Our very own Shaun Robinson, VP, Corporate, Education and Government for HARMAN Professional Solutions, appeared on the 300th episode of AVNation’s AVWeek podcast. Hosted by Tim Albright, the weekly podcast covers the top AV news and information across the industry. Shaun is a regular guest on AVWeek, along with other thought leaders in the AV industry. AVWeek episode 300, titled “Wilco and Out,” aired on May 26, 2017.
During the episode, Albright and his guests covered a range of topics, from ways to attract and keep top talent to the difference between configuration and programming and how that impacts the future of AV automation. As part of the discussion, Albright referenced an article on Systems Contractor News that discusses the future of AV programming. Albright asked Shaun where the shifts in programming trends from custom-designed AV systems to configurable solutions, like AMX Rapid Project Maker, leave everyday AV programmers. Shaun replied:
Now that we’re delivering complete AV solutions, we have to deliver them in a very simplistic way. There have been a plethora of different types of meeting rooms for many years, but now it’s starting to kind of converge.
From an IT perspective, customers are just wanting a solution delivered. The more enterprise customers we engage with, over and over, they’re saying they want a standardized solution globally, because they want the same user experience. Because of that, we’ve seen our cloud-based configuration software [RPM] just skyrocket in use, because it delivers a standardized application that provides a standardized user experience.
With that being said, there’s always those executive boardrooms, divisible rooms, etc., where they want some customization. There’s always those applications where they’ll go in and want to customize something. So, a lot of the things we’re doing include delivering a way for IT to have a standardized way to deploy very simply without programming. If they just want the out-of-the box solution, that’s what they get. But, [we’re also] providing tools where they can extend this solution, and that’s where AV programming comes into play.
I will say that as we go forward—and as AV and IT have already converged—there will be more standardized programming languages. [AMX] NetLinx will continue to exist for many years, but more common scripting language and common programming languages (C+, Java, Javascript, Python, etc.) will be used to extend those, so it can be done not only by AV but also with the IT community as well.
Listen to the full podcast—including Shaun’s thoughts on how he retains the top talent we have on the HARMAN Professional Solutions CEG team—over at AVNation or watch the interview below now.