• CEPro_logo_blue-new
  • TOPICS
      • News
        • People & Places
        • Product Briefs
      • Projects
      • Events
      • Control
        • Central Vac
        • Energy/Power
        • HVAC/IAQ
        • Interfaces/Devices
        • Lighting
        • Motorized Shades
        • Whole House Systems
      • Audio/Video
        • Audio/Video
        • AV Accessories
        • AV Racks
        • Cabling
        • Displays
        • Furniture
        • Headphones
        • Home Theater
        • Media
        • Mounts/Lifts
        • Multiroom AV
        • Projectors/Screens
        • Speakers/Subwoofers
        • Wireless AV
      • Security
        • Access Control
        • Alarms/Sensors
        • Services/Platforms
        • Surveillance/Cameras
      • Business Support
        • Associations/Buying Groups
        • Cell Phone Boosters
        • Distributors/Reps
        • Operations
        • Recurring Revenue
        • Research
        • Sales/Marketing
        • Software Services
        • Tools/Testers
      • Networking
        • Cellular
        • Devices/Equipment
        • Wireless
        • Wired/Installation
      • Markets
        • Builders
        • Commercial
        • Design
        • Europe
        • Outdoors
        • Resimercial
        • Wellness
      • CE Pro Hub Pages
        • Bose
        • Savant
        • Inside Sound United
  • PRODUCTS
  • RESOURCES
    • Reports/Downloads
    • Buyer’s Guide
    • Webcasts
    • Podcasts
    • Digital Edition
    • CE Pro-iQ
  • SUBSCRIBE
    • CEDIA SHOW UPDATES
    • CEPRO PRINT EDITION
    • CEPRO DIGITAL EDITION
    • CEPRO NEWSLETTERS
  • DISCOVER
    • CEDIA Expo
      • September 29 – October 1
        Dallas, TX
      • VISIT SITE
    • KBIS
      • February 8 – 10
        Orlando, FL
      • VISIT SITE
    • Total Tech Summit
      • October 26 – 28
        Orlando, FL
      • VISIT SITE
    • Commercial Integrator
      • VISIT SITE
    • Security Sales
      • VISIT SITE
    • Tech Decisions
      • VISIT SITE
    • Campus Safety
      • VISIT SITE
    • Design Well
      • VISIT SITE
    • KBB Online
      • VISIT SITE
    • AV-iQ
      • VISIT SITE
    • CE Pro-iQ
      • VISIT SITE
  • Search
  • TOPICS
    • News
      • People & Places
      • Product Briefs
    • Projects
    • Events
    • Control
      • Central Vac
      • Energy/Power
      • HVAC/IAQ
      • Interfaces/Devices
      • Lighting
      • Motorized Shades
      • Whole House Systems
    • Audio/Video
      • Audio/Video
      • AV Accessories
      • AV Racks
      • Cabling
      • Displays
      • Furniture
      • Headphones
      • Home Theater
      • Media
      • Mounts/Lifts
      • Multiroom AV
      • Projectors/Screens
      • Speakers/Subwoofers
      • Wireless AV
    • Security
      • Access Control
      • Alarms/Sensors
      • Services/Platforms
      • Surveillance/Cameras
    • Business Support
      • Associations/Buying Groups
      • Cell Phone Boosters
      • Distributors/Reps
      • Operations
      • Recurring Revenue
      • Research
      • Sales/Marketing
      • Software Services
      • Tools/Testers
    • Networking
      • Cellular
      • Devices/Equipment
      • Wireless
      • Wired/Installation
    • Markets
      • Builders
      • Commercial
      • Design
      • Europe
      • Outdoors
      • Resimercial
      • Wellness
    • CE Pro Hub Pages
      • Savant
      • Bose
      • Inside Sound United
  • PRODUCTS
  • RESOURCES
    • Reports/Downloads
    • Buyer’s Guide
    • Webcasts
    • Podcasts
    • Digital Edition
    • CE Pro-IQ
  • SUBSCRIBE
    • CEPRO PRINT EDITION
    • CEPRO DIGITAL EDITION
    • CEPRO NEWSLETTERS
    • CEDIA SHOW UPDATES
  • DISCOVER
    • Cedia Expo
      VISIT SITE
    • Commercial Integrator
      VISIT SITE
    • Security Sales
      VISIT SITE
    • Tech Decisions
      VISIT SITE
    • Campus Safety
      VISIT SITE
    • Design Well
      VISIT SITE
    • Total Tech Summit
      VISIT SITE
    • KBB Online
      VISIT SITE
    • AV-iQ
    • CE Pro-iQ
M
POPULAR SEARCHES
News
Projects
Control
Audio Video
Security
Business Support
Markets
SUBSCRIBE CEDIA EXPO CEPro-iQ
CEDIA Expo | Distributors/Reps | Events | News | Products
July 28, 2016

New CEO Discusses Vision for AVAD as Independent Co.; a Return to CEDIA

CE Pro interviews new AVAD CEO Tom Jacoby after the distributor was acquired by private equity firm Kingswood Capital: “We don’t see this as a broken company that needs to be fixed."
Julie Jacobson  
CE Pro interviews new AVAD CEO Tom Jacoby after the distributor was acquired by private equity firm Kingswood Capital: “We don’t see this as a broken company that needs to be fixed."
Article:
CEDIA Expo | Distributors/Reps | Events | News | Products
July 28, 2016

New CEO Discusses Vision for AVAD as Independent Co.; a Return to CEDIA

AVAD is back as a standalone national distributor for the home-technology integration channel, with plans to exhibit this year at CEDIA 2016 after a five-year absence from the show.

The company has been around the block, starting with a bunch of independent reps who formed one umbrella organization, which was acquired by the giant IT/CE distributor Ingram Micro, which itself was acquired by Chinese conglomerate Tianjin Tianhai earlier this month, which divested AVAD right away to the private equity firm Kingswood Capital Management.

So here we are.

What does it mean for AVAD that it’s now owned by Kingswood?

“It means it’s an independent business that needs to earn a profit,” says Tom Jacoby, newly appointed chairman and CEO who formerly was CEO for Harman Consumer Group. “It has investors. They expect a return on investment. There’s no particular time constraint.”

It’s as simple as that, he says. There are no plans to sell off assets, as often happens when private equity takes over.

The only certainty, he explains, is to “take an asset with very good bones that has underperformed, and add resources to evolve its strategy.”

AVAD isn’t ‘Broken’

Jacoby was invited last year to take a look at AVAD and was “delighted with what I discovered,” he says. “There are fantastic people in the business. We need to change processes and modify the business model, but it’s really all about the people.”

With the strong human-resource elements intact, Jacoby and new AVAD president Fred Farrar concluded, “We don’t see this as a broken company that needs to be fixed, but an underdeveloped business with a legacy business model that needs to evolve.”

The missions of AVAD and Ingram Micro were “not perfectly aligned,” Jacoby says. Ingram distributes a very high volume of a wide assortment of electronics, whereas “AVAD was then and remains a business focused on specialty markets. It’s a much higher-touch model.”

Even under Ingram’s rule, however, AVAD “really maintained a remarkable degree of integrity as it relates to the core business — of understanding products and how they go together. They just did it in a very analog fashion.”

As such, AVAD’s evolution will come largely from improvements in logistics and IT. Customer service, transactions, training and virtually everything else AVAD touches could take better advantage of modern-day digital tools.

For example, AVAD has access to all the right data concerning products in stock, on back order, and all the rest of it, but the data is not readily available to customers through a dealer portal.

Similarly, “a lot of training and customer interaction is still delivered in a traditional way – person to person,” according to Jacoby. “We only have 23 outlets. You can only touch so many people. It’s a big place, North America.”

More Locations and other AVAD Moves

Jacoby says AVAD plans to extend the company’s reach but stopped short of saying the distributor would open more “branches” per se.

He notes that AVAD customers really appreciate the value of picking up products from branch locations, but “that’s a service we’re not providing in as many places as we possibly could.”

AVAD does plan to “add market reach,” Jacoby says, but the company doesn’t know exactly what form that will take.

“We have many customers who aren’t in the position to handle inventory,” Jacoby says. “They want it as close to the job and the time as possible. Our challenge is to do that efficiently without consuming vast amounts of capital.”

Besides AVAD’s focus on “logistical excellence,” the distributor will take a look at the product mix.

The commercial business has done particularly well for AVAD lately, along with the wireless audio category. On the automation front, lighting, HVAC and whole-house control have been strong.

The question Jacoby tends to get is: “Is your market still relevant?”

The long-ago emphasis on structured wiring has given way to wireless everything and “the world is completely enthralled with the internet of things, whatever that means,” Jacoby says.

But the fact that “everything is trying to compete on Wi-Fi networks that were never equipped for it,” Jacoby says, represents a big opportunity for integrators.

So yes, the home-tech install channel is not only relevant but energized, Jacoby says: “We’ve met so many folks that have been with AVAD for a long time. There is a passion for the business, in fact a lot of pent-up energy.”

All that energy will be on display for the first time in five years at CEDIA 2016.

“It’s important for AVAD to participate and interact with our dealers at key industry events,” Jacoby says. “AVAD’s goal is to provide our customers with exceptional service that’s un-matched among competitors and we understand that the foundation of that service is through conversation.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Julie Jacobson
Follow
Julie Jacobson:
Julie Jacobson is founding editor of CE Pro, the leading media brand for the home-technology channel. She has covered the smart-home industry since 1994, long before there was much of an Internet, let alone an Internet of things. Currently she studies, speaks, writes and rabble-rouses in the areas of home automation, security, networked A/V, wellness-related technology, biophilic design, and the business of home technology. Julie majored in Economics at the University of Michigan, spent a year abroad at Cambridge University, and earned an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a recipient of the annual CTA TechHome Leadership Award, and a CEDIA Fellows honoree. A washed-up Ultimate Frisbee player, Julie currently resides in San Antonio, Texas and sometimes St. Paul, Minn. Follow on Twitter: @juliejacobson
View Julie Jacobson's complete profile

ARTICLE TOPICS

CEDIA Expo • Distributors/Reps • Events • News • Products

ARTICLE TAGS

CEDIA • Distributor • Mergers and Acquisitions

SHARE

Share On Facebook
Share On Twitter
Share On Linkedin
Share On Whatsapp
Share Via Email
Copy URL
← Previous Article Next Article →
Article Associations/Buying GroupsBusiness SupportEventsNewsOperationsSales/Marketing

ProSource Lays Out Education Track for Annual Summit 2023

ProSource Summit theme ‘Plug-In’ to focus on building company culture, honing operations, and igniting sales and profits.
Article Audio/VideoMounts/LiftsNewsProducts

New Dealer-Only MantelMount Pro Line Launches

MantelMount Pro is a full line of flat-panel TV mounting options sold exclusively through custom installation integrators.
Article Associations/Buying GroupsBusiness SupportEventsNewsOperationsSales/Marketing

ProSource Lays Out Education Track for Annual Summit 2023

ProSource Summit theme ‘Plug-In’ to focus on building company culture, honing operations, and igniting sales and profits.
Article Audio/VideoNewsProductsSpeakers/SubwoofersWireless AV

Klipsch Rolls Out The Nines & The Sevens to Bolster Heritage Wireless Speakers Lineup

Following up on The Fives, Klipsch adds powered The Sevens & The Nines to Heritage Wireless Series featuring Bluetooth, built-in phone preamp, 24/192 hi-res audio support, real wood veneer.

SHOW NEWSLETTER

Sign Up

CE Pro

Subscribe Sign Up

Content Types

News
Products
Projects
Companies
Downloads
Webcasts
Podcasts
Events

Specials

CEDIA EXPO
CE Pro 100
CE Pro Summit
Awards Programs

Company Info

About
Contact Us
Customer Service
Media Solutions & Advertising

Subscribe

Magazine
Newsletters
Digital Edition

Connect

Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
YouTube
RSS Feed

Categories

AUDIO/VIDEO
AV Accessories
AV Racks
Amplifiers/Receivers
Cabling
Displays
Furniture
Mounts/Lifts
Multiroom AV
Projector Screens
Speakers/Subwoofers
Wireless AV
CONTROL
Central Vac
Energy/Power
Interfaces/Devices
HVAC/IAQ
Lighting
Motorized Shades
Whole-House Systems
NETWORKING
Cellular
Devices/Equipment
Wireless
Wiring/Installation
SECURITY
Access Control
Alarms/Sensors
Services/Platforms
Surveillance Cameras
BUSINESS SUPPORT
Associations/Buying Groups
Distributors/Reps
Operations
Recurring Revenue
Research
Sales/Marketing
Software/Services
Tools/Testers
MARKETS
Builders
Commercial
Design
Europe
Outdoors
Wellness
FOLLOW US ON
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow

© 2023 Emerald X, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

  • ABOUT
  • CAREERS
  • TERMS OF USE
  • PRIVACY POLICY

McIntosh Labs

McIntosh Labs