AVI Systems is ready to usher in a new era. Announced at its annual Global Sales Summit on April 22, in Dallas with approximately 330 staff and nearly 300 partner attendees present, the integrator announced a rebranding to the name FORTÉ.
“We have become much more than an AV systems integrator,” Jeff Stoebner, CEO, FORTÉ, told SCN. “In recent years, we made a series of major investments to grow the business's capabilities and expanded office locations to serve every major market in the U.S. We’ve also expanded our global deployment capabilities, created robust managed services offering, developed five innovative practices areas with deep industry expertise, and we’re able to deliver solutions with unmatched speed with our Velocity solutions. Due to our expanded capabilities, we’ve become a strategic partner, helping our customers transform their modern workplace."
As Stoebner explained, the new name was the right fit. One meaning of FORTÉ, for example, is the greatest strength or area of expertise. “We feel it’s a perfect description of our unmatched expertise in designing, deploying, and supporting communication and collaboration solutions,” he said.
However, the word also carries another meaning: to play a particular note or passage in a musical score loudly, which also fits the new bold vision for the integrator. “We feel the new name and logo are bold,” Stoebner added. “We wanted a logo that also exudes confidence. The font choice with the accent mark on the E is easily identifiable. The color palette that surrounds the O recognizes our legacy brand colors with a modern update. The new FORTÉ logo exemplifies who we are as a company: bold, vibrant, and confident. We'll never stop evolving to make sure our customers succeed."
With the shift, FORTÉ is moving its focus outside the Pro AV integration box, with a more holistic view of the industry, removing the blinders that may pigeonhole an integrator from truly addressing what customers need. The goal, said Stoebner, is to help organizations view their entire AV and UCC estate as an ecosystem that functions at a high level.
"The innovative solutions we create are the confluence of people, spaces, and technology—enhancing every employee touchpoint," Stoebner added. "We bring seamless collaboration to life, keeping the modern workplace, classroom, and government agencies connected and helping people remain productive. Every solution we deploy and manage functions flawlessly with existing IT infrastructure ensuring secure, reliable, and future-ready systems."
Part of this new direction comes from listening to 50 years of customer engagement. Despite all the success stories, there is no denying that the needs and expectations have evolved, especially in the post-COVID workplace. Long-time customers are rethinking their spaces, everything from conference rooms to flex spaces, large training rooms, and multi-purpose areas for all-hands meetings Stoebner observed.
"Every space requires collaboration solutions and the right technologies to enable people to be productive," he said. "FORTÉ is positioned as a strategic partner in this transformation. We’re so much more than a technology systems integrator or vendor."
Prospective customers can expect the same from FORTÉ, which Stoebner describes as uniquely positioned to help them with technology early in the process. "From pre-configured meeting room solutions delivered and installed in as a few as 10 days to the custom designs that require expertise only our solution architects can deliver, we simply have the bench strength to be that go-to expert. And we’ll provide the advice and counsel organizations need to understand the ecosystem each solution is designed to support," he noted.
While the name and logo may have changed, the focus on customer demands has not. For example, the Velocity Logistics Center—opened last June in Dallas by AVI Systems—will continue to address what organizations require. With the help of the center, the company delivered more than 1,000 preconfigured room solutions in its first year of operation, and Stoebner anticipates quadrupling that number this year.
"Demand will determine how we ramp our staff and resource capabilities. It’s something we monitor very closely," he said of Velocity. "Whether a customer needs one meeting room solution or 1,000 rooms, we’ve developed a delivery model for pre-configured, certified solutions to meet their demand. We have a catalog of solutions and customers can bring us their room standards, which we’ll certify, deliver, and deploy."
As Stoebner explained, leaders in the workplace and IT want to take what could be complex and make it simple. Technology should forge a path to success, not hinder it. Now, FORTÉ, is partnering with organizations to help them imagine and create solutions that drive real results.
"It’s important to understand that our new brand identity will carry our company well into the future, no matter what happens in the AV or systems integration industry," Stoebner concluded. "While communication and collaboration solutions and services are instrumental to our business today, we know this will evolve. Artificial intelligence is certain to continue playing a role in how people work and interact. On top of this, the continued demand for efficient hybrid work solutions, customer experience solutions, technologies in the retail space that engage with audiences, smart building solutions—these are all pathways that will ultimately continue to drive our business at FORTÉ, and we intend to be the go-to expert when any organization starts to think about how to enhance their communication and collaboration capabilities."
