31January

SA’S AV INDUSTRY TO EMBRACE GLOBAL STANDARDS

By Stefan Mayer, Managing Director of Corporate AV Integration

Corporate South Africa’s demand for AV solutions is growing rapidly, but training and professional standards are not keeping up with the market expansion. The result is that there are too many companies who don’t have the technical skills to deliver the complex solutions that clients are looking for.

The fierce competitiveness in our industry means that in the scramble to win new business, and keep customers happy, training often falls by the wayside. Retrenchments are forcing more people to create their own businesses, and unfortunately some of these businesses are not properly qualified to do the jobs that they are pitching for. And, it's hard for clients to sort put the credible players from the fly-by-nights.

The fact that our industry is multidisciplinary further complicates matters. AV integrators should have expertise on a range of disciplines, including IT and environmental design. For the sake of the long-term health and integrity of our industry we must focus on professional standards, based on the latest international best practices.

Even though the industry is largely unregulated, international standards and certifications are a good place to start. InfoComm (the trade association representing professional AV and Information Communications industries worldwide) provides a range of best practices and training courses. Its university courses cover management, design and installation of AV solutions. Although they are somewhat American-centric, these courses offer a good benchmark for basic proficiency. Someone with an InfoComm Certified Technology Specialist (CTS) certification has demonstrated their AV knowledge and skills in an exam. At Corporate AV these InfoComm standards are our basic benchmark.

The Southern African Communications Industries Association (SACIA) - a trade association that promotes professional standards and ethical business practice - has partnered with InfoComm. Executive director Kevan Jones says that he hopes government and universities will back the work SACIA and InfoComm are doing to bring relevant AV qualifications to South Africa. SACIA members get a discount on InfoComm Training, and suppliers such as TID and Electrosonic SA offer free training to help build the local skills base. SACIA also offers some independent guidance to recruiters in the AV industry.

There is also plenty of manufacturer-based training to choose from. Good AV solutions providers will invest in keeping their staff certified to work on their vendors' latest products, in addition to encouraging them to get certified with InfoComm.

But, this is just a starting point. As an industry, we should start looking at what we can do to create a solid base of skills for the future, as well as further professionalise our industry.

It is in all our interests to lift standards so that we can improve customer satisfaction and demonstrate the value of services for which we charge good money.

Perhaps we need to initiate discussions with universities and technical colleges, with a view to getting AV integration courses on the curriculum, alongside traditional IT courses. We should also think about career paths for those entering the industry. The AV industry requires a wide, and often technical, skill-set and practical apprenticeships in IT skills, as well as electrical, sound and electronic engineering skills, will help cultivate the people we need. All too often people are learning from sale and management rather than from the trade, resulting in poor skills transfer.

It's also important for corporate clients in the AV sector to start holding their AV integrators to higher standards. They should ask their AV integrators what qualifications their employees have and what sort of investments they make in training. Just as a company wouldn't want an uncertified person tinkering with its networks and servers, it shouldn't allow someone without the right qualifications to work on its AV products and systems.

No video selected.

Posted in AV News