AVing it large

More than half of UK companies using AV equipment are suffering from the hidden costs of problem fixing and maintenance, according to research commissioned by Casio.

The research claims that 70 per cent of presentation teams questioned by the vendor have experienced AV equipment failure, with 10 per cent of IT managers' time lost in dealing with AV equipment related problems.

Projectors are the biggest problems apparently, with 46 per cent of presenters experiencing problems with them in the past year - I have seen that happen countless times over the years and have felt for the presenter in question.

Another problem is the complexity of the equipment itself. Hapless presenters try and fix problems themselves and make it worse, rather than just calling IT to help them out.

Then there is the cost. The average cost of maintaining meeting room technologies is estimated at over £8,000 per year, rising to nearly £12,500 once IT staff costs were included, according to the survey.

With all the hype about videoconferencing at the moment - this is something that resellers should be telling their customers, and hopefully bagging a few maintenance and support deals off the back of it.