8 Best Practices: How AVI-SPL Went From AV Integrator To Services Leader

Lessons From The Top

A lot has changed for AVI-SPL since its founding in 1979.

Once strictly focused on AV integration, the Tampa, Fla.-based company today has a broad portfolio of video, audio and unified communications solutions, in addition to a flourishing services business that has landed it among the top 50 of CRN's Solution Provider 500 list for the past three years (No. 49 most recently) and grown its annual revenue to $569 million.

CRN recently sat down with some of AVI-SPL's top executives to learn more about the best practices that have helped drive its transformation. Here are eight key take-aways.

1. Investing In Cloud Services

Like other SP500 powerhouses, AVI-SPL is investing heavily in cloud services. At the forefront of its cloud services lineup is the AVI-SPL Virtual Meeting Room (VMR), a cloud-based videoconferencing service that AVI said lets customers leverage their existing networking gear. The service, which is hosted on AVI-SPL infrastructure, also works across a variety of video endpoints and codecs, including those from Cisco, Polycom and Avaya.

VMR, introduced in June, is based on Cisco's Unified Computing System (UCS) and leverages Pexip's Infinity software as well. The service has made AVI-SPL one of six Cisco partners around the world to be certified for Telepresence-as-a-Service, said Mike Brandofino, executive vice president of video and unified communications at AVI-SPL.

2. Incenting Services Sales

Creating a robust services portfolio isn't enough, according to AVI-SPL, you have to incent your sales staff to sell it.

To do that, AVI-SPL last year changed its sales compensation structure to offer higher payouts to sales staff that attach services sales to their deals. Put simply, sales reps that sell services make more money than those that don't.

That effort apparently has paid off: AVI-SPL said its services attach rate jumped from 12 percent in 2012 to 30 percent in 2013. What's more, AVI-SPL's overall services booking rose from 9 percent in 2012 to 20 percent last year.

3. Selling Solutions, Not Technology

Brandofino said another big differentiator between AVI-SPL and its competition is how it talks, and sells, to customers. To be successful, he said, solution providers can't sell customers on technology, they need to sell them on business outcomes, or "solutions."

"To be relevant in the space today, you can't just be talking about bits and bytes and bandwidth," Brandofino said. "You need to be talking about how they affect businesses."
Brandofino said AVI-SPL, per customer feedback, has started to proactively approach customers with ideas -- again, not products -- for how they can be more efficient.

4. Think 'Simple'

Some of the ideas that pay off the biggest, Brandofino, seem "stupidly simple" at the start.

Case in point, he said, is AVI-SPL's Block ME product, unveiled in June. Dubbed by AVI-SPL as a "Do Not Disturb" device, Block ME is hardware that can be installed in any videoconferencing room (no programming required) to let users, with the push of a button, block video calls from being launched or received.

"There are a lot of concerns about security and sitting in front of a camera and having people call in," Brandofino said. "It's a simple device, but nobody else has it."

5. Stepping Outside The Comfort Zone

Brandofino said another big driver behind AVI-SPL's success is its ability to take risks and extend beyond its bread-and-butter AV "core." He said the company's decision two years ago to start selling Microsoft Lync is the perfect example of this.

"We first talked about Microsoft Lync in 2012 and I guarantee, because I've talked to some peers in the industry, that our competitors in the AV space weren't even thinking about Microsoft Lync [at the time]," Brandofino said. "And when I talked to our team about it two years ago, some salespeople came up and said, 'We aren't in the IT space. Lync has nothing to do with us.' Well, fast forward, [and now] our biggest partners in AV -- Crestron, Smart, Biamp, ClearOne -- all have video solutions, all have UC solutions and all are in this space."

Thanks to that move, Brandofino said AVI-SPL was the first AV integrator to become a Microsoft Gold partner.

6. Keeping Employees In The Know

Part of keeping a leg up on the competition, according to AVI-SPL, is always knowing what's coming down the pike, in terms of the latest and greatest technologies. To do that, the company participates in a number of technology councils and serves as an early field trial partner for many of its vendors. But where AVI-SPL has really succeeded, according to the company, is in its ability to take that knowledge and move it downstream, ensuring that each of its 1,700 employees are always in the know.

To do that, AVI-SPL last year rolled out Oasis, an internal system that lets employees upload data, documents and videos to share their knowledge with one another. AVI-SPL is also working now to open up that system to its vendor partners, allowing them to share updates related to their newest products and other goings-on in the market.

7. Building Its Own Brand

AVI-SPL said it recognizes the importance of building and maintaining its own unique brand to remain a market leader. One of the easiest ways to do that, the company said, is through a broad services portfolio.

"From a services perspective, we are absolutely selling our brand," said Tim Riek, senior vice president of AVI-SPL's services operations. "And, quite frankly, while we appreciate the support we get from our partners and recognize the importance of them being a part of the solution, we don't want our partners to associate us only with their logos. We want them to see the value-add AVI-SPL brings."

Brandofino said another way AVI-SPL drives recognition of its own brand is to include its logo on every piece of equipment it sells, along with a help desk number. "I don't hear [customers] saying, 'We are going into our Polycom [conference] room,' but I hear them say, 'I'm going into the AVI-SPL room that they built for us.' "

8. Going Global (But Keeping It Local)

AVI-SPL has been steadily growing its global footprint over the past several years. In 2013 alone, the company opened new offices in Canada, London and Mexico, bringing its total office count to 40 locations around the globe.

But to expand successfully, Brandofino said, the company had to make sure it had a robust support structure in place. That's why AVI-SPL has created dedicated help desks in each of the areas it has set up shop. The company also makes sure its help desk staff includes employees that are fluent in the local language and that they leverage its Virtual Meeting Room technology to connect to other AVI-SPL help desk locations around the world.

"A lot of folks in the industry do parts of this, or claim to do parts of it, but I would argue that two people in a back room doesn't make a help desk," Brandofino said.