As evidenced by publications including Commercial Integrator + Security Sales & Integration, which brings together security and AV under one roof, these markets are becoming more intertwined by the day.
It’s crucial for integrators who work on both sides of the fence to understand this fact and capitalize on it.
At PSA TEC 2024 in Dallas, three integrators whose firms have footholds in both the security and the AV market — Travis Deatherage, president of Linx Multimedia; Todd Hutchins, CTO of USIS AudioVisual Systems; and Dawna Payne, executive vice president of Texadia Systems — talked about how they’ve brought these worlds together.
They also touch on some of the challenges they’ve faced along the way.
SSI: What are some of the key synergies between AV and security that you have leveraged to enhance the customer experience?
Hutchins: I’d start off at the very beginning, which is the design approach. I think the design approach for audiovisual systems and security systems is very similar, in that we start first with a diagnose-before-you-prescribe mentality. That is, asking a series of questions.
That series of questions will lead you down a path, and you end up coming up with a solution for the client.
We will provide and install the systems that we design. We like to think that whole process enhances the customer experience. And that’s less time reviewing drawings with an architect because you’re doing both at the same time. We work in Revit, so we do clash detection with our systems.
That enables us to basically take two designers, put them on a call and handle everything in one meeting, as opposed to spreading that out into a couple different meetings. The other thing is, we provide budgets along the way, from the very beginning.
From the get-go, the client always knows exactly where they are. That again enhances the customer experience. And, at the end of the day, the client is happy because there are really no surprises or change orders at the end of the job.
SSI: Please share some examples of how integrating security and AV and the different disciplines in each of those segments has benefited your clients.
Deatherage: We have four different services that we offer. And the way that we do it today is that they are four separate divisions. Linx started as a structured cable contractor in 2003, and it was 2008-2009 that they started branching into other services.
People were asking, “Hey, can you do other things besides cabling?” And they said, “Sure we can.” And they thought, “Well, if we hire a couple of smart people, we’ll be able to design it, and somebody will be able to commission it. And we’ll just sell it with our same salespeople, and we’ll project manage it with the same project managers.”
What they found is that they were watering down their value proposition and their client experience. So, they had to rethink how they were delivering it. And that was around the time I had the opportunity to join Linx and help establish the AV division as they were establishing the security division.
Bringing that together is often the value proposition for general contractors. Large general contractors want to try to offload risk. Many of them don’t fully understand the different technologies that we offer. If they can unload that risk and that percentage of work to one partner, that’s great.
They’re looking to be able to transition that risk, that workload and that understanding, but, often, they don’t quite know how to do that. So, they do it kind of quick and with limited knowledge.
I think, from a technology standpoint, there are a number of opportunities that we’re just kind of starting to get into. The most obvious one might be control rooms. When you have control rooms, you have cameras, systems, card access…all those types of things. So, you get a lot of integration between AV and security systems.
Another one would be emergency systems. If we were to have an emergency in this building right now, could it communicate up to the panel, tell us what’s happening and tell us what direction to go? Can we integrate those emergency systems with the communication and collaboration systems that we might have in meetings rooms, or conference rooms, or things like that?
And then, the last one we actually really just started thinking about: The security team are the ones installing the most edge devices, and a lot of those devices have the opportunity to collect data that can then be aggregated and shared with other systems, like AV. It’s about keeping track of folks coming in and out of buildings, where they’re at, what their pathways are, what their interactions are, etc. There’s a lot of data that I think security can gather and share with the other different trades to bring more value to the customer. I feel like we’re just at the infancy of that.
SSI: What are some of the challenges that you experienced, and how were you able to overcome those and bring security and AV technologies together?
Hutchins: I think the biggest challenge that we’ve experienced is having our AV technicians and the AV group establish a mission-critical mindset. The AV group typically is more of a client-focused or end-user-focused technology, and it’s based on the experience that you have within a space. By contrast, security systems are more of a building-wide and a safety-and-security-type application and system.
It’s a good idea to try to get the technicians kind of cross-pollinated so that, when they’re in the field, they can actually address some of the questions coherently. Maybe not be an expert in it, but at least be able to somehow talk about it intelligently with the end users. That has helped us out a lot.
Payne: The biggest challenge is really about your resources and how you’re going to set your organizational structure. It’s amazing because, even in AV, from the residential side to the commercial side, the technicians are completely different. Security technicians are completely different.
From a resource standpoint, you really need to understand how you’re going to have those teams that are going to collaborate together to do one job. You need to know what that job looks like and how you’re going to bring those teams together where you’re not over-utilizing. How can they work together as a team to get it done?
Also, you have how many IT departments that don’t want to touch AV, how many security departments don’t want to touch AV and how many AV companies don’t want to touch security? But yet, they’re all intertwined. So, it’s really learning about collaboration.
Even from a sales standpoint, one of the number-one things that we have struggled with in our office is the fact that they — the salespeople — have to learn so many different products and so many different product lines. How do you help them with that? How do you make it easier on them?
How do you have two salespeople own one job or own one client? There are so many different ways to look at your resources. Some designers are really great at AV, but they don’t know security — or vice versa. So, I think that, from a resource standpoint, that’s the area that we’ve had the most lessons learned. We’ve really had to make some organizational structure changes.
Deatherage: I mentioned that, when we first ventured into doing multiple lines of business or multiple technologies, we thought we could just hire the engineers on the design side and the engineers in the field, and we’d be able to manage the projects the same way.
We quickly found out that that did not lead to a great client experience. We learned that the quality of the work we were providing in the other disciplines wasn’t the same that we were used to providing in structured cabling.
Linx had built a reputation as having a very high level of client experience — one of the top structured cabling contractors in the Rocky Mountain region — and, quickly, that brand was deteriorating because of poor performance in the other disciplines.
We really had to rethink how we become great if we’re going to go into another discipline. How can we be great at that discipline and protect the brand? So, that’s when we established the different lines of business: a different P&L and a different leader for each one.
That has led to the opportunity to try to be great in every one of them. It’s not always easy. It’s hard enough being great in one. Building out each line of business can be a challenge.
As we’ve progressed on that path, the next challenge became this: How do we know that we are good enough at, or getting better at, each line? How do we bring them back together to deliver that value proposition, and to manage them and integrate them across disciplines?
An example might be shop drawings. If we’re doing multiple lines, we’re expected to have a coordinated set of drawings. But, sometimes, the location where we might need power is different from where security needs it. So, if our drawings show it one way, or the security team show it another way, it can create confusion for the general contractor or the electrical contractor.
It’s that communication, coordination and planning. It’s still a challenge at times to bring all the pieces together.
Payne: One of the things that did help us is we started by using subcontracting partners to help us learn the business a little bit as we went. I know there’s been some great examples within Edge itself, as well as between Edge and PSA.
Photo credit: Veien Productions
SSI: What are some of the ways that merging AV and security technologies has tightened your client relationships?
Hutchins: I would go back to the design aspect. I think it’s about getting involved very early in the process and being able to bring to light all three different disciplines. For us, those are structured cabling, security and AV systems. Being able to design all three of those different disciplines at the front end is actually taking the bidding process out of the equation, if you will.
When we’re getting in, we’re designing the systems and working with the client. We’re developing the programming documents and then rolling them right into an installation.
SSI: What’s some advice that you’d give to other AV integrators or security professionals who are looking to merge their respective technologies together?
Deatherage: The first piece is to do it with intentionality. It’s very easy to chase the opportunity. But the first step is to really be intentional about how it fits with your business strategy. Do you think you can be great at it?
Remember: It wasn’t easy to build the expertise, the value proposition and the client experience in the business you’re already in.
Right now, our service offerings for all of our disciplines are separate. We have a consolidated service desk and call center, but we don’t necessarily have consolidated or aligned service programs. Our security division monitors, manages and supports a system one way, and our AV division does another. There’s an opportunity to bring those together. It’s about being purposeful about all the elements of delivering for the client.
The other part I would talk about is this: You can’t be an expert at everything. There’s a lot of stuff we don’t know, can’t know and can’t support. Sometimes, that drives our salespeople crazy because they think we should sell everything. But that waters down our client experience.
One of the value propositions of PSA and Edge is being able to align ourselves with quality manufacturers, so we’re not just chasing the latest, greatest, newest product that just came to market. It’s about really having quality partners so we can learn their products, become experts at it, get support from them, and get warranty and service programs from them.
Payne: You really have to have passion for what you’re doing. You have to look at how it’s going to affect your teams and how it’s going to affect your business over the next couple of years. You need to look at five and 10 years down the line.
We have to look so far in advance when it comes to technology, because technology changes so quickly. We’re trying right now just to keep up with what’s changing in front of us, but we have to really be forward-thinking. So, I say go for it.
Hutchins: We’re three separate divisions in my company, as well. We have security, structured cabling and audiovisual systems. One of the biggest challenges that I’ve seen is, if we put three project managers in the field, the client has three people whom they need to talk to.
What we’ve been trying to do is actually find the one person who will be the lead and make sure they have some experience in the other disciplines. Because one point of contact with the client has been monumental. It makes the client experience successful and makes them happy when they only have to go to one person.
My advice would be to invest in a group and cross-pollinate. They don’t have to know everything about it, but they need a general knowledge…a 30,000-foot view. The main point of contact being able to answer simple questions has really saved us a lot of grief in the field.
Deatherage: I mentioned earlier general contractors or electrical contractors trying to get one technology partner. I think it’s great when you can have that single point of contact. What I would add is that you’re bringing value to that trade partner…that contractor. Often, what they’re going to try to do is pressure you to give discounts.
They’re going to say, “Hey, I’m going to give you multiple lines of business. What’s my discount?” And, you know, our takeback is that we’re actually bringing more value to you. Because, if we’re going to manage all the technology for you, it saves the contractor quite a bit of work.
If they have to manage multiple trades or multiple contractors, they’re going to have a project manager on their side who has to do that communication…who has to manage that risk. I wouldn’t be afraid to charge for that. I wouldn’t be afraid to make sure you’re capturing the value of what you’re bringing by aggregating disciplines — either ones that you have in-house or might be subcontracted.
Click here for Part 2 of this PSA TEC 2024 panel discussion!
