For the 2017 Integrated Systems Europe A/V industry trade show, it's going to be all about the solutions. It is going to be more about them than it is about you. Enhancing solutions and customer experience will be on display in addition to the regular blaze of cutting edge technology. The 2017 ISE Show is taking place from February 7-10 in Amsterdam.
The first Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) trade show was held in Geneva, Switzerland in February 2004. Since then, the annual event has grown from 120 exhibitors and 3,500 visitors, to a record-breaking 13
th year that saw ISE 2016 welcome more than 1,100 exhibitors and over 65,000 visitors through the doors of the Amsterdam RAI. This confirmed ISE’s position as the largest AV and systems integration show in the world.The organisation behind ISE – Integrated Systems Events LLC – is a joint venture between InfoComm International and CEDIA, the two leading industry associations for the global audiovisual industry.
For Brad Grimes, Director of Communications for InfoComm, and Dave Pedigo, VP of Emerging Technologies for CEDIA, this year's edition may just see the fantastic current technology mold with what the end user is anticipating for the future. For both Pedigo and Grimes, the emerging technology that will be providing future solutions may very well signal a significant shift in the industry.
For Grimes, "
Our customer is no longer just the AV guy at the end user. What we’re delivering as an industry is now widely seen by our customers as part of their enterprise technology strategy. What we’re doing is of enormous interest to CIOs and IT managers. What they’re focused on is ROI, productivity – and solutions, and they’re the people who are going to be writing the cheques that will keep our industry going. I’ve had a number of conversations with our exhibitors, and an important shift in our industry is becoming increasingly clear. We’re starting to go beyond the technology, and pivot towards the solution. What does this achieve? What outcome will the customer get from this?"
What both men are seeing is a fusion of technology and solution. No longer can the technology be developed and seen as an end in itself but it must bring about a fundamental change in the way technology is seen, understood and used.
"When it comes to ISE, it may be the technology wow factor that brings people through the door," said Grimes.
"But what our customers buy is something that solves a problem for them. In reality, it’s an opportunity. As an industry, we need to understand where our skills really lie. We deal in environments and experiences, and the interaction between audio, video, acoustics, lighting and so on. That’s our area of expertise – and it has no less value in a standards-based world than it did before."
Pedigo, too, sees the movement in the industry and said,
"What custom installers must realize that they bring isn’t so much those technical skills, but a real understanding of how to deliver to a home owner exactly the right solution that precisely meets that home-owner’s needs,” he says. “That can be in the simplest of things – adopting good practice for voice control, for example – that can make a big difference to the end result."
