The Most Important AV Technology Is the Technology You Never See
Why the next chapter of workplace technology is being written behind the scenes
I was recently involved in a conversation with senior executives from a global technology manufacturer about developments in the AV industry, and something struck me.
We were discussing technology that could make a significant difference to the way organisations deploy, secure and manage their audiovisual systems. There was genuine enthusiasm around the potential benefits, particularly for IT departments responsible for increasingly complex technology environments.
Yet almost none of what we were discussing would be especially exciting to the person actually using the equipment.
This was what made my recent conversation about Microsoft's Device Ecosystem Platform (MDEP) particularly interesting. MDEP is an Android-based platform developed by Microsoft to provide manufacturers with a common foundation for building connected enterprise devices.
There was no revolutionary new display technology, no spectacular camera feature and no clever interface that would fundamentally change the way somebody started a meeting or interacted with a screen.
The conversation was largely about what happens behind the scenes.
And I found that rather interesting.
For much of my time in the AV industry, technological progress has been measured by improvements people can see or hear. Displays became larger, brighter and sharper. Audio became clearer. Cameras became more intelligent. Collaboration systems became easier to use, and digital signage evolved from relatively simple displays into sophisticated communication platforms.
These developments have transformed what organisations can achieve with audiovisual technology, and innovation in those areas certainly isn't finished.
But I wonder whether we're now entering another phase of the industry's development, one where some of the most important improvements will be almost entirely invisible to the people using the technology.
Not because those improvements are insignificant.
Quite the opposite.
Because as AV becomes more deeply embedded within everyday business operations, the technology supporting the experience is becoming just as important as the experience itself.
AV is becoming part of the wider IT environment
The relationship between AV and IT has been changing for years, but I think we're reaching a point where the distinction between them is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.
A modern meeting room is no longer simply a collection of cameras, microphones, displays and control devices connected together to provide a particular function. It is part of a wider digital environment, dependent on network connectivity, software platforms, cloud services and security policies that extend far beyond the room itself.
The same is increasingly true of digital signage, interactive displays and other connected workplace technologies.
A screen in a reception area may appear to be a relatively straightforward communication device, but the content it displays could originate from cloud-based systems, be managed remotely and depend on integrations with information held elsewhere in the organisation. An interactive display in a learning environment may be subject to the same security expectations as other networked devices. Technology used to communicate operational information across a warehouse or manufacturing facility may form part of a much larger connected business infrastructure.
To the person using these systems, the technology still performs a recognisable function. A meeting starts, information appears or somebody interacts with a display.
But behind that experience, the demands placed on the technology have changed considerably.
IT departments are understandably interested in matters that rarely feature prominently in an AV sales presentation. They need confidence that devices can be securely connected to corporate networks, that software and firmware can be managed appropriately and that the organisation has visibility of the technology operating across its estate.
These aren't particularly glamorous requirements, but they are fundamental to running modern business technology.
And as AV becomes more connected, they are becoming fundamental to our industry too.
This is an important change in perspective because AV has traditionally been evaluated primarily through the quality of the experience it delivers. That remains essential, but it is no longer sufficient on its own.
A beautifully designed collaboration space that creates unnecessary security or management complexity for the customer's IT department is not necessarily a successful solution. Equally, an impressive digital signage deployment becomes considerably less attractive if maintaining hundreds of connected endpoints creates an administrative burden that the organisation hadn't anticipated.
The technology may be excellent at performing its intended function while still being difficult to operate as part of a wider business environment.
Perhaps the next stage of AV maturity is recognising that these two things can no longer be considered separately.
The interesting innovation is happening underneath the experience
This was what made my recent conversation about Microsoft's Device Ecosystem Platform, or MDEP, particularly interesting.
MDEP is an Android-based platform developed by Microsoft to provide manufacturers with a common foundation for building connected enterprise devices. Rather than focusing primarily on the visible features of an individual product, it addresses some of the underlying requirements around security, management, identity and long-term platform consistency.
Microsoft has been extending its ambitions for MDEP beyond collaboration devices into areas including digital signage and other connected enterprise technologies.
For an organisation already using Microsoft's enterprise management environment, the potential attraction is understandable. Greater consistency in how devices are secured and managed could make AV technology easier to incorporate into the wider IT estate, while giving manufacturers a more common foundation on which to develop their own products.
Of course, the practical benefits will depend on the devices being deployed, the capabilities manufacturers implement and the organisation's existing infrastructure. A common platform doesn't automatically make every product interchangeable or remove the need for proper system design.
But that isn't really the point.
What interests me is what MDEP represents.
Here is a technology development that may have relatively little impact on the visible experience of using a particular AV product, yet could be extremely important to the people responsible for deploying and managing that product across an organisation.
And perhaps that's a sign of how the market is maturing.
For years, manufacturers have competed to make their products more capable and appealing to the people using them. Increasingly, they also need to demonstrate that those products can exist comfortably within the enterprise technology environment surrounding them.
The user experience and the IT experience are becoming two sides of the same investment decision.
This doesn't mean every organisation should adopt MDEP, or that it automatically represents a better choice than other platforms. Windows-based solutions, existing Android ecosystems and specialist proprietary technologies all have roles to play, depending on the requirements.
Nor does it mean that the AV industry should simply become an extension of Microsoft.
The wider point is that Microsoft has recognised a growing requirement for enterprise-grade management and security across connected device categories that have historically been managed in different ways.
That is a significant development, regardless of which particular platform an organisation ultimately chooses.
And it is one that AV integrators need to understand.
The invisible experience matters too
There is something slightly contradictory about this shift.
At Collab AV, we've consistently argued that workplace technology should be designed around people rather than products. We've talked about the importance of making technology intuitive, removing unnecessary complexity and creating environments where people can concentrate on what they're trying to achieve.
None of that changes.
In fact, I think this development reinforces those principles.
Because the best experience for the person using a meeting room or interacting with workplace technology is often one where they don't need to think about the technology at all.
They expect it to work.
The more connected and capable workplace technology becomes, the more important it is that somebody can manage that complexity without passing it on to the user.
There is a parallel here with the way organisations already think about their wider IT infrastructure.
Employees generally don't need to understand how their laptop is secured, how software updates are distributed or how their identity is managed across corporate applications. Those capabilities matter enormously, but the employee should ideally experience the benefits without having to understand the mechanisms.
Increasingly, AV technology is moving towards the same expectation.
And this has implications beyond the technology itself.
It changes the conversations that need to happen before a project begins.
A customer considering a new collaboration environment may understandably start by discussing room size, user requirements and the features they want. Those remain sensible starting points, but the eventual solution also needs to make sense within the organisation's wider technology strategy.
The same principle applies when designing a digital signage network or introducing connected displays across multiple locations. The quality of the content and the effectiveness of the experience remain central, but the ability to manage those devices securely and consistently becomes increasingly important as the deployment grows.
This is why the relationship between AV specialists and internal IT teams needs to become more collaborative rather than more competitive.
Neither discipline has all the answers on its own.
IT brings essential knowledge of enterprise infrastructure, security, identity and governance. AV specialists bring expertise in how audiovisual systems perform in physical environments and how those systems should be designed around the people using them.
The most successful projects are likely to be those where these perspectives come together early enough to influence the design, rather than being reconciled after the equipment has already been selected.
We've previously explored the relationship between AV integrators and internal IT teams, and I think the importance of that relationship is only increasing as connected AV technology becomes more sophisticated.
The opportunity isn't for one discipline to take over the other.
It's to recognise that the customer increasingly needs both.
A more mature definition of AV integration
I think this is where the role of an AV integrator becomes particularly interesting.
Historically, integration has been understood largely in terms of making different technologies work together. That remains a fundamental part of what we do, and good engineering will always matter.
But the definition of successful integration is expanding.
A system now needs to work not only within the physical environment where it is installed, but also within the wider digital environment of the organisation using it.
That requires an understanding of the customer's IT infrastructure and the way technology is governed, supported and maintained. It also requires a willingness to think beyond the initial installation and consider what happens as the organisation grows, requirements change and software platforms evolve.
This isn't simply about adding another set of technical questions to the specification.
It is about recognising that workplace technology has become a more important part of business infrastructure.
As organisations rely increasingly on connected AV systems for communication, collaboration and operational information, the consequences of poor management become more significant. A failure in one meeting room may be inconvenient. Problems affecting a large network of connected devices can have much wider implications.
That doesn't mean every AV installation needs enterprise-scale complexity. A small business with a handful of meeting spaces has very different requirements from a multinational organisation managing technology across hundreds of locations.
But both deserve solutions that are appropriate to their environments, manageable over time and designed with a clear understanding of how the technology will be supported.
This is also why we shouldn't assume that greater technical sophistication automatically creates greater value.
Sometimes the right answer will be a highly integrated enterprise platform. Sometimes a simpler approach will be entirely appropriate. The important thing is understanding the customer's requirements well enough to make that distinction.
At Collab AV, we see this as a natural extension of our people-first approach.
Designing technology around people doesn't mean concentrating exclusively on the person standing in front of the display or sitting at the meeting-room table.
It also means considering the IT team responsible for maintaining the environment, the people supporting it and the organisation making the investment.
Those people may never appear in the room during a normal meeting, but their requirements are no less important to the long-term success of the technology.
Our role is to bring those perspectives together, combining practical AV design and integration with an understanding of the wider business and technology environment.
Developments such as MDEP reinforce why staying close to manufacturers, Microsoft and the wider technology ecosystem matters. They help us understand not only which new products are becoming available, but how the expectations placed on those products are changing.
Because customers increasingly need more than equipment that performs well.
They need technology that fits into the way their business operates.
And that is a much more interesting challenge.
Perhaps the biggest advances won't be the most obvious
I don't imagine the AV industry will ever stop getting excited about new products.
There will always be another extraordinary display, a more intelligent camera or a new capability that makes us wonder how we managed without it.
And I hope that continues. Innovation is one of the things that makes this industry so interesting.
But perhaps we need to broaden our understanding of what meaningful innovation looks like.
The next important development in workplace AV might not be something that makes a screen look better or a meeting feel noticeably different.
It might be something that makes the technology easier to secure, simpler to manage and more reliable across an entire organisation.
It might be a common platform that reduces complexity for manufacturers and IT teams. Or a change in the way connected devices are supported that makes their long-term operation more predictable.
The people using the technology may never know those improvements exist.
And perhaps that's exactly how it should be.
Because when workplace technology is properly designed, integrated and managed, the complexity should increasingly disappear behind the experience.
For the employee, the meeting starts without difficulty. The information they need is available when they need it. The technology simply supports whatever they're trying to achieve.
For the organisation, the same environment is secure, manageable and capable of evolving alongside its wider technology infrastructure.
Both experiences matter.
And perhaps the maturity of our industry will increasingly be measured by how well we deliver them together.
Because sometimes the most important technology isn't the technology people notice.
It's the technology that makes everything else work.
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