Aug 14, 2018
Advantages of Preventative Maintenance
Manufacturing companies that add maintenance recommendations for audio visual equipment add it for so many reasons that are good. Though preventive maintenance does have its productivity and financial costs, more often than not, embracing an approach that is proactive to maintaining audio visual equipment has unique advantages. Some advantages impact your business directly while other advantages affect your business indirectly. It should, however, be known that all these advantages boost a business’s profitability level.
Unplanned Maintenance Can Derange Productivity
One of the benefits of possessing a preventative maintenance scheme for your AV systems is that you can schedule when your equipment will be checked. Scheduled maintenance of equipment will in addition to improving equipment life avoid maintenance activities that are not planned during precarious times when you need your AV system to carry out business.
Also, preventative maintenance also decreases the chance of emergency repair calls that can heavily impact the productivity of your business.
A System That Is Unreliable Can Make You Lose Customers
If an element of your AV system ceases to work while it is being utilized by a customer or while helping a current or prospective customer, you can incur costs that are hard to document and these costs are in most cases more severe than the cost of fixing your system. For instance, imagine the set back you would encounter if you were trying to seal a lucrative deal with an important customer and it happens that your AV system went off while on a video conference with the customer and the AV system could not be restored immediately. You will not only miss an opportunity to convince the customer that the services you offer are top notch but encounter the risk of not earning the customer and other prospects trust as regards your business’s reputation. This is an unquantifiable risk you should endeavor not to encounter in your quest to maximize profit and create a good impression on all existing and prospective customers. Preventative maintenance is a cost-effective means of meeting your customer service aims and building your company’s public image.
Read more about VSSi Solutitions here.
Preventative Maintenance Makes Systems Work Better
AV systems are made to function in an unquestionable way that must be maintained. Updating hardware and software is an essential aspect of preventive maintenance. This update is a fundamental part of keeping AV systems functioning the way they were made to work. This also makes it possible for the equipment to operate at higher capacities, thereby allowing you to benefit most from your investment. At VSSi, our preventative maintenance program will protect assets, keep systems functioning in optimum condition and help guarantee that extreme life expectancy is attained.
Maintenance Services for Your AV Business Needs
If you need maintenance services for your audio visual business, Visual System Solutions and Integration is your best bet. Visual System Solutions & Integration (VSSi) provides ongoing support through PROactive Maintenance Service Contract for your business needs to ensure your technical equipment performs at the optimum operational level. VSSi implements its professional support for audio visual and unified communication systems. The contract of VSSi allows to maintain the equipment at the top level of performance and guarantees the resolution of any technical issues that might emerge anytime in the future. The company’s highly-trained and knowledgeable technicians inspect your AV system and look for any AV problems that may arise.
Furthermore, VSSi ensures that technology works at optimum performance and will not create any problems in the future. At VSSi, a wide spectrum of AV services which avoids any technical interruptions at an opportune moment is offered.
Audio visual maintenance services offered by VSSi include preventative AV maintenance service, replacement of interconnects, system orientation training, software and firmware updates, audio and video systems, calibration and troubleshooting, management of equipment, upgrades, technical support, customized service agreements and 24/7 service support.
You maybe interested to read our other blog post Boosting Business Productivity with Huddle Spaces
Aug 10, 2018
We are becoming more informal society- and a tech culture is a big reason why. While some aspects of this are lamentable, it has been an undeniable boon for the world of business: it equates to better productivity.
Perhaps, no concept better illustrates this transformation than the proliferation of huddle room. Rather than the age-old concept of employees pitching ideas around a boardroom table in a hierarchal, structured meeting, companies are seeking the benefits in facilitating off-the-cut collaboration-making the most of the moment when inspiration strikes.
Huddle rooms make a big difference in today’s business environment. Any available space is in a high demand in the vast majority of businesses: it can be a time-consuming experience. Huddle rooms are a great solution for many companies: people walk in and out of the room without booking the room, and with their own laptops, phones, and tablets. They demand an immediate and responsive interface, starting with whatever is on their device, whether that’s FaceTime, Skype, ClickShare or any other application.
There are great solutions for huddle rooms designed by Barco, Vaddio, Yamaha, and Crestron:
- For immediacy purposes BARCO for instance, designed a Clickshare interface for people to simply connect to a display and begin sharing. Because huddle spaces can be conducted on the fly, the decision making can be much speedier, and workplace environment is more productive. It definitely eases the method of working together between multiple people and teams.
- Yamaha CS-700 video sound collaboration system is an outstanding AV solution for huddle spaces, designed as an all-in-one unit to equip huddle rooms with best in class audio, video, and screen sharing capability.
- Vaddio offers ConferenceSHOT FX. The extra-wide field of view on this fixed video conferencing camera allows everyone around the table to be clearly visible. It plugs into a USB port and works with major UCC soft clients.
- All-in-one Crestron Mercury Tabletop Conferencing System. It supports any collaboration application: Spark, Cisco, GoToMeeting, WebEx, Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts, Zoom and etc. Just plug USB to your laptop and get full room experience. Mercury allows people to collaborate regardless of their location and conference application.
These solutions are great for small groups for impromptu collaboration on projects, they drive more focused work by providing flexible, ease-to-use and relatively low-cost environments that enable the free exchange of ideas, images, and data. We call a huddle room as the future of collaboration, and VSSi enables you to take advantage of them right now.
VSSi provides individually customized Huddle Room Audio visual solutions offering innovative technologies. We value great performance and simplicity. Contact us today to learn more about Huddle Space AV Solutions for your business.
To learn more about Video Conferencing Solutions, click here.
Aug 6, 2018
Wireless Presentation Solutions
With a few clicks, wireless presentation solutions allow you and up to three other colleagues can present Audio Visual materials without dealing with cord connections, cumbersome wires, and the need to be directly in proximity.
There are many options on the market, but they don’t all offer the same capabilities. In this post, we’ll review Crestron Airmedia and Barco Clickshare, two well-known and reputable manufacturers. Both Crestron and Barco produce highly functional wireless presentation solutions.
Each company also offers a 3-year warranty and their products work well on WiFi or corporate networks; both are well-suited for enterprise clients with large meeting rooms or who need remote access and presentations.
However, there are some differences between the two products which can make a difference depending on your specific needs.
Here’s an overview of considerations for each option:
1. Crestron Airmedia
Crestron Airmedia was one of the first players in the wireless presentation arena, and continues to develop innovative and user-friendly products. This device connects via wifi to most smart devices, including iPods, iPhones and Androids, and Windows or Mac laptops and desktops.
Crestron Airmedia’s selling feature is that no dongle or USB connection is required; that means no wires at all are necessary. It supports four users with a “quad screen” and allows up to 40 people to remotely view presentations.
It offers functional integration for larger systems and a customizable welcome screen. AirMedia it uses existing LAN and leverages standard network security protocols. Because it introduces no new wireless networks, it has a security advantage over some other wireless presentation options.
2. Barco Clickshare
Barco Clickshare comes in several different models designed for different sized rooms. It supports a large 4K screen for HD quality visuals, and can support touchscreens.
It does require a USB button, instead of being totally wire-free, but this can sometimes be an advantage, as it requires no software and can therefore be easier to set up and use without the need for any training.
Barco Clickshare was designed as an enterprise product; the developers include a number of security features. It’s possible to add a conference monitor, and includes the option to transmit information completely off network. Most models are slightly less expensive than the Crestron Options.
Bottom Line
In short, Crestron Airmedia supports more types of devices supported, includes more robust options for remote viewing, and doesn’t require a USB connection.
Barco Clickshare is typically a more affordable option, offers an off-network functionality for increased security, and offers resolution adjustability and HD visuals.
Both options provide a high-quality, professional remote presentation service AV system that work beautifully in the majority of corporate settings.
VSSi is a design-build Audio Visual solution company which provides individually customized professional and corporate AV technologies. For more information about the best product for you, or to schedule a consultation regarding wireless presentation systems or any other audio visual needs, get in touch here.
Jul 24, 2018
audio visual technology
Every time we invest in a new technology, we never know how long your investment will last. Purchasing the latest version and most expensive does not mean that in a few years it will not be outdated and will not require a certain upgrade. It does not matter how much the audio visual technology upgrade costs, no one is interested in investing certain amount of money every three or five years. To avoid falling into the trap of spending on the system all the time, you need to find audio visual technology solutions that will meet not only your current needs, but also future ones, especially when there is a budget.
What steps should you take to make a good AV technology investment with spending less:
Always Look to the Future: If your company is under the budget and cannot allow all audio visual technology solutions integrated or upgraded all at once. Make sure the equipment that you install will be friendly and will not require a certain customization to perform upgrade or add any other technologies in the future.
Choose Cloud-Based Collaboration Technologies: Select AV systems that support any cloud-based collaboration platform (GoToMeeting, Skype for Business, WebEx, BlueJeans) that your company uses. It would be the right and the safest investment.
Wander Around and Get Multiple Quotes from the Audio Visual Companies: There are a lot of audio visual technology company and you can get ton of companies with better and lower prices. Request three different quotes from different companies: this will give you an option to choose within your budget.
Choose the System that Easier to Support: Some of the AV systems are very expensive to maintain. To avoid unexpected significant expenses, select the systems that are easier to accommodate.
Consider Preventative Maintenance for Your New Investment: Having preventative maintenance of your system is not less important. This will help you to avoid mishaps that could lost revenue opportunities and make a negative impact on the way your organization operates especially in meetings.
Looking for an AV upgrade, but do not know what will be the best audio visual solution for your investment? To request a free consultation, click here.
Jul 16, 2018
Audio Visual over IP (or AV/IP) is a method of transmitting audio and video data over a network such as the Internet. This is the same technology that enables “streaming” video services like Netflix and YouTube.
How does it work?
In traditional AV framework, each function per device had to be connected through a dedicated cable.
For example, you used to need at least three cables if you wanted to control a display and also connect it to audio and visual signals. Technicians used time-consuming and expensive fittings to patch together all of these sources, and the number of switches possible was functionally limited.
VA over IP solutions instead connect all devices using a single Ethernet cable. That single cable powers devices, controls them, and transmits audio and visual signals all in one.
Why is this important?
AV over IP offers a number of benefits over traditional AV systems, including:
1. Cost effectiveness & Scalability
IP-based solutions reduce the number of cables required, producing both equipment and labor cost savings.
They are also easily scalable. The number of inputs and outputs in an Audio Visual over IP system is limited by bandwidth, not hardware. As your organization’s AV needs change over time, you can keep adding sources and destinations without totally redoing the main infrastructure.
2. Reach
AV over IP is no longer confined to a single room – decoders can be controlled to stream displays from any encoder, wherever they are, depending on the network configuration.
Where traditional AV is limited by distance (it’s costly to wire any distances over a few meters), AV over IP is transmitted over a single fiber optic cable, which can inexpensively cover great distances.
3. Security
As Audio Visual over IP technology improves, so do the encryption technologies which keep entire AV systems secure and encrypted. Many products provide completely encrypted video streams, ensuring that even if a video stream can be intercepted, a hacker could not decode it and view it.
4. Quality
Because Ethernet cables carry higher amounts of data than traditional wires, AV over IP solutions bring the added benefit of higher quality video and reduced lag, or latency. Audio Visual over IP products scale conveniently and inexpensively and often offer higher quality AV solutions.
Is an AV/IP Solution Right for My Business?
AV/IP has dramatically expanded the options available for AV technicians over the past decade. Though it’s a great solution for many enterprises, there are still considerations to remember when comparing options.
One is bandwidth – when comparing solutions, it’s important to keep IT concerns like the bandwidth available in mind.
Another is interoperability – different vendors provide varying levels of compatibility. Encoders and decoders from one manufacturer might or might not work with hardware and software from another provider.
Vendors also vary widely in terms of picture quality, bandwidth requirements, and cost.
Finally, audio visual solutions are very flexible, so it’s important to design a solution which will work well with your existing infrastructure and meet your needs. However, we’ve found that transitioning to AV over IP equipment makes a great deal of economic and practical sense for many businesses.
If you’d like to speak more with us about how we can design a solution tailored to your organization’s needs, get in touch here.
To learn more about VSSi solutions, click here.
