onemedia is at the forefront of providing the next generation of workspaces by supplying a variety of services to help integrators from first client presentation to projection completion. Paul Milligan reports.
Much like the AV industry in the last decade, onemedia has evolved in recent times. Originally formed in 2008, its initial purpose was to compliment Onelan’s digital signage offering, it then later developed into a professional services provider for digital signage deployments. Inavate EMEA editor Paul Milligan spoke to Chris Wood (CW), sales director and John Jeffreys (JJ), sales and marketing director, to find out the range of services it offers, how it views the future of modern workspaces, and where the company is heading.
How has onemedia changed in the last couple of years?
CW In 2021 onemedia acquired Red Solutions which was always a long-term strategical objective for the owners as the offering of the two businesses dovetailed perfectly and we saw an opportunity for a genuine technical value-add distributor in the AV industry. Since the acquisition and subsequent merger, we have seen exponential growth with our digital signage and videowall solutions with new and innovative workplace products and services added to our portfolio.
Above: Chris Wood
How would you describe your business?
JJ onemedia is a value-add technical distributor, with a portfolio of specialist AV and workplace technologies. We are always looking for new technologies to represent, without forgetting the importance great service is in helping our customers get the job done.
Onemedia offers design, technical and post-sales services to integrators, can you explain what those are?
JJ onemedia work in partnership with system integrators throughout the sales process to ensure that the end users requirements are not just met but exceeded. Since the acquisition of Red Solutions, onemedia has added additional technical resource to the business that can be used by our partners from that first meeting and product demo with the end user, all the way through to project completion. Support is also a crucial part of our business and it is important to us that we have a range of services that can cover the customers needs.
How can your services help integrators on a day-to-day basis?
CW As a result of our years working in this industry, we have built up trust with our customers so they know we will deliver on our promises. From delivering the product demonstration onemedia can design a specification which includes hardware, software and professional services. This means the integrators simply add their margin and the project is successfully delivered. This year onemedia delivered Datapath’s first Aetria system in the UK, and we have recently expanded our technical team
to help integrators deliver complex control room systems.
Your portfolio features many complimentary AV technologies, has this been a deliberate decision and if so why?
JJ The technology within our portfolio has been hand selected as they can be integrated seamlessly to offer advanced AV and workplace systems. During the initial meetings with an end customer, we can establish their requirements and then select the optimum technologies from our portfolio to ensure that the project objectives are met and surpassed. This approach enables the integrator to maximise every opportunity and to retain the customer in the longer term.
Above: John Jeffreys
The entire AV industry is trying to the understand what the ‘return to the office’ means in reality. How can you help integrators create flexible and futureproof office and teaching spaces?
CW The modern workplace is evolving and onemedia can help integrators adapt to this changing landscape with our data-led approach to designing future office and teaching spaces. Our portfolio of workspace sensors offer organisations objective data
on how their spaces are being used and enable them to adapt accordingly. Rather than ‘cookie cut’ meeting room designs the sensor technology enables organisations to analyse the data and design better workspaces and reduce their ongoing energy costs.
onemedia is not just a hardware provider, can you tell us about the software and apps side of your business?
JJ The services side of onemedia have been developing content creation systems and apps since the company was formed. We have developed several platform-agnostic digital signage apps. We have also found the return to office and hybrid working has seen companies re-design workspaces to adapt to the numbers of staff using the office at any one time. onemedia has developed a product called WMS (Workplace Management Solutions) where staff or visitors can navigate the new space and find meeting rooms or hot desks simply through a wayfinding app on their mobile phone or using touch screens through their digital signage.
CW In addition to the services that have been developed in-house we have recently announced a distribution agreement on the new Alpha Victor platform, which has been designed to empower users of technology and deliver a better experience in meeting rooms and spaces. Through bespoke digital guides and interactive images, the aim is to improve room utilisation and productivity.
Content is going to be a key issue in the AV world going forward, but one that many businesses struggle with managing, how can onemedia help with that?
CW onemedia has over 20 years’ experience delivering digital signage networks to
a range of vertical markets including retail, corporate comms and higher education and fully understands the importance of impactful dynamic content. Our creative team consult with the customer and produce on brand layout designs, animated content, visualised data and bespoke integrations with third party systems, which over recent years has become very popular. When businesses have limited resource we offer our managed service which includes updating the customers screens and ongoing content creation.
Above: Attendees networking at the Workspace event
Last year Onemedia ran an event of its own called Workspace, what are the aims of the event?
JJ Workspace was created to raise awareness of onemedia as a company and to explain the value we can add to our channel partners. The event, held at the Samsung KX venue in central London, allows us to showcase our products and services under one roof to system integrators working across a range of different verticals.
The feedback we got from last year’s event was fantastic, and we have been told by several partners that they picked up business as a direct result of
the event.
What can visitors expect from this year’s Workspace event?
CW This year’s Workspace (held on 17 October in London) will build on the success of last year, but our objective is to ensure that this event is even bigger and better. There will be an increased focus on the innovation that results in combining the products in our portfolio. There will be an opportunity to see the new Onelan GUI and view the roadmap for the platform. The event will reflect the evolving nature of office spaces, and attendees will have the opportunity to use a hot desk to ensure that they can continue with their working day as required.
For more details on the Onemedia Workspace event CLICK HERE