Before COVID-19, audiovisual (AV) systems largely sat outside of core enterprise IT infrastructure and were managed independently. However, increasing demand for connected devices, AV over IP and the integration of AI into AV have transformed the AV landscape, forcing AV and IT teams to work more closely together to ensure that crucial AV systems perform as expected and don’t pose any business risks.
This is according to AV industry stakeholders who were speaking ahead of Mediatech Africa 2026, the technology showcase for AV integration, unified communications, broadcast, streaming, studio and production, pro audio, lighting, staging and display solutions.
They say the convergence of AV and IT is set to change the role of technology teams within organisations, with IT departments becoming more involved in deploying and supporting conferencing systems, wireless presentation platforms, digital signage networks, room booking systems and collaborative workspaces.
Trends driving change
Stuart Pringle, Managing Director of Omega Digital Services, says advanced AV adoption is picking up, with the local AV market showing solid growth despite a constrained economy.
“I believe that most of the local AV companies have maintained growth in recent years. The use of video meetings has proliferated but AV is not yet commoditised to a point where it can be done by just any IT company with a drill and a cable,” he says.
Connectivity is key in the modern AV realm. “Virtually all the devices we're deploying now are networkable. They may not all be streaming media directly over the IP network, but because they are now able to remotely monitor and are amplified with the power of AI, almost every single device within an AV solution is connected to the network.”
The ownership issue and other challenges
The advances in AV technology that are blurring the lines between traditional AV, IT and enterprise networking are also bringing new challenges to organisations.
Jesse Bosch, Head of Commercial at Prosirius, says organisations have a real need to simplify AV management and become more proactive to improve productivity: “If you have 10 people in a boardroom and it takes you 10 minutes to get the audio or the screen working, you've essentially wasted 10 minutes of 10 individuals’ time. That downtime is expensive.”
He says: “One of the biggest challenges we’re seeing now is ownership of the AV environment. Historically, facilities teams looked after meeting rooms and physical spaces while IT looked after networks, devices and software. The modern collaboration space sits right in the middle of it – you've got displays, cameras, microphones, room booking systems and environmental controls, along with cloud platforms and network infrastructure, and they all have to work together. Organisations are trying to determine who owns what, who supports what and who is ultimately accountable when something goes wrong.”
Bosch adds: “Most organisations nowadays have fairly complex AV ecosystems where they have multiple devices spread across multiple meeting rooms, campuses, branches and countries. Teams don't want to manage 50 or 100 individual devices manually. They want a single pane of glass that allows them to monitor, manage and proactively support their AV environment the same way they would do any other critical IT asset.
“The resistance is real: facilities used to monitor things, now they're saying, ‘We don't want to deal with it anymore. It's way too complex and we want IT to look after it.’ And IT is pushing back, saying, ‘No, we don't want to look after it because it's just another thing on our plate.’”
Kyle Joynt, CTO at Prosirius, says: “It's a hot potato and no one wants to touch it, but it's getting pushed into IT’s domain.”
Collaboration is key
Joynt notes that AV can have a significant impact on company networks: “An AV over IP solution uses multicast traffic, which can be very bandwidth heavy and noisy on the network. It's capable of bringing down a corporate network very quickly, so the right information has to be provided to the IT and networking professionals, and they have to collaborate on the design, implementation and management of AV systems.”
Sean Bethell, Head of Engineering at AVT, says because IT teams are often ultimately responsible on the back end, they have naturally become more involved on the front end and integration too.
Working with both IT and facilities teams, AV integrators play an important role in AV planning, design, deployment and management through their combined AV, product, networking and security expertise, which is crucial for supporting both AV and IT teams and ensuring that modern AV doesn’t negatively impact network performance, bandwidth management and cyber security.
Bethell advises: “IT and AV integrators, as well as anyone else responsible for these spaces, should first understand the core needs of all the key stakeholders, from the end-users of the spaces all the way through to the CFO and CEO before implementing AV solutions. Starting with needs determines the key applications and tasks, which determines the technology and infrastructure to support these needs. All too often one starts with the technology and then tries to hammer the actual needs into a shape that fits, rather than the other way around.”
AV systems further pose significant cyber security risks as AV solutions become increasingly AI-enabled. The Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) is a strategic partner of Mediatech Africa, and IITPSA Pr.CIO Dr Maiendra Moodley will present a keynote address on how connected technologies are quietly expanding the enterprise attack surface and why governance failures can often pose greater risks than technical vulnerabilities.
Advanced AV solutions and service providers will be showcased at Mediatech Africa at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit and and International Convention Centre from 30 June to 2 July. Register free for Mediatech Africa before 29 June at www.mediatech.co.za using the code MTA026.
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