April 7, 2025
Here’s how the story often goes …
You invested in a big, beautiful conference room with state-of-the-art AV equipment to woo clients. Unfortunately, that glorious system with all the cool capabilities isn’t very user-friendly, as it turns out. Maybe two people in your office know how to use it, so it mostly just takes up space. Also, all of the components that are supposed to work together do — but not always. And you only find out something’s gone wrong right before a big meeting.
Too close to home? If so, our AV team has a few tips for you!
Buy Audio Visual Equipment Based on Needs, Not Price
Every business and every team will have different communication goals and needs. There are a lot of choices out there when it comes to AV equipment, and that can make it tougher to make decisions. But if your AV equipment is intended to help you win and keep clients, it’s worth putting in the work to clarify what your needs are and what equipment is most suited to meet them.
Prioritize Investing in Higher Quality Audio Visual Systems
Just like a car, a cheaper sticker price will often come with more frequent breakdowns and higher maintenance costs over time.
AV technicians can be expensive, and having an unreliable AV system can be stressful and frustrating for your staff. Depending on how you use your equipment, poorly performing AV equipment can also create a bad first impression for a potential client. So whenever possible, purchase from a manufacturer that’s known for providing high-quality products.
Don’t Make Assumptions About the User Friendliness of Audio Visual Systems
AV equipment has a reputation for being overly complicated. But modern AV equipment varies dramatically in user-friendliness, with the best systems prioritizing intuitive design over technical complexity.
Here are just a few examples of the types of features that will make your staff far more likely to use your equipment:
- Single-button meeting launches
- Consistent and intuitive interfaces
- Automated setup processes
Even High-Quality Audio Visual Solutions Need Some Maintenance
Even the best-made car will need its oil changed regularly. Your AV equipment will also need to have some regular maintenance in order to perform at its best. The price for not maintaining your equipment according to manufacturer instructions is unreliable performance.
And that leads us to our next point …
Audio Visual Technicians Are Busy (and Expensive!)
If you’ve already experienced frustrating AV issues, then this won’t be a surprise. But you might have to wait a few weeks before an AV technician can make it to your location. And once they do, you probably won’t like how much they cost.
Making sure your system is getting regular maintenance and is ready to go when you need it takes some time, but ignoring these tasks and waiting until something fails isn’t the answer. But if you want reliability and ease from your AV system, we have a better one.
When You Should Consider Getting a Service Plan for Your AV Solutions
AV service plans, much like managed print or IT services, have evolved to help businesses optimize their resources so they can focus on their core mission. Modern AV providers like Marco have the ability to monitor your components remotely to make sure they’re ready to go when you need them. That means that even when something needs to be fixed, that can happen before it disrupts an important presentation — and often, it can happen without you even realizing there’s a problem.
Yes, these services cost money, but depending on your system and how you use it, our clients find that our services are much cheaper than what they were paying for AV service techs, and they get more value from their equipment. Their staff doesn’t experience the stress or frustration of having their AV equipment let them down, so they can focus on winning more business. And as an added bonus, the same AV experts that keep their equipment in tip-top shape can also frequently offer insider pricing, thanks to their strategic partnerships.
Curious about what we might recommend for your business and why? Click the link below to get our video conferencing comparison guide!
