http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/507060a3?page=22#/507060a3/22
In
a sophisticated, competitive and small market like the Benelux
knowledge of local custom can make all the difference.
The
political union that unites the Benelux makes it a big player in the
European market in spite of its relatively small geographical size.
Rotterdam and Antwerp make it the
gateway
to northern Europe and the strong economic hinterland of Germany and
France.
Belgium
is home to several international corporate headquarters, as well as
the European Commission and NATO – both generating AV opportunities
in the business segment. In addition – and surely linked to this
international presence – kit rental companies like AED, Phlippo
(both Belgian HQ'd), Ampco Flashlight, Rent-all Group (Netherlands
HQ'd) and EML Productions (with a foot in both) have a pan-European
reach. To make things even more interesting, Amsterdam is host to two
of the industry’s biggest exhibitions - ISE and IBC.
While
the markets in either country are broadly similar, ignore cultural
differences at your cost. “Many people make the mistake of thinking
they can manage Benelux from the Netherlands,” says Filip Cogghe of
NEC Display Solutions. “If a company bases an HQ in Holland there's
a huge problem selling in Belgium because few people in the
Netherlands speak French.”
When
it comes to operating in the region, language can be the difference
between success - and genuine repeat business success. “Nevertheless,
we understand each other very well and there are more things that are
aligned than real differences,” says Wouter Dierinck, business unit
manager for TD Maverick.
With
a high fluency in English it is possible to serve the region from a
centralized headquarters. Han Dohmen, sales manager, L-Acoustics says
“customers prefer to work with a company that has a local presence,
with partners who know their business well, and are able to support
the client in the local language. This is especially true in
Wallonie.”
Steven
Kemland, manager at FACE (a local Powersoft distributor) reports that
when pro-audio brands have tried to service Belgium from a general HQ
in Europe, it didn't work out. “Big brands which don’t have a
good distribution channel in a country like Belgium won’t have any
market share at all.”
Players
in the Benelux might look across the border now and then for better
pricing, but according to Erwin Gyssels, business unit manager at
Sanel (Vivitek’s Belgian distributor), they are aware they'll never
get the same kind of support they would get if they used a local
supplier.
“Most
French, German or UK-based suppliers that are successful in the
Benelux are so because their products are not properly offered by a
local player, leaving the Benelux customer with no alternative,” he
says.
Broadly
speaking, the Netherlands' market is installation-orientated whereas
the rental market is stronger in Belgium, suggests Jan Breel, CEO,
Avtrade (a Dataton partner based in Netherlands).
Belgium
packs 11 million people into 30,528 sq km, has five state
governments, two main languages (French and Flemish Dutch, which is
different to Dutch spoken in the Netherlands), several more dialects,
and a unifying capital city (Brussels).
“You
need to know the dynamics of the market,” urges Cogghe. Luxembourg,
200km from Brussels has opportunities in finance but few local SI's
and business tends to be done between Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent.
“The Netherlands has several resellers with 25-100 employees but
Belgium will have dozens of (often in-house) AV companies with no
more than 10 people managing a project,” he notes.
Consequently,
even larger corporations buy from smaller AV outfits in Belgium
making personal relationships vital. “The step between a
manufacturer and the end user is much smaller in Belgium than most
other countries,” says Kemland. “A distributor is, in many, cases
distributor, dealer and integrator in one.”
The
north of Holland is more conservative than the south but the entire
country is more relaxed than its western neighbour. “If I visit a
customer in Belgium I will wear a suit. If I wear the same to a
meeting in the Netherlands even without a tie they will ask me if my
grandmother just died,” jokes Cogghe to make the point.
The
Netherlands tends to be much more adaptive, more experimental with a
“'lets try and see how it goes' mentality,” suggests Dierinck.
“When it comes to new technologies and systems in Belgium there's a
cultural attitude to prove that it makes sense from a business
perspective. That said, Belgium also tends to be more brand loyal
culturally, with distributors and partners going for things that they
really know fits them well.”
Benelux's
size compared to the UK or Germany often puts it in the position of a
pilot market for new technologies. Examples include SMART Kapp and
Barco ClickShare. “As the economy is smaller, it offers less
potential risk and great testing opportunities,” says Dierinck.
“Perhaps the reason why the Netherlands likes to try new technology
first.”
Polycom
reports more ‘as a service’ buys in the Benelux than in other
European countries “as customers look to upscale existing voice and
video solutions to complete unified communications and collaboration
deployments,” explains regional sales manager David Van Dem Berg.
“The market is very focused on selling solutions to solve business
problems, rather than traditional product-focused selling. Generally,
clients in the Benelux require a deeper understanding of the value AV
adds to their business overall, to help justify their investments.”
Belgium
resembles the French market “probably because we share a common
culture,” observes Gwenaelle Villette, business development
manager, France & Benelux for Peerless-AV. “The Dutch market is
a bit of a late starter compared to its European neighbours [UK and
Germany] but is now revealing real dynamism and potential. It appears
to be much more opportunistic [than Belgium] and business can be done
very quickly.”
Social
legislation also creates differences. “Belgian institutions and
companies use their own staff more for taking care of AV facilities,
while in Holland, companies and organisations tend to go for
outsourcing,” informs Gyssels.
Area
Hot Spots
Netflix
and Uber have established their European HQ in Amsterdam; Delft is
considered the hotbed of youth innovation housing the country’s
largest tech university; and Eindhoven is declared by Forbes
(http://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/) to be “hands-down the most
inventive city in the world.” According to data compiled by the
Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, Eindhoven
produces 22.6 patents per 100,000 residents. San Diego, the next
closest, produces 8.9.
Tech
companies in Belgium are concentrated around Leuven due to the
proximity of Ghent university and companies such as IMEC. Wallonia is
still suffering from the reconversion of old and heavy industry,
reports Gyssels but slowly things are improving with investment
projects (by GSK and others) in area’s such as Brabant Wallon.
“There
is a very active corridor between Brussels and Antwerp in the Belgian
market, whereas the business is more evenly spread out in Holland,”
says Dohmen. “Most of the business (in the Netherlands) is
generated in cities like Breda and Eindhoven in the south and
Amsterdam and Amersfoort in the north.”
Dierinck
earmarks the south of Belgium, (Brussels, and Luxembourg) as “the
moment to invest” and capitalise on “a great appetite to develop
and deploy new technologies across a variety of industries - in
particular education is doing well as a growth area.”
The
European Schoolnet, based in Brussels, aims is to link over 29,000
schools to collaborate together. The Future Classroom laboratory,
sponsored by Polycom, uses video collaboration solutions to help
teachers embrace technology and explore new ways in which it can help
education. Another part of the project is the Schoolnet E-twinning.
This initiative allows any EU school to work with another school
within the EU to share knowledge, experiences or to work on projects
together. The platform is built in a way that allows schools to
communicate via video with Polycom's user interface.
Verticals
Corporate
AV is the bread and butter of the Benelux, but there has been some
substantial investment in cultural venues, such as the Continum
Discovery Centre in Kerkrade and the National Military Museum in
Soesterberg, notes Avtrade's Breel.
When
it comes to AV specialisms, notes Daniel Kerkhof, Creston's regional
sales manager, notes a strong movement towards LEED and BREAAM
certified buildings, “which need advanced technical systems to be
able to reach up to the highest levels of certifications.”
In
Belgium, Creston identifies potential in renewing football stadiums,
“which are mostly relatively old-fashioned.” Each small town in
Holland and Belgium contains a local theatre, sports venue and clubs
all of which need some kind of AV equipment. “This offers a lot of
opportunity per square kilometre,” says L-Acoustics' Dohmen. “Many
of the projects – both new and renew – in Belgium have some
portion of government funding which can have a serious impact on the
duration of the project. Projects can take several years before funds
are liberated, and this is part of the reason why building good
relationships is so important to this market. It takes more time to
really get a foothold here.”
According
to Van Dem Berg, the Benelux has seen a big move away from the
traditional office and into the workplace of the future. “New Dutch
Legislation on flexible working has been recently agreed. This will
see the number of remote workers increase drastically as anyone that
has been on the job for more than six months can now request to work
flexibly. The demand for desktop and mobile video collaboration
solutions to support this will be huge.”
The
Benelux is prominent in EDM (Electronic Dance Music) with many of the
world’s top DJs (such as Armin van Buuren) coming from the region
and some of the world’s highest profile EDM festivals are here
(such as Tomorrowland near Antwerp). This offers lots of business
potential to companies active in this segment when exporting EDM
concepts.
Benelux
has an 8% share of the digital signage and DOOH market in Europe with
a progression of 20% (one of the fastest growing in Europe -
*http://www.clubdigitalmedia.fr/SiteAssets/lindex-marché/Full%20report%202015%2003.pdf).
Nonetheless,
“the region is 3-4 years behind developments in the UK market,”
says Cogghe. “The quantities sold to corporate customers and a
booming market for public displays is something we can only dream of.
Government investment in AV for publics services like health and
education is static at best.”
There
is still growth if you know where to look and how to pitch the
product. NEC's recent sales include units to Dutch health chain Basic
Fit. “The AV market is experiencing satisfying and stable growth
despite a volatile economic and political situation,” says
Villette. “New jobs are being created in digital signage and there
is high demand for qualified personnel.”
Local
relationships key
In
Belgium, there are cases where non-pro outfits are trying, and
sometimes failing, to manage big AV projects. “This can result in
uncertainty among the end-user community,” says Villette.
“Communication on best practice and a more professional approach to
installs is needed, which presents us with an exciting opportunity as
an AV solutions manufacturer.”
AV
experts emphasis the importance of ensuring the business case for AV
tech in verticals is strong and that there is a local connection to
launch.
“To
be successful in Benelux you will need to collaborate with a big
local player or to speak the language natively,” stresses Dierinck.
“Relationships in business are the most important things in this
region, something that is perhaps unique. There's an attitude here
that business is done by people, and invoicing is done by business.
It's a very local way of working. So to be successful, a link-up with
an existing person or contact within the region is of utmost
importance.”
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