AV Room Support
Remote room management systems are gaining wide acceptance among technology managers.
68.04 % of respondents use remote AV management systems.
MORE THAN TWO-THIRDS of technology managers have implemented remote room management systems, according to the 98 technology managers who responded to a recent online survey conducted by Pro AV and InfoComm International. But are they actually using them? Maybe not. According to the survey, the majority of onsite AV problems (70 percent) are still being reported to a centralized helpdesk or hotline.
For large university campuses and corporate office parks, remote control monitoring of multiple AV systems can provide significant benefits. But deployment of these systems often places extra demands on a customer’s IT infrastructure, which can be another hurdle to overcome before remote management becomes ubiquitous. There’s also the IT/AV culture clash to contend with — although that may be resolving itself, as more than half (51 percent) of survey respondents currently report to an IT-linked department. (Only 30 percent report to the “AV” department.)
As more AV presentation and communication technology is deployed in large facilities, and end-users become more accustomed to using it, room management systems will become the only cost-effective way to manage systems that are physically located great distances from a central support location.
The following results are based on an online survey conducted by InfoComm International in October 2006. Surveys were emailed to InfoComm members who identify themselves as “technology managers,” end-users who are directly involved with the daily operation and usage of AV and IT systems. Seventy-six percent of respondents work in higher education, followed by corporate (11 percent), government (5 percent), K-12 education (2 percent) and other vertical markets (6 percent).
