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The Most Common AV Problems Toronto Businesses Face

Summary:

• Toronto’s finance, real estate, government, energy, food manufacturing, education, and healthcare sectors rely on AV daily. Custom AV design makes it possible to develop solutions around special industry needs without sacrificing user experiences.
• Common examples of AV issues include drops, poor mic pickup, failed room presets, and overheating displays. Problems like these can disrupt meetings, delay projects, and lead to missed opportunities or deadlines.
• Custom AV can prevent AV failures and connectivity issues by making it easier to design meeting spaces around your needs. It’s the best way to roll out systems that have the flexibility to safely scale with your business over time.
• Even the best system needs maintenance to deliver a positive user experience. Real-time monitoring, scheduling inspections, and partnering with a local AV expert will keep your AV running smoothly.

Toronto is home to some of the most forward-thinking, innovative industries in Canada. From hybrid classrooms to hospitals and food production, hundreds of organizations in the city rely on AV to do business, stay competitive, and deliver services to clients.

But in a multicultural city with aging infrastructure and so many sectors, designing the perfect AV system is no simple task. Success comes from addressing unique industry needs without sacrificing seamless user experiences across locations in the process.

Below, you’ll learn about the top AV challenges Toronto’s most competitive businesses face—and how working with an AV design company like ET Group can help solve them.

Why Custom AV is the Answer to Any Challenge

Toronto’s biggest enterprises aren’t just local—they have thousands of employees and hundreds of meeting rooms across the globe. Custom AV bridges the gap by making it possible for people to enjoy the same user experience from anywhere.

• Standardizing meeting rooms makes training one and done. There’s no steep learning curve if they want to switch spaces or jump in from home.
• Custom AV makes it possible to upgrade from legacy platforms to cloud-based systems like Webex, Microsoft Teams or Zoom.
• Working with a custom AV design team makes it easier to meet special security needs. This is essential in military control rooms, prisons, and hospitals.
• An AV design team can help ensure that any systems deployed are useful now and long into the future so you aren’t constantly forced back to the drawing board.

When AV systems are intelligently designed around the people who use them, they help people work together more efficiently. User experiences stay consistently positive whether someone is in the boardroom or dialing in from their own personal device.

Challenges in Finance, Tech, & Commercial Real Estate

Finance firms on Toronto’s infamous Bay Street rely on AV to support client-facing boardrooms, trading floors, and flex zones. Tech companies like ServiceNow and corporate real estate developers like Mattamy Homes use AV to present concepts to clients and support hybrid workers instead.

Key AV Pain Points

• Low-quality video feeds make displays and interactive whiteboards annoying or even impossible to use.
• One-touch join controls freeze, crash, or get stuck in a boot loop, causing delays or even preventing meetings from taking place.
• Calendar integrations fail to integrate with meeting tech or trigger room presets.

AV problems like these can derail meetings or make hosts appear unprofessional and ill-prepared. They can also cost you the sale by delaying decision-making.

Challenges in Government Offices

From Toronto’s City Hall to the courthouse at 361 University Avenue, government offices depend on AV for internal collaboration, real-time communication between departments, and serving everyday citizens. But government agencies are also held to a higher standard for security, which means their AV and data needs to stay protected at all times.

Key AV Pain Points

• Over-reliance on legacy software or AV equipment that isn’t compatible with modern systems or platforms.
• Inconsistent user experiences across meeting rooms across offices, departments, courtrooms, and council chambers.
• Strict security protocols that place hard limits on integrations, restrict remote access, and protect private information.
• Long procurement cycles and/or aging hardware that’s difficult to update or no longer supported by the manufacturer.

Problems like these can lower public confidence, disrupt day-to-day operations, and slow down decision-making. It’s less efficient and introduces more red tape.

Challenges in Energy

Teams working for energy companies like Toronto Hydro and Enbridge Gas use AV to coordinate with staff and respond to incidents like leaks and outages. Control room workers, mobile teams, and executives must be able to seamlessly communicate from anywhere. 

Key AV Pain Points

• Poor or unavailable connectivity in shielded or underground areas at nuclear facilities like Pickering and Darlington.
• Difficulty connecting remote staff working in the field via mobile devices to daily meetings and shift change briefings.
• Differences in meeting room setups across locations that lead to delays or confusion at the start of a meeting.
• Over-reliance on legacy platforms that don’t support modern video conferencing platforms and/or calendar integration

AV is mission-critical in environments like these. A delay of only a few short minutes can introduce safety risks, cost the company money, and anger customers.

Challenges in Food Manufacturing & Distribution

In food manufacturing and distribution, every step of production from the manufacturing plant to the logistics network must be carefully monitored, tracked, and managed. Custom AV makes this easier by giving people real-time updates on shipments and supply chains without jeopardizing seamless collaboration in the process.

Key AV Pain Points

• Inadequate AV solutions that aren’t designed to meet the needs of food industry command centers, including logistics.
• Security failures that jeopardize quality control, health, safety, or data privacy and raise your risk for compliance violations.
• Aging meeting tech that doesn’t support seamless collaboration across multiple platforms, like Microsoft Teams, Synergy Sky, and Zoom.
• Poor technology adoption rates and training gaps that make onboarding less efficient and raise the risk for compliance slip-ups.

Sobeys, McCain, LCBO, and the Canadian Canola Growers Association put their trust in ET Group when it was time to upgrade their AV systems. Our AV designers have helped them design and roll out spaces like board rooms, break rooms, social hubs, and so much more.

Challenges in Higher Education & Smart Campuses

Facilities like University of Toronto, George Brown, York University, and OCAD rely on lecture capturing software, microphones, and displays for teaching students. Interactive displays and digital signage help students navigate life on campus and access hands-on learning in class.

Key AV Pain Points

• Wi-Fi congestion across networks shared with hundreds of students on-campus as well as faculty and guests.
• AV control systems that lack accessibility features, like screen brightness, text sizes, color contrast, and volume levels.
• Inconsistent AV experiences across classrooms, ad-hoc spaces, social spaces, and other zones where AV is common.
• Students can become bored when spaces lack engaging features like immersive soundscapes, crystal-clear displays, and interactive whiteboards. 

But poor student experiences don’t just jeopardize the learning process—they also cause frustration for teachers and cost schools money.

Challenges in Healthcare Facilities

AV is mission-critical for healthcare facilities like Toronto General Hospital, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and Mount Sinai. It’s what powers telehealth, remote surgical consults, and digital signage that helps patients find their way—or just educates them about everyday health.  

Key AV Pain Points

• Segregated AV spaces that force doctors and nurses to travel to a specific room in order to communicate or use collaborative displays.
• Poorly implemented telemedicine video conferencing solutions, both within the facility and for physicians working from home.
• A lack of access to translation, TTY, and other accessibility features in telemedicine carts and other bedside displays.
• Weak AV security measures that let people access patient data inappropriately, leading to PIPEDA violations or other privacy breaches.

Tailoring AV systems to the needs of the facility can actually improve patient care and outcomes. A poor setup, on the other hand, will disrupt care and put patients at risk instead.

Preventing AV Failures & Connectivity Issues

There’s no cookie cutter solution to AV failures and connectivity problems that works for every industry, but the outcome is largely the same: unnecessary downtime.That’s why it’s critical to work with an AV company who takes a proactive approach to maintenance.

1. Local or Building-Specific Constraints

Many of the buildings in Toronto’s downtown core have limitations like low ceiling clearance or aging network infrastructure. Skilled designers know how to work around these obstacles to get the most from a space when renovations aren’t an option.

To mitigate building constraints:

• Use fiber or copper to maintain signal strength over long video runs.
• Design around existing infrastructure for optimal performance without construction.
• Install low‑profile ceiling tile speakers and beamforming mics to address low ceilings.

Addressing quirks like these upfront before the design process starts neutralizes the negative effect they have on AV systems, and in some cases, turns it into a benefit instead.

2. The Need for Network Segmentation

AV-over-IP is the standard for most applications, but running your AV traffic through the same local area network everyone else is using can lead to latency and jitter. Segmentation helps keep the single clear and stable at all times.

To mitigate network crowding:

• Run all AV traffic on a dedicated VLAN or separate network. 
• Use QoS tagging to preserve bandwidth and clarity on streams.
• Use PoE‑ready switches to manage traffic during peak times.

Build networks that are properly segmented and have built-in failsafes for optimal performance and reliability. This is the most effective way to run AV equipment.

3. Environmental Noise in Office Buildings

Many of Toronto’s busiest offices are located in high-rises, shared buildings, or older structures—and that means noise pollution is a part of daily operation. Sounds from HVAC systems, street traffic, and colleagues having conversations in open-concept offices can interfere with meetings by making it impossible for people to hear one another clearly.

To address this problem:

• Isolate AV tech in a separate room, if possible—or use partitions to create quieter zones for meetings instead.
• Use directional microphones with Digital Signal Processing (DSP) based noise cancellation to focus pickup on speakers, not background noise.
• Use ceiling baffles, acoustic panels, or wall tiles to absorb extra sound. Panels attached to partitions won’t be as effective, but they can still make a difference.
• Add beamforming microphones and zoned speakers to improve coverage in large or shared spaces.

In general, it’s easier to design a space around these constraints than try to mitigate them later on. A good AV designer will know how to work around any problems from day one.

Maintaining AV Performance Over Time

You can invest in the best AV equipment in the world and it still won’t deliver a positive experience if you don’t care for it properly. To keep audio and video clear, crisp, and reliable, start by following the best practices listed here.

• Schedule quarterly or biannual tune-ups. Firmware and software updates, cable testing, and temperature checks help keep indoor and outdoor AV in good condition. 
• Use monitoring tools to detect issues early. ET Group can monitor your AV equipment for problems remotely and action issues to avoid unnecessary downtime.
• Recalibrate mics and speakers often. Seasonal changes in ambient noise and furniture adjustments change how audio travels around a space. Use room tuning software to recalibrate mics and speakers regularly.
• Factor in natural lighting. Adjust the brightness and contrast of displays to account for ambient light in office towers, west-facing rooms, and outdoor spaces that get direct sunlight.
• Audit usage metrics occasionally. Analytics can help you identify how, when, and where people are using your AV so you can identify opportunities for improvement.
• Ask for feedback. The people using your AV system every day are also the best source of insight on what’s working—and what’s not. Ask for their input and use it to address pain points or improve the user experience.

Partnering with a Canadian  AV partner like ET Group is one of the best ways to maintain high-quality audio and video. When systems need to adapt to evolving business needs, user expectations, and seasonal shifts, having local experts on your side can really help. 

Find a Reliable AV Partner in Toronto with ET Group

AV helps businesses in Toronto reach customers, collaborate, and share ideas, but great audio and video isn’t just about the equipment you own. Systems like these need to be intelligently designed around the people who use them every single day.

ET Group designs and delivers integrated AV and collaboration solutions for mission-critical workspaces in complex industries like finance, government, healthcare, and utilities. Custom AV design is the best way to ensure secure, seamless communication where it matters most.

When AV systems are designed to handle local challenges from day 1, they perform better, last longer, and help people work—or play—more effectively. Book a discovery call today to learn how we can help your company use AV more effectively.

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