If you're anywhere near the commercial AV world you've probably noticed the industry doing something it hasn't really done in years, actually catching its breath.
We're out in client boardrooms, classrooms and control rooms pretty much every week across the country, so we get a pretty good look at whats changing. And honestly the conversations are different now. It used to be "how fast can we get this room working" and now its more "ok how do we actually do this right." Which, after watching a lot of rushed installs happen over the years, is a relief.
For a while there everything was reactive. Companies were scrambling just to get hybrid meetings working, integrators were mixing and matching whatever they could actually get their hands on, and "good enough for now" basically became the motto of the whole industry. It worked, mostly. But it also left a ton of buildings with systems that nobody actually planned out. One floor's running one platform, another floor's running something totally different, and the IT guy is quietly losing his mind trying to support all of it.
Now that things have calmed down a bit, a lot of companies are finally asking the question they skipped the first time. What do we actually want our AV setup to look like.
The "let's just pick one thing" phase
This is probably the biggest shift happening and it's not flashy at all but it matters a lot. Companies aren't just buying new gear anymore, they're stepping back and deciding on one consistent approach across every room and every building. Pick a UC platform, Teams, Zoom, whatever, and just stick with it. Get hardware you can update remotely instead of ripping it out every two years. Less "ooh shiny new toy" and more "please stop this from being a support nightmare for my team." It's the boring phase but it's the important one, every industry goes through it eventually.
AI actually does stuff now, it's not just a trade show thing anymore
For a couple years AI in AV meant a flashy demo booth and some vague promise about "the future." That's changed a lot honestly. Now it's running quietly in the background of most new installs and you don't even notice it.
Cameras that auto frame and follow whoever's talking, so you don't need someone literally driving the camera during a meeting
Audio systems that clean up background noise and adjust on the fly depending on the room
Predictive maintenance tools that flag something before it actually breaks, instead of during your all hands meeting (we've all been there)
The interesting part isn't even that the AI is there, it's that nobody talks about it anymore, it just kind of works. Or it's supposed to. One thing we will say though, if the actual AV design behind it is sloppy, these "smart" systems can just as easily make things worse, overcorrecting or confusing people. The tech's only as good as whoever installed it, which, shameless plug, is kind of our whole thing.
Your rooms are basically talking to you now
Monitoring used to be one of those "we'll check it if something breaks" things. Now facilities and IT teams are watching room analytics pretty much constantly. Usage, equipment health, which rooms are getting used and which ones are basically ghost towns, which displays are about to die on you. It's less about babysitting one device and more about seeing your whole building at once. If you're managing more than a few rooms this is becoming pretty standard, not really optional anymore honestly.
Big screens. Everywhere. All the time.
Video walls used to be a control room thing, or an airport thing, maybe a fancy lobby if the budget allowed it. Not anymore. As the tech gets cheaper, and it has, a lot, these immersive displays are showing up in boardrooms, classrooms, retail spaces, we've even seen them mounted right onto glass. And they're not just "a bigger screen." When it's done right it becomes part of the room itself instead of some box bolted to a wall.
The catch, and we say this to clients all the time, a gorgeous display with no thought put into the content or the control system or even the lighting in the room is just a really expensive way to show your logo. The integration is what actually makes it worth the money, not the panel.
So what's the point of all this
Honestly none of it is really about chasing the newest gadget, it's about companies finally having enough breathing room to build something on purpose instead of something rushed. AI's doing actual work instead of sitting in a demo booth somewhere. Screens are getting bigger and more built in instead of just bolted on. And the boring stuff, standardization, actually having a good integrator partner who sticks around after you sign the paperwork, is finally getting the attention it deserves.
If the last couple years were about just surviving, this one feels like AV finally gets to be deliberate again. Which, from where we sit, is a pretty nice place to be.
Anyway, this is the kind of project we love at ImageNet. The ones where a client isn't just patching a problem but actually building something that'll hold up for a while. We've been in business since 1956, but AV specifically has been our focus since about 2017, so we've spent the better part of a decade getting really good at exactly this. Whether you're standardizing rooms across a few locations, adding a video wall in your lobby, or just have no idea where to even start, happy to talk it through with you. No pressure, no jargon overload, just an honest conversation about what makes sense for your space and your budget.