Commercial Integrator February 2021 - 40

FINAL THOUGHTS
Could We See the
Emergence of
Resimercial Integrators?
I ALWAYS LOVE TALKING to AVIXA senior director
of market intelligence Sean Wargo and
economic analyst Peter Hansen. I walk away
from every conversation feeling significantly
more informed about the AV industry - and
that's a good thing for CI readers since it
allows me to pass on that knowledge.
In a recent conversation with them, I
learned that one of the ways commercial integrators
have been piecing together their businesses
in the last nine months is
by focusing more on residential
AV, mostly home offices.
As most of us have learned
from being forced to work and
spend most of our times in our
homes since the coronavirus
outbreak started to sweep
across the U.S. and around the
world, our home office setups
pale in comparison to the systems
we probably complained
about a bit in our offices.
In an interesting reversal
panies that are able to meet the needs of both
commercial and residential customers.
Mike DeMello started AV Design & Integration
22 years ago after working for a high-end
car stereo installation firm for many years right
out of high school.
When he launched his own company,
car stereo was part of the mix but soon he
focused solely on home entertainment. The
recession in 2008 changed that.
Most recently, AV Design
A resimercial
integrator
doesn't care
whether a
project is
commercial
or residential,
but rather if it
makes sense
from the days after the 2008
recession when residential
integrators saw opportunities
in commercial AV, this time
commercial integration firms are jumping into
residential work and helping employees bulk
up their home offices for possible permanent
WFH setups.
" There's still a need for professional-grade
AV for people who are working at home, "
Hansen said. " Overall, flexibility has really
shone through and driven a lot of the success
we've seen.
Conferencing and collaboration has been
the focus for most commercial integrators
since March, says Wargo, and the increase in
residential AV has come as a bit of a surprise
to the AVIXA market intelligence team.
Maybe we'll see more resimercial AV comfor
their firm to
implement.
& Integration completed $1
million in AV upgrades for the
Madison Square Boys & Girls
Club of America in Harlem.
" Until the crash in 2008, we
were 100% residential and did
a 50/50 split of new construction
versus retrofit, " DeMello
recalls. The company has
always had its hand in security,
and even today security
is a key part of its packaged
offerings.
" After 2008, I realized that
I had to get rid of some of the
cyclical nature of the business,
so I had to do commercial and
government work. That led me to explore
one commercial project after another and today
we are 60% residential/40% commercial.
We don't do a lot of commercial projects, but
the ones we do are big ones, " he told
CE Pro's Jason Knott.
This rise in resimercial firms has occurred
before, and as history has a tendency to repeat
itself I wonder if the recent recession will
lead to similar approaches in the integration
industry.
Craig MacCormack, Executive Editor
craig.maccormack@emeraldx.com
@CraigMacCormack
Commercial Integrator, (USPS 005-160) (ISSN 2165-9850), Vol.11 No. 2, is published monthly by Emerald X, LLC., 100 Broadway, 14th Floor, New York, New York 10005, 800-440-2139. Commercial Integrator
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40
Commercial Integrator FEBRUARY 2021
commercialintegrator.com
CI Webinar: State of the
Industry 2021
Every year Commercial Integrator and
NSCA conduct a State of the Industry
survey, polling integrators from our
audience and NSCA membership about
everything that's going on in the world of
integration. This survey helps inform our
organizations and our audience about
trends, new technology, growing vertical
markets, and more.
With COVID-19 still affecting the
industry in various ways the State of the
Industry 2021 may be the most important
to date. Many integrators have felt the
effects of COVID-19, and it has certainly
been a difficult time for the industry.
However, we've also found integrators
moving in new and exciting directions
with the latest technology in order
to combat COVID-19 and keep their
businesses steady through the uncertainty
of 2020.
Jonathan Blackwood, editorial director
of CI, will join Chuck Wilson, executive
director of NSCA, and Tim Hennan, chief
technology officer at IVCi, to discuss
specific statistics coming out of the
survey, and the larger picture of these
statistics.
This webinar is available as a free
download commercialintegrator.com.
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Commercial Integrator February 2021

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