If you’re asking this question, you’re probably evaluating your options for an AV project. Chances are, you’re looking at two options:
On the one hand, you have a big national or international AV firm – a company that doesn’t have a dedicated presence near you, but that does promise the capability to serve anywhere thanks to their extensive resources. If you’re a large company yourself, you might find this type of AV company appealing.
On the other hand, you have local AV companies that specifically serve your area. They may not have national-scale resources, but they’re close to where the work is actually going to happen.
Here’s why we think you should probably choose the local AV company, even if you’re filling project needs for an enterprise corporation.
This isn’t really a necessity, but it’s potentially helpful. If you choose an AV company near you, you may have the chance to physically review their case studies.
For instance, at High Country, we’ve done work for Boulder Recreation Centers, Urban Putt in Denver, and Hilton Denver Inverness (to name a few projects). If you’re in the Denver area, you can easily review the work we’ve done.
If you’re hiring a national company without a local presence, you’ll likely just need to take their word on the quality of their work.
You may be fine doing that. But for some people, seeing case studies in real life –and having familiarity with the projects a company has done can be helpful.
This factor has a significant impact on the actual AV installation process. The logic is pretty simple: AV companies near you are closer to the work being done and, consequently, can communicate more responsively and more proactively.
Let’s say, for example, that in the course of an AV installation project a piece of equipment is damaged during shipping and needs to be replaced. As a result, the project timeline is set back.
A local company could communicate this to you as soon as it happened. They might even let you know face-to-face.
A non-local company would almost certainly have additional bureaucracy built around the process. There would be more layers of communication (including with third-party contractors) that could add an extra day to the project timeline or cause work to be scheduled on a day that it shouldn’t be.
The bottom line is that AV projects can be complex, and schedules can be difficult to communicate. The shorter the chain of communication is, the more smoothly a project is likely to go.
Working with non-local providers creates longer communication chains; working with local providers creates shorter ones.
This final point is related to the previous one. When you choose a local AV company, you’re choosing to work directly with a provider who will perform work in-house, rather than outsourcing critical work to a third-party contractor.
As we’ve just covered, this has an impact in how communication flows. It also impacts quality assurance processes and project costs.
Quality assurance takes more work when companies use third-party contractors. This isn’t to suggest that third-party contractors don’t provide quality installation work – it just means that an additional process is needed to ensure quality.
Third-party contractors usually represent additional project costs because, as previous examples have illustrated, there’s more management involved.
Again – non-local AV companies employing third-party contractors can deliver high quality AV work. But the process of delivering good work is much simpler when everything is in-house.
That’s a big reason why local AV companies are appealing.
Finding the right AV partner is important. Hopefully, the information presented here is helpful as you look for a good fit. (For more details on what to look for in an AV company – aside from locality – read this article.
And, if you’re looking for a commercial AV solution near you in the Denver area, we can help.
At High Country, we’ve been serving the AV needs of Denver organizations for over 15 years. Our service portfolio includes Boulder Rec Centers, the City of Denver, Alteryx (an NYSE-listed software company), MSU of Denver, and Jefferson County Public Schools, among many other clients – meaning you can verify our work in person at organizations you’re familiar with.
Finally, we only perform installation in-house – we don’t use third-party contractors, meaning our installation process is as seamless as possible.
From design, to installation and integration, to maintenance and support, we can help you to bring your AV vision to life.