by John C Maxwell) If we break that into an 8-hour workday then it means we only get 480 minutes in a workday. During these 480 minutes, we are supporting our users, doing documentation, troubleshooting issues, installing new equipment, trying to do research into new solutions, and maybe eating some type of lunch. We need to make sure we are using those 480 minutes that best meet our school's needs.

Software Define AV:

            The last area I am going to say we gain from the supply chain issue is the push into software define AV. If you read my last month's article you would have seen that I put that as a near future and I feel the supply chain issue has sped that up even more. With being limited on the hardware we can get our hands on, we are now turning to software to provide upgrades and solutions for our classrooms. Moving to software-defined AV allows us to leverage common computer languages like HTML5 and Python. These programs can run on almost any device and really allows us to step outside of our small circle of manufacturers and look at others who might help bring our cost down or who even might have gear ready to ship.  Another benefit of moving to software define AV is software is limited affected by the supply chain issue. We can still upgrade software and even roll out new software as they do not require computer chips to be installed and they don't use transportation means like boats, plains, or trucks. If we want new or updated software we can just visit the company's website and download the latest version. 

Conclusion:

            In conclusion, the supply chain issue has impacted all aspects of our life but we can not sit back and just wait it out. We need to be proactive to make sure we are taking care of ourselves mentally, reviewing our classrooms to make sure we are proving the proper solution for our school, and looking forward to the latest trends that allow us to grow.