Two years ago Bates College began completing their basic classroom installs with internal staffing. While we are not alone in this, there is some question in the industry as to whether this is the right thing to do. I worked with an integrator for a while who swore up and down this was the wrong thing to do. He gave reasons like we were not insured to hang projectors, screens, speakers, etc. We could not get the same type of technical support, and did not have the resources for programming and design. Why would we want to waste our time, when we have "more important things to do".
Some pretty clear answers to these objections have developed over the years. First, our Physical Plant department hangs the equipment, so they are insured by the college. All the "big" companies now offer free technical support to tech managers in the educational field. Crestron Electronics, even goes a step further, they offer design services to their customers. Combine this with the wealth of training that is available from the manufacturers, or from the many sessions at tradeshows, such as InfoComm and tech managers can get training that rivals anything available to commercial installers and integrators.
So, the big question is about the time. Is doing an install truly a waste of our time? Do we have other, more important things to do. To answer that I look at what my department has done over the past year. This past summer, we installed 6 new classrooms. Equipment for each room totaled $15,000. These rooms are top level rooms equipped with projectors, touchpanels, control systems, doc cams, sympodiums, computers and sound system. We spent about $2,000 on electricians running wire and installing power. The money for electrical work would have been spent, regardless of whether we installed the room or an external installer had done the work. If we had hired our favorite integrator to install the rooms, we would have spent at least $30,000 per room. This means that we saved $90,000 by completing these installs internally. We literally saved enough money to install 6 more classrooms, or better yet, more than enough to hire an experienced and competent A/V tech! Another example is an executive boardroom we installed. A quote for this room last year came in at $50,000. We completed the install for $19,000. We saved the college $31,000! The other "important" work that we could be doing during this time would be wheeling A/V carts around campus. Yet, this summer we were able to finish our goal of having A/V installed in every classroom. That means no more wheeling carts around.
For Tech Managers in the education field, this means you really need to consider completing installs internally. For integrators, it means you need to think about your business models. As the bigger companies like Crestron and Extron make it easier and easier for technology managers to complete their own installs, you are going to have to find a way to make money with service.
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3 comments:
Hi,
It's an interesting post.
I see some schools doing installations themselves, some hiring integrators (there's a 450 class room project we're supplying screens for).
While something can be said for both, I think a clarification in numbers might help.
For example, how many hours did it take you (or your team), to complete the installation.
This number of hours x hourly cost of the employee involved should be subtracted from the difference in cost.
True, maybe you had the time, but for a fair comparison to a quote that involves labour - your team's hours should be included too.
As for the business model of an integrator - it's all about added value (as it is for all of us).
The processes include product selection, installation and after-sales service.
A good integrator will be able to add value to all of these processes. If they can't, there's no reason not to do it yourself.
Otto
Otto
thanks for your thoughts. I am not sure that I need to do all the math about labor for my crew. I know that in the work in rooms we did internally this year we saved over $120k. That savings got us a full time year round tech, who also did the installs. If this tech salary and benefits is $60k, we are still saving $60k. I do agree with your second point about added value from an Integrator. My question is: in these small cookie cutter rooms is it possible for an integrator to provide $90k worth of added value?
At Loyola College (now University) in Maryland, we did exactly what you wrote about: install many more classrooms than we would have been able to do by hiring outside contractors. If you have knowledgeable integrator-type staff (or those who are willing to learn) it can be a great value. In the end we're able to bring more integrated technology to more parts of the campus instead of wheeling around carts, etc. The other part to note is that our installs happen mainly in the summers when there aren't as many classes in session, so the day to day workload is lower. From a cost perspective, you're harnessing idle workers to do the work you used to pay an integrator for. So in the end you are indeed saving money.
The other key thing to Loyola's success is that I was the Crestron programmer on staff. Before starting there, I had not known a thing about Crestron. Because the school is a Crestron A+ Partner, they were able to send me to training for programming for FREE. Yes, free. (It doesn't cost anything to be an A+ Partner. You just need to have a certain amount of Crestron on campus, which is a very easy requirement to meet.) I learned a lot and became empowered. Loyola owned a Roomview site license, but didn't do that much in terms of managing rooms. I was able to learn Roomview and turn the remote management around.
In the end we built a knowledgeable AV integration staff and held the skills necessary to run the campus's integrated technology. If there was a special request for a new button or feature, it wasn't about calling up an integrator for a quote and find out when we could have it. Instead, it was all about opening up SIMPL Windows and VT Pro-e and making it happen.
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