Insights When Growing Businesses Outgrow ‘Good Enough’ AV Steven Larkins 7 min read An insight for growing organisations moving from ad hoc meeting room technology to a more consistent, supportable AV approach Growth does not usually create workplace technology problems. More often, it exposes them. Most growing businesses do not set out to ‘do AV badly’. In the early stages, meeting room technology is often handled in the most practical way possible. A room is needed, technology is installed, someone in IT helps, and people get on with their jobs. For a while, that is enough. Then the business grows. There are more people, more rooms, more meetings and a greater reliance on those spaces working consistently. The tolerance for things not working drops quickly. The point where AV becomes noticeable There is usually a tipping point. It might be a client presentation where the audio does not quite work, a leadership call that never starts cleanly, a hybrid meeting where remote attendees are left with a poor impression, or a new office fit-out that looks great but does not function as smoothly as it should. The problem is not always a failed piece of technology. Often, it is the moment earlier decisions start to show. Different rooms have been added at different times, different technologies have been chosen, and standards were never established because they were not needed when the business was smaller. Everything may work reasonably well until consistency starts to matter. Then users are never quite sure what they are walking into, support requests increase, and people naturally gravitate towards the rooms they trust. Why AV often lands with IT, and why that starts to break down In many growing businesses, AV decisions naturally land with IT. In the early stages, that often makes sense. The requirement is usually basic, the setup is handled as needed, and IT is the team people already trust to make technology work. As the business grows, though, the demands change. Meeting room technology is no longer just about whether the screen turns on or the call connects. It starts to involve the user experience, the way the room is used, how client-facing spaces perform, how consistent the setup feels from one room to another and how it is supported over time. IT teams are focused on networks, devices, security and uptime. Specialist AV expertise brings a different layer of thinking: acoustics, room behaviour, control, integration, remote participation, confidence in the space and how consistently rooms behave day to day. That is where the distinction becomes important. AV is a specialist discipline in its own right, with its own skills, training, standards and industry experience. It needs to work alongside IT, but it also needs dedicated attention to the room, the users, the experience and the way the business needs each space to perform every day and over the longer term. The signs you have outgrown ad hoc AV As businesses grow, the same issues tend to start showing up: meeting experiences vary from room to room senior teams lose patience with unreliable setups IT gets pulled into meetings repeatedly to help things work new offices recreate old problems instead of fixing them every new room becomes a separate decision support depends too heavily on one or two people no one is quite sure who really owns AV anymore At this point, the issue is rarely a lack of technology. It is a lack of structure, standards and ownership behind the technology. What changes when AV needs to scale The businesses that handle this stage well do not usually start by buying more kit. They step back and create a clearer, more scalable approach to AV. One of the most overlooked parts of that approach is consistency, not identical technology in every room, but a familiar experience for the people using the space. When every room behaves differently, small frustrations build quickly. Meetings take longer to start, support requests increase and teams lose confidence in the spaces they rely on. A simple user experience is rarely simple by accident. The best meeting rooms may feel as easy as inviting the room and pressing “Join”, but that experience relies on thoughtful meeting room design, effective AV systems integration, clear ownership and ongoing AV support working together behind the scenes. That might mean: defining room types instead of treating every space as a one-off creating standardised meeting rooms without making every room identical building a consistent user experience across boardrooms, flexible workspaces and hybrid meeting rooms agreeing how AV is designed, delivered and supported before problems appear making sure AV works alongside IT without being treated as an afterthought That is often the difference between a room with technology in it and a room that becomes a trusted part of how the business communicates. When that structure is in place, workplace AV becomes less visible in the best possible way. Meetings start more easily, rooms feel more familiar, AV support is simpler and the business has a stronger foundation as it continues to grow. Why this is part of a wider industry shift The shift away from ad hoc AV is not only happening in growing businesses, but across the wider AV industry. As AV becomes more closely tied to workplace performance, consistent meeting room experiences and long-term support, growing businesses are facing many of the same questions as larger enterprises, just earlier in their journey. That is good news for growing businesses. It means AV can be considered earlier in the design and planning roadmap, with clearer foundations for how spaces should work, scale and be supported as the business grows. Done well, that leads to better long-term value from the investment, because decisions are made around the way spaces need to perform rather than being revisited later under pressure. A calmer way forward For growing businesses, this stage is rarely about needing the most advanced technology. It is about recognising when the AV setup that once ‘mostly worked’ no longer reflects the size, pace or expectations of the business. Meeting rooms that used to be ‘good enough’ can start to put pressure on people. People need workarounds, client-facing rooms feel less reliable than they should, and IT teams get pulled into issues that could have been reduced with a clearer AV approach. This is the kind of shift we supported at Entrepreneurs Circle’s new headquarters. EC had outgrown a more basic AV setup and was moving into a larger HQ that needed its meeting rooms and shared spaces to reflect the scale, ambition and energy of the organisation. The move created the opportunity to put a stronger AV framework in place from the start, with a more immersive environment for training, events and collaboration, more consistent meeting rooms, and the reliability needed as the business continues to grow. As businesses grow, the expectations placed on their spaces tend to grow with them. Putting the right AV foundations in place early can make it easier to support new ways of working, evolving requirements and future growth, while reducing the disruption and unnecessary reinvestment that can come from revisiting decisions later. Entrepreneurs Circle case study Related Reading AV Trends We’re Seeing Across Workplaces, Meeting Spaces and Client-Facing Environments A broader look at the workplace and meeting room trends shaping modern organisations. AV Trends article What Enterprise AV Needs to Get Right Next Steve Larkins’ CEO perspective on governance, standardisation and support at enterprise scale. Enterprise AV insight If this feels familiar, let’s talk about whether your meeting room technology is still supporting the way your business is growing. Start with a conversation
