AV Managed Services vs. AV Support: What’s The Difference?

• Collaboration Technology
• Service and Support

Summary:

AV managed services and on-demand AV support aren’t the same. Managed services come with both proactive and reactive monitoring, maintenance, and updates. Providers use remote management tools to detect, diagnose, and fix issues before they can cause disruptions and charge a predictable monthly rate that may also cover 24/7 support and strategic guidance to improve uptime and scalability. On-demand AV support operates on a break-fix model, which means you only get help when you call and pay each time.

AV Managed Services vs. AV Support: Which is Right for You?

Modern businesses rely on audiovisual (AV) equipment for everything from daily communication to virtual team-building exercises and global client presentations. Systems like these have a powerful ability to bring people together and streamline workflows when everyone can rely on them.

Like any technology, your AV systems can’t stay operational in a vacuum. You need to have the right supports in place to maintain and fix it if you want to keep benefiting from it long-term. Most businesses will outsource at this step because it’s easier and more cost-effective than hiring in-house AV experts.

Managed AV and AV Support can both add value, but it isn’t really about having one or the other. We’ll walk you through why it makes more sense to have both models in place at once below.

What Are AV Managed Services?

Managed services create an ongoing partnership between your organization and your provider. Instead of calling a number for help when something goes wrong, you get a more comprehensive set of services that cover both proactive and responsive care for your entire AV ecosystem.

This typically includes:

• Remote monitoring and management (RMM) 
• Real-time alerting and incident response
• Preventative health and security checks
• Automated testing for meeting rooms and other spaces
• Technology lifecycle management

Managed Services save businesses money over time by reducing the need for on-site visits and the amount of incidents that turn into serious disruptions.

How Do AV Managed Services Work?

Every provider is a little bit different, but here’s how it works at ET Group. We start by installing secure remote monitoring and management (RMM) software across your network. The program runs invisibly in the background without disrupting day-to-day operations.

Once the RMM is in place, our support experts can:

• Detect issues in real time. The RMM alerts our support team whenever devices like cameras, microphones, or digital signs go offline so we can take action to resolve it.
• Diagnose problems remotely. Technicians can often pinpoint what’s wrong and fix it at the source from a distance, which means you don’t need to wait for a visit.
• Automatically restore or reset devices. If your device and network infrastructure are compatible, the RMM can send out a command to reset or restore the equipment when it detects a problem.
• Keep uptime high. Automated health checks and proactive maintenance, including software and firmware updates, ensure your AV stays online, operational, and ready for use.
• Track data and trends. Reviewing factors like usage, performance, and capacity helps us provide tailored advice for getting the most out of your systems.

You’ll also be assigned an account manager as a single point of contact who understands your AV environment, your needs, and how they evolve over time.

Read More: 5 Ways Managed Help Desk Services Support Your AV

What Are AV Support Services?

Support services provide reactive assistance when something goes wrong or your AV equipment goes down. Essentially, if it breaks, you call us, and we assign someone on our team to take ownership of the case, diagnose the problem, and fix it.

How Do AV Support Services Work?

At ET Group, support and maintenance services are typically handled through Service-Level Agreements (SLAs). What this means is that we set up a contract that spells out your exact needs as well as factors like how and when to reach out, when you can expect us, and what’s included under your agreement.

This typically includes:

• 24/7 access to our help desk and/or ticketing system
• Basic troubleshooting over the phone for teams
• On-site fixes when your hardware, software, or network stops working
• Preventative maintenance, scheduled checkups, and routine updates
• Asset management, including coordinated procurement, RMAs, and hardware replacements

We do occasionally provide break-fix services for one-off situations. However, most organizations prefer an ongoing partnership under a contracted SLA for the reliability, speed, and consistency it provides. 

Comparing AV Support and Managed AV Side-By-Side

How Managed and Support Services Work Together

Imagine that a 200-person firm with offices in Toronto, Ottawa, and Calgary relies heavily on video conferencing for client meetings and cross-office collaboration. They have 12 meeting spaces in total and rely on their unified AV during tax season, when they see a sharp uptick in client presentations.

A ceiling microphone array fails to connect in Toronto minutes before a 2:00 p.m. presentation with a major corporate client. Key stakeholders are dialed in and waiting. All other rooms are currently full.

Here’s what happens next:

• At 1:58 p.m., ET Group’s Managed Services platform detects the microphone failure and alerts the support team.
• At 2:00 p.m., a remote technician logs in, identifies a firmware error, and pushes a fix. The microphones reconnect, and the meeting continues after only a brief delay.
• At 4:45 p.m., the same microphone array disconnects again. The RMM platform identifies the problem as a physical issue that can’t be fixed remotely and escalates it for on-site service. A technician is immediately scheduled to arrive on-site at the start of business hours the next day.
• At 4:47, an administrator calls ET Group’s help desk, but the Managed Services platform has already flagged the issue for follow-up and made the appropriate arrangements.
• At 9:00 a.m. the next morning, the technician arrives and discovers a frayed CAT6 cable leading to the array that became pinched behind nearby infrastructure.
• At 9:15 a.m., the technician finishes replacing and testing the cable, then confirms the problem is fixed. The ticket is closed and an incident report is shared with the client confirming the affected devices, diagnosis, and resolution.

The Outcome:

Both problems are detected, diagnosed, and resolved faster through a combination of proactive monitoring and reactive AV support services.

The Benefits of Outsourcing AV Support For Businesses

Outsourcing lets Canadian businesses tap into AV expertise without the resource drain that comes with building teams in-house. For perspective, the average salary for an AV tech is about $70,000. Multiply that by the number of people you need and it’s easy to see how fast the costs start to snowball.

Partnering with a company like ET Group is more cost-effective and gives you more value for your money at every step. You get access to:

• Certified AV experts with the latest training and a deep knowledge of AV tech.
• A team that works in your best interests to help you use and scale your AV more efficiently.
• The ability to scale your services up or down depending on how your business changes.
• A provider that can handle escalate tasks like warranties, parts, and procurement on your behalf.
• Support services that take the pressure off internal teams instead of burdening them. 
• A long-term AV strategy to keep stakeholders, priorities, ideas, iteration, and testing aligned.

Here’s a little proof from our own case studies here at ET Group:

A national enterprise in the finance industry saw a 98.7% faster time to detect issues, a 75% drop in support tickets, and six-figure annual savings after we successfully rolled out RMM for them. Admittedly, it can take time to get results like these, but it’s common to see a significant improvement within 30 days.

How to Choose the Right AV Provider

First and foremost, don’t hire the first company you find online. Take some time to research them, learn about their history, and explore what they’ve done in the past. Reputable providers will be happy to show you case studies or testimonials from real clients that prove what their value looks like in practice.

What you’re looking for is:

1. Industry and AV experience, preferably within the same niche or market sector.
2. Tech certifications from major AV manufacturers, like Zoom, Microsoft, Synergy Sky, or Cisco.
3. Service level agreements (SLAs) that specifically outline response and resolution times.
4. RMM that’s extensive enough to keep up with your specific AV needs (e.g., hybrid work).
5. A Canada-wide network of technicians so you don’t need to wait days for a technician to arrive.
6. Client references that speak to real-world reliability and show clear proof of their achievements.
7. Multiple channels of communication, including phone, email, SMS, or ticketing systems.
8. Transparent service-level agreements, so you always know exactly what you’re getting.

When you find a company you think fits the bill, ask for a demonstration, discovery call, or meeting so you can get more info first. Pay close attention to how they respond to your questions and how willing they are to explain things clearly. A good provider won’t rush you through the details or gloss over your concerns.

Get Reliable AV Support From ET Group

Meeting systems and other AV tech can be incredibly powerful, especially when they’re designed from the ground up with your business’s workflows in mind. The core issue most businesses run into with systems like these is a lack of appropriate support. That’s where managed AV services come in.

ET Group helps enterprises and other large-scale organizations develop, support, and scale unified communications (UC) systems that keep teams focused on their work, not the latest breakdown. To learn how we can help you get the most from Managed AV and AV Support, book a discovery call!

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