Sounds Like A Plan

The Audio Visual Co. grows by almost 25 percent per year – thanks to a new business strategy.

You can crank up the sound all you want, but that won’t muffle The Audio Visual Co., an Aiea-based business that has outlived its competitors for the past three decades. When the company first entered the market in 1970, it only sold electronic products. By the 1980s, however, competition from big-box stores and club warehouses forced the company to unplug its retail strategy. And out went the VCRs and home-entertainment systems.

The Audio Visual Co. today designs and installs multimedia solutions for corporate boardrooms, retailers, classrooms and the military. Of the company’s 35 employees, about a dozen have been trained to serve businesses, the military and educational institutions.

So far, that new strategy is successful. Revenues since 1999 have grown 25 percent per year. Company executives anticipate $10 million in sales at the end of 2002. “We’re good at changing with the market,” says Patrick Lee, operation sales manager for The Audio Visual Co.

Meeting of the Minds: Plasma screens and multimedia system allows for a videoconference session at The Audio Visual Co.

The company’s products and services are evident all over the state. On Oahu alone: videoconferencing equipment at the Kahala Mandarin Hotel; a video system at the Honolulu International Airport arrival area; TV monitors at surf shop Local Motion; and plasma screens for the defunct high-tech company WorldPoint. More recently, The Audio Visual Co. revamped the distance-learning classroom at the University of Hawaii College of Engineering. It now is equipped with new cameras, multiple video monitors and a SmartBoard 3000i. A separate control room links professors to students inside and outside the room, while a camera automatically zooms in on students, who press microphone buttons located at each seat.

At McDonald’s of Hawaii in downtown Honolulu, local managers can hold live conferences with executives on the Mainland – thanks to a portable multimedia system that The Audio Visual Co. installed about three years ago. Although the fast-food chain is able to host distance-learning sessions between the downtown office and stores statewide, “It just hasn’t come up,” says Jay Scoppetto, McDonald’s administrative secretary responsible for training. “We prefer to have our trainees come into the office, where they receive better direction from the instructors.” For more specialized training, McDonald’s sends employees to the U.S. mainland.

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and their effect on flight safety may have changed the way local companies view business trips. That’s evident, based on the growing number of teleconferencing-related inquiries that The Audio Visual Co. receives each week, particularly from banks, medical facilities and architecture firms. “Videoconferencing has moved from being a boardroom solution to a practical solution,” says Ainsley Mahikoa, technology integration manager. First meetings are important to business relationships, but videoconferencing is acceptable after that. “The only thing you can’t do is shake hands,” he says.

At The Audio Visual Co., videoconferencing units carry price tags anywhere from $3,000 to $50,000. The company expects the price to drop in a few years, as teleconferencing becomes more widespread in the business community. Not only will the quality improve, but future systems will boast features that control all aspects of a room, from lighting and audio-visual effects to outside building security. Medical facilities in Hawaii also have turned to The Audio Visual Co. for multimedia solutions other than teleconferencing. Take St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii, for example. Patients who visit St. Francis’ dialysis centers on Oahu, Maui and Kauai will find reclining chairs equipped with 9-inch video monitors and headphones. Installed by The Audio Visual Co., these viewing stations allow patients to relax and channel surf while waiting for the dialysis process to finish.

“Multimedia is the model of our company,” Mahikoa says. “We sell concepts.”

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