Benelux: Europe’s AV petri dish

AV

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Dark clouds on the horizon cannot be ignored and integrators have a blurred vision of the future with a recession expected in the next six months,” says Jeroen Helms, regional sale director, Peerless-AV.

That said, the pandemic caused a backlog of authorised projects that are now being implemented across the region. “Integrators are able to be on site with customers for full support and some project budgets are unaffected by the looming economic crisis because they were already signed off before Covid,” he adds.

This view of good long term prospects tempered by economic uncertainty is held by many respondents to AV Magazine.

Roeland Scholten, sales director for PPDS reports “investment continuing without many major investment projects popping up.” Cris Tanghe, vice-president, product Europe for Leyard says: “In general the appetite for AV solutions is rising. (Yet) the energy crisis is also placing some projects in the freezer.”

Postive sector news
Lightware Visual Engineering is more positive. Sales manager Hans Bekhof expects business to grow in 2023 and highlights education, live events and corporate market. “2022 wasn’t the recovery year, so we expect this to happen next year.”

Precisely because of these uncertain market conditions, Jean-Pierre Overbeek, CEO of BIS|Econocom (a PSNI Global Alliance member), expects more organisations to opt for a subscription model. “This allows them to free up sufficient budget in the short term to invest in their own primary process, in innovation, in their staff and/or marketing. Contrary to the trend of the past five years when AVaaS was mainly of interest to large and very large organisations, we now see that SMEs are opting for an AV subscription as well.”

Hybrid rethink
The chilling effect of Russian aggression and knock-on to energy prices is causing a re-think of day to day working conditions. With corporate spaces downsized and hybrid work a norm, the colder winter months mean workers want the security blanket of time in the office.

“It is quite likely that extremely high energy costs will cause people to return to work in the office in reversal of the current trend, which will increase the level of demand for workplace management systems (desk and room booking),” says Overbeek.

Right after lockdown, every space was quickly transformed to include remote collaboration possibilities. Crestron Europe reports several companies made real estate decisions based on hybrid work strategies and decided that they could make do with 45-60 per cent of space than before. Now, companies want to make it more appealing to go back to the office.

“Not just anything will do – they want flexible, scalable technology that responds to the needs of their workforce regarding modern work,” says general manager, Annelies Kampert. “That has a huge effect on companies and AV professionals. All existing spaces are suddenly being occupied. So, all those rooms need to be equipped with the necessary technology booking and UC solutions.”

Phil Davenport, director, sales and operations EMEA, Datapath, says: “Some markets remain somewhat immune, such as security, utilities and transport monitoring. We’ve also seen a new emphasis among companies wanting to gather data they need to make more informed decisions in current conditions. This will likely continue while the wider market continues to come back to previous levels.”

Avocor opened a new EMEA headquarters in Blaricum, near Amsterdam Schiphol, earlier this year and the firm’s Till Gotterbarm maintains they’re “extremely positive about the buoyant pro AV climate in The Netherlands.”

“The Dutch government actively encourage hybrid working and earlier this year made it a legal right. To support this workplace model, businesses need solutions to enable a hybrid workforce, which for us and many other AV brands, is an ideal opportunity,” he says.

The energy crisis is having a big impact on confidence in spending with a knock-on effect on the entire business model in every vertical, in every area. “This is already having a notable impact when it comes to displays,” says Scholten. “Energy consumption and the total cost of ownership are now becoming part of the conversation. This topic will only grow.”

At Mennegat Trading, the Dutch distributor for installed audio brands, Herjan Mennegat predicts the next 12-18 months will be challenged with product availability and maintaining pricing to a reasonable level.

“Due to inflation, pricing is a daily discussion at the coffee table. Everyone is talking about energy pricing, raising food pricing or huge transport costs. I believe for the next few years price will play a vital role in the discussion to win a project. Directly related to this is the discussion to re-use certain solutions or how products can be implemented sustainably, so they can grow together with the end user.”

The hospitality market was hugely affected by lockdown exacerbated now by rising energy cost. Says Mennegat: “They are forced to raise prices which will impact client spend and this will have an impact on the need to invest in innovative AV solutions.

“Salary isn’t the only decision criteria anymore. Constant salary increase can’t always be achieved, so companies are investing more in the workplace environment and employees’ wellbeing to foster a more productive and enjoyable day at work.”

Innovation leader
Small it may be but the Benelux is one of the most adventurous of world regions when it comes to exploring innovation.

The tech industry is “on fire” in Holland, rates Gotterbarm. “Amsterdam is a start-up hub with Utrecht hot on its heels. Other tech hotspots include Eindhoven and Rotterdam… with AV and IT working so closely together now, there is plenty of buzz for the AV community here.”

“Major AV/IT brands see The Netherlands and Belgium as a testing ground,” says Helms. “Historically, new technology is very often introduced first here to see if it will be successful before rolling out to other regions. This means we are well known for our creativity and innovation – more so than anywhere else in mainland Europe.”

Overbeek agrees: “New technology is adopted very quickly here and at a rate that is significantly faster than in many other European countries,” he says. “The Netherlands is one of the front-runners in Europe in terms of market demand.”

Helms highlights sensor technology as an area to watch when integrated into digital signage. “Typically, sensors used in outdoor displays are brightness and temperature-related. Now they deliver a new all-round customer experience. For example, proximity sensors and cameras associated with facial recognition can detect and measure audience demographics. Touch sensors can detect interactions to enable targeted content and campaigns.”

Hypervsn, which develops holographic displays, says it is working with one of the oldest universities in Benelux, which together with a Swedish university and financing from the EU, is creating creative new projects with its SmartV Displays.

“They’re working to use these displays as a major component in a new, currently top secret, range of medical machines. Essentially, they’re looking to livestream,” hints regional director, Ales Jurabayev. There is also a request from a stadium which is thinking of installing interactive ‘Holographic Humans’ featuring famous football players so that fans can interact with them in between games. Another customer wants a digital avatar in its showroom answering product questions and pitching services. A 35-unit Wall at Rotterdam Central Railway attracted “massive attention” including from international transport companies.

That said, Jurabayev says most Benelux businesses still take their cues from French, German and British AV success stories. “While this eye for innovation keeps them abreast of the AV sector, we believe that in the next few years we’ll see a more confident approach to the region being the breakthrough in the AV sector, not the follower.”

From an AV and IT perspective the hotspots in the Netherlands are the Randstad (the provinces of North Holland, South Holland, Utrecht and Flevoland), plus Eindhoven city and its environs.

“They are the most densely populated and by far the most organisations in the Netherlands are located there,” says Overbeek. “This is also where most international holding companies have an office.”

In Belgium, and for similar reasons, the hotspots are the regions around Brussels and Antwerp. In Antwerp and Rotterdam the focus is on the port: with petrochemical industry and transportation companies. The Hague houses international crime courts and many governmental institutions. Amsterdam, Brussels, Antwerp, Gent, Utrecht and Tilburg are University cities which also attract a lot of corporate business.

“Both countries are very small so we don’t have those big roll outs in a lot of locations,” observes Scholten. “If you drive from East to West or North to South (of the Netherlands) it’s two hours and you’re done. That’s why you see projects mainly being done only in the cities. A national signage rollout in the UK could represent a thousand units, whereas in the Netherlands that might equate to around a hundred.”

Truthfully, the region isn’t vastly different to its neighbours but Tanghe spots a difference in the reseller network, “where there’s the tendency to go for pre-defined and validated solutions. This facilitates the quoting and ordering process dramatically and also reduces the risks afterwards.” Leyard recently opened a new demo room in Antwerp to build presence in direct view LEDs as replacements for traditional projection.

“It’s a small market where everybody knows everybody,” observes Kampert, “so, most activity is achieved by having weekly contact with all key stakeholders.”

The war in Ukraine looms over the business prospects for the sector, as it does elsewhere, and as Bekhof says “we cannot foresee what kind of effect that will have.”