The Project Director of Grupo Niza, from Mexico, Antonio Gaitán, believes that the future of the audiovisual industry lies in its relationship with information technologies, which is increasingly close.
By: Richard Santa
Almost 30 years of experience in the Mexican audiovisual industry, which allowed him to live the moments of emergence and development, are more than enough for Antonio Gaitán to speak properly of an industry that knows, loves and respects him.
With the friendly tone that characterizes him, he spoke with AVI Latin America about his experiences in the AV world, which he arrived in 1985 after graduating with a degree in Economics at the Autonomous University of Mexico and having dedicated a few years to working in the public sector.
"My father invited me to come and work with him in the company he had founded in 1963 dedicated to photography and that at that time was beginning to work very hard in the audiovisual world. For me it was a very important decision because it was somehow to define my professional course, that of my family and because I always wanted to develop myself and not in the shadow of a person who was great in his environment like my dad. "
That coincided with his arrival at the company with a very important change and technological innovation in which little by little and year after year the audiovisual part was gaining importance within all its activity, to the extent that a few years later photography had a very small part in global sales, and he played a very proactive part in that change of orientation.
He expressed that "I feel very happy and proud to have been part of this generation that has had to see a very important technological change in which the audiovisual industry has experienced very strong technological innovations and that I feel that much of the success we have had has been to have seen the change coming and to have prepared ourselves to offer our customers solutions of the most s advanced that there is".
Passion for technology
But how did an economist go about becoming an industry leader? Antonio Gaitán has a clear explanation for that: his passion for technology and his ability to easily and quickly understand how things work.
"I think technology is something that's inside me, but I feel like deep down I'm a potential engineer. Technology is something that I am passionate about, it has been easier for me all my life to understand how things work, to understand how different equipment can be combined to give a broader solution to any need," he said.
To generate this knowledge, it has also been very useful for him to take an active part in InfoComm and receive direct training from manufacturers, since he constantly travels to courses in the United States and Europe. "It is an education that I have received in the university of life, in which project by project we have learned and with networking with partners."
Education has been a fundamental part of Antonio Gaitán's professional development. Therefore, it has been working hand in hand with important industry associations such as Cedia and InfoComm. His relationship with the latter began from his entry into the industry, first attending each and every expo in the United States from 1986 to the last of this year. In many he has attended seminars and courses within the framework of the fair.
"Following the creation of the office for Latin America, we have a lot of contact with Rodrigo Casassus and Cecilia Poeck with some regularity and we try to support them in all events such as TecnoMultimedia. I am part of the committee that has honored me to invite me to define the educational program for the fair in Mexico," he said.
On the other hand, with Cedia it's a bit the same. The association began in Mexico 11 years ago with educational days for which they brought instructors from the United States. There he has had a very active participation with the contents of local programs and is currently the President of Cedia for the country since last year and for two years.
The family business
Antonio Gaitán serves today as Chief Technology Officer of the Nice Group, the company that his father created 50 years ago and that today he leads with four of his sisters. Today it is a group of companies that has several business units, such as rental, wholesale and integration, the latter the oldest.
Expĺicó that "A family business poses different challenges, because in this case there are roles that we each play that we have to separate from family life. It has not been easy, there have been very critical moments, but I feel that the balance has been positive because we have been able to learn that everyone has different skills and we have complemented each other successfully."
And that familiar character of the company has a new generation that is preparing to assume control in the future. The eldest of their four children has just joined the company, complementing the group of three nephews who are also with them and who are part of the third generation of the Nice Group.
On this aspect, he stressed that with the arrival of the new generation they have thought of relaunching the company from a complex and different technological platform that should take them to a higher level of achievements and integral solutions for customers.
An authoritative voice
During 2012 the value of the audio-visual industry in Mexico reached US$862 million and an annual growth rate of 15% is expected in the next three years. But the continuous monitoring of the industry in his country, allowed our Professional of the month to syndicate that the future is at the crossroads AV with the information technology industry, among which there is a convergence in the projects.
"This is an achievable figure and I feel that the size of the market should be around those figures and by 2015 it should be around 1350 million dollars. Especially since there is a trend in which the big players in the audiovisual industry are getting closer to the big players in information systems. There have been a lot of mergers, acquisitions and joint developments, alliances, that are being done between the big players."
Therefore, he invited companies to prepare to face this new panorama, because otherwise they will live in difficult times. He stressed that the AV buyer is no longer the traditional one of previous years. Today more and more people in information technology are in charge of projects and have different criteria, different ways of thinking and this will make companies face difficult situations to overcome.
Values taught
The little time that Antonio Gaitán has free is dedicated to music. He likes all kinds of music, from Latin American, folk, through rock, popular and classical. Auqnue in recent years has been interested in the so-called new era. As a complement, he enjoys the concerts very much, both attending live and having them on video.
Among his hobbies, he likes to travel, within Mexico and abroad and whether they are for work or as a tourist accompanied by family and friends. In addition, he is a loyal follower of several sports: NFL American football, followed by league football from Mexico and other countries in South America and Europe; tennis of the great tournaments of the ATP and basketball of the NBA.
But without a doubt, what characterizes him most is the love for his family. "I am a very family man, this is a value that our parents have instilled in us, and that for me it is very important to have the family together. We try to do it between brothers and I try to instill it in my children as a fundamental value."
