Alan Brawn: The History of Pro AV Part 2

Alan Brawn needs no introduction if you’ve been in the commercial AV world a while. Brawn knows the industry from every entry point: equipment manufacturers, reps, distributors, and AV integrators. In his recent article in Commercial Integrator, the second installment on “The History of Pro AV”, he summarizes how we’ve gotten where we are today:

• The market “pie” overall is still growing, but the real battle is for increased market share percentages– hence the focus on overall demand.

• Smaller manufacturers tend to use a network of independent reps in regions throughout the country but even with this seemingly more cost- effective approach, it is insufficient to call on and even pretend to serve the 5,000 AV integration firms out there. Hence, the rise of the big AV and AV/IT distributors.

• Migration of the manufacturer direct to dealer model to one where the manufacturers sells to the distributor and they in turn sell to the dealer. This new business model migration is where the challenges reside.

• The need today, for manufacturers and distributors in tandem to find a “sweet spot,” where the distributor can assume some of the former support responsibilities that were inherent in the manufacturer direct-to-dealer model.

• Manufacturers will have to insure increased profitability for the distributor and they in turn will have to increase their support of AV integration pros.

And there’s much more. You can access the full article on the CI web site, by clicking here.