SCN sat down with integrators and consultants to learn a bit about their InfoComm show priorities: what they want to see, what they hope to achieve, what they think will steal the show, and so on. This round of insight comes from Travis Deatherage, president of Linx Multimedia.
What is your number 1 priority (or top priorities) at InfoComm this year?
My top priority is to understand what products and service our best manufacturing partners are developing and releasing that will allow us to deliver on our promise of simple, reliable, and high performing solutions for our clients. It’s always fun to see the newest, flashiest technology, but for me, it’s important to remember that our clients are asking us to solve business problems first. Therefore, I look for what our best manufacturer partners are doing to improve our ability to solve our clients business challenges. Sometimes that can be about a better widget, but most of the time, I find myself needing to look through the shiny rocks to find the foundational elements that make us a better partner to our clients. Beyond just the products that our best partners offer, it’s often just as important to leverage InfoComm to continue to advance our relationship with these top partners—get to know each other better, see each other face to face, discuss better ways of working together that can benefit the integrator, the manufacturer and the end-user.
What do you see as the top areas/categories to focus on for training, whether you are participating or recommending for others.
I think the top areas are still project management and networking. I believe these are the areas where our industry continues to be the weakest at the integrator level, and these disciplines are critical to our long term success.
What technological trends will you be on the lookout for most?
I think this year we will continue to see “the cloud” having a bigger impact on how we deliver solutions and support our clients. I will be looking for solutions that allow me to maintain our relationship and our brand with the client while bringing them a better services model.
What business or vertical market trends will you be pursuing most?
I will be looking for technology applications that will continue to drive more mass adoption. One example of this trend is for simpler huddle room solutions. As the workplace style continues to evolve toward less fixed work spaces, more mobile workers, more benching there continues to be an increase in huddle and ad-hoc meeting spaces. The simpler we can make these solutions to install and operate, the more we will sell of them. Then it becomes important to understand how we will support, maintain, and manage these systems.
What specific product categories or service solutions are you most interested in seeing or hearing about?
I’m most interested in these applications: Continued adoption and applications of 4K video; Applications for indoor LED; Desktop and huddle room video conferencing systems; Advancement in microphone solutions for conferencing and large meeting spaces; Digital signage services which included content development and platform management in a cloud-based solution.
