Looking around the corner can help you choose a strategy that might succeed in many possible futures. On the other hand, if we chase predictions, we often settle on one possible future and choose narrower strategies. › Continue reading…
Tag: Strategy
Tags: audiovisual, Innovation, process improvement, recovery, Strategy, Trends
Time to make some game-changing decisions
From Rental & Staging Systems April 2010
The fact that the Recession has ended was easy to miss, as was the beginning back in December 2007. Running a business is a lot like playing the stock market. If you remember to buy before prices go up and sell before they go down, you win. In business, we make investments in a different form, but timing is just as critical. Also important is your portfolio mix. There are three key investment areas in your business that are calling for your attention. The time to invest in them is now. A well-timed, diversified portfolio will set your company apart from the recession-bound stragglers. › Continue reading…
Five Skills That Are Key In Any Economy
From Rental & Staging Systems December 2009
When Rental & Staging Systems Editor David Keene asked to write a column on the business lessons of 2009, I had no trouble citing factors that seem to have the biggest impact on success in a changing economy. The following five skills are not just theory. I have seen them all in practice (though rarely all in one place) and measured their effect on my customers. And I discussed these concepts with many of you at the Rental & Staging Roadshows held across North America this year. Let me emphasize that these skills are important at any stage of a company’s life cycle, but are even more critical in a down economy when survival is on the line. › Continue reading…
The Dow Jones index is hovering around 9900, October has been a busy month, and the pipeline for 2010 has new activity. It’s time to celebrate because the economy is coming back…right? As much as I want to be excited about the spurt in business so many of us are seeing, I want to caution against resuming “business as usual”. When we get busy we start to miss the people, suppliers, and perks we still had before the Recession. The natural tendency is to reward the team for their sacrifice by hiring up, suspending those furlough days, and reinstating full salaries. I don’t think it is time yet to do this – for most of us. › Continue reading…
Once upon a time, AV integrators made good money from equipment and labor with a healthy premium for engineering expertise. Today, equipment and labor have become commodities and engineering is the value-added service we don’t get to charge for anymore. The burden of profit is now placed upon project management and operations, which is still pretty much based on the 1990′s model. There have been vast improvements in making project management more professional and educating installers. These changes alone are not enough. We need to discover the service, product, or convenience that we can charge for today, above the commoditized time and materials we are so familiar with. › Continue reading…
If you still struggle daily with low price competitors, here are a couple of mantras for your wall:
1. At any given time, SOMEONE can do it for less.
This means that despite your best efforts, another bidder or rival for the project at hand could easily trump your low price. › Continue reading…
Is one bad month a trend? Compared to what? The month before? The same month a year ago?
Ask any manager “How’s business?” and you will likely get a response like, “Well, we are down for the year, but we just had a great month,” or “We’re having a great year, but next month looks really bad.” Why not use a week or a day? Our Wednesdays are way up this year… › Continue reading…
Imagine 100 AV Industry geeks talking about the future of technology without mentioning a single product. It was tough, but somehow we managed to stay on task. The InfoComm 100 was an think-tank of AV and related professionals from around the world that examined the 3-5 year future of the AV Industry. Let’s examine the list of primary assumptions about the 3-5 year future of technology influences on our industry and ponder their implications: › Continue reading…
The Visionaries of the InfoComm 100 think tank have presented us with some interesting and sometimes conflicting assumptions about how the AV Industry will compete in the next 3 to 5 years. Let’s examine the list of primary assumptions and ponder their implications: › Continue reading…
A huge theme of the InfoComm 100 event was the trend towards an IT-centric world. It predicts that more IT departments will take ownership of AV management and delivery, that computers will increasingly replace AV products as the endpoint for communications. “The AV industry will need to fully understand unified communications, networks, and wireless applications.” It will be an open-source world.
