Although the pandemic took a heavy hit, the immediate future of the industry will be better. Juan Carlos Medina envisions a better scenario for the end of 2021.
Richard Santa
Juan Carlos Medina is the founder of the Mexican company Viewhaus, an audiovisual technology integrator with 18 years in the market, although his experience in the industry totals more than 25 years. He spoke with AVI Latin America and told her details of his professional career, his company and how he sees the future of the industry in Mexico.
"I am originally from the state of Chihuahua, where I was born due to the circumstances of my father's work, but I have lived in Guadalajara since I was 9 years old and this is why I am rather 'tapatío' by adoption. I am a 1974 model, all my academic training was in Guadalajara and I am a graduate of the Bachelor's Degree in Marketing from ITESO (Jesuit University of Guadalajara). I have 25 years working in the AV industry and throughout this time I have obtained many technical certifications, the most recent being the CTS certification from AVIXA," he said.
He recalled that his interest in technology has been since childhood. In his parents' house he was the one who helped install and operate the electronic equipment they had and always had an ability to start them even without reading instructions. Later, in his middle training he was linked to electronics topics and when he took propaedeutic exams his profile always pointed to engineering, mainly electronics. He chose to study marketing, since he loves commercial issues and market dynamics, then life put him to sell electronic equipment.
After graduating, he started working in a family business in Guadalajara when he was developing his video equipment sales division. Later he was invited to work for a leading company in the AV industry (Sony), however, he rejected the offer because he wanted to undertake a project of his own and it was at that time that he founded Viewhaus.
"Having attended my first InfoComm, made my interest in the industry grow, because I had the opportunity to visualize the potential of the AV world and after that it became clear to me that this was where I wanted to belong. In fact, I had attended the NAB and Infocomm show uninterruptedly for 16 consecutive years, because I really think they are a great opportunity to meet people, partners, technologies and knowledge that keep my passion for this industry alive," he said.
Day by day in the office
Juan Carlos Medina stressed that he is fortunate to lead an excellent work team: "I usually arrive at my office at 8:30 am, for a few years I have structured my times very well to try to be very productive, I am a participatory leader and I try every day to promote and permeate the values of our company, mainly the value for the people. I really like to sell and I still keep the personal attention of some strategic accounts of the company, where I also have clients who have become good friends, every day I have contact with the different areas of the company. I like to frequently review the financial statement, I am usually in a lot of contact with the operations area ensuring that there are the necessary facilities for us to function correctly. "
From his work he tries to get involved, as far as possible, in high-end projects and to be able to solve the problems that arise in the execution of these. He considers himself a perfectionist and likes projects to go on in the most orderly way possible, for which he insists on adopting the best practices that exist in the industry. He encourages the sales team every day to look for new opportunities and to be very close to customers. He usually leaves at 6:30 pm, but if any matter requires it, he has no problem working late, whether in the office or in the field.
"Fortunately I have developed a very close relationship with my collaborators. In general, our team has been constant and long-lived, and that is why we have generated a lot of trust between us. One of the most important challenges is to make people feel happy with the work they do and with the environment of the company, we have tried to take great care of our human resources, in fact, in 2018 we were recognized by PSNI as one of the best companies to work in AV, "he said.
As a director, the most important challenges he has experienced have to do with how to always be complying with the regulatory scenarios of his country: "Unfortunately, in Mexico there is an exaggerated and exacerbated regulatory framework, having a healthy company in the fiscal and legal is very difficult and more when the rules of the game change them every 6 months, for this reason I consider that this issue is a major challenge, we must be good as a company, look for opportunities with our customers, but always in an environment of little certainty talking about our authorities".
Technologically, the most important challenges, he said, are keeping a team up to date and taking proactive actions to support customers. "While technologies have evolved, that has also made them more complex, and sometimes integration with IT, AI and other trends have made them more susceptible to failures or operational security affected by software and not hardware issues, so finding a fair medium between reliable integration for customers has increasingly become a complicated path."
Future of the AV industry
For the founder of Viewhaus, the immediate future of the industry will be better than what happened last year. Although the pandemic definitely took a heavy hit, he sees a better scenario for the end of 2021. He argued that the industry is characterized by being in constant movement and as companies, schools, and other actors adapt, new opportunities will arise, because now workspaces of any kind need a double function, the normal and the one adapted to this hybrid concept or healthy distance. That is why he expects that the growth estimated by market intelligence studies will allow that 5% per year sustained until 2025.
"On the other hand, I believe that in Mexico the AV market has been maturing in recent years, there is an interest and greater knowledge on the part of customers and actors that make professional and better quality solutions are sought. It is true that, in countries like Mexico, there is also a vulnerability and when we face difficult times, the market tends to reduce its investments, but without a doubt there are many opportunities ahead," he said.
He added that "I am convinced that the manager of a company must have an aligned team, which knows how to understand and interpret the needs of customers in an appropriate way and that manages to transform them into friendly projects and experiences, on the other hand, there is the challenge of continuing to correctly differentiate the work of an AV integration company, give value to the work we do and add new technologies that complement the AV area, such as the IT part and value-added services. We are a company that has invested a lot in human resources and we have contributed to the professionalization of our work team, but we have also taken this to the side of our clients, since, since our inception, we have been contributing to the work of "educating" the market, now with the pandemic we continue to do it through the channels of "social media", because the closeness with our customers has allowed us to stay and better free these complex times".
Family, Sports and Environment
Since childhood, Juan Carlos Medina had an interest in sports. He started practicing karate at the age of 9 and at 13 he obtained the degree of Shodan (Black Belt). Later, he began to play soccer for several years in the basic forces of the Atlas de Guadalajara club, hence his fondness for this traditional team of the Mexican league. Later he continued to play amateur in the university selection, currently practices mountain biking, rowing (rowing) and generally enjoys many of the sports activities. In addition, he likes pop rock, new wave and pop jazz music. He is also a Star Wars fan.
"I have 20 years of marriage and I have 2 children of which I am very proud, Santiago (16) and Pablo (13) and one of the things we enjoy most as a family is traveling, in addition to the fact that we like to turn on the grill, good food and enjoy the company of good friends. I consider myself a person concerned about the environment, from a very young age I was taught the care of natural resources and I have developed an interest in the topics of ecology and recently circular economy".
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