Hidden gem: ProAV in Spain

AV Magazine

Spain started the year with bullish predictions in terms of growth and recovery after a very tough 2020 but “by the end we can say that this year has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride,” says Greg Babbs, sales manager at Datapath in what is an understatement.

article here

Luis Garrido Fuentes, executive director, Alfalite calls Spanish AV in 2021 “a year of transition” and for Cesar Sanz, Iberia sales director, Philips Professional Displays (PPDS) it’s a “cocktail” mixed with stops, starts, and more stops as the new wave kicked in.

Business uncertainty was compounded by supply chain issues, leaving vendors challenged to source products for projects while absorbing price increases. These two major global challenges look set to stay for the short-term, with many predicting continued disruptions until at least April 2022.

“Logistics issues, availability of products and rising costs put the breaks on growth in the second half of 2021,” reports Jeroen Helms at Peerless-AV. “Government, retail and corporate all share the difficulty of getting products to fulfil projects. Projects have been postponed due to lack of LCD screens or control system components. It’s like driving with the handbrake on – the market wants to pick up and move forward but is unable to.”

Local impact
As elsewhere, the experience of the past couple years has permanently altered pro AV needs, mostly in positive ways. Integrators are “enthused by a shift in mindset from their customers about the importance of technology to their businesses and institutions in a post-Covid era,” reports Babbs.

He adds that digital transformation strategies have changed pro AV from an IT task “to a strategic board-level discussion around tech’s integral role in their own recovery and future.” This has resulted in a plethora of new growth opportunities around UC/VC technologies for digital workspaces, eLearning and virtual classrooms.”

One effect of lockdown on hotels is a heightened expectation from guests about their in-room entertainment. “They expect extensive possibilities offered by solutions, such as Chromecast, or the option to stream Netflix giving a home-from-home, or better-than-home experience,” says Sanz. PPDS outfitted 116 apartments in a Tenerife residential complex with a Philips MediaSuite Professional TV to this end.

The country’s great weather and tradition of living outdoors makes the live event sector particularly strong for local AV and one that was most considerably impacted by lockdown.

Yet last summer, Spain saw “an explosion of events” with Andalusia-based audio specialist Zero Dbs involved in 80+ concerts, festivals, corporate events and theatre shows. “The public reacted with a great desire to go back to attending outdoor events,” explains owner Juan Antonio Cuevas. “We must have catered for 35,000 people in just three months.”

Events included Jazzándaluz, a three-day jazz festival in August, a concert series called Música al Aire in Carcabuey and a festival in Alhaurín de la Torre, in the province of Malaga featuring pop, rock, indie and flamenco performers.

“We are also witnessing a renovation of technical equipment in many theatres and halls that have sound and lighting that is over 20 years old. We’ve installed theatres with line array equipment such as the Uniline Compact (from French vendor, APG). Spain is a country of festivals and each one is a good example of high-quality AV and technically skilled staff.”

Nonetheless, live events and hospitality sectors are likely to face “limited investment” through 2022, feels Helms, with the outlook only positive once restrictions are lifted.

Román Ceriani, CEO, ICAP Global Ibérica and EVP – GPA thinks the main challenge facing every sector this year “is having the ability to distinguish between the back-to-office momentum, and the new hybrid world versus sustainable growth in the medium and long term.

“2022 will be a year of important growth again where we will begin to see that transition between an impulse to return to normality and needs based on the requirements of different businesses on a regular basis.”

Shift in mentality
Ceriani is one of several respondents highlighting the relative lack of AV adoption in Spain’s education system. Ignacio Bujalance at Lightware Visual Engineering thinks education “lags behind” in terms of technology, particularly for offering hybrid remote and in-person lectures. Nonetheless, 100 units of Lightware matrix switcher were recently installed as part of a large-scale University re-modelling with further such installations “on the horizon”.

Covid also forced schools, universities and training centres to offer online classes. “Many opted for virtually no-cost solutions, but there have also been many others who preferred to offer quality audio and video, and with reliable connections, to serve a high number of students,” says Julián Oltra, MD, Audio Video Zentralmedia (Clear-Com’s local partner). “This has resulted in a high demand for robotic cameras and streaming solutions which has compensated for the lack of activity in other applications.”

Several country experts observe longer-term changes to Spanish AV culture. The market is described by Sanz as “very aggressive and price-sensitive,” with customers, “informed about technology solutions and therefore more demanding” than those in other countries. For these reasons, he says, the Spanish retail sector is one of the most advanced in Europe.

Antonio Ortega, who manages the area for Crestron, witnesses a “shift in mentality regarding the importance of cost versus quality and how purchasing departments take decisions.” Spain he says, used to have a cost-driven approach, which affected the quality of the solutions.

Today, the value, satisfaction and RoI are more important in the decision-making process.
Garrido supports this. He says that corporates are beginning to appreciate the added value that products of quality – notably LED screens – offer in terms of reliability and durability.

As in any country, there is an AV skills shortage. “Looking at the AV talent pool in Spain, the difficulty,” says Helms, “is that the skills required to work in our industry are built from experience. To find, recruit or hold these people is a difficult task”.

World class talent demand
As a member of the AVIXA Advisory Board for Spain and Portugal, Ceriani is actively involved in promoting and developing talent as well as methodologies, procedures and best practices. This includes an AV Experience Zone that is part of ISE 2022 with a keynote and panels to drive discussion.

“The culture of work is deeply rooted in Spain,” he says. “It is also a country where exponential development has taken place and where talent and service commitment coexist. In the AV world, the Spanish market stands out for its propensity for service and customer satisfaction.”

Garrido agrees there’s a lot of talent, but spots a need for professionals to train in virtual production environments. “Our sector has a great vocational component, one that attracts more people than in other sectors, but it is very hard to reconcile family life and work,” says Cuevas, while Bujalance suggests technical skills are in high demand for AV rental because of a labour migration to other industries “which are more stable and have had less impact from Covid.”

“There is a certain gap between training in AV technologies and its use in the business world,” Oltra concurs. “The risk is that these professionals will end up finding better opportunities in other countries and emigrating. With the increase in labour supply that we will inevitably have, this risk can be controlled.”

Ortega rates Spain’s programmers among the best in Europe. “Due to the merging of IT and AV in the recent years and the quality of our educational institutions, I truly believe there are great people available who can ensure the quality of projects and know how they will translate into reality.”

Prospects for 2022
Business is likely to be galvanised this year, come what may. Besides local and regular events like AFIAL or BITAM, Ceriani says there will be European funds to boost the economy, and additional funds for education and government investments in projects connected to the community. Lightware is anticipating a 20 per cent growth in 2022 on the back of some large pro AV projects in the region. Alfalite expects growth of 25 per cent in fixed installations, but fears the pandemic will rerail the restart of the rental market.

“The year will start very slowly due to the pandemic, then accelerate rapidly,” predicts Cuevas. “There will be many more events as national and international artists tour. The lack of supply of AV equipment will limit many companies, as well as the lack of qualified personnel who during the pandemic have had to look for other jobs in other sectors. So, there will be a lot of work but companies may not be able to meet large anticipated demand.”

ISE comes to town
As you’d expect there is a universal delight that ISE chose Barcelona as its new home, although the scale of its impact locally won’t be felt until tradeshow numbers return to normal.

Garrido hopes ISE “will be a catalyst for the market to complement European funds for digitisation”. Babbs feels Spain has been somewhat of a “hidden gem”, often overshadowed by larger European markets and that ISE “will bring about fresh excitement and investment from both smaller brands and brands from further afield that may have overlooked Spain at the first glance.”

Ceriani thinks the fayre “represents a turning point for the country with Barcelona the centre of the scene for our industry. It will generate an exponential leap in terms of digital transformation in Spain. Producing an acceleration in creating jobs, new roles and careers, will also position and empower the country worldwide from a technological perspective for today and for years to come.”

Mobile World Congress is also coming to town. “Both events profile Barcelona as a centre of technological innovation,” says Oltra. “The impact goes beyond the AV market, and the average citizen not related to our industry knows about the arrival of ISE because it has been widely reported in the general media.”

Ortega says: “Amsterdam has been an incredible host for this event for many years, but I am one hundred per cent sure that Barcelona will exceed everyone´s expectations, Covid allowing. Having the privilege to host ISE will clearly reinforce the importance of our region to the industry.”