Integrator AVMI was involved in two of the big InstallAwards wins last year. It won the Best Corporate/Industrial Project Award for its work with the Ministry of Justice, but “the big one for us”, according to marketing manager Alex Couzins, was the Integrator’s Choice: In-House Team of the Year Award, which was won by HSBC following AVMI’s nomination.
This came from “working with the guys at HSBC on a global project that had been in development for four years and is still ongoing,” explains Couzins. “To recognise their achievements and ongoing efforts and hard work really paid off. The news was circulated internally across their network and it really helped us as the integrator to strengthen that relationship. A lot of good things have come from that.”
The HSBC project is “essentially proof of concept” of a new AVMI service called Streamline, explains Couzins. Since its soft launch, “we’ve branched out and selectively targeted key accounts and key prospects and won several new clients off the back of that – including blue-chip companies”.
AVMI has also developed the Streamline management portal – “a very substantial piece of software, and a key element of Streamline projects”. Marketing the platform, including giving demos at industry events such as the AV User Group, has “started filling the order book,” he says.
The Streamline team, originally small, has grown to more than 15 people. “I would class it not just as a service but as a division – a business within a business, if you like. The InstallAward was a validator, right from the start – it showed that we were on to something, and it made the client more receptive to talking about the project, so it’s been very positive since then.”
Turning to the Best Corporate/Industrial Award-winning project: this was for AVMI’s work rolling out digital technology across what has since become a total of 800 courtrooms. “It was all about moving to a digital, paperless courtroom where trials are run off iPads.”
He adds that the project involved other innovations that weren’t submitted for consideration in the InstallAwards due to space limitations on the entry form. These include OBWAN, which he describes as “like a wireless broadcasting system on steroids”: deployable anywhere, it can provide live video links and also provide ad-hoc WiFi connectivity. “It’s been really useful for some large court cases.”
The award has helped AVMI to promote its work within the government and public services sector, while drawing attention to its other innovations. “I’ve been approached in the past couple of months by several event organisers in the area of government technology who have seen that we’ve been recognised for the project in that space and felt that we would be a good match.”
To those contemplating entering the InstallAwards, he says: “Go for it – absolutely! I like the fact that it forces you to boil down your ideas into a succinct form. It’s a good opportunity to engage with your clients, especially the Integrator’s Choice Award. Clients and their internal teams like to see that they are being recognised by their suppliers; there’s no work involved from them and it’s good for the relationship.”
Entries for the InstallAwards 2017 close at midnight on Tuesday 28 March. Details and online entry forms are at www.installawards.com.
