You might say that AV technology deployment has always been a few steps behind IT deployment. The reasons for this are varied, but some of it stems from the technology itself. Information technology hardware and software shifted from purely proprietary technology islands to more standardized, interoperable platforms earlier than audio-visual technology. In that process, standards and management systems grew up around IT to help manage scaled, rapid deployment of these systems.

For better or (mostly) worse, AV technology did not benefit from the same technology standardization until much later. AV equipment and systems, for the most part, have not benefitted from management standards and technology like SNMP, which helps monitor and manage large numbers of connected devices. As a result, large-scale AV deployments have always been more difficult to manage and support. While that’s changing, many other challenges have contributed to the difficulties in AV deployment, whether it’s in a Phoenix corporate campus or around the world. Let’s examine these in more detail below and explore how managed deployment services can help.

We seem to be in the age of everything as a service or subscription. Food delivery from Hello Fresh? Check. Razor blades from Harry’s and Gillette? Check. All the music you can listen to from Spotify and Apple Music? Check. More video than you can ever watch in your lifetime on Netflix? Check.

We all might be jaded and think, this is no big deal; you could see this coming. It may well be because all these services are completely mainstream with hundreds of millions or billions of users. To some extent, if you understood well the underlying technologies that enabled these transformations, you might have seen it coming. But while we all can now happily stream 50 million tracks of music from our favorite service, it’s important to understand that this model was a wrenching revolution for the music industry, all the way from the creator artists to the dominant music labels. The same has happened with SaaS (software as a service) and other sectors.

As a leading commercial AV  operating nationally out of Tempe, AZ, Level 3 Audiovisual is in a unique position to tell you about what’s coming next – AV as a service or subscription. You may have already seen it coming. Perhaps you’re investigating it or even employing some parts of this model. Why? Because once you analyze it carefully, like other subscription models, this one makes compelling sense for many companies. And it's going to be a revolution, too. Keep reading below as we make a case for commercial AV as a subscription. No, we’ll stop short of an acronym for this one!

Once upon a time, there was an IT department and an AV department, and never the twain met. We jest; that’s not completely true. But they were typically separate departments, and the AV systems of the past had few dependencies on the technology stack managed by the IT department.

Over the past two decades, video conferencing started changing the paradigm. At first, video conferencing systems were expensive, proprietary solutions that depended on specific protocols needed to run inside company networks. Then, these systems started converging on standardized digital formats and protocols and becoming integrated into unified communication systems. As a result, the dependencies on IT-managed technology grew, but video conferencing was still about connecting one group of people in a meeting room to another one across a campus or the country.

Is hiring a managed service provider (MSP) just a euphemism for outsourcing? Outsourcing has a bit of a negative connotation, but it shouldn’t. Hiring a managed service provider to help with technology infrastructure is a business decision that must make sense strategically and financially. It is not solely about potential cost-saving through outsourcing but has everything to do with finding a better way to keep up with and manage an organization’s technology needs.

As we all know, the global pandemic created a new normal for millions of office-based workers around the world. Work moved from the office to the home, and communication and collaboration moved to digital mediums on computers, tablets, and smartphones. Now, with vaccines rising and the most dangerous health threats receding, employers are looking to bring workforces back to the office.

SaaS – Software as a Service – is a highly discussed topic in the technology world. Is there a software product on the planet that hasn’t moved to that model or is working on doing so? Even ubiquitous software with long histories like Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite have moved in that direction. If you use Zoom, Slack, Dropbox, Gmail, or a myriad of other popular applications and platforms, you are using a SaaS model.

So, what is managed software as a service (MSaaS)? In this post, we’d like to delve deeper into that subject, comparing the well-known SaaS model with this model that adds a layer of service and support. Read on to see how MSaaS builds on SaaS to provide a more customized, tailored approach to technology solutions for your enterprise, whether in Tempe, Arizona, or your worldwide locations.

Your business never stands still; it is always evolving and changing. Even if your business is stable and not high-growth, change is inevitable. Industries, partners, suppliers, and customers all evolve, grow, and change, and technology influences much of it. You may still do some business via fax machines, but is that tool as indispensable as it once was 30 years ago? The tools of your trade must grow and adapt with you.

One of your business’s key tools is AV technology. Your meeting spaces, conference rooms, executive boardrooms, and training rooms all employ various communication and collaboration technologies to work internally and with outside constituencies. Is your business keeping up with the investments needed for today’s collaboration? The right AV design and strategy can keep your Tempe, AZ, and worldwide facilities up to speed with the needs and speeds of today's business.

Keep reading below to learn more about how documented AV design standards enable your enterprise AV infrastructure to scale and adapt to current and future business challenges.

Managed services are increasingly common in the business world. From payroll processing to outsourced IT support, companies are taking advantage of the expertise and efficiency of external organizations to provide essential services while focusing on building infrastructure that’s core to the business.

With today's rapid technological change, organizations are taking a closer look at technology investments and the support staff needed to deploy them. While many organizations have migrated to utilizing managed services for a wide range of IT technology needs, only recently have they looked at using a managed model for audio-visual and communication infrastructure like conference rooms, meeting spaces, digital signage, video walls, and other applications.

In this post, we want to explore three critical areas where AV infrastructure managed services companies can add value to a company, whether here in Phoenix, AZ, or globally. Keep reading below for more!