PSNI Global Alliance is a tool that gives member integrators a global reach and local presence when implementing audio and video projects.
Richard Santa
There is a trend that makes a career within the audiovisual industry, generating partnerships between integrators in order to achieve global projects, which guarantee that anywhere in the world the integrations have the same standards, technical quality and service.
One of them is PSNI Global Alliance. With 74 companies that integrate it, it has coverage in 175 cities on all continents. In Latin America, the Association has also been gaining presence in recent years, today there are 8 companies from six countries that are part of PSNI.
AVI LATINOAMÉRICA spoke with different professionals who today are part of this project. One of them is Juan Carlos Alcazar, CEO of the Mexican company Grupo Covix and who today sits on the PSNI Board representing Latin America.
"It is a global association of audio and video integrators. It is more than 30 years old and was initially made up only of integrators from the United States and Canada. It became global a few years ago in response to the need to do global projects," he said.
To decide which area or city to cover and how many companies will be in each area, PSNI makes a study that includes factors such as GDP, geography, economic impact that those areas can generate. A meticulous work is also done to be able to select the integrators and finally it is the Council that decides on the new income. This achieves great quality among members.
Juan Carlos Alcazar assured that to select its integrators, PSNI has a person who lives traveling, interviews the integrators in their offices, shares their financial statements, takes references from the manufacturers and proposes them for the Board to make the final decision.
Education and training
Part of the Work of the Association is training. They have constant meetings focused on different areas of the integrating companies, such as marketing, engineering, project manager, and the annual meeting of managers. Each meeting has the participation of different manufacturers who contribute to the training.
"By participating in these meetings, it has allowed us to have a global vision of what is happening, it is opening the panorama of how projects are being attacked in the United States and in Europe. For example, while in Latin America work is being done under the concept of acquisition, in Europe the AV as a Service and Subscription service are growing. That kind of issue, seeing that the market is going there, that in recent years it has continued to grow and that in Mexico it does not appear, tells you that at any moment it begins to appear and take off, so we have to move there, "said Juan Carlos Alcazar.
Another tool available to PSNI members is the Global Deployment Handbook, a book with the best practices for the implementation and service of an audio and video project with a global focus. Based on the book, an exam must be passed that allows to certify the personnel of the companies.
Some experiences in Latam
In total, there are eight companies that are now part of PSNI, although the intention is to continue growing in other countries. These companies are:
• Artcoustix
• ACT Group
• Covix Group
• Viewhaus Systems
• AboutAV
• Newtech Multimedia Solutions
• Seal Telecom
• VideoCorp
Alfonso Vergara, general manager of Videocorp, has been part of the partnership with his company's headquarters in Chile, Peru and Colombia for just under a year. He assured that they decided to join PSNI because of the expansion it has had in recent years along with the importance of the companies that are part of it.
For his part, Juan Carlos Martínez, director of Viewhaus, told AVI LATINOAMÉRICA that "More than a conviction of mine, I must say with great pride that PSNI sought me to be part of this elite. Once I was exposed to what the idea of this global alliance is, the benefits and the objectives they pursue, that's when I made the decision to partner."
He added that "the most important thing this year of being in the association is that we have had access to a series of information in areas such as project management, processes and field work that we have been implementing little by little. That part I see that will help us to be a better company."
Viewhaus was recognized at the beginning of the year by PSNI as one of the best places to work in AV. In this regard, Juan Carlos Martínez said that "That was a good pride father for me and for the company, because in the 16 years we have in the market we have always cared about our staff, we have tried to do things in the best way so that people feel happy working at Viewhaus".
On the experience of the Covix Group in the association, Juan Carlos Alcazar stressed that "business has been done, which is what they ask first. But what we have taken most from the association, is to have a global vision of the industry, the technical learning that the manufacturers who are involved provide."
Finally, Chris Miller, Executive Director of PSNI Global Alliance, said that in order to offer the complete services and support required by enterprise end users of technology around the world, it is imperative that the association has a presence in all highly developed countries, including those in Latin America.
"Today we have integrators in approximately 75% of the main markets of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the 100% presence in the largest economies of the world that includes the number nine, Brazil. According to AVIXA research, Central and South America accounts for approximately $135.0B in technology revenue and is positioned to see growth in the near future. Like many countries, the political and economic climate may affect those projections, yet there is business among our members as we speak throughout Latin America."
