AV Magazine
Covid shifted perception within the French market, and businesses across the country are ready to accept pro AV solutions more than ever before.
As with every other industry in every country, the pandemic has created an unprecedented situation for the pro-AV market in France. Profound consequences – organisational, financial, economic – have compounded to “create a complicated and tense market, with many projects delayed or cancelled and, for smaller integrators, financial difficulties,” says Philips PDS sales director, Fabrice Penhoat.
He says Philips is in close contact with customers to help where it can. “Some are at risk of disappearing or being absorbed, especially those operating in highly competitive and/or already fragile markets. Many are adapting their business model to maximise the allocation of their resources, to minimise the negative impact of the crisis and to prepare for the resumption of activity.”That said, since emerging from lockdown in May, the market has begun to pick up. “There’s no doubt that pro-AV has been profoundly shaken by Covid-19, but our perception is that French AV is adapting to the new challenges and requests are rapidly evolving to reflect this,” says Cecilia Wills, country manager, Matrox. “We’ve seen enterprises, higher education institutions, and other organisations adapt to remote work infrastructures. That in itself is a remarkable achievement, and these have been able to maintain a high level of productivity with the majority of live video or recording sessions at ‘good enough’ video qualities.”
Peerless-AV’s local sales director, Gwenaelle Villette reports big projects coming through and that end users are making decisions quicker. “Pre-Covid this wasn’t so much the case.”
Noting demand for its Xtreme High Bright Outdoor Displays for stadiums and for standard LCD displays in retail and corporate markets, she says: “Users have a pressing need to communicate about the new rules and regulations to staff, customers and visitors across all verticals. Installation of displays and kiosks are more urgent than ever.”
Other respondents point to high demand for solutions in public settings to control social distancing and capacity management. “The next growth market we are starting to see is within retail,” says Laure Daniel, business unit director, Maverick AV Solutions, Tech Data Group. “Stores need more digital and IoT solutions to communicate health messaging to customers inside and outside of their stores in realtime.”
While many digital signage projects were delayed, Laurent Samama, senior business development manager, INFiLED says almost no project has been cancelled – “another very positive sign for the future of the industry. Some brands are taking the opportunity to re-design or renovate their flagship stores since customers are more reluctant to physically visit stores and prefer to buy online.”
A clear boom area is home and office digital solutions. The return to the office, lecture hall and on-site environments is now driving demands to improve the remote experience.
Sales of Peerless’ flat panel trolleys for video conferencing displays are “flying”; Maverick’s corporate video conference solutions sales have been “off the charts.” Sony’s French pro-AV is trading above last year’s numbers, “which has been a real achievement as we were not expecting such a fast recovery,” says Maxime Lemoine, segment and trade marketing manager.
“More generally, because there is no clear indication of when Covid will be over, most companies are implementing IP-enabled solutions adapted to their operational needs,” says Wills. “More than ever, these solutions need to be reliable, flexible, and provide high-quality content while allowing remote access to users that have limited bandwidth.”
The likely hybrid future of work which will balance office with remote participation requires enterprise level AV infrastructure. “Businesses now need to provide technical equipment to their employees to allow them to continue to successfully work remotely, rather than rely on meeting spaces within offices,” says Daniel.
“We’ve seen a one hundred per cent growth in business this summer, mainly from smart meeting spaces. Video conferencing solutions alone have increased fifteen per cent, with a demand for higher specification systems as everyone adapts to home working.”
Smaller footprints
Companies are likely to revert to smaller physical footprints and build out ‘digital offices’. “We’ve anticipated a major transformation of company real estate into gigantic collaboration spaces for a while,” says Sébastien Mari, CEO at PSNI Global Alliance member Wipple (one of the largest integrators in France). “Covid gave a huge boost to that trend. Many companies are rethinking the way they allocate square metres to employees in favour of a significant increase in common spaces, such as meeting and brainstorming rooms. Smart building technologies will soon be a standard to support employees at work.”
The crisis has also seen a surge in installs for surveillance and control rooms. Explains Drouadaine Francois, sales and account manager, France, Benelux and Maghreb, Datapath: “It will become even more important to communicate at the digital level, through screens, digital signage and installations with multiple screens and also with the control rooms. Many control rooms are required for firefighters, police, military and surveillance.”
Likewise, Matrox observes increased activity in this area. With its technology partner, Agelec, Matrox has deployed video wall solutions for the likes of RATP L4, SNCF Lyon Part Dieu/Toulouse Station and the Ministry of National Education, during lockdown.
The French market is also following the trend of IT/AV convergence. “It’s highly possible that larger IT businesses will eventually buy out the traditional AV players,” says Penhoat. “The market for corporate AV integration focuses mainly on meeting rooms, collaborative solutions, information sharing and video conferencing. Already a large growth area in France, demand will accelerate with the current situation.”
Indeed, UC adoption has “gone through the roof” in the last six months at Crestron. “All of us are coming out of this with experience with and a growing appreciation for the tools that allow a new way of working,” says regional sales director, Alain Solomon.
Distance learning
For obvious reasons the higher education and health sector are investing heavily. Mari says Wipple transformed 35 classrooms at Lille’s IESEG Business School from local learning to hybrid learning this summer, including to reach foreign students forced to educate abroad.
“Where some enterprises are still hesitant to see how business will evolve, it is much clearer to schools (and medical) that they have to invest and focus on remote collaboration and AV over IP projects,” says Solomon.
Sony points to technologies such as its beamforming microphone, AI-powered Edge Analytics, and PTZ cameras for supporting institutions with distance learning. Sony’s Education Business Developer for Europe, Philippe Remion has completed over 120 business meetings and seminars with universities and business schools to demo Sony’s solution for hybrid learning from his home, supported by a fully installed set-up.
“French culture has strong traditional roots, and can be slow to adapt to new technologies and opportunities – which is something we’ve seen in the pro-AV market for a number of years,” says Lemoine. “However, the lockdown period and the temporary shift to remote working and learning has encouraged many people to change their opinions on interactive solutions. The education sector is an example of this.”
Promethean’s head of sales, Jean-François Slonina notes a significant increase in ActivPanel enquiries in September. “It’s being used more than ever before to enable remote learning and working,” he says. “We’re also seeing opportunities in new sectors including heavy industry and manufacturing, as the ActivPanel will not only equip businesses with the tools to work from a distance where necessary, but also support visual management strategies to improve efficiencies within the production process.”
Vendors adapt
AV vendors have had to adapt their own business to support customers. Philips, for example, introduced PeopleCount a capacity management display option on its cloud-based hotel TV remote to help reduce the spread of Covid-19. It has rerouted budgets from marketing activities to a new InSync programme to support integrators and their customers.
Explains Penhoat: “This includes the enhanced meeting room functionality we’re bringing with our new B-Line and C-Line collaborative displays. This is something we’d already identified as a growing need, but no one could have foreseen the requirement for the virtual collaborative meetings we’re all now experiencing.”
TIG has put together specific product bundles aimed at helping integrators restart their sales. “Three of the most common areas we are seeing product innovation in is remote work, hotel environments, including restaurants and workplace,” says Christophe Malsot, director of hospitality, leisure and retail EMEA. “To support our integrators in the hotel sector we have proposed solutions that provide touchless interactions.
He continues: “We’ve offered special kits and prices to our dealers who wanted to provide their employees with Crestron products to train on and to install them inside their home. This was a great success and kept them ahead on the technical field.”
Centreville
France is a very centralised country with company HQs and vendor excellence centres based in Paris. Generally speaking, 60-70 per cent of AV activity is in the capital and the North-East. The second city (Lyon) has less than half of the sales potential of Paris, says Solomon. “In the South, there is less demand for corporate solutions. There, the focus lies more on hospitality and residential solutions, including yachting technology.”
Smaller cities including Lyon, Nantes, Dijon, Bordeaux and Montpellier are investing in Smart City projects. “Many are also seeing business districts dedicated to start-ups and innovative companies utilising new technologies,” says Lemoine. “Euratechnologies in Lille is a very good example of this. This innovation hub is now one of the most recognised in Europe and demonstrative of how the tech industry is helping to rejuvenate old industrial city districts.”
France has a notably fragmented market with few truly large dealers and many average size ones. “Very few AV dealers have experience with IT systems,” notes Solomon.
“The top sixty resellers cover sixty per cent of the market, so making sure that you are well known to them is essential,” advises Daniel who maintains that the rest of the share filters down to over 4,200 regional resellers which cover the SMB market.
Matrox says it’s vital to have relationships based on trust with partners and customers – perhaps more so than in some other markets in Europe. Those who have close and long-standing partnerships have been better placed to weather the challenges, such as a lack of face-to-face meetings, brought about by the pandemic.”
“The truth is that the French are known, among other things, for being be late,” says Mari. “There is no exception for AV – which makes our country reluctant to implement digital tools to support new ways of working.”
Le jeu commencement
With the Tokyo Olympics likely to be a muted affair if it goes ahead at all next year, Paris’ host of the Games in 2024 could be dynamite in terms of audience spectacle. Work has already begun.
“At this stage, from an AV perspective, it mainly involves the monitoring and management of sites under construction,” says Francois.
AV tenders have been delayed due to the pandemic but construction on a new 8,000 seater Arena La Chapelle begins in March.
“The Games will undoubtedly bring new business to the AV market – either through refresh campaigns of main stadiums or through infrastructure projects led by the French government and main regions,” says Samama.
The public sector is a huge contributor in France for all IT/AV solutions and continues to be so even in the wake of the Covid crisis.
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