Buying a permanent audiovisual system has a multitude of potential benefits for your commercial building or small business – from increased employee engagement and client satisfaction, to vastly improved and effortless communication. 

To ensure you get the most from your new commercial audiovisual installation and investment, here are some key questions to consider before you decide on the AV solution that’s right for you.

1. Are you building the AV system into a new construction, or renovating an existing space?

Whether you’re installing an audiovisual system into an existing office or starting from a blank slate affects your options in several ways. With a brand new build, your options are virtually limitless, as cabling, mounting and electrical fittings can all be customized to make your vision come to life. 

With an office renovation or refresh, it’s more important to consider how the area is already used, and how it could be optimized to make presentations and communications seamless while also working within the existing infrastructure. 

Whichever situation you’re in, contact one of our audiovisual specialists for expert advice and assistance to better evaluate your options.  

2. What AV functions and daily tasks does the room need to perform?

This is perhaps the most critical question of all, as aligning your audiovisual technology with your goals is core to creating a space that is both productive and great to spend time in. 

Here are some potential different scenarios.

• You have a small space that you only intend to use for intimate client meetings.
• You have a larger room that needs to facilitate both in-house meetings and online meetings. 
• You have an auditorium sized space which needs to be updated with modern technology and with multi-panel touch screen accessibility.
• You expect to have multiple callers joining in on conference calls from all over the globe, and also need to record these meetings in high-quality for stakeholders. 
• You have a medium space that needs to fulfill lots of different functions, from impressive client presentations to one-on-one meetings. 

As you can see, the anticipated daily functions of the space will have a major impact on choosing the right equipment, as well as your anticipated budget. 

3. What is the size and shape of the room like?

Both the square footage and shape of the room (such as a curved wall or an immovable support pillar) need to be taken into consideration. Also important is how many people you expect to use the room at one time, as this might require additional speakers, screens, or microphones for everyone to be able to see and hear clearly. 

In unusually shaped or very large rooms, it’s best to have one of our audiovisual professionals in for a site assessment. Purchase and instaltion of equipment without a proper assessment can result in not having the right equipment to meet your needs or having to delay scheduled events due to improper connections. 

4. What kind of audio quality do you need?

It wasn’t until online meetings became the norm in recent times that many businesses recognized the value of good quality audio. In a single meeting, you may have some participants phoning in on their smartphones, some using video meeting software, and some dialing in on a landline from another branch.

We’ve all now had the experience of how frustrating and distracting poor audio quality is on these kinds of interactions. Thankfully, new solutions are coming out all the time, as well as simple fixes. 

For example, for large spaces with multiple occupants, we can dramatically improve audio quality by including hanging or wireless microphones into your audiovisual design, as well as improving your network capabilities so incoming audio from external sources is optimized. Professional wireless LAN installation serves as the foundation for your in-house wireless network. 

5. How should we plan our budget?

One of the best things about a commercial audiovisual system is how many options you have to choose from when it comes to equipment and technology. This means they’re flexible enough to accommodate a range of budgets and outcomes. 

We suggest you break your plan down into two categories as a start. Your ideal or dream scenario with all the bells and whistles, and the bare minimum you need for the space to accomplish its daily functions. Normally, your budget ends up somewhere in between the two. 

Remember there are both very simple solutions and elegant designer solutions available. Begin by creating a wish list of everything you’d like to have the space to be able to do. We can then assist with pricing options, availability and installation timelines, so you can prioritize and determine what makes the final cut.

6. Do I need an integrated system?

In a nutshell, an integrated audiovisual system is one where all your audiovisual equipment – from speakers and microphones to video conferencing software and displays – functions as one blended unit. Integrated systems are best suited to organizations that require state-of-the-art functionality and seamless audiovisual quality with minimal technical skills needed on your part. An integrated system is also best if you want to be able to easily customize your AV system to your unique business goals.   

7. How can we address obsolescence?

As with all modern technologies, audiovisual solutions change rapidly. If getting the latest touch panel technology isn’t in your budget, there are still a myriad of ways we can help ensure your audiovisual system investment is not quickly outdated.

To ensure our clients get the most enduring value for money, we like to focus on proven solutions that will be around for years to come, yet which are flexible enough to keep pace with changing trends. For instance, by installing high-quality hardware and physical equipment which is used by a large portion of the market, yet can easily keep pace with new software and add-on infrastructures like touch screens or control panels at minimal cost to the client.

At SYSTCOM we’ve been providing audiovisual solutions for over 20 years. Contact us today to get started with your next audiovisual project.

Virtually every organization has a server room for its network connectivity these days. It’s the hub of communication and information exchange within the organization. As such, your server room must be well-organized and clean. 

If not, your network connections may be compromised, and you can experience expensive and disruptive downtime. This will affect productivity and eat into your profits. Having a clean server room with properly organized cabling is essential for the efficient running of your network systems. 

Another cardinal rule should also be that the server room or data center is not a storage area. Boxes and any ‘stuff’ cluttering up the area are not only inefficient, but they can contribute to polluting this very sensitive area.

Follow these pro tips to overcome a messy server room once and for all. 

Bundle, Mount, and Label

The most efficient way to avoid that messy, confusing and dangerous spaghetti tangle of cables is to make sure that all cables are properly bundled and mounted. By using different colored tapes and labels you can clearly organize all your network cabling by function. 

This will ensure that they remain connected to the actual equipment that they serve. It will also make it easier to identify any issues like disconnections by lessening confusion, thus ensuring that maintenance and repair become easier and faster.

By organizing the network cabling using appropriate hardware, horizontal and vertical wire management and velcro ties, you will also achieve better airflow in your server room, which is key to avoiding overheating.

Keep it Accessible

Server room accessibility for maintenance and repair is a must as downtime costs money and impacts productivity. A messy server room compromises efficiency and causes delays. A logical structured cabling system, that is properly implemented with the use of ties and labels, facilitates speedy repair and maintenance services. 

Electronics get hot when they run for long periods, which can create a fire hazard. Data center experts have long adopted the practice of keeping server rooms at a cooler temperature to minimize overheating. Make sure that you remove any unnecessary equipment or cables, and that servers are separate and properly contained so that good airflow is maintained. 

A messy server room also increases wear and tear on your equipment, necessitating expensive repairs and replacement of equipment. Wear and tear can be lessened by cooling your server room by using fans and making sure your servers are correctly stacked. 

Adopt a Cleaning Schedule

Dirt and dust, in any shape or form, are the nemeses of a server room. It is a fact of life that premises need repair and maintenance from time to time. Construction work in particular can have a disastrous effect on the cleanliness of your server room. 

Maintain communication between your server management team and maintenance personnel. Adopt sensible precautions, such as using plastic curtains, to protect your equipment during construction or messy janitorial work.

Having a rigorous regular cleaning schedule, using antistatic cleaning solutions, high-efficiency particulate air vacuum cleaners, and microfiber mops and cloths, is also crucial. Over and above that, a deep clean, when an even more thorough cleaning of the server room is done, should be scheduled every three months.

More Pro Tips for Organizing Your Server Room

• Use Good Server Racks. An efficient system of server racks is crucial for any server room as it allows you to stack all your network infrastructure like routers and switches efficiently. Server racks come in all shapes and sizes. They can be wall-mounted or free-standing and are generally fairly customizable to fit your specific requirements.  
• Avoid excess cable lengths obstructing your rack by stacking server equipment from longer to shorter cables.
• Never leave redundant cables or obsolete equipment cluttering up your server rack. 
• If you would prefer to not use labels, color-coding cables offer another option.
• Why not invest in an electric duster that is purpose-designed for cleaning fans and server racks?

By following these pro tips, you will be able to keep your server room organized and support your team’s data exchange, communications and wireless networking services.

Is your messy server room keeping your team from pique productivity and putting your data and communication systems at risk? Systcom has been keeping server rooms organized for over 20 years. Call or contact us today.