How to Succeed at Corporate Installs

If you’re looking to diversify into corporate installations, such as board rooms, you’ll have plenty of competition. The good news, though, is that it’s a thriving vertical market.

A survey by CE Pro’s sister publication Commercial Integrator shows nearly all commercial integrators (84 percent) do work in corporate facilities - defined for our purposes as office buildings and financial institutions like banks.

Fifty-six percent of surveyed CIs expect their corporate market business to be up in 2011 versus 2010 and a meager 9 percent expect it to decline.

With the economy strengthening, companies are beginning to invest in their facilities again, according to several integrators. “Many corporate clients went into ‘hold mode’ for the last two years or so,” says Aaron White, system design engineer for TechnoSystems in Hialeah, Fla. “I see many corporate clients ready to loosen the purse strings a bit this year.”

The increased spending by corporate clients, though, doesn’t necessarily translate to optimism. Investments in teleconferencing and telepresence systems are often viewed as a conservative way to cut down on employee travel expense. Savvy CIs are marketing one-time telepresence investments as an alternative to ongoing travel costs. As such, nearly half (47 percent) of surveyed integrators say they installed teleconferencing systems over the previous year.

Many integrators, however, are finding that the high cost of telepresence systems is an obstacle for potential clients. “Large companies can see the benefit and ROI, but mid-to-small companies and companies with shrinking bottom lines are forgoing video for now,” says James Landis, senior specialty designer for Orlando, Fla.-based TLC engineering. “I believe that with more and more companies making video conferencing products - some of which are very outside of the box - that industry is evolving. As competition increases, the costs and stigmas involved with making that decision will definitely decrease.”


Several surveyed CIs concurred, indicating that audio-only teleconferencing remains the far-easier sell. This is despite NSCA’s recent Marketing Intelligence Briefing that showed audio-only teleconferencing hitting a ceiling and telepresence poised for enormous growth. “It really depends on the application,” White says. “As video conferencing — especially HD solutions sold by Polycom, Tandberg, Lifesize, etc. - are considerably more expensive than audio conferencing, those companies that wish to share content via video are going to video conferencing. Many companies are not yet prepared for the expense of video when they see something like Skype as a viable and cheaper alternative.”

Another hurdle is getting one’s foot inside the conference room door. Surveyed CIs say they typically get corporate projects through referrals and return clients. “Almost all of our corporate clients - 85 percent - are either an existing client or a referral from existing client,” says Joe Strang, president of Calgary, Alberta-based Showcase A/V. “We are working hard to add new clients and change that trend.”

Landis’ team at TLC engineering is in the same boat. “We got a lot of our work from repeat clients and customers and a lot of our new work lately comes from investigating grants and government funding, periodicals and newsletters, and our contacts with organizations that may be looking to develop new projects.”