Last year we put out some thoughtful predictions on what 2023 could hold for the AV industry, and as this year comes to a close we thought it would be interesting to look back and see where we stand on some of these topics.
Last December we touched on three main areas: commercial real estate, sustainable growth and fast-paced innovation.
So, how did these areas of the industry grow this year?
Though gradual, commercial real estate did see the uptick we predicted as many businesses encouraged (or required) their employees to come back into the physical office space. But it’s not an easy transition: as we pointed out, the new commercial real estate model can only reach sustained success by reimagining their value proposition and elevating AV technology as one of the most important elements of any commercial space.
This is what helps businesses ensure that they’re meeting the needs of their employees, as they strive to remain connected to both work teams and their families in meaningful ways. Companies need to continue to take into consideration these methods of connectedness, from redesigning open floor plan offices to integrating enhanced AV technology in every shared workspace.
We also predicted sustainable growth efforts would be amplified. “Going green” remained a hot initiative for many businesses in 2023 and will continue to expand into 2024. A big piece of this strategy comes from organizations that allow their workforce to remain hybrid, as it’s proven to be one of the easiest ways to reduce both in-office costs and environmental impacts.
But throughout this past year, we saw that not all offices were properly equipped for this dynamic change — and this is still true going into 2024. It’s not too late, though: we did see workforces that rely heavily on an in-office presence begin to implement innovative AI and robust building management systems (BMS) to drive their sustainability efforts.
Lastly, we predicted that fast-paced AV innovation would continue — and continue it has! Fast-paced innovation has been at the core of AV technology for the last decade, where updates on some systems are happening so regularly that it can be a challenge to keep up with the latest solutions. The pace of technological innovation has created an era in which a system installed just a few months prior may become redundant due to the speed and scale with which technology is changing.
The realm of AV technology is one of constant change, and never more so than in the past few years of significant ebbs and flows for many businesses. While the pandemic brought about innovation at hyper speeds, these changes were by no means solely a product of circumstance; rather, they are a part of much larger trends and developments that define the past and future of AV technology.
Did 2023 pan out like you thought it would? Did we miss anything? Let us know, and keep an eye out for our 2024 predictions coming soon!
