Imagine you’re gearing up for your company’s town hall event where management will communicate the latest updates and initiatives to a global team of employees.
The room is set, in-person guests are coming in, and virtual attendees are logging on to the live video stream. Then the unthinkable happens—there’s a system glitch. In that moment, costs can’t just be measured in the dollars lost per minute of downtime—it’s a missed opportunity to connect, impacted confidence of the presenters and diminished morale of attendees.
Proper AV support is more than just a safety net for your technology. They’re a strategic investment in reliability and resilience for communications across your organization.
Let’s explore the 9 advantages the right managed services offerings can provide your organization.
1. Focus on Core Competencies
An organization’s mission statement defines its overarching purpose and goals. All roads lead back to it. Spoiler alert: while mission statements may vary from direct and matter of fact to abstract and lofty, no company’s primary objective is to maintain their technology.
Organizations need their technology to work to support their business and day-to-day operations. However, they want their teams to be focused on strategic projects and priorities rather than troubleshooting to see why, for example, the conference room monitor won’t turn on during their call or using them to set up a room for a large event. That’s where AV support and managed services fit in.
Taking the maintenance and oversight of technology systems off an organization’s plate and entrusting it with a partner whose only objective is to make sure everything is working allows the organization to prioritize their core competencies and business objectives.
You know, focus on their real business.
2. Cover IT Blind Spots
Most traditional IT departments aren’t equipped to handle media, broadcast, digital signage and workplace event spaces. Their primary focus is often desktop, server, network infrastructure and data security. Audio, video and media equipment, though they reside on the network, are typically outside of the IT department’s scope and expertise.
A managed services provider fills this void between what needs to be done and what the IT department has as expertise or bandwidth to ensure all equipment is operating at peak performance around the clock.
3. Predictable Quality, Cost, & Availability
When it comes to core technology, downtime is not an option. Managed services ensure predictability and provide peace of mind when you need your systems operating at peak performance every day. In most cases, service providers prioritize their managed services clients over more ad hoc, transactional based service engagements.
Not only are those transactional engagements lower priority, they also come with unpredictable cost and lower commitments to resolution when compared to a managed services arrangement. Conversely, managed services agreements often are tied to Service Level Agreements at fixed fees so you get the peace of mind knowing the job will be done in a set timeline and at a cost you can plan for.
When issues do arise—frequently from user intervention as they fiddle with wires and cables—cost and repair speed are the top priority. Managed services deliver the right solutions you need when and where you need it, and at a predictable cost.
4. Full Value Realization
Your technology is an investment, right? It serves a strategic purpose in helping the organization achieve its goals.
The last thing you want is for a room to gather dust because your team either doesn’t know how to use it or it’s simply not working. A managed service ensures your people have access to the help they need to fully realize the investments made in their ability to work and collaborate.
It’s all about realizing the potential of what you’ve bought. From employee training that maximizes user adoption to routine service visits that help minimize downtime, managed services ensure that you get the full value out of your investment.
When it comes to ensuring maximum uptime, the first step is to be proactive. See how Air Products leverages on-site support and remote monitoring to keep their new headquarters connected to their global team.
5. ROUTINE PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE
The best way to overcome big problems is to nip them in the bud early. AV equipment tends to exist in high-traffic, high-use spaces if designed properly. Most AV and media systems involve users physically interacting with end devices, whether it be media control rooms or collaborative AV technology. We also know that not all things can survive the wear and tear that some users place on them. Managed service plans provide routine preventative maintenance to make sure systems are on their game at all times.
Think of them as the Jarvis of maintenance–always on the lookout, always optimizing. By identifying and correcting potential issues before they become a full-blown problem, organizations can maintain uptimes to maximize their ROI. It’s like making your systems run as smoothly as the most up to date Iron Man suit, not just the original that crash landed in the desert.
6. Remote monitoring
We have tools and apps that monitor our heart rate, count our steps, track investments and more so that we can easily see the big picture of our overall well-being and finances.
Why wouldn’t you want something similar for your AV and media technology systems?
Remote monitoring and support from managed service providers offer the automation to perform daily remote diagnostics that respond and restore equipment functionality before an issue can impact the user experience.
7. Dependability & Flexibility
Crossing your fingers and hoping is not a great plan for getting things fixed when they break. This is where dependability comes in. Managed services provide you with service levels to guarantee that you’ll get the response and resolution you need in the timeframe your business requires.
That commitment to service backstop is what enables you to confidently ensure your business stays functioning without the headaches or stress of trying to answer the common challenges such as:
- Do you have the resources to fix it in a timely manner?
- If you are able to submit a ticket and handle the request internally, do they have the bandwidth to resolve issues quickly?
- Most organizations don’t because they are splitting responsibilities, and it requires more time to address because they lack the expertise.
Managed services provide a balanced solution. You get the dependability and expertise you need for a prompt resolution when issues arise without having to expand your core staff for the one-off scenario when things go awry.
8. Live Event Support
Hosting large hybrid events is an essential strategy for spreading consistent messaging across your organization. This makes it one of the worst times for your audio or video to let you down.
If events are a regular part of your operation, it probably makes sense to have a dedicated resource on site for consistent, flawless executions. However, if you only hold a handful of events each year or your event locations vary, it may make more sense to scale live event support up and down with a flexible and cost efficient option for deploying resources.
Customize your live event and production crew as needed for optimum performance. Streamline your live event and media production with Diversified’s Flex Sourcing versatile production crew.
9. Instant Access to Expertise
An unexpected benefit is the trust and relationship that you are building through a dedicated partnership. AV and media support isn’t just about fixing things when they break. Yet it does give organizations a single point of contact when things go wrong.
By building a relationship with someone who lives and breathes technology, they are always at the forefront of the latest industry innovations. You gain the benefit of their expertise to help keep your systems relevant and your roadmap cutting-edge.
Bonus: Custom-Tailored Solutions
Regardless of what anyone says, it’s never one size fits all. Every business is unique and so are their technology needs. The right provider gives you the added bonus of being able to customize a managed solutions offering to fit your specific requirements.
If someone is offering you a cookie cutter package, you’re likely talking to a provider that isn’t the best fit for you. It’s unlikely that the exact same package that works well for another organization will work just as well for everyone.
Mind Your Business. Let Someone Else Mind Your Technology.
Don’t sweat the small stuff. You should be working towards achieving your organization’s strategic goals, not trying to troubleshoot tech glitches.
That’s where having a dedicated team of technology experts on speed dial comes in handy. As an extension of your team, AV support and managed services offer specialized and streamlined expertise while ensuring your technology is always up-to-date, optimized and operational.
AV support and managed services fill the gap left by understaffed or overworked IT departments and provide consistent quality of service at a predictable cost. This can come in the form of technology management in conference rooms, lobbies and hallways. It can also take the form of AV event support for your enterprise town halls and shareholder meetings. Depending on your need, you may not require someone on-site all the time, and instead let advanced support technology automate fixes before a person ever sees anything is wrong.
This kind of custom support means that you can actually realize the full benefit of the technology you’ve invested in, while putting your own time and talent towards advancing your strategic initiatives and achieving business objectives. Contact us if you’d like to chat about our team helping you with managed services to support all your AV needs.
