Microsoft has certified approximately 650,000 Microsoft Certified Solution Engineers, either as MCSE or MCSE+I worldwide. As control systems manufacturers and display manufacturers embrace networking technology, it would seem that the AV systems integrator is going to have some tough competition to contend with in the near future.

I am willing to bet that, provided AV systems integrators embrace this emerging technology, the army of Microsoft Certified Engineers is not going to displace the AV systems integrator as the predominant choice for the integration of presentation systems. Here is my reasoning:

- Even with the current state of our economy, the unemployment rate for IT professionals is extremely low; therefore these certified professionals remain in high demand. For them to begin to understand the presentation market is a momentous task, and there is plenty of traditional networking, software applications, Internet services, and other broad areas to consume their time without focusing on such a small, niche business (comparatively speaking, of course).

- Although there is a large number of Microsoft Certified Engineers, a vast majority of them hold down a job within a specific company, as opposed to working for a network integrator that serves a large number of clients. This makes the MCSE more of a potential customer than a competitor. This bodes the question, will customer direct business begin to infringe on the AV Systems Integrator business? Let me answer that with another question. When was the last time you knew an IT manager that had time to take on a new project?

- I would venture to say that the MCSE will be one of the last to embrace network enabled AV technology. Why? Simply because the AV Systems Integrator will likely identify the advantages of this new technology way before the IT community does. In speaking with many integrators that are already integrating networked projectors, control systems, codecs, etc., there has been a huge amount of resistance from the IT manager, who usually responds by saying, "You want to hang WHAT off of my network???"

- Lastly, it will be much easier for AV Systems Integrators to learn networking technology than for an MCSE to understand AV Systems technology. Why? Just look in the phone book in any mid-size city, and you will find a multitude of companies offering MCSE certification. Not to say that the certification holds no value, but when was the last time you saw a yellow pages ad for AV certification?

Maybe some of us hope that this is never the case. My point is the advantage that the AV Systems Integrators currently hold is theirs to lose…

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Jody Thomas is CEO of Kayye Consulting, a firm that specializes in providing marketing services, business development consulting and training development to dealers, manufacturers and other companies in the professional audiovisual industry. He has developed 12 years of industry experience through his diverse roles with NEC Technologies and dealer / integrators, and now applies his experience through Kayye Consulting. He can be reached at www.kayye.com or via e-mail at jthomas@kayye.com.

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