Industry gathers for...

From 11 to 12 October, 2017 over a thousand partners and prospective clients visited Mercedes Benz World, UK to experience a wealth of technology on display at Midwich Technology Exposed 2017.

The latest technologies from GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), corporate, retail and education sectors were highlighted at the event, accompanied by a keynote from futurist & CEO of Futurenautics, Kate Adamson, and seminars from Fujitsu and KodakAlaris exploring GDPR. An Audio Arena' also highlighted Midwich's broad portfolio of audio brands available for different applications.

Retail, corporate and education zones' were a new addition for 2017, providing visitors with the opportunity to see first-hand the benefits of Lift & Learn and LED technology in retail environments, as well as the benefit of bringing live filming and editing on-site on education projects. The corporate zone had a strong focus on highlighting technology available for meetings huddle spaces noted by Jon Dew-Stanley, director of Midwich Technical, as a key area for growth for the distributor, when speaking to InAVate.

The nature of meetings using Skype for Business, a Lifesize Cloud account or videoconferencing on mobile device means going into a boardroom where the codec is physically there and the echo cancelling is there is not a reality anymore, says Dew-Stanley. People are meeting in small huddle areas and its changing how people need their devices to talk to AV equipment. So brands like Harman are bringing out products like AMX Acendo, and Revolabs with the Yamaha CS-700 products that can interface with mainstream software and connect to the display and allow people to very quickly collaborate together in a small space.

The industry-wide shift to AV going on the network is also having a huge impact on the products being sold into the modern-day corporate space, as well as other verticals, according to Midwich. The network becoming your matrix bringing massive cost savings is a trend that's happening. It's becoming more about what it does and how people use it, then about what it is. Technology that can offer a good meeting experience whether there's 4 people or 40 people in the room not just having the equipment in the room, but accommodate collaboration for example, allowing that iPhone to appear on that screen and offering an interface that can actually improve productivity.

In the retail space, Dew-Stanley says technology is supporting the evolving nature of the point of sale in stores. Numbers of retailers are looking for information about the purchasing habits of their customers and the experience that customers receive. So deploying AV on the network instore allows for man-management and logistics benefits, but also experience benefits as you take this new, interactive, or signal distribution approach, mixed in with data I see this as a big growth area.

Midwich also announced an increase in revenue to £211.6 million for the first six months of 2017 totalling 33.6% growth. A significant proportion of which is going towards the training of staff across all areas. Iain Campbell, sales director, commented: Midwich is organised entirely around our belief that we can't succeed if our partners don't succeed. That's why 2016-17 has resulted in our highest level of staff training investment (£257,000) with 186 people completing customer service related qualifications.

The company's recent acquisition of Netherlands-based Gebroeders van Domburg B.V. expands its global presence to over 650 staff located across the UK and Ireland, France, Germany, Iberia, Benelux and Australasia.

LINK:	http://www.inavateonthenet.net/news/article/industry-gathers-for-midwi...
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