Changing from “end-user” to “partner” with outside integrators.
I’m not going to go back and fact-check this, so just bear with me here… my guess is that twenty years ago or so your job didn’t exist. Even if the title existed, the function and demand would’ve been very, very different. I’m also going to go out on a limb and say the niche market reading an online article about Higher ED Audio Visual would’ve been three people (and maybe on LiveJournal? I don’t know). My first job in Higher ED was as AV Coordinator and my office was a converted storage closet because when the building was built, there wasn’t a thought of AV being a necessity. That building was built in 2004 and the job was in 2009.
Many projects that I’ve inherited over my three different positions in higher education were projects that were decided on and signed off by people not directly involved with AV. They were deans or directors of events or some random manager who got voluntold for the project. My current position has only existed for six years and classes have had AV technology in them for years before that. Over time, institutions learned that it was necessary not only for dedicated time and effort to be put into AV but to also have experts dedicated to AV, in general, to know the technology and help move the institution forward. My guess is if you’re here you are holding one of those positions. I’m happy to be your colleague.
Over time we’ve gone from being simply added to the conversation to being decision makers and AV project managers for some of our universities’ biggest projects. We not only support what exists but design new builds and install many projects ourselves. As Scott Tiner has coined, we are in-house integrators. In that, we find our relationship changing depending on who we are working with. To outside integrators, we are end-users. To our staff and faculty, we are integrators and they are our end-users.
Sorry for the prologue, but I promise I’m getting at something.
Integrators have been doing installs for years dealing with people that had very little experience doing AV themselves. Now, they are doing these same types of installations with experts signing off on the project. They may be given the design instead of designing themselves, they may be just installing because we have repurposed equipment or purchased from someone else, or they may have become a box retailer for us as we do the installation ourselves. That may have not been the easiest change to digest and sometimes the relationship can feel a bit contentious. I’ve never been on the private integration side, but I have been on the private AV event side and I can imagine some of their thoughts. Are we taking work away? Do we not trust their work? Why is someone telling me how to do my job?
A lot of conversations I’ve had regarding a project come down to the project:
- in-house
or
- an integrator
That’s it. That’s the decision. Two mutually exclusive choices.
Sometimes from our side, trying to budget the project or delegate tasks. Sometimes that’s the integrator side, not certain how to work with an inside team or price out a project that way. Now that we as an AV industry have been around for a while and our positions are prevalent across campuses, it is time we end that dichotomy and make partnering in projects the norm.
This does not have to be a zero-sum game when it comes to the work available, and here are some reasons and benefits to working this way.
Logistical Realities
The reality of many projects at universities is that if it’s not done in-house, it’s not getting done. This is common because of budget and need to save costs everywhere possible, but it could also be caused by weird academic calendars and class schedules that don’t allow for a standard workday or block of days to get things done. In these situations, the in-house team needs to get it done but the scope or items may be out of reach. Partnering with an integrator to provide gear or do offsite building/testing for the in-house team to install is a great opportunity.
Allowing for Premier Spaces
For the sake of easy numbers and for those who were told there would be no math, let’s pretend ten rooms need to be done for $100k*. If an outside integrator does them, it probably means ten of the same room. But, what if the in-house team was able to handle part of the installations for eight of the rooms? Instead of $10k/room now maybe the budget can be $50k for two rooms done solely by integrators and $50k for eight rooms done as a partnership. Working hand in hand with the integrator can allow not only for more to be done but for premier spaces to be built with close to the same budget.
*Feel free to upscale or downscale that number for whatever makes sense for your situation.
Building Trust
Every integrator I talk to wants to be the “go-to” integrator for my university. I want, and the people I report to want, an integrator that we can trust to come in and do a great job at the right price. All projects need a scope of work and a timeline of what can be done. Although I’m the expert at my place of business, I know I am not nearly as qualified as most of the integrators I work with. Sometimes I may need to be talked down from a job I’m thinking about doing in-house, or at least understand what I’m up against better than I do. If I don’t build trust with an integrator, I may not weigh their opinion as much as I should and dismiss some solid advice. Working together on projects for whatever reason will help build trust and understanding of what the in-house team and the integrators are capable of.
Partnering with an integrator will help your institution use AV in a way that is most effective and efficient. Projects can be started small with either an installation where all you do is provide equipment to an integrator and they take care of the labor or vice versa. I have found that simple jobs like that require some of the most communication as far as expectations specifics on gear. From there, future projects can be molded around the partnership instead of simply a job that goes out to bid. Partnering with your integrators will benefit all of your projects whether they are in-house, outside or a combination of the two.